'Shame on them': last bank in Louisbourg, N.S., slated to close
The Royal Bank of Canada has been the only place to bank in Louisbourg, N.S., for many years. But now, the company says it is closing the branch on Sept. 22.
“We lost our school and that hurt. If we lose our bank, I don’t know where we go from here,” said long-time resident Ellen Cross.
The reason for the closure is there is not enough foot traffic, said Jenna Lahey, CEO of the Cape Breton Regional Chamber of Commerce.
While the number of people using the bank has declined over the years, she's not in favour of the company pulling out.
“We also have a huge number of tourists that travel to Louisbourg on a daily basis and now they’re not going to be able to get money out of a bank machine,” said Lahey.
“We’re going to have to have a sign that says, ‘last chance to stop for cash,’ at some point.”
Lahey, who is from Louisbourg, says the town is finally making a comeback after the closure of the ground fishery, with new families moving in and businesses starting up.
Now, she says this is another thing standing in its way.
“We’re growing," said Lahey. "We have a massive project that has developed down on the waterfront and we’ve been working really hard to get things back up to where they had been before."
“It’s one more barrier we have to overcome in order to grow our town to where it should be.”
The nearest RBC to Louisbourg is in Sydney, more than a 30-minute drive away.
RBC says it is looking at ways to assist in-branch users — especially seniors — through the transition.
A public meeting is set for April 17 to tell the public of the bank's decision and to answer questions.
Cross feels plans to shut down the bank have been in the works for some time.
“For the last two years they've been asking us to do online banking,” said Cross. “Every time we go into the branch it's, ‘have you done online banking, do you know how to do it?’”
“They did that so they could close this bank, which I think is shameful, shame on them.”
Lahey says there will be no jobs lost with the closure and current employees have the option to work at another branch.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Bodies found by U.S. authorities searching for missing B.C. kayakers
United States authorities who have been searching for a pair of missing kayakers from British Columbia since the weekend have recovered two bodies in the nearby San Juan Islands of Washington state.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
'It's discriminatory': Individuals refused entry to Ontario legislature for wearing keffiyeh
Individuals being barred from entering Ontario’s legislature while wearing a keffiyeh say the garment is part of their cultural identity— and the only ones making it political are the politicians banning it.
BREAKING Mounties will not be charged in shooting death of B.C. Indigenous man
Three Mounties in British Columbia will not face charges in the killing of a 38-year-old Indigenous man on Vancouver Island in 2021.
Canada's favourite sport to watch is hockey, survey shows
The 2024 Stanley Cup playoffs have already delivered a fever level of fan excitement in Canada.
Douglas DC-4 plane with 2 people on board crashes into river outside Fairbanks, Alaska
A Douglas C-54 Skymaster airplane crashed into the Tanana River near Fairbanks on Tuesday, Alaska State Troopers said.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
'It's just so hard to let it go': Umar Zameer still haunted by death of Toronto police officer
“It's just so hard to let it go. I mean, everyone is telling me, ‘you have to move on,’ but I know someone is not here [anymore]. So I don't know how I will move on." That’s what Umar Zameer, the man recently acquitted in the death of a Toronto police officer, told CTV News Toronto in a sit-down interview on Tuesday.
NASA hears from Voyager 1, the most distant spacecraft from Earth, after months of quiet
NASA has finally heard back from Voyager 1 again in a way that makes sense. The most distant spacecraft from Earth hadn't sent home any understandable data since last November.