Overview

The Consumer Protection Act is a key piece of Ontario’s consumer protection framework. The act has not been reviewed since it came into force almost 15 years ago.

We’d like to learn more about your awareness and understanding of the Consumer Protection Act and whether you think the government needs to make changes to better protect you.

Reviewing the act is part of Ontario’s plan to work smarter by putting consumer’s first and listening to their needs and concerns to help better protect them.

This survey is intended to gather information about consumers’ awareness and understanding of the act and their experiences and thoughts about problems they have had when engaging in consumer transactions.

We also recognize that the province’s state of emergency and the ongoing efforts to promote physical distancing to slow the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) have had a substantial impact on consumers and businesses. As a result, we have updated the survey with questions related to the impacts of COVID-19.

We also included questions designed to help us understand how you feel about current protections related to the collection and use of your personal information and whether the government should enact additional protections for Ontarians. 

About the Consumer Protection Act

The act sets out rules to help protect consumers in everyday transactions — from buying clothing in a store to renovating their home.

The act and its regulations protect consumers by, among other things:

  • preventing businesses from using deceptive and misleading practices
  • setting out requirements for what you must receive from a business when you make purchases online, in your home, over the phone or for future delivery
  • establishing sector or product-specific rules (for example, motor vehicles, gift cards, cheque cashing, towing)
  • setting out what can be done when a business breaks these rules (either through civil action or through government enforcement)

The Consumer Protection Act is one piece of Ontario’s consumer protection framework. Other consumer protection laws:

  • protect you when you make significant purchase in specific sectors – like a home or used car, planning travel with an agent, or funeral arrangements
  • protect consumers that may be more vulnerable to risk, harm or harassment – this includes people using payday loans, people facing debt collections or repossession of their goods, and people dealing with issues that could impact their credit

How to participate

Online

The consultation is now closed – it ran from March 12th to July 17th, 2020.

Regulatory registry

We will also consult the public, businesses and other interested stakeholders on how the act can be strengthened through Ontario’s regulatory registry.

Your privacy matters

We are requesting your feedback in order to help us improve the Consumer Protection Act.

This feedback will be used by the Ministry of Government and Consumer Services to help strengthen consumer protection in Ontario. Your responses will not be identified, however your feedback may be used in a summary report about this survey.

We will also ask you for some demographic information to help us better understand and interpret your responses.

If you provide your email address, it will not be associated with your feedback and will only be used to update you on this survey and notify you about future consultations. Your email address will not be placed on mailing lists or released to any third party, except as may be authorized by law.

For questions on how information collected on this page will be used, please contact us:

Manager of Consumer Business and Policy Unit
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
Consumer Policy and Liaison Branch
56 Wellesley Street West
Toronto, Ontario
M5S 2S3

Tel: 416-326-8860

 consumerpolicy@ontario.ca