“I want taxpayers to keep giving $7 million to consumer groups I like between 2025 and 2027. I don't like that the government decided not to. I think the government cut this program because it cares more about big business than about Canadians.”
What they said. What they meant.
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Oral Questions
Industry
The Liberals announced they were eliminating the Canadian consumer protection initiative, a small fund that supported research into things like the cost of living and competition, to the disappointment of the Bloc Quebecois. The Liberals say they will present a new vision for competition in Canada that involves working with organizations to ensure they have access to funding. The Bloc accused the Liberals of preventing consumer protection groups from doing their work of documenting the abuses of large corporations. The Liberals assured they want consumers to be well informed about their rights and believe more needs to be done to encourage competition in the grocery and telecommunications sectors where monopolies have held sway for far too long.
“I want to assure you that we will find funding for consumer protection groups. We will work with the provinces and territories on this. I don't want to directly answer why we cut the previous program. I want to talk about our plans instead of the cuts.”
“You cut funding for consumer protection. That helps big companies more than taxpayers. I want you to put the money back.”
“We want consumers to know their rights. We want more competition in groceries and telecoms. We'll protect groups like Option consommateurs.”