Ontario Consumer Protection Act, 2023

Status: Passed, Not Yet in Force

That distinction is the whole point of reading this page carefully. A statute can be passed, published, numbered and cited for years before it applies to anybody. Section 2 of Bill 142 provides that the Schedules come into force as each Schedule provides, and Schedule 1 chose proclamation. Section 110 of the new Act repeals the Consumer Protection Act, 2002, and that repeal takes effect on the same day. Until then, a purchase made in Ontario is governed by the 2002 Act, its regulations, and the positions described on the refund rights guide and in the law library.

The sections below set out what the 2023 Act would change for a buyer, with the section number for each so the claim can be checked against the text of the Act as passed. Where the Act leaves a rule to be filled in by regulation, that is said plainly rather than guessed at.

Subscriptions and Automatic Renewals

Section 19 is the provision aimed at the subscription economy, and it works by reversing the default. It first defines its terms: a “continuation” is a renewal or extension of a fixed-term consumer contract, and an “amendment” is any other change to a consumer contract.

It then provides that no supplier shall amend or continue, or purport to amend or continue, a consumer contract except as otherwise provided for in the regulations, and that an amendment or continuation is void if it is not made in accordance with the regulations. The starting position is therefore prohibition, with the permitted routes to be set out in regulation, rather than a general freedom to renew subject to specific limits.

Section 50(2) closes an adjacent gap: for greater certainty, the 10-day cooling-off period does not apply in respect of a consumer contract that is amended or continued. A renewal does not restart the cooling-off clock.

What a compliant automatic renewal will require in practice, including any notice before it happens and any cancellation route, is set by the regulations made for the purposes of section 19. Those regulations are where the operative detail will sit, and nothing on this page anticipates their content.

The One-Year Right to Rescind After an Unfair Practice

Section 49(1) provides that any consumer contract, whether written, oral or implied, in respect of which an unfair practice occurred may be rescinded by the consumer, and that the consumer is entitled to any remedy available in law, including damages. The unfair practice can have occurred before, during or after the contract was entered into.

The deadline is in section 49(3): notice is due within the later of one year after entering into the contract and one year after the unfair practice occurs. The second branch is what matters. Where a misrepresentation only becomes visible well into a long contract, the clock can run from the practice rather than from the signature.

Where rescission is no longer possible, because the goods or services cannot be returned or because a third party has acquired a right in good faith and for value, section 49(2) allows recovery of the amount by which the payment exceeded the value the goods or services had to the consumer, or damages, or both. Section 49(4) allows an action to be commenced where notice has been given and no satisfactory response has arrived within 15 days. Section 49(5) makes oral evidence about the unfair practice admissible despite a written contract, and section 49(6) makes everyone who engaged in the unfair practice jointly and severally liable with the party that contracted with the consumer.

Contract Terms That Would Be Void

Section 14(1) lists seven categories of term or acknowledgement that no person shall include in a consumer contract or a related agreement. Section 14(2) provides that a term of any of these kinds is deemed void if it is included, and section 54 allows the contract itself to be cancelled where a prohibited term or acknowledgement appears in it.

• A term requiring disputes to go to arbitration, or to a court other than the Superior Court of Justice, where it prevents the consumer exercising a right of action given under the Act.
• A term preventing the consumer from starting or joining a class proceeding.
• A term purporting to negate or vary an implied condition or warranty under the Sale of Goods Act, or a deemed condition or warranty under the Act.
• A term placing a monetary limit on a claim for breach of such a condition or warranty.
• A term allowing the supplier to acquire title to, possession of, or rights in the consumer’s own goods, beyond the goods passing under the contract.
• A term preventing the consumer from publishing or communicating a review of the supplier or of what was supplied.
• A term preventing the consumer from filing a complaint with the Ministry or otherwise communicating with it.

The sixth item is the one with no equivalent in most Canadian consumer statutes: a clause that stops a customer publishing a review of the supplier would be void by operation of the Act. The seventh protects the complaint route itself.

Section 71 sets the limit on the arbitration rule. After a dispute has actually arisen, the consumer, the supplier and anyone else involved may agree to resolve it by any procedure available in law, despite clause 14(1)(a). What section 14 prevents is an arbitration clause imposed in advance, at the point of signing.

Two related provisions sit alongside it. Section 7 provides that the substantive and procedural rights given under the Act apply despite any agreement or waiver to the contrary, and section 5 requires any ambiguity that allows more than one reasonable interpretation of a supplier-provided contract, or of information the Act requires to be disclosed, to be interpreted to the benefit of the consumer.

Gift Cards and Prepaid Purchase Cards

Section 43(1) provides that no supplier shall enter into a prepaid purchase card contract that has an expiry with respect to the performance of the contract. Section 43(2) handles the card that is issued with one anyway: a prepaid purchase card contract with an expiry date takes effect as if it had no expiry date, provided the contract is otherwise valid. The prohibition is therefore backed by a rule that rewrites the offending card rather than leaving the holder to argue about it.

Section 42 leaves the rest to regulation. The supplier must ensure the contract contains the prescribed information and complies with any other prescribed requirements, including any requirements about fees or other charges. Section 53 allows a consumer to cancel where section 42(1) was not complied with.

The Other Changes for Buyers

The table sets out the provisions of the 2023 Act most likely to affect an ordinary purchase, each with the section number it comes from.

Three further provisions are worth naming. Section 4(1) requires information the Act obliges a supplier to disclose to be clear, comprehensible and prominent, and section 4(2) requires it to be delivered in a way likely to come to the consumer’s attention and in a form the consumer can retain. Section 13(1) deems the supplier to warrant that services supplied under a consumer contract are of a reasonably acceptable quality, and section 13(2) deems the Sale of Goods Act conditions and warranties to apply to goods. Section 15(1) provides that where a consumer has paid two-thirds or more of the payment obligation fixed by the contract, a repossession or resale provision is unenforceable except by leave of the Superior Court of Justice.

On price changes, the Act does not itself set a rule. Section 107 lists the regulation-making powers of the Lieutenant Governor in Council, and paragraph 17 of that section covers governing price escalation clauses in consumer contracts, including specifying limitations with respect to price increases. That is a power to make rules, not a rule; what it produces will be in the regulations.

Section 69 changes what a successful court claim is worth. Unless it would be inequitable in the circumstances, the court shall order that the consumer recover the full payment to which they are entitled under the Act or, where the action is brought in respect of a refund, three times the amount of the refund. Section 70 confirms that a consumer may start or join a class proceeding over a dispute arising out of a consumer contract, which is what makes the class-action ban in section 14(1)(b) effective.

What Stays Under the CPA 2002 Until Proclamation

Everything above is contingent. Until the day named by proclamation, the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 and its regulations continue to govern consumer transactions in Ontario, and Consumer Protection Ontario administers them under that Act. The provincial guidance most buyers actually encounter, including the 10-day cooling-off period for a direct agreement, the 30-day delivery rule for ordered goods and services, and the 15-day refund deadline, is stated under the 2002 Act on Ontario’s own pages.

The practical consequences of that are worth stating plainly. A gift card issued today is governed by the current gift card rules rather than by section 43. A term banning a customer review is not void by operation of section 14. An unfair practice claim follows the rescission timeline in the 2002 Act rather than the later-of test in section 49. A subscription renewal is governed by the current rules rather than by the general prohibition in section 19.

Section 110 repeals the 2002 Act when the new Act comes into force, and sections 111 to 119 update the cross-references in the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act, the Consumer Reporting Act, the Discriminatory Business Practices Act, the Licence Appeal Tribunal Act, 1999, the Limitations Act, 2002, the Personal Property Security Act, the Repair and Storage Liens Act, the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 and the Ticket Sales Act, 2017. Those amendments are drafted and waiting; none of them operates yet.

A proclamation date, once made, is announced by the province and recorded on the e-Laws entry for the Act. This page carries a verification date at the top for that reason: the status is the part most likely to change, and the section-by-section content below it is not affected by when the change happens.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the Consumer Protection Act, 2023 in force in Ontario?

Not as of the verification date on this page. The Act was passed as Schedule 1 to Bill 142, the Better for Consumers, Better for Businesses Act, 2023, and became S.O. 2023, c. 23, Sch. 1 on royal assent. Section 120 of that Schedule provides that the Act comes into force on a day to be named by proclamation of the Lieutenant Governor, and no proclamation date is recorded on the sources cited below. Ontario’s own business guide states that the new Act will renew and update Ontario’s consumer protection laws when it comes into effect, and that until then the existing Consumer Protection Act, 2002 remains in effect.

What would change about subscriptions and automatic renewals?

Section 19 reverses the default. It defines a continuation as a renewal or extension of a fixed-term contract and an amendment as any other change, then provides that no supplier shall amend or continue, or purport to amend or continue, a consumer contract except as provided for in the regulations, and that an amendment or continuation not made in accordance with the regulations is void. Under the current Act the amendment and renewal rules apply to particular categories of contract; under the 2023 Act the prohibition is general and the regulations carve out what is permitted. Section 50(2) also confirms that the 10-day cooling-off period does not apply to a contract that is amended or continued. What a compliant renewal will actually require depends on regulations that are made for the purposes of section 19.

How long would there be to rescind a contract after an unfair practice?

Section 49 allows a consumer contract in respect of which an unfair practice occurred to be rescinded, whether the practice occurred before, during or after the contract was entered into, with any remedy available in law including damages. Notice is due within the later of one year after entering the contract and one year after the unfair practice occurs. That second branch is the change: where a misrepresentation surfaces well after signing, the clock can run from the practice rather than only from the contract date. Where rescission is no longer possible, section 49(2) allows recovery of the amount by which payment exceeded the value received, or damages, or both. If there is no satisfactory response within 15 days of notice, section 49(4) allows an action to be commenced.

Would gift cards be allowed to expire?

Section 43 provides that no supplier shall enter into a prepaid purchase card contract that has an expiry with respect to the performance of the contract, and that a card issued with an expiry date takes effect as if it had none, provided the contract is otherwise valid. Section 42 leaves the required information on the card and the rules about fees and other charges to the regulations. Ontario already restricts gift card expiry under the current regime; the 2023 Act writes the prohibition into the statute itself.

What happens to a contract signed before the new Act comes into force?

Until proclamation, the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 governs, so a contract signed today is made under that Act and Consumer Protection Ontario administers it under that Act. Section 110 of the 2023 Act repeals the 2002 Act on the day the new Act comes into force, and sections 111 to 119 update the cross-references in the Collection and Debt Settlement Services Act, the Consumer Reporting Act, the Limitations Act, 2002, the Ticket Sales Act, 2017 and other statutes. How existing contracts are treated on the changeover is a transition question governed by the Act and its regulations; section 56 shows the drafters addressing it expressly for timeshare contracts, which apply to agreements entered into before, on or after the day that section comes into force.