On Monday June 1st, the NDP (the Official Opposition
in the federal House of Commons) made a motion for the Government
to ban all "pay-to-pay practices" by banks operating in
Canada through the enactment of a mandatory financial code of
conduct to protect consumers. A "pay-to-pay" fee is
described in the motion as a fee a customer is charged just for the
right to pay their bill, however, the focus of the motion and the
ensuing debate in the House of Commons was on the practice of
charging consumers a fee for a paper statement. The (Conservative)
Government supported the motion and the motion was passed.
Legislation to prohibit "pay-to-pay" practices by
banks has not yet been drafted. Therefore, at this point, we do not
know exactly what will be prohibited. We note that legislation was
passed in December of 2014 which prohibits telecommunication and
broadcasting companies from charging fees to provide paper bills.
It is likely that banks will eventually be prohibited
