Mr. Speaker, I must say that I would need to have a very careful look at what Wal-Mart would intend to do in terms of bringing banking within their scope of business.
The member is correct when he says that Wal-Mart has extended hours, but Wal-Marts are not likely to find themselves in the same areas as those places that are under-serviced, such as the downtown east side of Vancouver or small rural areas that do need extended banking hours and are not likely to be within driving distance, walking distance or bus distance, if there is a bus, of a large anchor store such as Wal-Mart.
I do support anything within reason that would bring extended hours to people. Maybe there is a message for another kind of banking as well. The bank that eventually developed in the downtown east side of Vancouver offered a great deal more flexibility to its members than regular banking hours do. It recognized that the people who used that bank either did not work regular hours or did not have regular hours and were able to come in at times that other people could not. I think there would be an interest in anything that would provide more flexibility for banking. I must admit that I would want to see more carefully what Wal-Mart would intend to do with its banking, but we do see this within Safeway.