Do you feel like your wallet is visibly backing up? It is not an illusion.
Posted at 5:00 a.m.
Food, housing, furniture, cars, gasoline… It’s crazy how much everything costs more. Even more than expected, as the meteoric rise in inflation exceeded all expectations to reach 6.7% in March in Canada, a peak since 1991.
This is serious.
But to come to the aid of consumers whose purchasing power is dangerously eroding, governments would have better things to do than launch electoral measures like in recent weeks.
In Quebec, the government offered $500 to all taxpayers earning less than $100,000, a gift that certainly helped the Coalition avenir Québec (CAQ) to break through the PQ castle during the by-election in Marie-Victorin. And that won’t hurt either for the general elections next October.
For its part, Ontario has decided to reward motorists by waiving registration fees retroactively over two years. Sad snub for all those who use active transport. Handsome checks of up to $220 per vehicle are now arriving in the mail…as Premier Doug Ford seeks a second term in June.
There’s no hazard.
Then in Alberta, Premier Jason Kenney, who is currently gambling his political future in a vote of confidence, decreed a temporary reduction in the provincial gas tax.
And so much for the environment!
We cannot blame governments for helping households, especially the poorest who are more affected by inflation. But by sending them money – on credit, since public finances are in the red – politicians only inflame inflation further.
It’s all counterproductive.
Notice to Prime Minister François Legault who said on Wednesday that we “must continue to help” consumers: there is a simple way to give them back purchasing power. As a bonus, it would be good for the environment. And the best part of the deal: it wouldn’t cost the state a penny.
Recipe ? To fight against planned obsolescence, that is to say the annoying stratagem aiming to deliberately reduce the life of a product in order to force its hasty replacement.
All those products that break too quickly and are impossible to repair are emptying our wallets and filling our landfills. Moreover, Quebec is the dunce of residential waste, with growth of 53% per person between 2002 and 2018, compared to only 9% in Canada.1.
This waste is a shame. We must act.
Since 2015, France has had a law against planned obsolescence. Apple has also been condemned for not having informed iPhone owners that an update would slow down their device.
In Quebec, a petition of 45,000 names and a bill were tabled in 2019 in the National Assembly. The Consumer Protection Office (OPC) then carried out consultations. In particular, we wanted to inform consumers of the minimum operating life of products and the possibility of repairing them, so that they make more informed purchases.
But since… radio silence.
Obviously, the defense of consumers is not the priority of the Minister of Justice, Simon Jolin-Barrette, who is struggling to pass the reform of family law and Bill 96 on the French language, before the elections.
In the past, it was noted that a minister dedicated to consumption made it possible to advance more smoothly the files which, from now on, remain stuck in the filing cabinets of the OPC.
Pity, pity. There is so much to do to help consumers, including cleaning up credit for vulnerable people who will have rising interest rates in their teeth.
But also practices on the automotive side. Examples ? Prohibit unreasonable charges when returning a leased vehicle. Limit the duration of the financing which sometimes reaches eight-nine years, which encourages people to buy bigger and more expensive.
These are some really good ways for consumers to get more for their money.