Still Waiting on the Ontario Payday Loans Advisory Board

The clock is ticking for the Ontario Payday Loans Advisory Board. The Advisory Board was established as part of Ontario's Payday Loan Legislation, Bill 48, and will be made up of an academic, a business person and a consumer advocate. Its job is to establish the maximum allowable rate for payday loans in Ontario. The posting for these three positions closed April 25, 2008 and the Board's mandate only runs until September 30, 2008. Given that it is almost the end of June, this Board is going to have to move quickly if it is to make an effective decision in such a short time period.

While we don't know who will be on the Board, we do know one person who won't be. York University's Dr. Chris Robinson spoke recently at the committee hearings for Bill 48 and made it clear that the Public Appointments Secretariat did not select him for a role on the Board:

All I can do is give you the recommendations. I'm not going to be able to do anything else, since your expert committee-or rather the Public Appointments Secretariat-has decided that I'm not competent.

I will keep you posted as more information comes out of Ontario.