This is from Monsieur Giguère regarding small and medium-sized businesses. In summary, this motion calls on the government to reduce transaction fees charged to merchants and to allow merchants to disclose to the consumer the transaction costs relating to the payment method chosen at the point of sale in order to help make the cost of living more affordable for the middle class.
Just as a bit of background, section 91.15 of the Constitution Act of 1867 allocates to the federal Parliament legislative power in relation to banking, the incorporation of banks, and the issuance of paper money. This is the federal connection.
Of note is that in 2010, the government passed the Payment Card Networks Act, which gave the Minister of Finance the authority to regulate national payment card networks and the commercial practices of payment card network operators. As well, it gave the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada a mandate to supervise payment card network operators to determine their compliance with the act and its regulations. Section 6 of the act and section 7 of the act regarding regulations and enforcement conditions have never entered into force, so the subject matter doesn't overlap exactly.
As well—you might have noticed this in the news recently—in 2010 the government established a voluntary code of conduct with the credit and debit card industry in Canada, which was recently updated in April, this month, to include mobile payment. It added a provision that says mobile users must be given full control of the default settings on their virtual wallets. It also allows merchants to exit their contracts with credit card processors without penalty and gives new protection to retailers who decide to stop accepting mobile payments.
All of this is background to say that there are things out there on this issue. They're not exactly the same. They actually might even flow well together.
This motion does not concern issues that are outside of federal jurisdiction. It does not clearly violate the Constitution acts, including the Canadian charter. It does not concern questions that are substantially the same as ones already voted on by the House in the current session or preceding it in the order of precedence. It does not concern questions that are currently on the order paper or notice paper as items of government business.