Business Plan 2004-2006

Our Focus 2004-2006

In order to achieve its mission, the Office of Consumer Affairs will focus its efforts in the following Strategic Areas over the next two years:

• Demonstrating engagement and leadership in information dissemination and service transformation;
• Enhancing the consumer movement to help it become a stronger voice in Canadian policy-making;
• Increasing dialogue on consumer issues within the Government of Canada and with other national governments and international organizations;
• Strengthening federal-provincial-territorial collaboration;
• Broadening policy research and diffusion; and,
• Pursuing selected market based consumer protection solutions where appropriate.

Leadership in Consumer Information Services

The OCA will continue to renew its award-winning consumer information services, to ensure that they remain relevant to consumer needs in an evolving marketplace:

• Building upon a considerable investment in policy research, the OCA will select subject areas that lend themselves to new consumer-focused information products for the Consumer Connection Web site, such as personal money management, automobile lease or buy decisions, and housing decisions. In addition, products tailored to the needs of the consumer research community will also be developed, such as the Consumer Connection Research Database;
• In response to a current needs assessment report, the OCA will develop and incorporate a Consumer Challenge/Solutions feature into the Consumer Gateway site, which will provide quick responses to the most common Gateway enquiries, such as import duties and work-at-home schemes;
• The OCA will provide appropriate delivery channels for new information products and diverse channels for all products, depending upon their intended audience. These will include material geared to literacy levels, non-electronic formats for non-Internet consumers, and information that is accessible to users of technological aids. In some cases, the OCA will work in collaboration with other communicators, such as other federal departments or private sector partners seeking to reach consumers; and,
• Act as advisors in the development of consumer information and education products by stakeholders, such as governments, civil society, and business.

Strengthening the Consumer Movement

The OCA will help build a strong voice for consumers in Canada by:

• Producing a practical guide for recipient organizations on administering a project funded under the Contributions Program for Non-Profit Consumer and Voluntary Organizations and on meeting quarterly reporting requirements;
• Promoting greater co-operation among major national consumer organizations in areas such as information exchange, the development of common positions on public issues, and the pooling of resources to communicate with the public; and
• Improving the capacity of the consumer movement to bring issues to the attention of the federal government.

Increasing Dialogue and Collaboration Within the Government of Canada and with other National Governments and International Organizations

The OCA will work with other Canadian federal departments and international agencies to promote greater collaboration on consumer issues by:

• Advancing the consumer interest in current Canadian government priorities, such as Smart Regulation, climate change, innovation, and service transformation;
• Exploring ways to improve the effectiveness of the Canadian federal government's system in addressing consumer issues;
• Evaluating the feasibility of collaborative federal government consumer-oriented projects, such as national conferences on consumer issues, joint consumer education initiatives, and sharing of information and data with other departments; and,
• Continuing to collaborate with the OECD, Consumers International, and selected national and international standards groups.

Strengthening Federal-Provincial-Territorial Collaboration

The Office of Consumer Affairs will work with its Consumer Measures Committee (CMC) partners to:

• Advance the harmonization of consumer protection in Canada and implement priorities approved by ministers (for up-to-date information on CMC, go to www.cmcweb.ca); and,
• Improve the linkages between the federal-provincial-territorial (FPT) agenda and consumer and business stakeholders by encouraging and assisting consumer groups to engage in the FPT process and establishing a reporting process on FPT deliberations and plans to stakeholders.
• The OCA will continue to provide the secretariat for the CMC and the FPT Ministers and Deputy Ministers Responsible for Consumer Affairs.

Policy Research and Diffusion

To support its role in policy development, the OCA will:

• Use the publication of the Consumer Trends Report and the national symposium in 2004 as a springboard to launch a national dialogue among consumer groups, academics, governments, and the private sector on leading-edge policy research on consumer issues;
• With partners in government, universities, the private sector and non-government research organizations, evaluate and initiate concrete elements of a thriving consumer research environment, such as conferences, databases, an on-line community, a publications program, and increased funding for academic consumer research; and,
• Continue a robust internal program of economic and legal research relating to the consumer interest in Canada.

Pursuing selected market based consumer protection solutions

Where appropriate, the OCA will:

• Collaborate with national stakeholders to explore the feasibility of national and international standards for market-based codes of conduct in areas such as electronic commerce, financial planning, dispute resolution, customer satisfaction, and the moving industry;
• Review and finalize the Electronic Commerce Code of Practice through the e-commerce Leaders Code Review Committee and seek endorsement from interested parties;
• Promote the consumer interest in both public and private sector electronic marketplace initiatives in areas such as authentication, identity theft, domain names, and privacy; and,
• Identify new and emerging issues affecting consumers.

Note: all publications mentioned in this Business Plan are available either on-line or through the Office of Consumer Affairs.

For further information please contact:
Office of Consumer Affairs
Industry Canada
235 Queen Street, 6th Floor
Ottawa, Ontario K1A 0H5
Tel: (613) 946-2576
Fax: (613) 952-6927
www.consumer.ic.gc.ca
http://ConsumerInformation.ca

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