Madam Speaker, the fact of the matter is, in terms of financial literacy, it actually should start with the New Democratic Party. The previous NDP member who spoke talked about the 2.5% Bank of Canada rate, the overnight rate that is offered, for example, and why are the other rates going up. If NDP members had a sense of financial literacy they would understand, for organizations that loan money in this country, the overnight rate is not where they borrow money from the Bank of Canada. They would understand that is not what happens. They get their money, the cash that they lend out, from other organizations. The problem is global, not just in Canada. Those secondary markets that were providing cash to organizations that would then turn around and lend that money has shrunk, has gone, and they are not able to secure that funding.
When there is not the availability of a supply of cash to be used, that money becomes more expensive when they are able to attract it, which causes interest rates to change, which causes interest rates to go up.
I was on the finance committee when the banking organizations in this country testified, and I personally questioned them: Why would my credit rate go up by 2% when I have nothing to deserve that? They were able to give an answer that I did not necessarily agree with, but they have issues.
It is about literacy and understanding the system--