Evidence of meeting #141 for Industry, Science and Technology in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was stripe.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
I believe it's 15 basis points less, but I'll confirm that.
Conservative
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Per transaction, Canada is 30¢.
What is it in the U.S. per transaction?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
Are you looking for the per-transaction cost?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
I don't have that information on hand today. I'm sorry.
Conservative
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
It's 30¢ in Canada, but what about in the United States?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
Off the top of my head.... I forget at the moment.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
You came from Washington. You live in the United States, but you don't know what it is in the U.S. On the website, it's five cents.
Again, why are you ripping off Canadians?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
We did pass through the reduction. For our users on flat-rate pricing, we're shielding them from what would otherwise be a cost increase. We haven't raised our prices in over eight years.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
What percentage on volume is a decrease, then? You said you passed on a decrease. What percentage is that on volume?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
For businesses on interchange-plus pricing, it is just passed through. The amount of reduction they get is exactly what the card networks agree to provide.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Earlier today, you said that what the government is working on for you is such a small change that you aren't going to pass it along, yet we see what this has done for you. We look at your revenue and the way it has skyrocketed over time. I can tell you that a small difference is big.
I'm going to use my own quick little story here. Many years ago, I worked construction making $14 an hour. I got a 50¢ pay raise. That was a lot of money for me, even though it was only 50¢ an hour. A small amount makes a big difference for people, and for companies, in particular. For small businesses trying to get by—maybe they're looking to expand their operation—that small number is a huge difference.
Why on earth are you not passing along these savings to small businesses, especially if you have a strategic adviser to the Prime Minister?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
I understand what you're saying. A small amount can make a difference.
In this case, you have to think about it in the context of the many other things a small business cares about. They care about increasing their sales. They care about having things work very well and being simple. What we should be doing is considering it from their perspective. What are all of these things relative to one another? We thought long and hard about this and looked at the small reduction relative to what they might lose, which is simple, clear pricing. We felt like that was not a good trade-off.
There are ways to make this more workable and, had we been involved in this negotiation and it hadn't just been a small set of parties—
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
You are part of the negotiation, because, at the end of the day, you have a strategic adviser to the Prime Minister on your board. You are involved in negotiations here.
Quickly, what percentage of volume of transactions are on interchange-plus pricing versus standard pricing in Canada?
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
We really were not involved in this negotiation. We found out about it just like the other witness, in the news.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
Mark Carney's been on the board for over two months, though. This guy is part of the negotiations with the government. This guy is directly involved here.
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
With respect, the board is not involved in this. No board member, to my knowledge, has been involved in public policy advocacy in Canada.
Conservative
Jeremy Patzer Conservative Cypress Hills—Grasslands, SK
You're confident in telling this committee that Mark Carney is not involved in any lobbying or any strategic advice or public policy advice to the Government of Canada.
Director, Public Policy, Stripe
I am confident that, to my knowledge, no board member, any board member, has been involved in public policy advocacy in Canada.
October 24th, 2024 / 9:40 a.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Joël Lightbound
Thank you very much, Mr. Patzer and Mr. Peters.
I'll now turn it over to MP Arya.