Mr. Speaker, I think the member should have been listening a little more closely. I did not suggest for a second that I support usurious fees by payday loan operators. What I am saying is that in many instances that is the only vehicle left for people. They are turning to those places because they cannot get money anywhere else. The big financial institutions, the big banks, will not even allow the very poor and marginalized to open a bank account.
Therefore, at the very least, we have a responsibility to make sure these operators are regulated so that they do not charge the fees that they do and are not gouging and abusing people. That is what I was saying. I do not think we are ever going to get rid of them. I think they are going to be around. If people need to access money, they are going to access it. If they do not get it at the payday loan operations, they are going to get it from Joe or Jack down the road who is going to lend it to them out of the back door. Then they will pay usurious fees. The consequence of that may be way more dramatic and problematic for some of those at risk, who are our neighbours and friends.
Perhaps we should be looking at putting these operations out of existence and challenging the banks to actually provide the service they were set up to provide in the first place, but what I am saying is that if these payday loan operations are going to exist, and it looks like they will for a while, let us at the very least make sure they are regulated.