Thursday, January 25, 2007

NDP vs. Big Banking

It's not quite socialism, but at least it's a progressive minded economic policy. The federal NDP has called for an end to ATM fees for banking transactions. In the last year, Canadians paid about $420 million in charges to cover these transactions.

"The NDP thinks hard-working Canadians should not be charged by banks when they deposit, withdraw or transfer their own money using an ATM," Layton said in a release. "The NDP will table amendments to the Bank Act that would eliminate fees for using ATMs."

Now, calling for an immediate nationalization of all key facets of industry, including the banking industry, would have been a much more appropriate, but I'm suspect that this will get Jack Attack a few more votes, which the party desperately needs.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

It's a good idea (banning fees, not nationalizing banks).

Why should Canadaians pay so much more for ATMs than people in other countries. As someone who travels from time to time, this has always burned me.

The banks need to realize that we SAVE them money when we use the ATMs, because they don't need to hire as many staff to look after us at the bank.