Mr. Speaker, the member asks why. I guess we will save that debate for another day and we will show the Liberals some Canadians who are struggling daily to make ends meet. They are finding it hard to actually pay anywhere from $2 up to $6 every time they want to take out $30 or $40, because they do not have access to a bank and are forced to go to an ATM, and if not an ATM, a payday lender where they pay a much higher amount.
We asked for mandatory disclosure of ATM fees. We could not get the committee to agree to eliminate or reduce the fees, so we just asked for disclosure. Guess what the Liberals did. They voted against disclosure. They voted against Parliament asking the banks to disclose their fees to use an ATM. Could someone explain that to me?
We asked for public accountability for proposed bank branch closures. We asked that the banks provide some proof that a bank branch was not profitable, some display of the numbers, some reasons, some discussions with the community. Guess what. It was defeated. By whom? By the Liberals, by the Bloc and by the Conservatives.
We asked for disclosure of security breaches leading to identity theft. Guess who voted against that. The Liberals, the Bloc and the Conservatives.
We asked for adherence to international standards in handling consumer complaints. It was defeated by the usual guilty suspects.
We asked for publication of names and events violating the consumer provisions of the act. It was not allowed.
We asked for increased penalties for banks for violations from $100,000 to $500,000. It was defeated, despite the fact that in telecommunications the fees for violating the laws are more like $15 million. Those members could not agree to $500,000.
We did win one and that was that government shall require banks to hold public meetings when they are planning bank closures, not may, but shall. That was a small victory for the NDP after many attempts.
We have so much more work to do on this front. We have issues pertaining to community reinvestment, electronic payments, credit cards and simple access to information to make the way through this maze of new technologies and systems. We will keep doing that.
I hope at some point we will get the support of other members of Parliament. This is very important to Canadians. Fundamentally we are talking about the right for all Canadians to access financial services where they live in whatever part of the country and whatever their background.