Good as the Bill is for consumers though, there are several important gaps in its provisions. The committee can rectify these gaps, and I would urge you to take this opportunity to improve the Bill for Canadian consumers. Since 1998 many more branch closures have been announced. The situation is considerably worse now than when the Task Force on the Future of the Financial Service Sector published its recommendations, which is why we feel that additional measures to address the problem should be considered for Bill C-38. When a bank branch closes in a small town, it causes difficulties for consumers and businesses in the entire area who are faced with having to travel long distances to do their banking.
Small towns tend to revolve around the gas station, the local shop, the post office and the bank.
This situation is very hard on communities. I would like to urge the members of this committee also to become people in Ottawa who care about the fate of our small communities. Post office banking clearly has the potential to enhance rural consumers' access to financial services, but there is no public interest to be served by the Canada Post promoting services that could compete with credit union branches, or offering low quality services such as white label ATMs. The establishment of the FCAC is a very positive step, and key to the overall consumer protection framework. We are quite concerned, however, about some the detail in its enabling provisions in the Bill.