Send a message to Chrystia Freeland: Stop the RBC takeover!

6,834 actions

goal: 9,000

Housing in Canada costs too much. As we struggle with this cost of living crisis, rising mortgage rates push up rents, make tenants more insecure, and drive up inflation.¹

RBC is the largest mortgage lender in the country, controlling 27.4% of all mortgages, and they charge some of the highest rates.² If RBC is allowed to get even bigger by taking over HSBC Canada, it will make houses, rents, and the cost of living, even more expensive.³

RBC can’t just buy up another bank and hike housing costs unchecked. It’s up to the Minister of Finance, Chrystia Freeland, to decide if a massive corporate takeover like this can go through.⁴ Together, we can ensure she makes the right call.

We need to show Freeland that stopping the RBC takeover — and protecting us from higher housing costs we just can’t afford — is key to tackling the cost of living crisis. Will you send a message to Minister Freeland calling on her to stop the RBC takeover?

Send a message to Finance Minister Freeland

Subject

To Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland:

I am writing to oppose the acquisition of HSBC Bank Canada by the Royal Bank of Canada. We are living through a cost of living crisis, and this acquisition will only make life more unaffordable for Canadians by increasing the costs of mortgages, rents, and credit cards. I am particularly concerned about the impacts this acquisition will have on housing and climate, two key issues our country is facing.

On housing, RBC has some of the highest mortgage rates in the country, while HSBC has some of the lowest. RBC already controls over a quarter of Canadian mortgages; any further consolidation of Canadian banks poses a threat to housing affordability. Protecting Canadians from higher housing costs should be a priority for the Liberal government and a key part of the Department of Finance’s mandate.

Additionally, the Department of Finance has a duty to consider the impacts of this merger on climate finance. RBC is Canada’s largest funder of fossil fuels, and while it boasts of investments in sustainable projects, a 2023 report shows RBC puts $99 of its energy finance into fossil fuels for every $1 into renewable energy. Allowing private financial institutions to expand while financing the fossil fuel companies that make climate change worse puts both Canada’s financial system and the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement at risk.

This acquisition is not in the best interest of the financial sector or the public, and I urge you NOT to approve it.

Sincerely,

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Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland

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Send a message to Chrystia Freeland: Stop the RBC takeover!

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