The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that Canada's two main political parties have largely neglected the debate over waning competition and innovation in the banking sector. The Globe's Stefanie Marotta writes that in recent years, mounting regulatory pressures and delays to key infrastructure have prompted questions over whether the country's banks can keep pace with global competitors. As Canada's productivity declines and economic growth slows, critics say the country has failed to move with the times. Under former prime minister Justin Trudeau, the federal government proposed and implemented several policies to address gaps in financial services, but when Mark Carney's Liberals released their election platform last week, banking regulation was missing from the discussion. On Tuesday, the platform launched by Pierre Poilievre's Conservatives proposed a review of federally regulated oligopolies to identify ways to increase competition and lower costs. National Bank chief executive officer Laurent Ferreira said, however, that Canada's concentrated banking sector has helped keep the financial system stable. "When there is a crisis, we're all at the table," Mr. Ferreira told The Globe.