Mr. Speaker, I was quite pleased to hear my hon. colleague talk about the role of the credit union movement.
Where I come from in Timmins--James Bay, my family goes back a long way with the credit union movement. The Anguses were solid members of the Worker's Co-operative, which, in those days, was called the red credit union. My grandfather, Joseph MacNeil, who broke his back in the McIntyre Mine, was the credit manager for the Consumer's Credit Union, which was known as sort of the pink credit union.
These credit unions provided service when no one else would and they kept many people from losing their homes in tough times. In our region now, I am a solid member of the Caisse populaire. I will tell all members that the Caisse populaire in northern Ontario is an essential functioning element in terms of community development.
It seems to me that governments have never paid attention to the role that groups like the Caisse are playing in small towns across the north The government listens to the big banks, to the lobbyists and to the insiders, but it does not listen to the credit unions that are on the ground, doing the work and helping people. Why does the hon. member think that is the case?