Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to address the House of Commons today on such an important matter.
I spent roughly six and a half years in the financial services sector. I had the opportunity to work both with TD and RBC as well as with Meridian Credit Union. The products and opportunities that are offered through the co-operative structure are a great help to consumers and provide competition, especially in the financial services sector, to what is mostly a closed industry.
I would like to thank the member for Brossard—Saint-Lambert for bringing forward the motion today. The issue needs to be addressed by the government and by the House going forward. It is an issue that past governments have seen as a very important one. Changes were made by the former finance minister, the late Jim Flaherty, with regard to the laws surrounding credit unions, allowing them to nationalize, allowing them to go cross-country, and not just be stuck in each province. Those changes were the seeds that are now sowing more competition in the financial sector.
Originally this was brought forward as a bill, but was retracted and brought forward as a non-binding motion. I question that. From where I sit, it looks like the government may have perhaps intervened, that perhaps it did not want to see this come forward as a binding bill on which it would need to act, and therefore wanted a non-binding motion instead that could be supported but pushed aside. This is not the approach the government promised us when it was sworn into power. It is not the approach that was communicated to us through the throne speech, on December 4, 2015.
I would like to take a couple of excerpts out of that speech to show what was communicated to us with respect to the expectations for members of Parliament, specifically backbench MPs, and how their opinions would matter.
Reading the speech, the Governor General said:
I call on all parliamentarians to work together, with a renewed spirit of innovation, openness and collaboration...In this Parliament, all members will be honoured, respected and heard, wherever they sit. For here, in these chambers, the voices of all Canadians matter.
Let us not forget, however, that Canadians have been clear and unambiguous in their desire for real change. Canadians want their government to do different things, and do things differently. They want to be able to trust their government.
The problem is this. We have an important matter before us that would have been a strong bill brought forward in the House by a backbench MP on the government side. However, it appears at this point that this was not in line with what the government wanted.
I commend the member for Brossard—Saint-Lambert for bringing forward this important issue. It speaks to competition in many sectors across the country. Co-operatives are spread across each and every sector. Unfortunately, with this being a non-binding motion on the government, it will not have the effect I would like. It speaks to the fact that nothing concrete is coming forward from the government with regard to economic development, or pushing industry down the road, or our economy, which has seen difficult times over the last year. We had some good numbers on Friday of last week, but besides that, we have seen poor job growth numbers.
We have been asking for a plan from the Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, or what used to be Industry Canada. We have not seen anything but three bills.
The first bill dealt with copyrighted works for persons with disabilities. We supported that, and always will. However, it does not have a wide-ranging effect on the economy. It does not show the plan the government said it would bring forward.
The second bill was with regard to disclosure of boards and compliance. If a board was non-compliant regarding the number of persons and diversity on the board, it then needed to explain why.
Another bill was tabled just last week. It has yet to come to our innovation committee. However, as we move forward, we see a lack of a plan for the economy. When a member on the other side of the House brings forward a very strong motion, which I would rather see as a bill because it would be binding, I wonder why the government, or the member on the other side, did not proceed with a bill instead of something that would be non-binding motion. We are not seeing a plan for the economy going forward. The motion is actually a meaningful piece that could have provided help and support. We wish the minister would have taken it and worked with the member to ensure it was a binding policy that the government could take to the private sector and push very hard.
When I was at Meridian, there were times when we had a lot of influence over what happened in the economy. As a credit union, a co-operative, we were able to fill sectors that perhaps the banks could not. There were times when smaller businesses felt they could not compete, so they came together, worked together and through the process of creating a co-operative, they found savings in sourcing products and opportunities for selling their products. Co-operatives are very important, and I wish we had seen this in a full bill.
Going back to credit unions and co-operatives overall, there are a number of financial co-operatives. When the previous government moved a motion to allow for co-operatives and credit unions to go to a national level, there was some concern about whether they would be able to compete with the high cost of doing so. Out east, the credit unions, with the provinces, came together and were able to put forward a larger bank and credit union co-operative. They provided savings to their members, as well as more products to them. Out west, Vancity and some other large credit unions looked at breaking out onto the national stage. In Ontario, my former employer, Meridian Credit Union, looked at a national perspective as well. There were talks of mergers, and all types of different opportunities. However, in the last year, a couple of them have taken that step onto the national stage. Some are looking at online banks and some are still looking at mergers.
This has created more competition in the financial services sector and it has forced the bigger players, the banks, to sharpen their pencils. At the end of the day, this increased competition has resulted in better products and rates for consumers, and an all-around good move forward for Canada.
I would like to see the government take concrete steps. It should not just stop with a non-binding motion. It should encourage co-operatives and credit unions because they are saving dollars for consumers. They are creating jobs for Canadians, where we have seen abysmal job growth. They are creating a better, more stable economy going forward through this type of diversity.
It certainly has been an honour to speak about this today. I look forward to returning and being able to address this again in the future.