Some door-to-door sales no longer allowed in Ontario

Starting Thursday, there are some things that can no longer be sold door-to-door in Ontario.

Those include furnaces, air conditioners, air purifiers, water heaters, water filters and duct cleaning services.

Ontario's Minister of Government and Consumer Services, Tracy MacCharles, says the province decided to ban the sale of certain products after hearing complaints from people across the province.

"We've had about 4,000 complaints from Ontarians about these sort of aggressive and sometimes deceptive practices at their door," she said.

"Particularly from seniors and new Canadians and we've heard the complaints about those types of products."

As for other door-to-door type sales MacCharles says the list of banned products that can be sold may be adjusted in the future.

"If the complaints go up on other services at the door, we'll certainly be monitoring that."

MacCharles says the maximum fine for individuals who break the law is $50,000, while corporations can be fined up to $250,000.

Pushing for more services to be banned

John Lawford, head of the Public Interest Advocacy Centre, says the move to stop some pushy salesman at your welcome mat is a good thing.

But he questions why companies are still allowed to push internet, phone and TVat your door.

Telecommunications companies or charities are not included because they fall under federal jurisdiction.

But Lawford says with ongoing reports of aggressive and misleading sales tactics by telecom companies, Canada's telecom regulator should step in.

"We have asked the CRTC in a letter to open a public inquiry into telecommunications sales practices, whether it's at the door, or on the phone, or online, and the CRTC wrote back and said they were not going to do that," he said.

Lawford says if the CRTC won't do it, his group will next ask the Industry Committee at the House of Commons to hold public hearings on telecomsales practices.