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"Canadian Services Pit-Stop on the Internet"
August 26, 2000
Erica Gehring
Have you ever looked for practical Canadian information on the Internet, only to waste time surfing between various web pages in the hopes of finding bits and pieces of the information you want? The Canadian Consumer Information Gateway Pilot Project (http://www.consumerinformation.ca) may put an end to this inefficient waste of energy.
This consumer project is a single database that offers practical information to Canadians seeking information on a variety of subjects including housing, fraud, tourism, and health issues. The website also offers contacts and information about consumer-related topics.
The information in the database is in the form of names, addresses, email, phone numbers, and web addresses. For instance, if a person was interested in buying a house, learning about mortgaging procedures, or determining which credit cards are best for their lifestyle, they could do so with the help of this site.
Both Industry Canada and Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC) support the Consumer Information Gateway. It is also in partnership with Service Canada. Current partners include agencies such as Agriculture and Agrifood Canada, the Bank of Canada, Health Canada, and the National Research Council.
Visitors to the Consumer Gateway will enjoy the ability to perform keyword and full-text searches, as well as browsing by a specific topic or document title. If someone were concerned about Canadian regulations for genetically modified foods, they could take advantage of this new site. Specifically, the person could choose the topic "food" from the organized topic list, eventually leading to the desired topic. Otherwise a keyword search on "genetically modified foods" would give more specific results.
The Canadian Consumer Information Gateway Pilot Project is the first site of its kind in Canada. It is hoped that this unique site will provide up-to-date and accurate consumer information to Canadians. Ultimately it is an important technological resource tool that gives Canadians the opportunity to access and be aware of government services.
To find out more about this and other services offered by the Federal Government, stop by your local Oxford County Library and ask about Service Canada.
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