The Consumer Environment
Over the past two decades, the Canadian marketplace has experienced several significant structural changes, which have important implications for consumers. New technologies, expanding international trade, and economic deregulation continue to generate new products and transform the way goods and services are marketed. Consumers saw a substantial increase in the number of products and services available as well as experiencing a greater market responsiveness to perceived consumer needs.
Governments spent the last decade re-structuring the way they deliver services and looking for ways to make traditional mechanisms more effective, while making full use of the extended capacities offered by the Internet, such as e-mail and Web-based information and services.
While well-off and informed consumers are now in a position to experience significant improvements in their welfare by making the contemporary marketplace work to their advantage, these changes, as well as increased debt levels, pose significant challenges for many groups. Consumers who have little time to unravel today's increasingly complex and information-intensive market as well as those with limited financial resources and access to data, are constantly faced with fewer real options, amplified uncertainty, and added risk.
Therefore, the longer-term challenge for the OCA is to promote a greater understanding of the changes in the Canadian marketplace and to help define an effective government response.
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