The great ATM fee debate

It seems the federal New Democratic Party has found a way to make headlines that has everyone talking.
By pointing the finger at the big banks for charging fees at their Automated Teller Machines and saying they are gouging the public, Jack Layton and the NDP, have picked up on an issue that we all face every time we go and use an ATM.
But in watching Layton and a representative of the Canadian Banking Association on Sunday, I realized that Layton was missing part of the issue.
The banking rep. noted that banks only have 31% of the ATM business. The rest belongs to unregulated “White Label” or private companies.
The banks charge a standard fee of $1.50 for customers from other institutions using their banks. The White Label machines generally charge more. However, that fee is added to the $1.50 so someone taking out a $20.00 bill may pay $3-$4 to take that money out.
While the bank fees are higher than I would like, I think Mr. Layton needs to address the White Label issue and get the government to stop them from truly gouging us.
Mr. Layton does have a point when it comes to it being “our money” that the banks are charging us to take out. They in fact use our money to make money already.... posting $19 billion record profits last year. So why do we have to pay that $1.50 or more to take it out?
There used to be an army of people hand writing every transaction into pass books when we took our money out. Now there is less need for the human factor... that has had to have saved the banks money over the years.
–Until then,
Ken