Mr. Speaker, I thank the member for his question but his premise is wrong. My leader pointed out that we wanted to see more competition in banking before we would even consider a merger.
What is important here is how the consumer is served. We are certainly standing up for the people of western Canada when we say that. We believe their considerations should come first and that is why we want more competition and more access to capital than we currently have.
That is where we come down on the issue. The real question is where do the NDP come down on the issue of the Small Business Loans Act.
I have a question for my friend in the NDP. Do they continue to support a system that effectively subsidizes big banks that made $7.5 billion in profits last year? Certainly that cannot be the position of the New Democratic Party.