Canadians are a mobile-tech loving people in need of some better mobile payment options. So says a government task force assigned by Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to look at Canada's payment systems. An article at Financial Post said the Task Force for the Payments System Review is calling for more government leadership to pressure financial institutions to be more innovative.

"We still rely largely on old-fashioned methods of payment such as paper-based processing and cash and cheques," the task force's review said. "In addition, Canada is falling behind in the international push to generate a secure mobile ecosystem, the revolutionary agent that will deliver extraordinary new commercial and public services to consumers via their smart phones."

According to the post, Canadians are "among the world’s heaviest users of online shopping, banking and web browsing services." However, the task force said mobile payments are virtually nonexistent in Canada.

The Task Force for the Payments System Review has been looking at Canadian payments and financial services for the past 18 months and recently submitted its final report.

For more information on this subject, visit the Regulatory Issues research center.