Mr. Speaker, as one of the 54 MPs and senators who signed the recent report of the national Liberal caucus task force, “A Balance of Interests”, I find it appalling now to be the focus of intimidating correspondence sent by people in managerial positions within the banks.
They allege that by my doing so, as a member of the Standing Committee on Finance, I am now in a conflict of interest and should resign.
I do not want to justify my actions in any way. I would, however, say that I, like my colleagues, signed the report because, in our view, it reflected quite accurately the views of men and women, ordinary Canadians, the main shareholders of the banks and of Canada.
That does not mean in any way that we are not open to other suggestions or will not listen to other arguments that will be made in the best interests of all Canadians.