In a panel discussion at Merrill Lynch’s Bank CEO Conference today, three CEOs boasted that they’d happily lose the restrictions on foreign bank competition in Canada.

Jokingly referring to themselves as the “Three Stooges” for their unanimity on the issue, Bank of Montreal’s CEO, Tony Comper, Scotia’s Peter Godsoe and TD Bank’s CEO Ed Clark, all said that if they had their way there would be no restrictions on foreign banks playing in Canada.

Comper said that the public impression is that the banks depend on government protection from foreign rivals, but that the banks have no interest in this sort of protection. He said that Canadians and Canadian business would surely benefit from greater competition, and that the banks believe they would be able to compete with big foreign players.

TD’s Clark said that the issue is not foreign entry into the market, because that is relatively open, the question is whether a foreign player could buy a Canadian bank. And, he said, that this is just politically a non-starter at this point. “Whether we think it’s a good thing or a bad thing, is irrelevant, [because it’s not going to happen].” Although, he believes, that Canadian banks could withstand the challenge.

Scotia’s Godsoe indicated that he believes these barriers to foreign ownership will ultimately crumble in the face of free trade movements such as NAFTA and the WTO. He suggested that this would be in the next five years, rather than the next 10 years or so.