Madam Speaker, I am pleased to join the debate, and I will make my remarks brief.
When this bill was introduced in the last parliament, which died on the order paper, I supported it because it dealt with cable companies. Cable companies have a monopoly in the industry. I know that in my riding there is a certain company, and that is it. If that company sends me a letter saying it is going to add two channels at another $2 per month unless it hears from me, I find that offensive. That is why I supported the member's bill in the last parliament.
Since that time a number of things have been added to the bill. It seems to me that we should enact legislation that is not only principled, but legislation that will work.
The notion is that people should not be subjected to negative option marketing. Should that apply to the banks? The principle is the same. Members should ask themselves if it is workable in the context of banks. I would submit that it is not. I do not know why we would support something which would not be workable.
The Alliance member opposite said that there is an opting out clause toward the end of the bill by which cabinet could delete certain services. If we are parliamentarians, then why would we not put something into the bill which would work?
I will try to make the case very briefly as to why I do not think it would be workable for the bill to include banks, however attractive that might be.
First, banks are not monopoly providers. If a bank sends me a letter saying that if it does not hear from me it will change my service package, if I do not like that, then I can go to another bank.
I was very much part of the movement which opposed the proposed merger of the banks last year because I felt it would create too much concentration at that time. We did not have the competition in the industry which we will have when the government brings forward the financial services sector legislation in the next few months.
Ironically, that legislation will talk about a new financial consumer agency. It will talk about a new re-defined ombudsman, which will be more independent of the banks. Therefore, I find it strangely odd that we would bring forward this bill now to add the banks when we have this new regime coming forward which will provide much more protection for consumers and, more importantly, when the provisions of this bill would not work.
Let me give members an example to try to express my point. The Toronto Dominion Bank or CIBC or any one of the major banks might have five million to seven million customers. They send a letter saying they are going to change their service package, but it will only be done if they hear from them in writing or electronically. Guess what, maybe 90% to 95% of customers of banks will not respond. That is a reality. We can pretend it is not the case, but it is. We know from experience that surveys will not get the kind of response we want.
What is the bank supposed to do? It has seven million customers. If it is lucky, it has heard from maybe 200,000 customers saying yes, they would like the new service package and to proceed. What does the bank do now? More importantly, how do consumers benefit from this?
As we know, in this age of technology banks are adapting to a very changing world where we have Internet banking, banking at kiosks or computer based banking. The face of banking is changing so radically that very often it is in the interests of consumers to have their service package changed, like more Internet banking and not so many visits to the branch. That is what is happening.
If this legislation is passed, the banks will not have the flexibility to change any of that. The irony is the banks are doing this right now. How many of the member's constituents have phoned them and said that they are really angry because the banks changed their service package? The reality is members do not hear a lot from their constituents. The banks are in a very competitive environment and have to deal with modifications to the services packages. In most cases, they enhance the service packages available to customers.
I would like to make the point that, in principle, no one would really support the fact that banks should practice negative option marketing. The question is: Is it workable? I submit that it is not for some of the reasons that I have outlined and there are many more. I hope members would not be so attracted to the politics of this that they would not recognize the practical realities that are not workable with respect to banks.