CANSO — Hopes of finding a financial institution willing to take up where the Bank of Montreal (BMO) is leaving off in Canso this summer are fading. As Municipality of the District of Guysborough (MODG) Warden Paul Long reported last week, there has been “no positive response” from anybody willing to fill the gap.
Long was responding to a request by Canso-area Councillor Fin Armsworthy (District 8) for an update at the Feb. 19 regular council meeting. “I’m being approached by people every day,” Armsworthy said. “Are there any rumours out there that there could be something coming this way?”
BMO announced in January that after more than 60 years in Canso it was permanently closing its branch, leaving approximately 800 residents of northeastern Guysborough County without a staffed bank location within 160 kilometres, effective July 25. The move, which triggered widespread public outrage, prompted Long to write a stern letter to the bank, while local MLA Greg Morrow (Guysborough-Tracadie) insisted it explain itself at a community meeting under the auspices of the Commissioner of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada.
According to Long, MODG has exhausted all potential options, engaging with multiple financial institutions in an effort to maintain services in the community. Despite these efforts, he said, no bank or credit union has stepped forward.
“We’ve been in contact with [a] credit union. I [also] talked to our MLA the other night. He didn’t get any satisfaction from the credit union [either] ... We sent a letter to RBC just to inform them of the situation here. We wanted to say that we’re only open here three days a week, and we don’t want to lose that and maybe get more added on because of a possible influx of customers from the Canso area. Unfortunately, we can’t twist their arm enough ... So, as it stands right now, we’ve had no positive responses back.”
Deputy CAO Shawn Andrews confirmed that MODG’s experience was not unique, citing similar responses from financial institutions in other rural municipalities, such as Port Hawkesbury, where BMO also announced its branch closure. “They’re not coming in to meet with councils,” Andrews said. “Their decision is final.”
Councillors discussed next steps, with Armsworthy asking, “Is there some kind of game plan we can take on this?” Andrews acknowledged that, while the municipality had done all it could, “That’s a private business decision.... It’s the same as any other business, large or small.”
Community organizations, including the Canso Lions Club, have also been brainstorming possible solutions. “It is very, very unfortunate,” said Long. “At the end of the day, it is a large corporate business decision that is being made at the demise of small communities.”
