Mr. Speaker, it was a very interesting summer for the Canadian Alliance. We chose a new leader. Canadians across the country are excited. As the NDP members were complaining this afternoon about the cost of my leader's fundraising dinner, I will tell them that Canadians are willing to pay to listen to the new leader. I am sure that if NDP members wanted to do fundraising they probably would not be able to attract too many people. I presume that is why they were complaining.
It my pleasure to speak to Bill C-38, an act to establish the financial consumer agency of Canada and to amend certain acts in relation to financial institutions.
When we talk about financial institutions, Canadians in general have some concerns. They are concerned about the way in which banks have been operating, about the monopoly they have had over the years and about how their profits have been increasing. These concerns arise from the fact that there is not much competition in the financial sector and that historically the banks have been protected. There were reasons in the past for doing that, most importantly to ensure the viability of the banking system in Canada, which at that time worked.
As we know, the business environment in Canada and around the world has changed. Today the environment calls for choices for the consumers. Canadian consumers have seen how much they benefit from deregulation and what happens when a government lets businesses loose. Lower costs for long distance telephone calls shows how a competitive environment can help Canadian consumers.
The demand by Canadian consumers, and rightly so, is for choices in the banking sector. The Canadian consumer is looking for lower service costs and better services. To some degree the negative image that the Canadian consumer has was brought on by the banks themselves. I am sure the banks can do a better job in letting the Canadian consumer know of the services they can provide.
There is the recent example of Air Canada and Canadian Airlines and the disaster it turned out to be during the early stages of the merger. Canadians are strongly concerned about the lack of competition in the airline industry. The government is dragging its feet as it does most of the time in coming up with solutions Canadians are looking for.
The government's go slow approach can be seen in this bill itself. It took seven years of foot dragging on the part of the government before it was able to bring forward some kind of legislation that has opened up the banking industry to higher competition.
We in the Canadian Alliance will live with this bill because we see it is opening up the financial sector as demanded by Canadians. We have a lot of concerns on many issues. We feel the financial sector is not completely open. There are other levels of bureaucracy being installed in here. Nevertheless there has been enough in this bill to allow competition to take place.
Members will remember the bank merger fiasco that took place and the hue and cry made by Canadians, and rightly so. Canadians felt there would be too much concentration of banks and less competition. Therefore there was a need for this kind of bill to come forward allowing the consumer to make choices and opening up the sector. Once the sectors are opened up, banks can merge and become global players in today's market.
As the critic for international trade I see the opportunity for banks as markets are being opened up all over the world. Definitely Canadian banks have a role and they can play a leading role in that they need to have bigger capital, bigger markets and a bigger pool of expertise as well. That is fine, but Canadians are concerned about what happens to the domestic market. Is it going to suffer at the expense of banks going into the international arena with mergers and consolidations?
That is a concern to our party as well. It is important that the Canadian banking sector be opened up to other players who can get in and pick up the niche if Canadian banks feel that they want to be out of the domestic market. Personally, I think it would be foolish for them to do so. Nevertheless, we need to allow competition to take place. Canadians need to know that they have choices and this bill to some degree will do that.
We have heard from our Bloc colleague as well as our colleague from the NDP. A very vague answer was given by my colleague from the PC Party in reference to medium size banks. Clearly, if we open up financial markets there are players who would be willing to pick up the niche. Medium size Canadian banks can become big banks, but we have to let the market forces play to some degree. Let them consolidate. Let them ensure they can seize the opportunities that are presented.
The question that will always remain is, what will happen to the Canadian consumer? We feel that with competition opening up, Canadian consumers will be very well protected. They will benefit from the opportunity of financial services that will open up in this country.
I will give an example. As the critic for international trade and with my work on the foreign affairs committee, I see the role of the Export Development Corporation. The committee heard from numerous witnesses involved with international trade who recognized the need for greater availability of capital for them to do business overseas. Close to 43% of the GDP is tied to exports and Canadian companies are always looking for capital. This is one area where the banks can now take advantage and should be able to offer to Canadian companies this opportunity by giving this service. In the past and until now they have been curtailed by EDC. EDC is kind of a crown corporation. It does not pay taxes. It has been politicized for so long that even many Canadians do not know what EDC is and what its role is.
We feel that the government competes directly with the banks through the Export Development Corporation. The Canadian Alliance feels that this competition should be abolished and that EDC should get out of the business of short and medium term export financing.
It is in the interest of all Canadians that banks are able to play a vital role in our economy. As it expands and we go into global markets, it is the banks that will be in the forefront to seize this opportunity in partnership with Canadian companies to create an economic environment that will benefit all Canadians. That is a key element in why the Canadian Alliance is in agreement to some degree with this bill which will allow the banks some flexibility.
Of course as usual the government has ensured that there are some tighter controls as well. It has introduced the financial consumer agency and the ombudsman. To some degree it looks very good. It looks like the government is trying to ensure that Canadian consumer interests are protected. However we have our past experience with the government. Who is going to be there? Will all the appointments be at arm's length or will they be more patronage positions for the Liberals to fill?
Every time the government introduces some kind of control or bodies where it has the absolute authority, perhaps a parliamentary committee could look at the appointments instead of the finance minister looking after those appointments. That would give tremendous confidence to everybody over appointments to these boards.
We notice that the government did not go very far in expanding the credit unions' role. That is one sector where it could expand and provide Canadian consumers with choices. We sincerely believe that choices for Canadian consumers will in the long run work to bring lower service costs, lower fees and better services to consumers. That does not mean to say that at this time the banks are not trying to provide service to consumers, they are. However with greater competition, innovative ideas will come forward. In order for the banks to retain their business they would definitely listen to the consumers. At the end of the day that is where the Canadian consumer is on all this opening up of the market.
In conclusion, the Canadian Alliance will be supporting this bill based on the fact that it provides more and better choices for the Canadian consumer. We would like to see more competition in the market and I am sure our critic will bring in some amendments to ensure that that happens.