Mr. Chair, we are having a debate on public policy. It is wonderful that the Conservative member from Saskatchewan has chosen to do a show and tell exercise, but I want to remind him that we are here to debate and discuss solutions to some very serious problems in society today.
I understand that the member thinks the most important issue right now is to share information. However, that information is readily available through such agencies as the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada, which is headed by Mr. Bill Knight, who is a well-known expert in the area and just happens to be a former New Democrat MP, a credible, experienced individual who heads up an organization that provides very valuable advice. I would suggest that the member simply refer his constituents to that agency. The website address is readily available from the brochures.
Tonight we are supposed to be having a serious debate about what direction to go in with respect to credit cards. We are talking about Canadians using credit cards because of our cashless society and being stuck with incredibly high interest rates. We are talking about people who end up losing everything because they get caught up in a system for which there are no checks and balances and where the government has thrown up its hands and said that it cannot do anything because the banks would get mad at it. We are talking about trying to come together to put some proposals to the government so that people do not get ripped off.
One of the questions we have to talk about tonight is, what is an appropriate interest rate? It is not good enough to say that the Criminal Code sets the usury rate at 60% and anything above that means a person could be charged under the Criminal Code. We are talking about rates that are five times more than the prime lending rate. We are talking about charges of 19%-plus on credit cards which cause Canadians to go into debt and to be indebted to the banks forever.
I hope the member has some policy to give us from his party. What is his position with respect to the appropriate cap on credit card interest rates, or is he saying there should be none? Is the Conservative Party still saying, as it said in 1990 under the Mulroney government, that there should be no cap, that we should just let the banks charge what they want up to 60%?
Does the member have any suggestions? The fact is that Christmas is upon us, people are relying on their credit cards because they have to and because we do not have a proper system in place, they end up paying exorbitant charges over a lifetime. It is time we as a House actually gave the government some advice on that issue.
I look forward to some policy from the member.