Every year, the House of Commons’ Finance Committee holds extensive consultations to inform the future policy and spending priories that the government should pursue. This process provides stakeholders the opportunity to contribute to the Canadian public policy discourse, and ensure that Parliamentarians consider a wide range of policy priorities. Providing feedback is critical because the Budget is the Government of Canada’s primary fiscal and policy setting document.
As a respected financial institution that connects consumers, businesses and financial institutions with seamless, secure payments and information exchange experiences, Interac’s perspective on the digital economy, payments, and security carries real weight with government decision-makers.
The Budget goes through several steps before being adopted:
- Once finalized, the Budget is introduced in the House of Commons.
- Several days of debate are held to determine whether the Budget and the fiscal and policy path the government is setting has the support of the majority of Members of Parliament.
- If the government’s approach has support, the government will introduce a Budget Implementation Act (BIA) which introduces the legislative framework required to enact the Budget’s policies.
- This BIA is then referred to the Standing Committee on Finance that started the entire Budget process for review and ultimately approval.
- Spending measures included in the Budget are authorized via a separate appropriation process in the House.
Interac’s recommendations for the 2025 Budget are an extension of our North Star purpose of leading Canadians to digital prosperity.
The full recommendations can be found here.
1. The government should fulfill its commitment outlined in Budget 2024 to enable verification of borrower income for mortgages through the Canada Revenue Agency.
Fraud has a distortionary effect on house prices. Providing lenders with a tool to confirm that the information borrowers are providing to lenders is accurate (via the Canadian Revenue Agency) ensures that all bids on a home are compliant with requirements set out in the OSFI stress test. Canadian financial institutions and mortgage brokers are mostly supportive of Interac providing this function through its verification services.
2. The government should continue to support efforts to combat fraud in Canada by increasing public education and awareness and convening a specialized expert advisory panel of private and public sector leaders.
The Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre (CAFC) reports that fraud-related losses cost Canadians $569M in 2023. As only five to ten percent of scams are reported, true losses are likely closer to $5,7 to $11B. As the pace of digitalization accelerates, the necessity for continuous action (including education) to prevent fraud is growing. Interac provides verification capabilities that help enhance security for Canadians making digital payments or sending and receiving money, but more is needed in the marketplace.
Interac’s new strategic plan targets the growing need for advanced fraud prevention and protection in a digital world with increasingly sophisticated threats by focusing on authorized push payment (APP) fraud—a type of scam where a person is tricked into transferring money to a bad actor through a seemingly legitimate request.
3. The government should continue to support the adoption of real-time, account-to-account payments across the economy, unlocking benefits for Canadian consumers and businesses through greater velocity of money settlement.
Interac is working with Payments Canada to help bring the Real-Time Rail (RTR) to Canadians. The RTR will introduce real time clearing and settlement of payments, improving speed of transactions nationwide. This is crucial for Canadians and will provide new possibilities for businesses to grow and serve their customers.
In addition to our recommendations, Interac continues to meet regularly with Members of Parliament from all parties and with senior levels of government to provide feedback on their priorities.
