Sault Ste. Marie city council considers payday loan regulation

City council in Sault Ste. Mariedirected staff Tuesday night to come up with a bylaw regulating payday loan businesses.

City councillor Matthew Shoemaker, who tabled the motion, suggested it could include a range of different measures including requiring stores to prominently advertise the borrowing rate and provide anyoneseeking a payday loan information on the free credit counselling services available in Sault Ste. Marie.

"I would prefer if we didn't have to pass this, but the provincial government has imposed on the municipalities the power to regulate these things, even though, frankly, it should be their responsibility," Shoemaker told council Tuesday night.

• Hamilton votes to restrict new payday loan places to no more than 15

Shoemaker also said he likes the proposal before Hamilton city council that would set a hard limit on the number of payday lenders allowed in a city.

City councillor Steve Butlandhopes that the lending companies in the Sault will step up and bring in their own regulations to protect the "most vulnerable" people in the city.

"If you go once, you're likely to go twice," Butland said.