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Results: 1 - 15 of 26
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Ms. Cardona, thank you for your testimony, which was very poignant. Let's hope the situation changes.
Good afternoon to all the witnesses. My thanks to them for joining us today.
My questions are for Mr. Côté.
Mr. Côté, thank you for your presentation, which was very clear. First, I would like to come back to the interchange fees imposed on retailers by the credit card companies. This rate is 0.5% in Europe, whereas it is 1.4% and can even reach 2.5% here in Canada.
You are asking the government to take action in that area. Is that correct?
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Your message is clear. Let's hope you are being heard.
Another point stood out for me. You said that large American chains are able to negotiate lower rates that give them an advantage over our retailers, which are often family businesses.
I also wish it had been implemented more quickly, because I feel that credit card payments, especially online payments, have multiplied with the pandemic.
Have you noticed an increase in credit card payments to the members of the Conseil québécois du Commerce de détail compared to before the pandemic?
View Annie Koutrakis Profile
Lib. (QC)
View Annie Koutrakis Profile
2021-05-20 16:54
Okay. Great.
Thank you for that, Mr. Kelly. All of our agents worked really, really hard across all the agencies, but I know that CRA has done a phenomenal job.
I have a question for Restaurants Canada with regard to lower credit card interchange fees.
Can you comment on how these measures are expected to lower the cost of doing business, especially for businesses that are increasingly reliant on e-commerce?
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Thanks to our witnesses for being here today. We appreciate your service during this pandemic.
I want to come back to the issue that hit so many small businesses in my riding and right across the country: the issue of payment fees as part of retail payments. Small businesses are just being relentlessly gouged. There has been a move for some kind of voluntary capping of these fees.
Within the scope of the legislation, or within what the finance ministry is looking at in terms of regulation, is any due consideration being given to capping those fees? Small businesses often end up, through retail payments, with huge percentages of their sales actually going to the big credit card companies rather than to their bottom line when they're trying to get community businesses going.
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Where do you see that in terms of timelines? Small businesses are really struggling, as we all know. A lot of them in my riding and across the country have closed their doors. There's no other way to put it, with the gouging that is taking place with credit card companies that are taking 10% of the sales, sometimes higher. It makes the small business folks really struggle for the bottom line, both to establish themselves and also to maintain themselves.
Where do you see the timelines in terms of those discussions and negotiations? What is the deadline that the government has set on that?
View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
Thank you. My questions are right in the same vein as Mr. Julian's.
If I heard what you said correctly, that there's a plan to have a plan in the fall economic statement, that's as far as the government has gone in fulfilling the promise of reducing credit card merchant fees and their cost to small businesses.
View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
Okay. It's a plan, as opposed to tabling legislation that would implement the commitment it made in the budget.
View Pat Kelly Profile
CPC (AB)
I have another point, then, on this. You made reference in your remarks on division 8 to increasing competition in this area, which is really because the key to better consumer experiences is choice. How will this increase competition in this area? The regulations you're contemplating, or the objectives of the regulations you're contemplating, may well be sound and necessary, but not likely to increase competition. When you add regulation to compel businesses to all conduct themselves with the same processes and procedures, you're not increasing competition and you're not likely.... I'm hoping to see something that will help out our small businesses, who pay the brunt of transaction costs in retail.
I'll let you just maybe address competition and what you mean by increasing competition.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you for clarifying your intentions as regards division 8. That makes me feel better.
The second issue I want to talk about relates to credit cards.
In the budget, you laid out your intentions to limit interchange fees, or to ensure small businesses are treated more fairly in relation to big merchants, which have the ability to negotiate lower credit card interchange fees. In the budget, you indicated that next steps would be outlined in the fall. Why did you not go ahead and implement the measure through Bill C-30?
I would remind you that a Liberal member, Linda Lapointe, brought forward a private member's bill to address this very issue in a previous parliament. Her bill was delayed twice, before she was appointed to a position within the government. She then had to abandon the bill.
As I see it, action is urgently needed, especially since the pandemic has hurt small businesses and deepened the inequity between small and large businesses. Why, then, did you not bring the measure into force now?
From what I gather, putting it off means it may not be implemented until after the election.
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
You oversee the Payment Card Networks Act, so as I understand it, you have the authority to investigate interchange fees. I would like to know whether you have the authority to make that information public. I'll explain.
Apparently, because of the pandemic, the number of credit card transactions has skyrocketed, both in person, to avoid physical contact, and online, because people are staying home and making more purchases on the Internet. First, can you confirm this boom in credit card transactions?
As elected officials, we often hear that these transactions result in higher interchange fees for merchants. In addition, consumers seem to be more dependent on credit cards and, therefore, on credit.
Could you tell me what kind of investigation you have conducted so far or are planning to conduct?
View Gabriel Ste-Marie Profile
BQ (QC)
Thank you.
As I understand it, then, a code of conduct requires that Visa and MasterCard honour their own commitments. If we wanted to change that, it would be our duty to pass a new bill in the House.
Comparisons are often drawn with Australia and the European Union, which regulate interchange fees. I will digress for a moment. In your response, you talked about the relationship between the merchant and the credit card company, but you also spoke of the consumer and their reliance on credit, which is reflected in their credit card usage. The banks and credit card companies were asked to be flexible during the pandemic, but we are quite disappointed with what we've seen so far.
With respect to the Payment Card Networks Act, how does Canada compare with Australia and the European Union, where legislative changes have been undertaken to rein in the credit card companies' power?
View Peter Julian Profile
NDP (BC)
Thank you.
My final question is for you, Mr. Sands.
You raised the issue of interchange fees. Other countries basically have put handcuffs on the banks' gouging of people. I know of many small businesses that are impacted by the high cost of access through interchange. How important is it that the government, given that they've provided about $750 billion in supports to the banks, actually require the banks not to gouge small businesses on interchange fees?
View Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Profile
BQ (QC)
They are probably quite similar.
What I want to emphasize is that this is almost a monopoly. Many merchants have called me about interchange fees. I don't know if you know what those fees are. Right now, I don't think they're regulated. These merchants today pay 2% to 3% interchange fees. You may have different numbers. In Europe and Australia, it's 0.3%.
Do you think that would be a good way to—
View Wayne Easter Profile
Lib. (PE)
Alexis and Mr. Rudin, some of this area is really the government's decision to make.
I don't want to put Mr. Rudin in a spot of having to.... He has to abide by what the established government policy is. I think your question related to exchange rates is more for the finance minister's perspective rather than Mr. Rudin's.
Mr. Rudin, if you want to add anything to that, go ahead.
View Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe Profile
BQ (QC)
I had lost my connection, but I'm back online.
I wanted the superintendent's opinion on interchange fees. Is that possible, Mr. Chair? If he can regulate them...
Can you hear me well?
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