5 recommendations to support consumers in a time of economic uncertainty

Make it mandatory to label the origin of consumer goods, and establish clear, harmonized scales for determining their origin. Consumers should be informed not only of the origin of the good, but also of its place of processing and the origin of the company that manufactures it. This information should be presented in a legible and easily understandable way.

• Introduce a support mechanism for lower-income consumers, for example by increasing the GST/HST credit for lower-income earners, or similar measures.
• Regulate commercial practices that mask food price increases, such as shrinkflation, and make it mandatory to display prices by unit of measure across the country.

• Ensure that the Competition Bureau, responsible for enforcing the Competition Act, has the resources it needs to conduct large-scale investigations and intervene quickly to put an end to anti-competitive practices.
• In Quebec, create an economic analysis and surveillance team within the Office de la protection du consommateur (OPC), whose mandate would be to monitor and investigate issues of market concentration and rising prices. This team would enable the OPC to be at the forefront of protecting consumers' economic interests, and to quickly report issues to Canada's Competition Bureau.

• Increase the budgets of the Competition Bureau, the Office de la protection du consommateur and the Commission d'accès à l'information.
• Review the legislative framework for digital platforms and include in the law that an online intermediary is jointly and severally liable for the proper performance of contracts with the end service provider.

Support Canadian consumer associations so that they can participate more effectively in regulatory cooperation activities. This would ensure balanced stakeholder participation and reaffirm the role that consumer associations can play.