Good morning, Mr. Chair.
I would like to thank the MPs for the invitation. It is greatly appreciated.
My name is Yves Servais. I am the director general of the Association des marchands dépanneurs et épiciers du Québec, the AMDEQ, a group of close to 1,000 owners of independent convenience stores. It is important to note that AMDEQ does not include multinationals like Couche-Tard, in Quebec, but only independent convenience stores. AMDEQ is also a buying group. It also defends and represents the economic issues that have an impact on the operation of our members' businesses.
I am accompanied by Mr. Desrochers, who takes care of AMDEQ's government relations. He is also a former member of the House of Commons.
That said, when you invited us to appear, you asked us what federal measures could help the growth of SMEs in Quebec and the development of Canada's economy. We currently have two priorities, which correspond to two matters currently being studied in the House of Commons.
The most important priority has to do with credit card acceptance fees. For close to six or seven years, we have been lobbying the various governments to resolve this matter. Retailers currently have to pay high fees when they let customers pay for purchases by credit card.
A few years ago, the Competition Bureau acknowledged that Canada's acceptance fees were among the highest in the world. We are here today to make you aware of the situation and to ensure that these fees will eventually be regulated lower. Several countries have already regulated credit card acceptance fees.
The former Conservative government took certain positions and was involved in the matter, which we think was a step in the right direction, but it wasn't enough. There were no concrete outcomes regarding the costs that accepting credit cards incur for our members.
For example, when consumers pay with their credit card, for some gas retailers, they may pay $40,000, $60,000 or $80,000 in management fees. For large grocery stores, these fees may fluctuate between $120,000 and $150,000. Those are huge amounts.
So we are meeting with you today as representatives of the Association des marchands dépanneurs et épiciers du Québec to ensure that credit card acceptance fees will actually be regulated, as other countries are doing.
I would like to point out that Australia was one of the first countries to regulate these fees by fixing the rate at 0.5%. Here in Canada, the average is 1.5%, but it can even go as high as 2% or 3%. The difference between Canada and Australia is huge. As for Europe, a year or two ago, England regulated credit card acceptance fees and set the rate at 0.3%. Once again, it is much lower than here, in Canada.
I would like to add something about the 1.5% to 2% fees that we are charged by credit card companies. It is important to dissect these fees. I find it worth mentioning that 40% of the fees invoiced to merchants are used for bonus points, free gifts or rewards offered to consumers when they use their credit card. We don't think it is our responsibility to pay for bonus points or rewards that credit card companies give to consumers. We are willing to pay for the technology and the security, but we think it is up to the credit card companies, mainly Visa and MasterCard, to pay the fees related to the rewards.
What happens is that the credit card companies and financial institutions do a lot of promotion to convince consumers to pay with a credit card, which provides astronomical income to the credit card companies and financial institutions, but also creates astronomical expenses for small businesses. That is why we are asking you to establish regulations on this. We believe it's important.
I would also like to point out that, previously, about a year or a year and a half ago, the NDP tabled a motion in the House of Commons to establish a rate on credit card fees. The Liberals were in opposition at the time and had indicated that they were in favour of regulating the rates and fixing them at 0.5%. In February 2016, a Liberal MP, Linda Lapointe, member for Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, introduced a private member's bill to truly regulate credit card rates. So we are asking the government and all the MPs to be sensitive to Ms. Lapointe's bill and to move forward with regulations on credit cards. We could elaborate on this later.
The last point I would like to mention relates to the bill tabled by the NDP on business transfers. It's something that is also very important to us. I could elaborate on this, but I think my time might be limited.
Mr. Chair, may I make a brief comment on this issue?