Should loyalty card points ever expire? CAQ private member's bill would make it illegal

In the wake of the consumer uproar thatforced Air Miles to nix its expiry policy, the Coalition Avenir Qubec's justice critic plans to table a bill on Tuesday making it illegal in Quebec for loyalty reward points to expire.

"We want to assure the protection of the consumer," Simon Jolin-Barrette, the MNA for Borduastold CBC in an exclusive interview.

• Air Miles nixes expiry policy, but some customers angry they rushed to spend miles

Canadians have more than 129 million subscriptions to reward programs. In exchange for personal information about shopping habits, collectors receive points that can be redeemed for travel and other items.

After last year'soutcry over expiring miles and the inability of collectors to redeem miles for the rewards they wanted, Air Miles owner LoyaltyOnecaved to pressure, nixing the policy that would have seen miles collected prior to 2012 expire on Jan. 1, 2017.

However, manyother loyaltycards continue to apply such a policy.

Consumers group says points should never expire

Yannick Labelle, a lawyer andconsumerprotection analyst with the Union des Consommateurs, said Jolin-Barrette's bill is a step in the right direction.

"Most people have quite a few cards in their wallet and, unfortunately, they don't always know the different implications of having such cards," she said.

Labelle said people need to know what their rights are under each loyalty program and what the benefits are for each of their cards.

Complaints about certain reward programs are nothing new to her consumer advocacy organization, she said.

"We hear often that there are issues with the expiry dates and the unilateral modifications brought to the programs by the different companies that do manage those programs," she said.

Province looking into the issue

In December, a private member's bill tabled by Ontario Liberal MPP Arthur Potts received royal assent at Queen's Park.

At the end of November, QuebecJustice Minister Stephanie Valle asked the province's consumer protection office to report back to her with recommendations. The office isstill working on her request.

Jolin-Barrette said he hopes his bill will put pressure on the government to act.

"I hope that with that bill that we will be able to work together to make it happen really quickly," he said.