Mathieu Ravignat

[National Defence, December 4th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, senior officials have confirmed that the Prime Minister and the—

[National Defence, November 30th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives' famous seven-point plan for the F-35s is nothing but smoke and mirrors. As soon as it was announced, the government started downplaying expectations.

KPMG's independent audit figures were to be made public in July. Now we will have to wait until Christmas. Even the Grinch will be disappointed this year.

Why do we have to wait so long for these figures? When will we finally get to see an update on the cost of the F-35s?

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Absolutely, Mr. Speaker, that has definitely been the experience in my riding.

Most statisticians would say that there is a relationship between the level of education, poverty and literacy, so we are talking about compounding situations. If our literacy AND education is low, it is perhaps more difficult to understand the financial system.

My hon. colleague is completely right that statistics are worrying. We are talking about 30% of families that lack any retirement savings. The average Canadian household debt is 150% of income and Canadians' debt load has increased by 25%. We know that a lot of those Canadians are either working poor or poor. It is truly unfortunate. We would hope that we would have a more compassionate government that would address this issue.

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, my colleague is quite right.

First, it does not contain a definition of financial literacy. We should first define financial literacy. Furthermore, there is no accountability measure, and no initiatives to increase financial literacy.

Furthermore, the recommendation to create an advisory council composed of union representatives, among others, was not retained. In my opinion, the suggestions we made in committee would improve this bill and help protect Canadians.

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, we can all agree that this is a rather complex field of study. It is clear that the vocabulary is not the same in the two languages. I am bilingual and have lived in Ottawa my whole life—or at least much of my life—and I find it rather difficult to compare the French and English terminology when it comes to financial matters.

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I will repeat the quote that I was attempting to read by the finance columnist from The Globe and Mail, Rob Carrick. He wrote something that I think is quite revealing. He said:

--it's disappointing to see banks, advice firms, investment dealers and mutual fund companies treated solely like part of the solution to the lack of financial literacy in Canada, and not part of the problem as well.

We need to recognize that financial institutions and banks in this country have an extremely powerful role to play with regard to persuasion over Canadians. It is that persuasion that could be used rightly or wrongly to affect the financial lives of Canadians.

As well, members should keep in mind the glaring statistic that 26% of Canadians struggle with even the most basic numeracy and 56% do not have high enough levels of numeracy to demonstrate the skills and knowledge associated with the ability to function well in Canadian society. Keeping that fact in mind, we should all be worried. We should also be worried about the high level of domestic debt. This problem needs to be addressed.

HRSDC reveals that the relevant statistics for financial literacy are 20% and 48%. If we compare that with the United States, Canada has one of the highest levels of annual costs for equity funds, which is 2.31% compared to 0.94% in the U.S. It is no wonder banks want more customers.

The highest earning 11% of Canadians contribute more to RRSPs than the bottom 89% of tax filers combined. Canadian taxpayers subsidized those RRSPs to the tune of $7.3 billion in annual net tax expenditures.

To continue with some interesting statistics, 30% of Canadian families lack any retirement savings outside of the Canadian pension plan. Also, as I mentioned before, Canadian household debt is at 150% of income and 25% of Canadians increased their debt load over the past year. In the last quarter, the CPP outperformed the markets by a margin of 10 to 1.

Why am I referring to all of these statistics? It is because what we are discussing with the bill is the relationship of power between the average Canadian citizen's knowledge of the financial system and that of the banks in this country. If we do not empower Canadian citizens with the ability to understand the financial system and what financial institutions impose on them, then we are on a slippery slope.

The measure proposed by Bill C-28 is a good one. However, from our perspective, it is not enough.

For example, we are concerned that there is no explicit requirement that the incumbent of this position be bilingual. And yet, we live in a country with two official languages.

We believe that the person responsible for improving financial literacy throughout Canada must be able to communicate in both French and English. The minister of state has assured us that the incumbent will be bilingual, but the Conservatives are refusing to put this in the legislation. That worries us.

The conclusions of the task force on financial literacy clearly state that the financial literacy leader must be kept apprised of the situation by an advisory council consisting of representatives of the industry, unions, educators, government and voluntary organizations from across Canada. This provision is included in this bill and will prevent the participation of a number of partners following implementation of financial literacy. The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada and the government have said that an advisory council will be established, but that this does not require legislation. This is confusing.

At committee stage, we proposed some amendments in order to address some of the shortcomings. We proposed that the requirement of bilingualism be added—we did ask for that—that a definition of financial literacy be added and that more responsibility be given to the incumbent of the position to be created.

However, the Conservatives rejected our amendments. Stakeholders told us that creating this position is better than the status quo. The government has at least agreed to create this position. In light of the fact that the expenses related to this position were approved in the 2012 budget, we support the bill. We will nevertheless continue to push the government to go further. Even though it has taken a small step in the right direction, there is still a long way to go.

How could we improve the situation? Financial literacy is an important aspect of consumer protection. The fact that many Canadians do not have savings and the rise in consumer debt are symptoms of the discrepancy between the rise in the cost of living and salaries, not financial illiteracy.

Too many Canadians are living paycheque to paycheque. This situation proves that the government is not taking a leadership role and that it is incapable of addressing issues that are truly important to Canadians. The government has never implemented strict laws and regulations to protect consumers. This bill falls far short of providing any real help to consumers.

We believe that the best way to support consumers is to establish a single-window consumer protection department or agency that would handle all consumer issues. If the government really wants to protect consumers, then it should move forward with credit card regulations, for instance, and implement important regulations that would cap interest rates and eliminate the excessive fees paid by consumers.

We in the NDP have a better plan in mind for financial security for retirement. We need to strengthen the Canada and Quebec guaranteed pension plans by gradually doubling benefits in an affordable manner to a maximum of $1,920 a month, thereby providing Canadians with an adequate level of guaranteed income during their retirement.

However, the government and politicians basically need to ensure that Canadians are educated and have access to financial training, as well as ensure that Canadians are protected, particularly from the banks, credit card companies and other financial institutions such as insurance companies, and the power they can hold over Canadians' lives. To that end, those institutions need to be properly controlled through legislation that focuses on the common good.

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, first we must define the problem.

Let us define the issue here. This may seem like an anodyne bill, but in fact at its core it has a very essential contribution to make. It is really a question of fundamental literacy. We can talk about literacy in general terms with regard to reading a book or a document, but literacy goes fundamentally deeper than that. Literacy eventually is also an issue of justice.

I found a particular quote from Globe and Mail finance columnist, Rob Carrick, which is quite revealing about this particular bill. He says, “it's disappointing to see banks, advice firms, investment dealers and mutual fund companies treated solely like part of the solution to the lack of financial literacy in Canada, and not part of the problem as well—

[Financial Literacy Leader Act, November 28th, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I listened carefully to the hon. member's very interesting speech.

He obviously showed that there are a number of problems with financial literacy in Canada and that the measures proposed by the government do not fully address them.

My question for him is very simple: what could we have done to truly contribute to the financial health and literacy of Canadians?

[Petitions, November 23rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to present a petition in support of legislation giving Gatineau Park the necessary legal protection to ensure its preservation for future generations. This petition is signed by hundreds of Canadians, primarily from Quebec.

[National Defence, November 23rd, 2012]

Mr. Speaker, there is no oversight and transparency when the Conservatives are whitewashing the Auditor General's report.

Yesterday, the Minister of Public Works said that the statement of requirements would be amended for the so-called options analysis. Will the minister commit to make public the new amended statement of requirements to prove to Canadians that this is not another case of saying one thing in public and doing something else behind closed doors.