CRTC invites consumers to discuss misleading sales practices

Canadian consumers are being invited to tell a federal regulator about their personal experience with misleading or abusive sales practices at the country’s telecommunications companies.

The Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission will accept written comments by Aug. 30.

That will be followed by a public hearing on the matter in Gatineau, Que., beginning Oct. 22.

The CRTC said its inquiry — ordered by the federal government last month — will look closely at incomplete, unclear or misleading information provided to consumers as well as the sale of unsuitable products to ill-informed people.

The regulator is asking for consumers, as well as current and former telecom employees, to weigh in on whether service providers are using language that is easy to understand, if they have experienced misleading or aggressive sales practices from a service provider, and whether existing consumer protections are sufficient to ensure they are treated fairly regarding retail sales practices.

A federal watchdog has dismissed complaints that a massshooting survivor broke the rules by working with an advocacy group to lobby for gun policy changes while also serving as a member of the Liberal government’s firearms advisory committee. In a recent decision, federal lobbying commissioner Nancy Belanger said Nathalie Provost’s work on behalf of the group PolySeSouvient, which pushes for stricter gun control, did not breach lobbying laws because Provost is not paid by the group.