Committee
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Consult the user guide
For assistance, please contact us
Add search criteria
Results: 1 - 15 of 64
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 10:49
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair, for the opportunity to present the convenience channel's recommendations for the upcoming budget.
Let me first start by acknowledging the measures announced this week by the government relating to small businesses, particularly around rate reduction, which we had recommended. I'm very happy with the series of announcements that have come out this week. The remarks we put out earlier this week on those measures are in your kits. I'm certainly looking forward to working with all parliamentarians, including the Minister of Finance, to provide additional feedback as we get it from our members.
I'm going to speak directly from our slide deck, which is in the kit you have before you. The first four slides really give you an overview of the convenience retail channel in Canada.
Let me start with the number of convenience stores throughout the country. I'm very proud to represent a channel that, through over 27,000 retail locations in the country, provides goods and services to Canadians in urban, rural, and remote parts of the country. I also want to take the opportunity to thank many of you who helped us and supported us on national Convenience Store Day at the end of August, when we raised over $80,000 for the Children's Wish Foundation to help children in need.
In terms of employment, we have a nearly even split between full-time and part-time employment among the 27,000 locations. Approximately 234,000 jobs are directly attributable to the retail locations across the country.
As you see on the slide on taxes collected by convenience stores, our channel collects over $22 billion in taxes for all levels of government in Canada. It's something that certainly, as one of my members said, “We don't get paid to do this”, but we do it. It's an obligation that we take very seriously.
This takes me to the first issue I wanted to raise with the committee, credit card fees. That is on slide 5.
Our members use a number of methods to collect dollars from their customers, most notably credit cards. I think I've spoken to this committee before about the fact that Canada has among the highest credit card fees in the world, ranging anywhere from 1.5% to 4% per transaction. We certainly would like to see these fees come down. We believe that if other jurisdictions such as Europe and Australia can bring them down to 0.3% or 0.5%, Canada can certainly do the same.
We support Minister Morneau's review of credit card fees. Our understanding is that his review will conclude at the end of this year, and it's certainly our hope that, in time for the next budget, there will be some good news for retailers with respect to those fees.
On slide 6, in terms of some of our regulatory concerns, there are two bills currently in Parliament that are of concern to us. One is Bill S-5, which is the vaping and plain packaging legislation. We are very worried that this legislation will make the illicit tobacco market even worse while adding additional costs to small-business retailers, and at the same time doing very little to correct the unfair advantage vape shops currently have vis-à-vis convenience stores when it comes to selling vape products.
On slide 7, I want to highlight that as the largest channel for selling age-tested products, most notably tobacco and lottery, our members take their responsibilities very seriously. We have training modules in place that our members take on an annual basis. It was our channel that abided by Health Canada's rules on e-cigarettes, preventing them from being sold in our channel.
On slide 8, you will see some of our specific concerns and the feedback we received from our members with regard to plain packaging. Most notably, at the very end security concerns have been highlighted by our members, as well as increased costs to their businesses. Again we want to impress upon the committee and the government that our channel should not be an afterthought with some of these policies, but that in fact they will have a serious impact on them.
On slide number 9 we highlight the illicit market in Canada, which is fairly big. I would note that the government's marijuana policy specifically does not recommend plain packaging and also recommends low levels of taxation, which is counter to what you find with the tobacco policies that are being advanced. Certainly we believe that action needs to be taken on the illicit market first and foremost, to bring it under control, before Bill S-5 is looked at.
Slide number 10 looks at vaping, specifically providing for a level playing field, which we don't think currently exists in the legislation.
Moving on to slide 11 and 12, with regard to Bill S-228, which is currently moving into the House of Commons, there are serious concerns around the downstream implications for our members. For example, will employees under age 17 now be prevented or prohibited from handling products such as a box of chocolates or a bag of chips? These are some of the concerns that our members have. Will they have to change the layout of their stores to abide by the rules that could be coming as a result of this legislation? Again, there are a lot of unknowns, and the feedback we're getting from our members involves questions on the government's intent on this front.
I would say that our channel is committed to working with the government and all parliamentarians to ensure that there is a wide selection of goods available in convenience stores. In certain communities, convenience stores are the only game in town.
One of the things we have recommended in the past—and we will continue to do so—is to provide targeted tax relief, including measures that can help convenience stores to carry fresh fruits and vegetables.
On my final slide, committee members, you will see our list of recommendations. The issues I've just spoken to are provided in more detail on the left-hand side of your kits.
I would be more than happy to take any questions you might have. Thank you very much.
View Raj Grewal Profile
Ind. (ON)
View Raj Grewal Profile
2017-10-19 11:24
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses today.
I want to apologize. I'm going to duck out after my questioning round because I have to get back for Diwali functions in the beautiful riding of Brampton East.
My first question is for Satinder. You spoke about credit card fees. We have some of the highest credit card fees in the world. How do we compare to our neighbours down south?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:25
I think we're probably comparable in many ways. I noted just yesterday that down in the U.S., the Supreme Court has now accepted a case, and they are looking at American Express and the fees they charge merchants. I think certainly the challenges down there are pretty comparable.
I would say that in Canada there were positive efforts made by the previous government in bringing in a code of conduct for the credit card industry. Unfortunately, what we have found with that code of conduct is that some of the commitments that were made, particularly around transparency and openness about those rates, haven't come to pass. I think this is one of the reasons Minister Morneau is reviewing the file, which is certainly encouraging. My hope is that this committee will add to that momentum. Hopefully, we can get some hard caps in place in the next budget.
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:28
I think the credit card fees are the top recommendation for us. There is certainly that, along with going after this contraband market, which I think is critical. I think everybody would agree that—
View Alexandre Boulerice Profile
NDP (QC)
Okay. Good.
Mr. Chera, thank you very much for your presentation.
As a member from Montreal, I can tell you that we have convenience stores on every street corner. There are many of them. So that is a very important aspect of the business fabric.
Over the past several years, the Association québécoise des dépanneurs en alimentation has also been approaching Quebec members about the fees charged when people pay with a credit card. That issue is still unresolved.
I had an opportunity to meet with MasterCard and Visa representatives in Ottawa. I put that question to them. The answer we often receive is that a lot of money has to be invested in new technology. There are now chip cards we don't need to slide, as well as contactless cards. All that leads to a lot of costs, and it has to be profitable.
What's your response to that argument?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:43
Again I would say if you look at other jurisdictions where the same credit card companies provide the tap-and-go service, they've managed to bring credit card rates down to 0.3% of transactions or 0.5% of transactions.
I guess what we would say is openness and transparency are critical. We haven't, quite frankly, seen it from the credit card companies. They should justify why they can't do it in Canada. They can do it in other places in the world; why can't they do it in Canada? That's a question we've put to them, to which we haven't received an answer.
The Chair: You have two minutes.
View Jennifer O'Connell Profile
Lib. (ON)
Right. Then when you were responding to my colleague Mr. Albas' question in terms of the technologies and the growth, you said that other countries are doing it. In the U.S. they don't have the chip technology in most places, so they're not even quite at a tap of the card there. Are you saying that Australia has chip and tap technology?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:54
My comment was that they've invested in technology in other jurisdictions as well. If that's the argument that is being advanced for why they can't do it here, then we would argue that they should show us the evidence of why they can't do it here.
View Jennifer O'Connell Profile
Lib. (ON)
My question is that you said they're doing that in other places, but if they're not...because part of the technology, to my understanding, is that the technology has to have the security so that if a consumer uses a credit card, it's secure, and we're not dealing with fraud. In a lot of jurisdictions, for example the U.S., that don't have the more secure transactions, they actually are paying more because there's a greater risk.
In response to your question, you talked about jurisdictions that are doing it and offering it cheaper. Do Australia or the other jurisdictions that are cheaper have chip and tap technology?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:55
I'm not specifically aware of that, no.
View Tom Kmiec Profile
CPC (AB)
Mr. Chair, I'm going to continue the line of questioning.
There's just one point I wanted to make. When you're talking about your members collecting taxes on behalf of the government, GST/HST is included, and then your members remit that back to the government. I think that may be what you're referring to.
I want to talk about the credit card fees, because at one point you said “hard cap”. Did you mean to say a hard cap on credit card fees?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:58
Yes. For example, if you look at Australia or the European Union, they have limits in place, at 0.5% or 0.3%.
View Tom Kmiec Profile
CPC (AB)
One of the bills before the House is from one of our Liberal member colleagues. Linda Lapointe has proposed one under which the cabinet would basically be able to decide what type of credit card fees would be acceptable. Do you support that? Does your membership support that?
Satinder Chera
View Satinder Chera Profile
Satinder Chera
2017-10-19 11:58
Ms. Lapointe is someone whom we consider a friend to the convenience channel. She raised an issue that frankly, from our members' perspective, no one was really trying to address. We certainly don't understand why they can have caps in other jurisdictions and not in Canada. Again, if there are legitimate reasons why that can't happen, we would certainly welcome that dialogue. To date, we haven't received any information on it.
View Tom Kmiec Profile
CPC (AB)
Just generally, I'm opposed to giving the government even more control over different areas of the economy. You have 26,000 members. Walmart took on Visa and won eventually. You have 26,000 members. You have an ability to negotiate directly with the companies. The Canadian Chamber of Commerce has done so through First Data. They get preferential rates for their membership as part of the group benefits they provide, Interac payments and cheaper credit card payments. Why isn't your association able to leverage your membership base to negotiate with Visa and Mastercard on behalf of your members to provide a member benefit like the chamber network does?
Results: 1 - 15 of 64 | Page: 1 of 5

1
2
3
4
5
>
>|
Export As: XML CSV RSS

For more data options, please see Open Data