Finally, a legislative agenda

Tom Osborne, the Member that works, has another one of his brrrilliant ideas. VOCM reports today:

MHA Targeting Money Lenders
Friday , January 6 2012

A St. John's MHA is pushing for regulations to deal with payday lending companies and their practices in the province. On VOCM Back Talk with Paddy Daly, Tory MHA Tom Osborne said he was shocked by a call he received from a constituent who recently ran into trouble with one of those companies. He says the man had borrowed $140 and was charged $267 plus an additional $20 fee just a month later. Osborne says he will push for regulations, similar to those in place in other provinces, to try to control how payday lending companies operate. He says the companies prey on people who are already vulnerable.

If Osborne is looking for other provincial legislation to study, and then ignore, he need look no further than Manitoba, whose Consumer Protection Amendment Act (Payday Loans) was enacted in 2009.

This was two years after Manitoba brought in its whistleblower protection legislation, which the Danny-Dunderdale Government has been assiduously ignoring studying going on five years now.