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but how will this changeover affect companies like square that depend on swipe and sign for most transactions?

Your card will likely continue to have a magnetic stripe for non chip and pin terminals. Canada's deadline for "liability shift" was March 31 2011 for credit.

All banks I've been with charge money to "cash" a foreign cheque

Then you should visit RBC, they charge $15 only if the check's currency doesn't match the currency of the account - and that is easy to fix. So if you regularly transfer money between US and Canada you simply open an USD account at RBC.

Some people are already doing that. Like Royal Bank

Report them to your bank/card issuer! Nobody will stop doing it if we let them get away with it.

I was once told I couldn't use my credit card for a small transaction (there was no posted minimum either). I wasn't sure at the time about these things so I didn't put up a fuss and paid cash. I checked into it, once I learned that they were violating the merchant rules I filed a complaint with my bank (the card issuer).

I received a reply a few days later that Visa was looking into it. Strangely enough, I haven't had any issues using my card there since.

RBC Royal Bank has a web based form to send them your thoughts. I'm sure other banks have similar contact forms, but even if they don't, pick up the phone and complain. They (the merchants) are the ones breaking the rules, why should we let them get away with it?

OT but it seems legit:
http://www.rbcroyalbank.com/products/deposits/nolimit/index.html

yup. free health care. free EEEs too.. Just for opening an account...

I'd have to say that Yup.. canada rocks. We now have the iPhone legally too... but it is way too common for people to just cross the border and buy (and unlock) an iPhone. Seriously. The iPhone has been here so long, it isn't even cool to own one anymore...

They don't in banks either. Have a look at these interest rates.

It says at the bottom that interest rates are calculated on a per annum basis, which I think means that if it says that you get 0.10% interest you'll get a tenth of a cent on the dollar every year. So for 2000 dollars a year, which I think would be a medium or high balance for a relatively poor young single man without many responsibilities, I would earn ... two dollars a year.

Well, that's more than I thought it would be but two dollars is less than a one way city bus ticket.

I believe Royal Bank of Canada still uses Token Ring. They have rolled out new computer systems to many branches, and the one I was in recently had new computers at the teller's counters which appeared to have Token Ring addresses on the info-stickies (system serial number, helpdesk phone number, etc) stuck to the monitors.

Here's a start. You don't need slashdot's help!

There already is banking online... for one example.

maybe you should try another bank then. my card, when used at one of my bank's machines automatically chooses the right language for me. At POS machines, the language displayed on the keypad matches my selected language. Also at the store I work at, the language on the printed receipt matches as well.

Still don't understand why I have to select my language if I want to use another bank's machine though.