Bringing this thread up from the dead.
I just applied for a mastercard cheque card this morning at a bank. True, not visa, but woot, I found a place in town that offers it!
http://www.capitalcitysavings.ca/
Problem is they aren't canada wide, they are only Central and Northern Alberta.

They call it 'chequewise', and it was a fairly easy application process. I will be told in 2 days whether I qualify or not, I assume I will :)
ZoiNk

I have been asking everyone I meet in Toronto about getting one of these things and noone has ever heard of it. I cant believe you can get one in the Neitherlands but not in Canada. Drives me crazy... I got so used to using mine in the states I never even thought about the fact that they may not have them up here. Now I cant buy shit online, when I pay my bill at a restuarant I have to walk to the back of the place and enter a pin, cant rent cars... I feel useless without it. I love Canada but the banking system up here is so far behind anything I have experienced in the states. Can anyone think of anything we can do about this?

I live in Canada and just got my debit Mastercard two weeks ago. The technical word for it is a "Global Payment Mastercard" and I got it by applying through a Credit Union.

I inquired at all the main banks and they denied knowledge of it (they make no coin off interest!) A Credit Union isn't in the game for the huge profits, its there to help people in the community fix their bad credit ratings. I had to put up $500 that's frozen in my account as collateral and I have a $500 limit on the card.

It's only been awhile but I'm super happy with it (actually got a paid host now!)