Mr. Chair, I may have misheard the member and I apologize. I thought I heard him say McKnight in the previous exchange and we naturally think of Conservative members as distinguished members so we hear their names more readily.
In doing my research I also did some comparing. I found one credit card that charged prime plus 2%, which I believe was the hon. member's reference. In looking through my research, I am not aware of any credit card that charges a 60% interest rate. I would be very surprised to know that anyone would actually use such a credit card.
The highest rate I found, after recently looking through all the store credit cards and so forth, was approaching 30%. That was a charge card with more of a penalty for not paying it. I think the underlying view was that the stores did not want this as a borrowing mechanism. They wanted it merely as a convenience for paying. The high penalty was there to discourage people from even considering it as a borrowing fee.
I appreciate that parliamentary secretaries do more research. My staff is looking into this and will continue to do so, as I am sure his staff will. I think it is imperative that the public bring forward any stories or tales of this so we can deal with the problem and expose it. It was brought to light that if some people did not understand their options financially and so forth, they may end up using some of these usurious instruments of finance. As we educate people and let them have full knowledge, at that point they will find what the market defines as lower rates and move to what is more naturally better for them.