The Ontario government recently strengthened protections for users of payday loans by passing point of sale and contract disclosure regulations under the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and is seeking input on whether further measures are needed.

The federal government recently passed Bill C-26, adding section 347.1 to the Criminal Code.  Section 347.1 defines a payday loan and will exempt payday lenders from criminal interest rate provisions if the loan is made in a designated province.  A province could request designation provided it has legislative measures that protect recipients of payday loans, licenses lenders, and limits the total cost of borrowing. Ontario will need to determine whether it wants to seek designation so that payday lenders in its jurisdiction would be exempt from the Criminal Code provisions governing criminal rates of interest. 

Feedback received from this discussion paper will be used to evaluate the need for additional measures to protect consumers of payday loans and whether Ontario should seek designation under the Criminal Code and limit the total cost of borrowing for payday loans.   It is the ministry’s goal that any options for reform will achieve the following objectives:

• Provide appropriate consumer protection for those who use payday loans
• Promote fair market practices by payday lenders
• Ensure a responsive and effective legal framework to govern payday lending
• Promote compliance with the law

The ministry kindly requests your input, views and feedback on the issues outlined in the consultation document.  It provides some background material and some questions for consideration. Respondents are not restricted to consideration of only the questions listed in the document.  Please feel free to share any viewpoints and other perspectives that you feel are appropriate.

To access a PDF version of the consultation document, please click here

Please respond by July 6, 2007 electronically or in writing, to:

Payday Lending Consultations
Ministry of Government Services
777 Bay Street
5th Floor – Suite 501
Toronto, ON   M7A 2J3
(416) 326-8882

E-mail: paydaylending@ontario.ca

Note: The above documents are available in Acrobat (*PDF) format. To view PDF format files, you need to have Adobe Acrobat® Reader installed on your computer. You can download this free software from the Adobe website.




All materials or comments received from organizations will be considered public information and may be used and disclosed by the ministry to assist the ministry in evaluating and revising the posted regulations. This may involve disclosing materials or comments, or summaries of them, to other interested parties during and after this process.

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The Freedom of Information and Privacy Coordinator,
Ministry of Government Services,
416-326-8470.