TORONTO -- A Liberal government backbencher introduced a private member's bill Monday to ban door-to-door sales of furnaces, air conditioners, water heaters and water treatment devices in Ontario.

"It is beyond reprehensible that some organizations have a business model based on taking advantage of vulnerable people," said Etobicoke Centre MPP Yvan Baker.

"These four products alone cost consumers who reported their experiences to the Ministry of Consumer services over $3.1 million in 2015, and that's only the people who reported it to the government," said Baker.

"Many of them talked about misrepresentation, partial or incomplete delivery of goods, billing disputes and difficulties in cancelling contracts."

Furnaces, air conditioners and water heaters are frequently sold or leased by unscrupulous operators trying to scam money out of homeowners, added Baker.

"I heard from seniors who told me they'd been taken advantage of at the door by sales people who used misleading, aggressive and coercive sales tactics," he said.

Lexy Fogel of Toronto said retailers from a home energy company visited her mother last year and insisted she needed a new furnace, which they installed that day, even though her existing furnace was just five years old.

Fogel said they took advantage of her mom, who has Alzheimer's.

"Now my mother is signed up for a new contract where she pays $20 more a month than her old contract," she said.

"It's been a horrible situation for us, and at least my mother has me as an advocate. I'm sure there's many seniors who don't have family nearby to fight for them in these sorts of situations and get taken advantage of."

Baker said too many consumers are "duped into contracts at their doorsteps with no way out," so under his bill, any contract signed at the door for one of the products listed in the bill would automatically be voided.

There would be fines of up to $2,000 for individuals violating the door-to-door sales ban -- up to $25,000 for companies -- and the government would be able to add other products to the list in the future.

The non-profit Public Interest Advocacy Centre called Baker's bill a step in the right direction to protect consumers from making what could be damaging financial decisions based on high pressure sales tactics.

"This provides a substantial set a remedies that not only obtain compensation for individual consumers, but also enable the government to take steps to ensure that the practice does not continue," said PIAC's Michael Janigan.

"The financial penalties are so substantial that they can no longer just shrug it off as the cost of doing business."

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said her party has been concerned about some door-to-door sales practices for some time.

New Democrat MPP Sarah Campbell introduced a private member's last year and again this year to try to ban predatory door-to-door sales by electricity retailers.

Private member's bills rarely become law in Ontario, but the ones put forward by government members often have a better chance of getting past second reading. Baker's bill will come up for second reading June 9.