Ontario Continues To Put Consumers First

Province Has Banned Aggressive and Misleading Sales and Advertising Tactics and Strengthened Homeowner and Tenant Rights

On World Consumer Rights Day, the province is reaffirming its commitment to protecting consumers and making sure everyone in Ontario is aware of their rights.

To better protect consumers, Ontario has recently:

• Banned unsolicited, door-to-door sales of certain household appliances to better protect consumers from aggressive and misleading salespeople. Know your rights about door-to-door contracts.
• Protected consumers from losing reward points based only on the amount of time passed since they were earned. Read more about your rights when it comes to rewards points.
• Ensured the pricing featured in advertising of travel services is inclusive of all taxes and fees. Learn more about you rights when booking travel services.
• Adopted stronger rules for purchasing, leasing or selling real estate, including measures to address conflict of interest issues, and regulating the home inspection industry through mandatory licensing. Read more on what to know befor e buying a home.
• Introduced legislation that would give consumers easier access to credit information, giving Ontario consumers the strongest rights in Canada over information held by consumer reporting agencies.
• Introduced legislation that would improve access to elevators – making Ontario the first jurisdiction in the world to establish standards for elevator repair times.
• Created two administrative authorities to improve how condos are managed and introduced new rules to ensure condo managers are licensed and governed professionally. Learn more about consumer protection and condos.
• Reduced the cost of borrowing and other fees for alternative financial services such as payday loans, and intr oduced legislation to restrict where payday loan shops can open. Read more about your consumer rights and payday loans.
• Helped to prevent fraud and excessive markups in the resale ticket market, including banning ticket bots, and capping the resale price of tickets at 50 per cent above face value.

Protecting consumers is part of Ontario’s plan to create fairness and opportunity during this period of rapid economic change. The plan includes a higher minimum wage and better working conditions, free tuition for hundreds of thousands of students, easier access to affordable child care, and free prescription drugs for everyone under 25 through the biggest expansion of medicare in a generation.

QUICK FACTS

• More than 50,000 new homes (including condominium units) are built in Ontario every year and enrolled in the new home warranty program, with over 375,000 new homes under warranty as of 2016.
• There are approximately 1.6 million people living in condos in Ontario and more than 50 per cent of new homes being built in the province are condominiums.
• 2018 is the second consecutive year that the government has lowered the maximum cost of borrowing for a payday loan, lowering the maximum to $15 per $100 borrowed. In 2016 it was $21 per $100 borrowed, and $18 per $100 borrowed in 2017.
• Door-to-door contracts have been among the top complaints received by the Ontario government.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

• Visit ontario.ca/ConsumerProtection to help you ask the right questions before you make important decisions.