Consumers Council of Canada President Don Mercer has been named as a member of Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat’s External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness.

The committee, announced in the Government of Canada’s Fall Economic Statement 2018 and Budget 2019, brings together business leaders, academics and consumer representatives from across Canada. The committee’s role is to advise the government on regulatory competitiveness and innovation, while ensuring Canadians’ health, security and safety and protecting the environment.

“With regulatory modernization, the devil is always in the details,” said Joyce Murray, President of the Treasury Board and Minister of Digital Government, in announcing formation of the committee. “Tapping into the expertise of business, academia and consumer protection experts just makes sense. I look forward to ongoing recommendations of the External Advisory Committee on Regulatory Competitiveness to help Canadian businesses be more competitive and innovative.”

In addition to serving as the Council’s president, Mercer has been involved in a variety of roles with the Council since he retired after a long career in Ottawa, Toronto and Vancouver with Competition Bureau Canada, which administers the Competition Act, the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act, the Textiles Labelling Act and the Precious Metals Marking Act. These laws, that promote market competition and fair trading practices by regulating anti-competitive conduct, setting product and quality standards, and prohibiting fraud and misrepresentation, are intended by Parliament to foster consumer protection and healthy competition and trust in the marketplace.

He is also an active member of the Payments Canada Stakeholder Advisory Council, an Advisory Council mandated by the federal law governing Payments Canada, the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada Consumer Protection Advisory Committee and has been recently appointed to Finance Canada’s Payments Consultative Committee (FinPay).