canadian federation of independent business posts

If you're like many Canadians, all you want for Christmas is a free flight home – or someplace hot – for the holidays.
But try as you might, you can't find a way to redeem all those frequent flyer miles or other travel rewards points that you have accumulated through credit card purchases because of restrictions imposed by the airlines and other factors.
The mystery has remained unsolved for years. Well, there is a way, says Patrick Sojka, founder of Calgary-based Rewardscanada.ca.

What's in your wallet?

Credit cards with excessive transaction fees, according to the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.

CFIB has identified numerous credit cards that hurt consumers and small businesses alike. MasterCard, which uses the above question as a marketing slogan, is among the worst offenders, along with card issuers CIBC and Bank of Montreal.

Dan Kelly, CFIB's senior vice-president of legislative affairs, says many consumers and businesses are not aware of the fee structures, which range from one per cent 1.5 per cent to three per cent of a purchase price. The high costs are contributing $5 billion annually to Canadian banks' revenues.

Jack Layton has died. Where will the NDP go from here?

The next six to 12 months will determine how good a job the late party leader did at succession planning.

Follow Huffington Post Canada's Ottawa bureau chief Althia Raj for live Layton updates.

The NDP aren't alone. Many family-owned businesses and other small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are also grappling with succession plans as baby boomers start to retire en masse and in some cases, pass away. But business groups and advisors say most family-owned firms are not ready for leadership change – because they have not planned sufficiently.

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Increases to the minimum wage in Canada hurt the very people they are supposed to help, according to a new report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB), an association for small to medium-sized businesses.

The group argues that provincially regulated increases to minimum wages cause small businesses to either cut jobs, reduce staff hours or postpone new hires. Using their own estimates, they say a 10% increase in minimum wages against all provinces would cost the Canadian economy up to 321,300 jobs.

"At a time when the economy is in slow recovery, the last thing governments should be considering are policies that further hinder job creation," said Marilyn Braun-Pollon, CFIB's Vice President for Saskatchewan and co-author of the report.