A franchise, a company or a supplier

Buying a franchise?Ontario

1. 14 daysThe disclosure document comes at least 14 days before you sign or pay anything.
2. 60 daysLate or incomplete: cancel without penalty up to 60 days after receiving it.
3. 2 yearsNo document at all: cancel up to two years after the agreement.
4. 60 days to refundAfter a cancellation, the franchisor refunds within 60 days.

• A franchisee who loses money through incomplete disclosure or a misrepresentation “has the right to take legal action for damages.”
• The Province's page lists consulting “legal and financial professionals who are independent from the franchisor” before signing or paying.

Government of Ontario: Franchising information for buyers and owners (14 July 2021). Read 6 November 2026.

Who is the company?

What a company's public records cost to see:

• CanadaFederal corporationsCorporations Canada

  A federal corporation's profile, ordered online.

  Free
• OntarioOntario Business RegistryGovernment of Ontario

  A corporation's profile report $8, a certificate of status $26, a copy of a document $3.

  From $8
• CanadaBankruptcy and insolvency recordsOffice of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy

  $8 for each set of 10 results, even when there are none; large companies' CCAA records are free to view.

  $8 per 10 results

Corporations Canada: Online Filing Centre (6 November 2026) · Government of Ontario: Cost and time to register, change or search (29 September 2026) · Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy: Bankruptcy and insolvency records search (23 March 2015). Read 6 November 2026.

New bank details on an invoice?

• Among the signs the Anti-Fraud Centre lists: changed payment or banking details from a supplier or contractor, urgent large wire transfers abroad, gift cards asked for by someone posing as a boss.
• It lists checking with the person through your own records: “look up the person's email or phone number in your work's directory and verify with them if they sent the message.”

Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: Top 10 frauds of 2025 (25 February 2026) · Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre: Spear phishing (16 January 2026). Read 6 November 2026.

Pyramid or MLM?

A multi-level marketing plan can be legal. The Competition Bureau names these as pyramid selling:

• Pay for recruiting
• Purchases required to join
• Stock you can't sell or use
• No buy-back on fair terms

The Competition Bureau's own words

• “offer compensation for recruitment”
• “require purchases (other than a start-up kit sold at cost) as a condition of participation”
• “require participants to buy a large amount of inventory that cannot be resold or used within a reasonable amount of time (inventory loading)”
• “fail to offer a buy-back guarantee on reasonable commercial terms”

• Any claim about earnings “must be fair, reasonable and timely.”

Competition Bureau: Multi-level marketing and pyramid selling (15 October 2024). Read 6 November 2026.

A company offering grants?

The Competition Bureau's signs of a company selling access to government funding:

• A site that looks like the government's
• A fee for program information

What the Bureau says

• Nobody can promise a grant
• Program information is free

The Competition Bureau's own words

• “Displaying a real-looking government website and/or a name that sounds like a government department”
• “Charging a fee to access information about government funding programs”
• “No one can guarantee government grants or loans.”
• “Federal, provincial and municipal governments generally do not charge a fee for information on their programs”

Competition Bureau: Don't trust companies that promise government grants and loans (18 March 2016). Read 6 November 2026.