When Ontario Premier Doug Ford told an audience at the Empire Club of Canada how he’d personally chased down a shoplifter, a lot of business owners nodded.
Not necessarily because they’d have done the same thing, but because they feel the same way.
“Enough is enough.”
The frustration Premier Ford expressed goes well beyond retail theft.
Across Canada, honest business owners are quietly saying the same thing about another kind of theft that rarely makes headlines: the deliberate and increasing abuse of credit.
When Theft Looks Like Credit
Most businesses have no choice but to extend credit in order to stay competitive. It’s how the economy functions.
Restaurants serve meals before the bill is paid.
Contractors complete work while waiting on invoices.
Retailers, manufacturers, and service providers all rely on accounts receivable to keep the wheels of commerce turning.
And yet, a growing number of individuals and businesses are learning how to exploit that trust.
They order goods or services with no intention of paying.
They dodge communication, file endless “validation requests,” or hide behind legal loopholes designed to protect legitimate consumers.
The result? The abusers thrive. And the honest businesses (and, by extension, their honest customers) foot the bill.
That’s not “consumer protection.” That’s a system out of whack.
The Hard Line Between Debt and Theft
Here’s the fundamental difference:
- Debt is a promise: an honour-based agreement to pay later.
- Theft means taking something without consent.
But when someone signs for credit, accepts a product or service, and then straight-up refuses to pay, the line between civil and criminal behaviour has been crossed.
It’s deception, plain and simple.
And unlike shoplifters, these credit lifters too rarely face real consequences.
Businesses are told to “write it off.”
Collection agencies like MetCredit are tightly regulated, and work under consumer protection laws that were written for another era… long before AI-generated form letters and social-media playbooks for dodging repayment could even be imagined.
That is the new, very real landscape today.
We do have sophisticated tools to help us collect, highly trained agents, and the ability to report to a variety of credit rating agencies. But when the debtor doesn’t care about consequences and is adept at gaming the system, it becomes infinitely harder.
Meanwhile, the costs of unpaid debt are quietly passed on to everyone else: the responsible customers who pay their bills, the employees whose available pay gets squeezed, and the small business owners struggling just to keep the lights on.
Let Business Do Business
Licensed Canadian collection agencies like MetCredit play an essential role in maintaining economic fairness. We help businesses recover what’s rightfully theirs… ethically, respectfully, and within the law.
But over time, legislation and public perception have had the effect of lumping legitimate agencies together with offshore call-centre scams.
The result: real hardworking businesses are handcuffed while bad actors face less and less risk.
We don’t want to be the security guards watching the thieves run out of the store anymore, like the one Rob Ford talked about.
We want the ability — and the government support — to enforce accountability when credit is abused.
That’s not talking big an acting tough. It’s demanding fairness.
What Businesses Can Do Right Now
Even without legislative change, there ARE steps every credit-granting business can take today to protect themselves:
- Know your customers.
Check trade references, run credit checks, and verify business registration details before extending significant terms. - Tighten your credit policies.
Reward good payers with flexibility, but set clear limits for new or inconsistent clients. - Act quickly on overdue accounts.
Time is the enemy in collections. The longer an account sits, the harder it is to recover. - Use a licensed Canadian collection agency early on.
The right partner acts as an extension of your brand, protecting relationships while keeping your cash flow moving. - Document everything.
Keep contracts, delivery confirmations, and communications in order. Especially when extending large credit lines, but every time.
These are not harsh punitive measures; they are survival tools in a climate where too many exploit trust as a business model.
Times have changed, and this is where we are.
The Cost of Doing Nothing
Every unpaid invoice becomes a silent tax on the people who DO play by the rules.
It’s paid by the small contractor who can’t make payroll.
It’s paid by the grocery chain forced to raise prices to offset shrinkage.
It’s paid by honest Canadians whose integrity keeps the economy functioning.
Businesses don’t need to be meaner. They need to be heard.
Governments must modernize credit and collections laws to reflect the reality of today’s abuse… where technology and loopholes allow professional debtors to hide in plain sight.
Until that happens, collection professionals will keep doing what we’ve always done: working respectfully, ethically, and tirelessly to protect the businesses that keep Canada running.
Because without accountability, there is no trust.
And without trust, credit itself stops working.
What We Can Do, Together
If you’re a business owner, speak up.
Stop treating bad debt as an acceptable cost of doing business. It is not. Demand accountability. Use licensed Canadian collection agencies who collect ethically and within the law. And make sure your elected representatives know that your ability to operate depends on fair, enforceable credit rules.
If you’re a credit professional, use your voice within the industry.
Support the associations that advocate for stronger creditor protections like the Receivable Management Association (RMA) and Credit Institute of Canada (CIC).
Share your specific, detailed examples of abuse. Encourage modernization of outdated consumer protection laws that are penalizing the very businesses they were created to support.
If you’re in government, please speak up for your constituents.
Recognize that every unpaid debt is paid by someone who shouldn’t have to: by the good customers, the hardworking employees, and the small business owners who run themselves ragged to keep our economy moving.
Enough is enough.
The time has come to restore balance, respect, and responsibility to Canada’s credit system.
Who’s with me?
