Mr. Chair, as I am sure my hon. colleague is aware, at least anecdotally, over the last 10 years transactions in this country have changed substantially. Basically 80% was cash or cheque and now transactions are something in the order of 50% electronic. Of that 50% electronic, 61% is by debit card and 39% is by way of credit cards, so interestingly the debit card has actually eclipsed the credit card. The credit card is starting to be treated or seen by Canadians as less advantageous technology.
The proposal by the NDP is that we should cap interest rates at five points over prime and that we should set up either an industry driven bureaucracy or a government driven bureaucracy to so-called educate people and prevent them having difficulties with their lines of credit.
Given the trend lines that I suggested to the hon. member, I would be interested in his reaction as to whether he thinks those ideas as put forward by both the Bloc and the NDP have any merit whatsoever.