Governments launch new and improved 
consumer information portal

Brian Tobin, Minister of Industry Canada, in partnership with provincial and territorial consumer ministers, today announced the launch of the new and improved Canadian Consumer Information Gateway, //ConsumerInformation.ca. Walter Noel, Newfoundland and Labrador Minister of Government Services and Lands, and co-chair of the Committee of Consumer Ministers, as well as Norman Sterling, Ontario Minister of Consumer and Business Services also took part in the launch.

The Government of Canada, provincial and territorial governments and their partners have worked together on the Gateway to bring consumers access to clear and concise consumer information from more than 38 federal and 250 provincial and territorial departments and agencies. 

"Canadian consumers now have an increasingly powerful tool on the Web to help them become better protected, more confident and more effective consumers," said Minister Tobin. "Working with our partners in the provinces and territories we have built an innovative new service that is truly amazing. I encourage consumers to try it out."

Minister Sterling tells of Ontario's pride in participating in this valuable national project. "Expanding electronic service delivery to the public is a high priority for the Ontario government. This project fits with our goals perfectly. Canadians can access the Gateway on the Internet from home, public libraries, community access points, or Government of Canada, provincial and territorial service outlets."

"Visitors to the Gateway can investigate topics ranging from fraud, to tenant rights, to child car seat recalls," said Minister Noel. 

The Gateway is organized by easy-to-navigate, familiar topics and includes related Web links to information and services, as well as e-mail addresses and phone numbers of information providers and officials. A powerful search engine is built in to quickly take consumers directly to the information they need, be it from the Government of Canada or a province or territory.

Media contact: Simon N. Lono, Communications, (709) 729-7938

Backgrounder
Canadian Consumer Information Gateway 
Expands to Include Information from Provinces and Territories 

The Canadian Consumer Information Gateway, an Internet portal to consumer information from more than 38 Government of Canada departments and agencies, has met with unprecedented success bringing reliable consumer information to Canadians. Now, the Gateway has expanded to include information from over 250 provincial and territorial departments, agencies and partners. The user will find concise, reliable information on everything from moving between provinces; obtaining automobile, life or health insurance; car recalls; understanding tenant rights; health issues; and identifying contractors who meet provincial/territorial standards. The categories are extensive and the quality and quantity of information is remarkable. Users can access over 5,000 documents linking them to hundreds of thousands of Web pages. 

Canadian consumers have an increasingly powerful tool on the Web to help them become better protected, more confident and more effective consumers. By clicking on one of the categories or filling in the search field, users are launched into the Gateway's store of clear, concise consumer information. Once they have found their chosen subject, an abstract is shown briefly describing the content of the document. This limits wasted time looking at irrelevant pages. Once the user has decided that the site is useful, he or she can be directly transported to the exact Web page. If the user is unable to get the precise information needed on screen, there are related Web links, e-mail addresses and partner phone numbers throughout.

Users can use navigate through the site either by searching by topic or by using the powerful search engine. The consumer information is carefully organized into familiar topics:

� Children
� Consumer Products
� Environment
� Food
� Fraud/Deceptive Practices
� Health
� Housing
� Internet
� Money
� Government Services
� Safety
� Telecommunications
� Transportation
� Travel/Tourism

The Canadian Consumer Information Gateway has been developed for the needs of consumers. Canadians can access the Gateway on the Internet from home, the public library, community access points or from Government of Canada, provincial and territorial service outlets. 

//ConsumerInformation.ca
Bookmark the site and use it often. All partners involved in the Gateway's development will be updating the content on a regular basis.

2001 10 12                              5:35 p.m.