Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for a question that is pertinent and that actually illuminates how important postal banking is for smaller communities. As I said in my remarks, there are communities where people do not have access to government support because government support comes in the form of direct deposits. If there is no bank, access to one's own money becomes impossible. There are communities where people have to go several hundred kilometres to find an ATM, because the banks do not care.
In terms of other countries, France has postal banking and Italy has postal banking, and they are very successful. There are a number of postal banks, including in New Zealand. Even Switzerland has a postal banking system that works very well.
With respect to payday lenders, the vultures are out there everywhere. They will take a $100 loan and turn it into a $60,000 debt. It takes a while, but if people do not have the money to pay back the $100, they sure cannot pay back that long-term loan.