The Council recently issued an update to its 2019 research report The On-Demand Consumer, which investigated consumers’ views about on-demand consumption enabled by fast, convenient and immediate access to goods and services through the use of smartphones and computers. That first investigation straddled the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which online shopping took off, of necessity. The On-Demand Consumer Update is based on a new literature search and a survey conducted in 2023.

The Council has also published a response to Innovation, Science and Economic Development’s call for consultation on the Competition Act’s new ‘greenwashing’ provisions. This consultation is intended to assist the Competition Bureau’s enforcement guideline development about environmental claims. The new provisions about greenwashing were added, and businesses ar enow required to have testing or substantiation to support certain environmental claims.

The Council’s submission makes a number of recommendations on how to develop comprehensive guidelines for environmental labelling and advertising for businesses and consumers.

Another new item to the Council’s online store is a consultation submission to the Department of Finance’s call for proposals on strengthening Canada’s financial sector.

An updated research report, and two new submissions are now available from Consumer Council of Canada online.