Ottawa

Thomas Mulcair’s Throne Speech suggestions

Declaring war on ATM fees

In an essay for Policy magazine, Thomas Mulcair offers the Prime Minister a few ideas for the Throne Speech.

The Conservatives should propose new rules to rein in the most abusive practices of credit card companies and other lenders. They should ensure all Canadians with a clean credit record have access to at least one low limit, no frills credit card through their bank or financial institutions. Conservatives should respond to anti-competitive practices in the debit and credit card industries by limiting ATM fees. They should crack down on payday lenders that use deceptive practices and prey on less-informed borrowers to charge interest rates as high as 1,000 per cent…

The first step in this government’s new agenda for job creation should be to restore the $6 billion it slashed from community infrastructure funding in the last federal budget…

The government should provide targeted tax incentives to businesses that create new jobs and new opportunities for economic growth – not across-the-board corporate tax cuts that benefit only the largest and most profitable companies…

If Stephen Harper is to regain the trust of young Canadians, he’ll need to start by renewing that commitment and keeping his government’s promise to strengthen the CPP…

The Prime Minister can call for full and open hearings of the House of Commons Transport committee to investigate rail safety and the impacts of two decades of safety deregulation..

Last week the New Democrats set out their “justice priorities” and this morning—ahead of a Throne Speech that is apparently to be built around the idea of consumers’ rights—they explained their preferred options for consumer protection, including a cap on ATM fees of 50 cents.

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