Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet on Parliament Hill on Feb. 9.Justin Tang/The Canadian Press
The Bloc Québécois is proposing that the budget bill be amended to require banks to reimburse customers who fall victim to fraud.
Bill C-15, the Budget Implementation Act, proposes several changes to the Bank Act meant to protect consumers from scams, such as requiring banks to have anti-fraud policies in place and giving customers greater control over account settings. The changes form part of Ottawa’s plan to combat scams and other types of financial fraud.
However, critics say the measures don’t go far enough to protect consumers amid the rise in increasingly sophisticated scams.
“For too long, vicious swindlers have abused consumers’ honesty, and the Big Five [banks] have dodged their responsibilities toward customers,” Bloc finance critic Jean-Denis Garon said in a statement.
“This amendment will ensure that banks are held accountable when consumers are scammed. It will prompt them to report fraud as quickly as possible instead of leaving consumers behind. It will shift the burden from consumers to the banks,” he added.
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Fraud has surged in recent years, with victims reporting a total of $544-million in losses to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre in the first nine months of 2025.
The reported losses, which are believed to represent just 5 to 10 per cent of all fraud, are on track to surpass the $645-million reported to the agency in 2024.
The proposed amendment to Bill C-15, which is currently being studied at committee, would hold banks liable for fraud losses, except in instances where the customer has been grossly negligent.
“The idea is to create a strong incentive for them to have efficient measures to prevent fraud,” said Sara Eve Levac, a lawyer and analyst at Option consommateurs. The Montreal-based consumer advocacy is backing the amendment, expected to be tabled on Monday, along with several other groups, including the Public Interest Advocacy Centre and the Canadian Association of Retired Persons.
Owing to the allocation of seats on the finance committee, the Liberals require the co-operation of either the Conservatives or the Bloc to approve the bill.
Ms. Levac points to Britain, where liability for reimbursing the victims of what are known as authorized push-payment scams is split equally between the bank that sent the money and the one that received it. (An authorized push-payment scam occurs when a customer is tricked into sending money to someone posing as a payee.)
According to data from Britain’s Payment Systems Regulator, claims relating to authorized push-payment scams between October, 2024, and June, 2025, were 15 per cent lower compared with a year earlier.
“This shows the policy is having a positive impact as firms have stepped up and are spotting and preventing fraudulent transactions from happening in the first place,” the regulator said.
The banking industry in Canada has been advocating for a cross-sector approach to combatting fraud, arguing that involving telecoms and technology platforms is necessary to prevent fraud from occurring.
The Canadian Bankers Association said in a statement that the proposed amendment will not prevent scams and may have unintended negative consequences on consumers and the broader economy.
“We strongly recommend the government use the National Anti-Fraud Strategy under development to support and invest in preventative, cross‑sector measures to help Canadians address this global challenge and help keep Canadians safe,” said Nathalie Bergeron, a spokesperson for the CBA.
The Department of Finance said in a statement that the federal government’s 2025 budget announced a plan to develop a “whole-of-government” anti-fraud strategy.
“The strategy aims to bring together financial institutions, telecommunications providers, and technology companies to develop a cross-sectoral approach to combatting fraud. Through this strategy, the government will consider further steps, including additional legislative and regulatory measures, that may be taken to combat fraud against Canadians,” the statement said.
The Bank Act already limits consumer liability for unauthorized credit-card transactions to $50, as long as the consumer wasn’t grossly negligent.
And Quebec’s Consumer Protection Act was recently amended to require financial institutions to reimburse victims who lose money from their bank accounts to fraud, although the changes are not yet in effect.
Last year, a coalition of financial institutions, telecoms, technology companies and other organizations was formed to try to tackle the pervasive problem of scams.
The Canadian Anti-Scam Coalition, which has 50 member organizations, including Canada’s Big Six banks, its largest telecoms, and tech giants such as Google and Meta, has launched a public-awareness campaign and is exploring other measures.