Madam Speaker, I enjoyed listening to the member speak to the bill. I would like him to give me an idea of how this would affect small banks in small towns because he said that the interests of the consumer were very important.
It appears that the more these banks do merge, the services are not there any more. We, in Saskatchewan, for example, who deal with the Royal Bank, we phone our bank 10 miles down the road and our calls go to Winnipeg, which is in another province.
Is that something that might be under the purview of the bill or is it something that is under the purview of each of the banks? I sort of wonder about that. Could the hon. member tell me in simple language how the people would be affected? If he heard from the common people, perhaps witnesses at committee who had concerns about the bill, could he relate to us what some of those concerns were so I could grasp how this affects our small communities and smaller populations in provinces like Saskatchewan?