Credit union CEOs don’t usually wade into politics and active government lobbying to advocate for change.
“As a credit union, were owned by our members – they’re the boss,” he told BIV. “It's part of my job as the CEO to advocate for those issues that impact our members.” Cannabis sector companies continue to think that big banks are discriminating against them, which is why they launched a potential class-action lawsuit against Desjardins Federation, National Bank, Royal Bank, Bank of Montreal, TD Bank, and CIBC earlier this year.
“We didn't really realize at the time that the rest of the financial-services industry was going to, really, turn its back on legal cannabis. So we found ourselves being the flagbearer, if you like, for fair treatment of this industry.” Another change desired is for Ottawa to kill the need for licensed producers to put stamps on products. The expensive stamp system is complex, because each province has a different stamp.