Mr. Speaker, the Bank of Canada key interest rate keeps going down. It has dropped nine times this year, for a total of 3.5 points. The bank rate now stands at 2.5%, a 40-year low.
The gap between the Bank of Canada rate and the rates of the lucrative credit card market continues to widen and is now 16.4% in this unstable and difficult economic period.
Is the government going to continue to do nothing while financial institutions continue to rake in $34 billion in profits of various sorts, including unpaid debts, to the detriment of consumers in this period of recession?