MEDIA RELEASE

CANADIAN COMMUNITY REINVESTMENT COALITION CALLS ON PARTY LEADERS TO ACT IN RESPONSE TO RECORD BANK PROFITS

OTTAWA - Today, in response to reports of record second-quarter profits from Canada's Big Six banks, the Canadian Community Reinvestment Coalition (CCRC) called on the leaders of several political parties to commit to acting on their parties' proposed changes to the Bank Act.

"Banks have refused to disclose details about how they make their profits, and Canadians need this information to determine whether our banks are serving consumers and the economy well," said Duff Conacher, Chairperson of the CCRC, "It is up to the banks to prove that they are not making their huge profits by gouging consumers and ignoring the needs of the job-creating small business sector."

"The Liberal, New Democrat, and Progressive Conservative parties have all made commitments concerning changes to banking legislation that will require greater disclosure of what banks are doing with Canadians money, and will help ensure that banks meet the demand for capital from job-creating small businesses," said Conacher, "The CCRC wants the party leaders to commit to taking whatever steps they can to enact their proposed changes." Background on party policies on banking profits

"Canada's financial institutions have escaped scrutiny of their lending for decades, and we have seen the results of this lack of accountability as they have lost billions of dollars through speculative lending to developing countries and real estate developers like Olympia and York over the past ten years," said Duff Conacher, "We have also seen mounting evidence that the demand for capital from the small business sector, which has created 80 percent of the new jobs in Canada over the past decade, is not being met."