They usually do issue a bank card with a new account, as far as I know. Some people have accounts they've had for several decades, though, and they still have no bank card. In such cases the bank will generally try to talk the person into getting a bank card.

I also find my bank card very handy, because it allows me to do transactions at the machine whenver I want to, and to make debit purchases when shopping, paying for a meal, etc...

Now then, there are all the various chain store cards. Shoppers Drug Mart, for example, always asks me if I have an Optimum card when I shop there. Zellers asks me if I have their card. And so on. Their staff have obviously been instructed to ask every customer that. I don't want an Optimum card or a Zellers card, because I already have enough bloody cards crowding up my wallet.