Ontario Introducing New Legislation to Strengthen Protections for Consumers

Proposing measures to eliminate unfair business practices and new enforcement powers to hold bad actors accountable

TORONTO — The Ontario government is introducing legislation today that, if passed, would strengthen protections for Ontarians from unfair business practices such as price gouging, and make it easier for businesses to comply with consumer protection rules.

“Our government will not stand by and allow bad actors to take advantage of hardworking Ontarians through unfair business practices,” said Todd McCarthy, Minister of Public and Business Service Delivery. “People deserve to shop with confidence when spending their hard-earned money on goods and services at home, online and in their communities.”

“By updating rules that protect them when they are shopping or entering contracts with businesses, we can better adapt to today’s evolving marketplace and build a smarter, safer, and stronger economy.”

Consumer protection laws have not been comprehensively reviewed and updated since the Consumer Protection Act, of 2002, came into force in 2005. Since then, Ontario’s marketplace has transformed significantly with an increase in online shopping and the use of apps.

The Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023, builds on existing protections to strengthen consumer rights by:

• Prohibiting unfair business practices such as taking advantage of a consumer’s inability to understand language in a contract.
• Limiting when businesses can make one-sided contract amendments, renewals, and extensions without express consumer consent.
• Prohibiting businesses from creating unnecessary barriers when consumers are trying to cancel a subscription or membership-based contract.
• Providing fairer exit options to consumers and their families who find themselves locked indefinitely into a timeshare contract as well as homeowners tied to long-term leases for home comfort appliances like HVAC systems.
• Providing stronger enforcement powers to better enable the ministry to hold bad actors accountable including doubling maximum fines to further deter offences and egregious business behaviour.

The new Consumer Protection Act, of 2023, would make it easier for businesses to comply with consumer protection rules in our increasingly digital-first marketplace. This includes a single set of core rules written in clear, simple language that would apply to most consumer contracts, whether for online or in-person purchases.

To prevent the harms that could be caused by identity theft, the proposed legislation would also make changes to the Consumer Reporting Act that would give Ontarians greater access to their credit information and greater ability to limit how their credit information is shared with third parties.

The government is also seeking public input on ways to address and reduce the harmful and inappropriate use of Notices of Security Interest (NOSIs) against unsuspecting consumers. A NOSI is a notice that can be registered on the land registry system by a business when it finances or leases certain equipment on a property such as an HVAC unit. In some cases, homeowners are not aware a NOSI has been registered on their title and businesses have charged them exorbitant fees to discharge the NOSI.