CFIG Membership – An Investment in Yourself

CREDIT CARD FEES:  WHAT’S IN YOUR WALLET?   3 HANDS!

CFIG and the Small Business Matters Coalition – now the largest voice for small business in Canada – have led the fight over the past two years in maintaining pressure on the government to bring forward further reductions in interchange fees.  The credit card companies, banks and payment processors, the 3 hands in your wallet, continue to levy fees higher than other jurisdictions.  Our efforts resulted in Visa lowering their grocery rates to 1.23% and Mastercard to 1.22%.   Our objective remains to have fairness and transparency in the payment network system, so that our rates are at the least, aligned with those paid by large companies such as Wal-Mart and Costco.

IN-STORE LABELLING EXEMPTION

CFIG advocated to the federal government the need to recognize the unique challenges of a small business grocer in complying with a myriad of regulations.   When new labelling requirements were imposed on the food industry, all products produced in-store or in a commissary for sale in a one store operation, were exempted from nutritional and allergen labelling requirements.  Since 2007, this has saved single and multi-store grocers thousands of dollars annually.

CHEESE QUOTA—INDEPENDENTS GET A FAIR SLICE

The implementation of the Canada-EU Trade agreement, known as CETA, will bring in several thousand tonnes of European cheese products into Canada with no tariff.  Due to CFIG efforts, the government determined that 30% of the allocation would go to small and medium sized retailers and distributors, while 20% would go to the larger retailers and distributors.  This is a six year process and over this period, CFIG will be monitoring the implementation.

CONSOLIDATION AND COMPETITION

Retail and supplier consolidation has in some cases distorted fair competitive practices in the food industry.  CFIG continues to raise the profile of this issue and the need to ensure that independent retail grocers are not singled out and treated unfairly in their dealings with suppliers.

ENERGY PRICES

While this has been largely an Ontario issue, it is expected that as more provinces eliminate coal and upgrade their infrastructure, energy prices in other provinces will increase significantly.  In Ontario, these prices have increased too much and too quickly.  CFIG continues to push for relief for “Class B” businesses.  In the meantime, CFIG has reached an agreement with the IESO to begin a special study of the independent grocer channel. The findings of this study could be a template for other provinces. A component of this study will also include special access of CFIG members to the new GreenOn program.

CFIG AND COALITION WIN TAX REDUCTION

The Small Business Matters Coalition that CFIG leads was strategically engaged with the Federal government on the proposed small business tax changes released in the summer of 2017.   As the largest voice of small business in Canada, the Coalition used the opportunity for close engagement to raise concerns about the proposals that many others were raising, but the Coalition—alone—also pushed for a small business tax reduction.  It was the reason why the Coalition—alone—was invited to join the Prime Minister at the October announcement of the 2% tax cut to the federal small business tax rate.

BEER AND WINE—HERE’S TO YOU!

When the Ontario government opened up the sale of beer and wine in grocery stores, CFIG advocated for independents to get a fair share.  That is why the province decided to establish two separate pools for bidding—one for independents, one for chains.  Independents can bid in both pools, chains only in the one.  Also, independents had a guarantee to receive 20% of the beer licences and 25% of the wine licences. In addition, AGCO inspection fees were slashed from $7000 to $1000, for the independents only.  Without CFIG, there is no doubt there would not be a single independent able to bid against any large chain to win a license.

MINIMUM WAGE AND MAXIMUM COST

CFIG aligned itself with other major business organizations in actively supporting efforts to forcefully oppose the scale and speed of minimum wage increases planned in Alberta and Ontario.  The Keep Alberta Working (KAW) and Keep Ontario Working (KOW) Coalitions devoted significant time and resources to this issue and will do so again in upcoming elections.   As well, CFIG expressed concerns to the NDP government of BC about their planned minimum wage hike, which at least will phase their increase in over a longer time frame—to 2021.