Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise in the House to respond to the question asked a few weeks ago and to provide some clarification.
I assure my colleague from Windsor West that the government is dedicated to modernizing and strengthening consumer protections on financial products across the country. We recognize that the financial sector plays a big role in the daily lives of Canadians.
Financial institutions take consumers' deposits and supply access to payment services, such as cheques and point-of-sale debits. They provide mortgages and car loans and also accommodate consumers' needs in areas like health and home insurance. In short, financial institutions permeate every aspect of our financial lives. That is why we want to ensure that there is a strong, efficient, and consistent regime in place that guarantees the highest standard of protection for all financial consumers, whether they bank online or in person.
Today we benefit from a financial services sector that is efficient, stable, and competitive in this country. However, we understand that this alone cannot guarantee that consumers are represented and protected sufficiently. The changes brought by globalization and technological innovation have contributed to creating a more complex business environment.
Even if consumers benefit from a much greater selection of products and services, their choices are more difficult to make because of how complex financial products have gotten. Often consumers do not have the necessary knowledge, competence, or confidence to make the wisest choices and that could make them vulnerable to unfair or aggressive marketing practices.
When they are better versed in financial knowledge, consumers can better manage their money and debt. They are also able to plan and save for the future and shield themselves against fraud and financial exploitation. These are among the reasons financial literacy is more important than ever and that is why November is Financial Literacy Month.
There is no better way to protect consumers than by giving them the knowledge, skills, and confidence necessary to make the informed financial decisions that are best for them. The government takes financial consumer protection very seriously, and that is why we asked the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, or FCAC, to work with the Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions, or OSFI, to review bank sales practices and governance controls.
We also intend to see to it that we achieve our objective of having the highest overall level of protection for Canadians all across the country.
The government is firmly committed to consolidating and strengthening existing protections, to easing access to basic banking services, and to improving rules around existing business practices that govern how banks treat their consumers.