Madam Speaker, I have a great deal of respect for the member. We came into the House together.
I want to ask him about credit cards, but before it is unfortunate that the PMO had him make a speech on the north when none of the points he mentioned were in the throne speech. There was one feeble reference to the north in it, but it was not the one he raised.
In fact, the points he did raise are a bit of a problem for the government. It talked about extending environmental control, but it did not retract the announcement from a couple of years ago about dumping waste in the Arctic. The Prime Minister promised three icebreakers and after our pushing and pushing, he finally came up with one. Therefore, that is a broken promise.
On my question about credit cards. I hope the member will help us with the onslaught of potential increase in credit card prices for both consumers and merchants. I brought this up in the House before. The retailers are very upset about the escalating and hidden credit card fees. They are upset with the government suggestion that having Visa and Mastercard in all the banks would help the situation. The merchants are very upset that their fees may go up and that they have no control over this. Individuals, if they miss a payment, their fees go up. All of this is in a time of economic uncertainty when businesses and Canadians are having enough trouble.
I am hoping the member will be onside with me in trying to help address the problem of potential credit card fee increases.