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October 2005 Two key events took place this past summer in Ontario relating to consumer protection, and both were disappointments from the perspective of newly built homes. 1. New consumer protection legislation with no enhanced protection for purchasers of newly built homes The McGuinty government introduced new consumer protection legislation, and despite many Ontarians contacting the McGuinty government about serious problems with their newly built homes in the past few years, no new consumer protections were included in this legislation for owners of newly built homes. Canadians for Properly Built Homes wrote to the outgoing Minister of Ministry of Consumer and Business Services, Jim Watson, and inquired regarding what he had done as the Minister to protect owners of newly built homes. The following is his response: "...I committed to reforming the governance of Tarion and am proud that this was accomplished. The Minister now appoints 50% of the nomination committee (as opposed to 100% of the committee being appointed by homebuilders) and the Minister also has the right, for the first time, to appoint four members of the Board, which I did as Minister, including one from our (Ottawa) riding. The process is now a permanent situation, and is not a one-time deal..." While we welcome consumer representation on the Tarion board of directors, CPBH is very disappointed that this appears to be the sole thing that former Minister of Consumer and Business Services Jim Watson did to provide new protection for Ontario's new home owners in his almost two years as Minister, despite hearing from many Ontarians about problems with their home purchase, and considering the recognized problems in the new home industry! CPBH is not alone in its concern about inadequate protection for new home purchasers in Ontario, e.g., following the McGuinty government’s announcement this past summer of its new consumer protection legislation, the President of the Consumers Council of Canada, Ms. Joan Huzar, advised CPBH in Aug. 2005 that “the Council is indeed concerned about protection for new home buyers. We have raised this matter with Minister Phillips and continue to monitor the issue.” Since May 2005, CPBH has been trying to meet with two of Tarion’s new “consumer representatives” on the Tarion board, who were appointed by former Minister Watson in 2005 (Ms. Pitt and Mr. Spiteri), to discuss the need for Tarion to better protect home owners. To date, CPBH has not been successful in meeting with Ms. Pitt and Mr. Spiteri, but CPBH will continue trying to meet with them. 2. Ministry of Consumer and Business Services eliminated Premier McGuinty also recently “fine tuned” his government, and, in the process, eliminated the Ministry of Consumer and Business Services. The responsibility for consumer protection, and Tarion (formerly the ONHWP), was folded into the Ministry of Government Services. Some consumer advocates have expressed concern that the word "consumer" is no longer included in any Ontario ministry title, and feel that the importance of the consumer, and consumer protection have been diminished by this Ontario provincial government fine tuning. As well, a visit to the Government Services' web-site (under “Protecting Consumers”), reveals no information about consumer protection for newly built homes. Again, this is striking, given that the purchase of a new home is the largest purchase made by most consumers, and given the recognized serious problems in the new home construction industry. If you are of the view that Ontarians need better consumer protection in relation to newly built home purchases, you are encouraged to write to the new Minister: CPBH would appreciate receiving a copy of your letter to Minister Phillips, in order to better represent your concerns when communicating with government officials. Our address is:
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