2022 provincial pre-budget consultations

Option consommateurs presented its concerns and recommendations for consumers to the Minister of Finance as part of the 2022 pre-budget consultations.

Here's a summary of our positions:

Consumer budgets - an alarming situation

• The threat posed by inflation to consumers' purchasing power cannot be overlooked. Its major impact on the share of expenditure linked to basic needs (notably housing and food) is particularly threatening to low-income earners, placing them in an even more precarious situation. Soaring property prices could also lead to more over-indebtedness.
• The government should take action to improve benefit programs, review Quebec's tax model and improve access to housing.

Strengthening the Consumer Protection Act

• Peddling. Although peddling is an ancient commercial practice, it still wreaks havoc with consumers. Indeed, this market is the scene of many dishonest practices, from misrepresentation to the sale of poor-quality goods. Buyers often have great difficulty in obtaining justice, as many of these merchants declare bankruptcy and open their doors under a new name. We recommend that legislative changes be made in the area of itinerant sales contracts, to provide a better framework for this market.
• Obsolescence and the right to reparability. The trend towards shorter life-cycles for many types of goods is of concern to us, both economically and environmentally. In addition to being a major source of wasted resources, the shortening of the life cycle of goods means that consumers often go into debt to purchase goods with a potentially short lifespan (household appliances, furniture). Although the legal warranty provided for in the Consumer Protection Act offers consumers life-saving remedies, this protection is not enough. We propose to update Quebec's consumer law.

Hydro-Québec electricity rates - pricing system to be reviewed

• Since 2019, by law, electricity rates have been indexed to the rate of inflation. In the current inflationary context, this method of setting rates exposes consumers to rate shock, putting households at risk of unreasonable increases. We believe that the relationship between electricity tariffs and average consumer prices is far from natural. Rather, electricity rate trends depend on the business, economic and political contexts in which distributors operate. For this reason, we believe that indexing electricity tariffs to consumer price trends, and setting tariff revisions every 5 years, should be abandoned.

Support for advocacy organizations

• Since the beginning of the pandemic, community organizations have played an essential role in informing citizens and defending their rights. Requests to our legal information service have more than doubled, and we anticipate that inquiries about personal finances will increase over the next few years. Additional support will be needed to ensure that our services continue to be available.
• Our organization is not spared by the labor shortage, which is making it increasingly difficult to maintain human resources. The means envisaged to improve the situation (wage increases, training, improved working conditions) have a direct impact on our costs. One measure that could be considered to help organizations like ours would be the introduction of a permanent 25% wage subsidy. This would help us meet our human resources challenges and support the development of services to the population.

To view the full brief submitted to the Quebec Minister of Finance, click here.