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As CFIG members know, one of our top priorities over the last few years, is to keep fighting for continued reductions in credit card interchange fees. Last fall, reductions were implemented that were the result of an agreement resulting from the advocacy efforts of the Small Business Matters Coalition, led by CFIG.
However, notwithstanding that agreement, CFIG has continued to maintain that more still needed to be done, so that the gap between what small and medium size businesses pay, as opposed to large businesses, was significantly narrowed.
While CFIG understood during the past year that the overwhelming concern of the Federal government was dealing with the pandemic and all issues related to that, CFIG did advocate to government and raise in the media, two issues that we linked to the pandemic. The first was our push for a Grocery Code of Conduct in Canada. We have made significant progress on that issue.
Our argument for opening up the last credit card agreement for review and changes, was to point to the huge migration away from cash transactions, coupled with the explosion in on-line ordering and curbside pick-up. All of these translate into a higher percentage of interchange fees being paid by businesses and amounts to a windfall for the credit card companies. This seismic change in the payments landscape is also a significant barrier to businesses looking to recover in the post COVID period.
As such, CFIG welcomes and applauds the commitment by the Government of Canada in this month’s budget that will mean a further reduction in fees. As you can see from the Budget statement excerpt, the Government will lower interchange fees and ensure that those fees are similar to the ones enjoyed by large businesses. Further, if following consultations with stakeholders, an agreement cannot be reached, then the Government will bring forward legislative amendments” to regulate interchange fees, if necessary.”
This is a huge step forward. The battle is far from over, but we are continuing to move closer to our destination!
