Mr. Speaker, I will not even bother commenting on getting into a comparison of who donates more money to charity. It is not worthy of this place.
I will come back to the idea about banks not living up to their duty and obligation to provide basic general services to all Canadians as an aspect of their being granted a charter, as are chartered banks. A lot of people do not know their banking rights. Low income people often do not.
A bank cannot turn down people who want to open a bank account even if they do not have a single dollar. Even if they do not have any money but just want to open a bank account to establish a relationship with that bank for future cheque cashing, for instance, a bank cannot turn them away as long as they have a piece of ID.
Maybe people do not know their banking rights. There has been very little effort on the part of banking institutions to make sure people know their rights, because these are considered nuisance services. An individual might be charged $1.50 in service charges, but probably that does not even pay for the administration costs.
People should know their banking rights. The Government of Canada has a role to play in reminding banks that they have this duty and an obligation, not just in the inner city of Winnipeg but in Plum Coulee, Manitoba, or in some small towns that are losing their bank branches too.