LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
- April 07, 2009
Below is a letter written April 1, 2009 by BC Southern Interior MP Alex Atamanenko regarding credit cards and merchant fees:
Hon. Toney Clement, P.C., M.P.
Minister of Industry
CD Howe Building, East Tower, 11th Floor
235 Queen St.
Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5
Dear Minister Clement,
I write today to bring to your attention concerns that have been expressed by some local business owners in my riding of BC Southern Interior.
For your information, I have taken the liberty of attaching a letter from Mr. Jeff Rowe, owner/operator of Valu-Plus Foods in Keremeos, BC and Mr. Fred Boyd, Manager of Buy-Low Foods in Grand Forks, BC. Please note that I have also received similar letter from many other merchants in my riding.
As you can see by the attached correspondence, both Mr. Rowe and Mr. Boyd are extremely concerned that merchant fees charged by credit card companies and banks are increasingly making it more difficult for small businesses to remain competitive.
Another issue, which the Retail Council of Canada has also raised, is the proposal to the Competition Bureau by Interac to restructure and move from a non-profit to a profit-making operation.
The end result would be an increase of fees charged to retailers for consumer use of debit cards.
As you are no doubt aware, this will obviously put small independent businesses at a tremendous disadvantage.
Many of our communities have been hit hard by these difficult economic times. Businesses such as Valu-Plus Food and Buy-Low Foods are having a hard time. Therefore, I respectfully urge you to support the "Stop Sticking It to US" coalition representing small and independent entrepreneurs all across Canada.
It is the responsibility of our federal government to ensure a restructuring of Interac will not be allowed to take place and that credit card fees are kept at a reasonable rate.
A low cost debit card system is vital to the survival of many small businesses, and ultimately, to the survival of our rural communities.
Thank you in advance for your consideration on this important matter.
I look forward to hearing from you in the near future.
Sincerely,
Alex Atamanenko, MP
BC Southern Interior
Dear Editor,
Today's accomplishments are yesterday's impossibilities.
Icarus, the tragic flier of Greek mythology, claimed that all limits are self imposed.
Man will fly; impossible - Wright Brothers, 1904.
Man will break the sound barrier; impossible - Chuck Yeager, 1947.
Man will land on the moon; impossible - Neil Armstrong, 1969.
Man will find a cure for Multiple Sclerosis; impossible - TBA.
St. Francis of Assisi wrote: "Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible". Let's do the impossible!
Ken Carlson, Princeton
