Toronto, Ontario — September 23, 2015 — The Ministry of Government and Consumer Services (MGCS) is inviting the public to submit feedback on proposed regulatory changes to Ontario towing and storage rules.
On November 20, 2014, the province passed the Fighting Fraud and Reducing Automobile Insurance Rates Act, 2014 (Bill 15). The Act outlines amendments to the the Consumer Protection Act, 2002 (CPA) and the Repair and Storage Liens Act (RSLA) to establish tow and storage specific consumer protection measures and to address storage notification and related issues.
In early 2015, to assist in the development of the proposed regulations and to define recommendations, MGCS and the Ministry of Transportation (MTO) formed a 19-member towing and storage consultation panel consisting of municipal representatives, policing services, the insurance sector, and vehicle storage, towing, financing and leasing stakeholders.
The Towing and Vehicle Storage Stakeholder Panel met four times between February and May 2015. To gather additional feedback from stakeholders in the municipal, towing and insurance sectors, MGCS and MTO also held three separate meetings with specific stakeholder groups. In June 2015, five regional consultation sessions were held in Mississauga, London, Pickering, Ottawa and Sudbury. These sessions, in addition to the the regulatory registry posting of the Towing and Vehicle Storage Consultations Findings and Recommendations Report—which occurred from July 14 to August 12—were used to inform further recommendations.
Links to the proposed regulations and a summary report can be found at ontariocanada.com/registry.
Feedback can be submitted by:
• Commenting on the proposal through the Regulatory Registry;
• Emailing towingandstorage@ontario.ca with “Towing and Vehicle Storage Proposed Regulations” in the subject line; or
• Mailing written comments to:
Ministry of Government and Consumer Services
Consumer Policy and Liaison Branch
777 Bay Street, 5th Floor, Toronto, Ontario M7A 2J3
You may submit comments directly or use the feedback form provided.
To read Bill 15 in full, please visit ontla.on.ca.
