Mr. Chair, if there is any contradiction in this place, it is within Liberal ranks. The idea of a cap on credit card interest rates is not an idea of the New Democratic Party; it has been a longstanding policy of the Liberal Party.
I would refer the member back to a debate that happened in 1990, when there was a standing committee on credit card costs. It recommended that interest charges on cards issued by financial institutions not be allowed to go higher than eight percentage points above the bank rate.
In that debate there were speeches made by Conservatives suggesting that this would cause everything that the parliamentary secretary is now saying. Suggestions were made that if we were to put a limit, then the banks would just rise to the limit or they would not be able to pay for all their costs, and therefore they could not be able to lend generously to Canadians when they need it and all this kind of stuff.
At the time, the member for Glengarry—Prescott—Russell, a Liberal member, said that the argument was gibberish. I assume that he would call the parliamentary secretary's argument gibberish as well.
He went on to say that the government on the one hand argues that competitive forces will work to keep interest rates down, but if we impose a limit, the companies will all climb to that limit. Now we have the Liberals in this House doing exactly what they criticized the Conservatives for a number of years ago, wanting it both ways.
The generally accepted public policy in this country is for a positive role by government, especially in the area where credit card interest rates can fluctuate so wildly and place such a tremendous burden on Canadians. It seems to me that we should actually work together to find the right cap that should be placed on credit card interest rates, not dismiss the idea at all.
I never thought I would do this in the context of this debate, but maybe it would be useful to quote the Bible since the Old Testament is pretty clear on usury. The Old Testament forbade lending for any interest. Deuteronomy 23:19 states:
Thou shalt not lend upon usury to thy brother; usury of money, usury of victuals, usury of any thing that is lent upon usury--
If the Bible is not good enough, we could quote the Muslim Quran, which states:
Those who devour usury will not stand except as stands one whom the Evil One by his touch hath driven to madness. That is because they say: “Trade is like usury,” but Allah hath permitted trade and forbidden usury.
The idea here is not just a cap on credit card interest rates. It is not just some crazy idea of the NDP. It is found in religious texts. It is found in Liberal policy books. It is found in consumer advocacy organizations. People everywhere are talking about the impact of unregulated credit card interest rates on consumers. We place people in difficult situations and huge debt loads that can only hurt them and their families and, hence, our society.
If the goal is to have economic growth and ensure people are contributing to their full capacity, then surely the member can see that it would be important for the government to find some way to cap interest rates and to work to ensure that the banks and other financial institutions are not taking advantage of consumers and are ensuring that everyone who enters into a credit arrangement has full knowledge and information and is not burdened with a debt beyond their means.