Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor news @theotherpress.ca Ashley Whillans associate @theotherpress.ca Interac applies to become for-profit; reactions from businesses mixed Nikalas Kryzanowski news editor V V ith money increasingly tight, many businesses, especially small ones, are always on the lookout for new ways to recoup the costs of running. One method more businesses seem to be turning to is an added charge of using debit cards. The fee generally runs up to twenty five cents to complete the transaction, with some businesses instilling a five dollar minimum to use it at all. Interac is a non-profit co-operative that administers debit transactions on behalf of payment processing systems in Canada. It has seen to the steady rise of cashless transactions at businesses throughout the 1990s and into this decade. Currently businesses pay a flat fee of between ten and fifteen cents per transaction for the service, with some passing this cost onto consumers. The non-profit has now applied to the Competition Bureau of Canada to become for-profit and according to the Retail Council of Canada this doesn’t bode well for both consumers and businesses who already feel like they pay too many fees for accessing their own money. The fear is that if this application is approved, the flat fee may become a percentage of the total transaction. For instance, on a $100 purchase made with debit today in Canada, the business is charged 10-15 cents for the transaction, a cost recovery fee for Interac. If the scheme becomes for-profit, then Interac may charge a percentage of the transaction and the cost to the business could be much higher—meaning businesses would potentially be forced to pass that expense on to the general public through higher prices. Mark Bickley, owner of Mark’s Pet Stop on Commercial Drive, does not charge a fee to use debit on his Moneris payment processing system, and he says that he’s satisfied with the way things are. “I get approached constantly by reps who try to convince me to use their debit machines that automatically charge a user fee to customers, of which I would get a percentage,” he said. “My priority is reliability and these pinpads cost around $1600-1800, so I’m not about to change things up.” More Canadians are turning to the convenience of swiping a card at the till. Interac reached one billion transactions in 1997 and had its two busiest days around Christmas of 2006 when 31.2 million transactions occurred. Young councillor By Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor Wiite Jonathan X. Cote’s middle initial lends itself well to his civic election campaign, the councillor wants citizens of New Westminster to know that he’s more than just a name. Cote is the youngest councillor in the city. First elected in 2005 at the tender age of 26, he has completed his first term on council and is hungry for another chance to represent the city. It is clear that Cote has not let his youth stop him from achieving his goals. “When I started three years ago, we ran a hard campaign. I had no idea that we would succeed the way we did. I certainly bring the average age of council down by a large number,” he said. “The best thing that young people can do if they’re interested in politics is to get their name in the hat.” Even if a young person doesn’t succeed the way Cote has in their first time out, getting into the fray early means offers tips to budding politicians that you have many more chances in the future, all while building on name recognition. For young people interested in civic politics, they should consider that the amount of time devoted to the job and the pay depends on the size of the city. Says Cote, “in a place like Vancouver, council would be a fulltime job, but in New Westminster it isn’t; I do still have my own fulltime job, but there is a salary for council of around $24,000 a year.” Cote believes that his youth has been his strength and while it may be a distinguishing physical characteristic, he believes it goes much deeper than that. “What many people don’t realize is that the decisions made on a civic level have a much more direct influence on peoples’ lives than provincial or federal politics. So, it is important to have more youthful people or even more middle-aged people on council.” The six-member New Westminster council led by Mayor Wayne Wright has citizens headed to the on polls November 15". Province drags feet on Woodlands School case By Nikalas Kryzanowski, News Editor E.. years, residents of the now-infamous Woodlands School in New Westminster have been fighting a court battle against the province of British Columbia over alleged systemic abuse. The abuse occurred when the school opened in the 19" century as an insane asylum, with all the harshness associated with that title. Over the years, the building was supposed to have transformed into a place or refuge for the mentally disabled and a school for “kids that nobody else wanted.” According to the allegations made by an association of former residents called the We Survived Woodlands Group (WSW), abuses went on right up until the province sold the land in 1996 to private developers. A class action lawsuit has been waged by WSW for the past six years. The latest turn of events in the suit has the province appealing a decision by Madame Justice Deborah Satanove that ordered it to produce documents pertaining to individual residents of the institution. The plaintiffs see this behaviour as further incrimination of the abuses. “You have to ask why the government is appealing the order to produce these documents,” said Bill McArthur, co- representative plaintiff and Woodlands resident. “There must be something in them that they want to hide.” In 2000, the NDP government of the time appointed Dulcie McCallum, then-ombudsman for the province, to find Continued pg 6 5