Mr. Speaker, some people have referred to this bill as housekeeping, but I can see some members actually get choked up about it. I think that demonstrates the importance of what we are doing here.
I do not know if I have specific recommendations about how to deal with the regions. What I do have are concerns.
I must say that I feel well served as a citizen of Canada by our banking institutions and I feel very well served, individually, by the relationship that I have with my own banker, Dave MacIntosh, and the Scotiabank in Dartmouth and by the banking institutions in Nova Scotia.
However, I do believe that the centralization, particularly of decision making, of the banks has taken away the traditional banker and small businessperson relationship, where the small businessperson could come in, the banker would know that person, would know what he or she did in the community, would know his or her reputation, and would understand his or her involvement in important community activities. The banker would know the business, and know the ups and downs and the cycles of the business.
I believe we have lost that to some extent with the centralization of decision making. The loan limits that bank managers are allowed to approve at the local level has changed dramatically and I think that is a concern.
Now, fortunately, under the wisdom of the government and agencies such as the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, we have been able to support small and medium sized enterprises and build the economy of Atlantic Canada and, in some cases, have gone where the banks have not gone. As well, we have had the credit unions, which are strong across the country but not quite as mature in Nova Scotia as in some of the western provinces, step in and do a very good job as well.
My recommendation to the banks would simply be to not forget that the regions of Canada provide an awful lot of support, a lot of those 600,000 employees that the hon. member mentioned before. I would also say that, for example, Scotiabank, in whatever changes it has made in Nova Scotia, has never laid off or told a person that he or she no longer had a job. So I think there is a corporate responsibility there as well.
My concern is with the centralization of decision making which should reside in the regions where people know the businesses and the individuals involved.