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Welcome to the PUBLIC INTEREST ADVOCACY CENTRE / LE CENTRE POUR LA DÉFENSE DE L’INTÉRÊT PUBLIC
PIAC is a non-profit organization that provides legal and research services on behalf of consumer interests, and, in particular, vulnerable consumer interests, concerning the provision of important public services.
Latest Updates ...
PIAC comments on the telecommunications foreign ownership provisions in the budget
Telecom → Thursday, March 04, 2010PIAC has been asked about the effect of the loosening of foreign ownership rules on Canadian subsidiaries in the telecommunications market. PIAC is not in a position to comment from the standpoint of matters such as employment, taxation, research and development, or cultural sovereignty. PIAC’s comments are directed to the possible effect on the position of the consumer in the telecommunications ...
Consumer groups call for better telecommunications services for all Canadians
Telecom → Friday, February 26, 2010Led by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre in Ottawa, a coalition of consumer groups will make submissions on behalf of consumers to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) during a consultation to review access to basic telecommunications services in Canada. This is an opportunity to ask the CRTC to make changes to protect consumers, as the telecommunications ...
Public Interest News: Rogers regulation / Mauvais service chez Bell Canada / Is your teen on Nexopia / Credit cards / La loi 60 / Globalive / Net neutrality
Other → Wednesday, January 27, 2010Rogers asks CRTC for regulations to help collect unpaid bills (PIAC 27/Jan/2010) “Customers porting out mid-contract with unpaid balances are costing Rogers, and most probably other wireless carriers as well, millions of dollars each year,” the company said in its letter. “The task of collecting these unpaid balances is made much more difficult once a customer ports their ...
Consumers Left Out in the Code
Financial → Tuesday, January 19, 2010(OTTAWA)— Consumers will face higher transaction costs and lose consumer rights in debit and credit payment transactions if the Minister of Finance’s Draft Code of Conduct for the Credit and Debit Card Industry in Canada is implemented, says the Public Interest Advocacy Centre. PIAC yesterday filed its comments on the draft Code, stating that: “Implementation of some of the Draft’s ...
PIAC files Privacy Complaint Against Nexopia
Privacy → Tuesday, January 19, 2010(OTTAWA)— The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC), a consumer advocacy group based in Ottawa, yesterday asked the Privacy Commissioner of Canada to investigate alleged violations of Canadian privacy law by Nexopia.com Inc., creator of the Edmonton-based popular youth and teen social networking site, Nexopia. PIAC’s 35 page complaint identified six Nexopia privacy practices that it says ...
Regulate Financial Planners in the Public Interest
Financial → Monday, December 14, 2009(OTTAWA)— The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) called upon the provinces to regulate the practice of “financial planning” in a report released today entitled, “Holding The Purse Strings: Regulating Financial Planners.” PIAC’s report noted that the practice of financial planning in Canada is comprised of several self-regulating bodies, except in the province of Quebec where these services ...
PIAC says government issues contradictory broadband and wireless (Globalive) decisions
Telecom → Friday, December 11, 2009While consumers welcome the Cabinet decision to allow Globalive to enter the wireless market, overturning an earlier CRTC decision, the two other decisions on Cabinet Appeals, effectively ensure the broadband market in Canada will remain a duopoly for some time to come. The two broadband decisions involve issues associated with the obligation of incumbent providers such as Bell Canada, Telus, ...
PIAC opposes amendments to consumer product safety bill (C-6)
Consumers → Tuesday, December 08, 2009December 7, 2009 VIA E-Mail and Mail The Honourable Art Eggleton Chair, Standing Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Room 804, Victoria Bldg. Ottawa, ON K1A 0A4 Dear Senator Eggleton: RE: Bill C-6 – The Standing Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology Twelfth Report The Public Interest Advocacy Centre is a non-profit organization, established ...
Tracking Consumers Online – Behavioural Targeted Advertising and a “Do Not Track List” in Canada
Privacy → Thursday, December 03, 2009(OTTAWA)— The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today released a report entitled “A ‘Do Not Track List’ for Canada?”, that examines online behavioural targeted advertising and online behavioural tracking. This practice consists of tracking consumers’ online activities to target advertising to individual consumers based on their online history, preferences and attributes. In recent years, ...
Canadian Consumers Need More Net Neutrality
Telecom → Tuesday, December 01, 2009(OTTAWA)— The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) today called for more consideration of consumer rights to “net neutrality” in a report entitled “Staying Neutral: Canadian Consumers and the Fight for Net Neutrality.” PIAC’s report called on federal legislators and policymakers to protect consumers’ rights to “use their Internet connection to access the lawful content, applications or ...
Review of Globalive Wireless Management Corp. under the Canadian ownership and control regime
Telecom → Wednesday, November 25, 2009November 20, 2009 Minister of Industry The Honourable Tony Clement 235 Queen Street Ottawa, ON K1A 0H5 Dear Minister: Re: CRTC Telecom Decision 2009 -678 Review of Globalive Wireless Management Corp. under the Canadian ownership and control regime The Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) has been engaged in interventions on behalf of ordinary and vulnerable Canadian consumers in ...
Public Interest News: Net throttling appeal / Recours collectif contre The Brick / The TV war / Credit cards beyond reach / Broadband expensive / Satisfy warrant or lose welfare
Other → Monday, November 09, 2009Campaign for Competitive Broadband: Appeal to Cabinet to reverse net neutrality decision (PIAC 9/Nov/09) “With just 42 days before the federal cabinet must decide on the future of competitive internet service in Canada more than 41 different organizations and companies, including the Canadian Federation of Independent Business, and the Canadian Association of Internet Service Providers, ...