Mr. Speaker, I have a question for my colleagues here on the left, the New Democrats. They have spoken a fair amount, from a competition perspective, with respect to the potential bank merger which we may or may not see in the coming weeks.
The questions that I have for the hon. member relate to the bank merger. Given the fact that there are nearly 92,000 jobs that actually come into play, does he not think that there is actually some kind of a moral obligation on behalf of the government to ensure that this decision is actually done in a reasonably expedient fashion?
A little while ago two insurance companies that merged were London Life and Great West Life. When that was done the government was able to make some kind of a rapid analysis of whether it met the criteria for the Competition Act. Given the fact that on February 14, 1997 a WTO ruling made the banking industry open to foreign competition, is it the hon. member's assessment that the finance minister should be surprised that the other banks would actually be talking at some time or other?