The Competition Bureau dropped a massive report today with a simple message: Canadians are being overcharged because it’s too much of a “hassle” to switch companies. The agency says if we actually had control over our own data, we could save nearly $4 billion every year.
The report, “Your Data, Your Control,” argues that when your personal history is stuck with one bank or insurance company, you’re basically in “invisible chains.” This lack of movement lets big firms stay lazy while we keep paying higher prices.
The Bureau used the insurance industry to show exactly how much this is costing us. They found that a proper data portability system (basically where you can move your history to a competitor with one click) would save Canadians up to $3.8 billion annually.
About $1.5 billion of that is direct cash from people finally switching to cheaper plans. The other $2.2 billion is time value. Basically, the Bureau is putting a dollar amount on the hours we waste filling out the same soul-crushing forms every time we want a new quote.
This isn’t just about insurance. The Bureau pointed out that we’re seeing the same mess in banking, gaming, and cloud services, for example.
In banking, true portability would mean your direct deposits and pre-authorized bills move themselves to a new bank automatically. For gamers, it would mean your profiles, skins, and “in-progress” saves could finally follow you between consoles instead of being locked to one platform. Even your cloud photos and social media connections are currently being used as moats to keep you from leaving for better services.
Research for the report found that only 25% of us actually bother to switch providers, even though most of us could save $1,860 a year by just renegotiating our plans.
The Bureau says we are held back by familiarity bias and consumer inertia. We stay with brands we know simply because we assume the process of moving will be a nightmare. Jeanne Pratt, the Acting Commissioner of Competition, thinks data portability should be a fundamental consumer right so we can finally stop being passive data subjects and start being active customers.
Canada is currently chasing countries like Australia and the UK, which already have these “Open Banking” and data rights in place. The federal government mentioned a data-mobility right in Budget 2025, but this report is a clear signal from the Bureau that they need to stop talking and start passing laws.
In the full 84-page report, it’s clear the Bureau is tired of seeing Canadians “locked-in” to expensive contracts. We’ll be watching to see if the government actually gives us the “one-click” switching rights promised here. It sounds easy to explain what’s needed, but it’s another thing to force companies to open up and make it easy to actually switch.
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Has anyone actually had a problem moving insurance providers or banks? Was it due to it being too difficult to move your data? Explain.
Seems to be a lot of smoke without an actual fire. Guess it makes it looks like they are doing something. This seems very similar to the data portability regs in the EU. Poorly thought out, little if any actual benefit for consumers and extremely expensive for businesses. Regulation for the sake of regulation makes no sense and only serves only to justify and grow an already bloated bureaucracy.
I was thinking the same….it looks good on paper and who doesn't want to simplify bureaucracy….BUT what is the actual benefit?
Even if I have to waste 10-15min to fill the insurance company firms, I STILL don't get a better price because they are colluding the same way as carriers or gas stations do.
Also, it's bad enough that your data keeps getting hacked and hold for ransom, making it easy to transfer bank information might actually backfire spectacularly. Can wait for my RBC account to move to my friend, the Nigerian Prince. 😂
Best case, less paper work for consumers, but that’s honestly not going to happen and it isn’t the point.
Overall, it means much more bureaucracy. Someone needs to manage and enforce useless reqs or no one will follow them. This is a way to justify their jobs as regulators and to grow their budget.