Category Archives: Uncategorized

May 9, 2014 · 5:30 pm

Members of Ontario’s Legislative Assembly speak out about consumer issues with TARION

Member of Provincial Parliament, Cheri DiNovo speaks out about: What’s broken at Tarion

Here are excepts from her letter to a homeowner dated April 24, 2014. Reproduced with permission from MPP DiNovo’s office.

Dear (Homeowner),

(…)  You are absolutely right – there are far too many issues with Tarion, and there needs to be legislation to protect homeowners. That is why the NDP has tabled a Bill to give the Ontario Ombudsman oversight over Tarion.  (…)  The NDP has also met with Ministers of Consumer Services over the years pressing them again and again to take action on this.

Tarion Warranty Corporation is a private, developer-run corporation created by the government to protect new home buyers.  Most of Tarion’s funding comes from Ontario’s home buyers, but Tarion does not answer to consumers. It answers to the developers it is supposed to regulate. We in the NDP have raised questions to the Minister of Consumer Services, Tracy MacCharles to explain why a corporation set up to protect consumers seems more interested in fighting consumers at the License Appeal Tribunal, while protecting builders?

The bottom line is that the Liberal government is not interested in reforming Tarion in any way.

At a recent Ontario Liberal party AGM, the Liberals elected (…) the government relations director of Tarion Warranty Corporation. In other words, the lobbyist for a developer-controlled corporation now has influence over the distribution of political contributions to local campaigns. The construction and development industry is already by far the biggest contributor to political campaigns, and now its grip on the Ontario Liberal Party has tightened further. This is relevant to understanding why the Liberal government seems so reluctant to do anything about Tarion.

Yours,

Office of Cheri DiNovo, MPP

Calls and e-mails to Premier Wynne’s office from consumers and consumer organizations expressing concerns about Tarion have not been responded to, from March 2013 to date, May 2014.  This seems inconceivable from a Premier who promised us she stood for “transparency and accountability”, and “got into politics to help people”.  How to explain this? Follow the money.

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Video

Dr. Karen Somerville, President of “Canadians for Properly Built Homes” speaking after Tarion’s Annual Public Meeting

Premier Wynne, you can run, but you can’t hide.

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May 1, 2014 · 9:31 pm
Video

Well-respected consumer journalist Dr. Peter Silverman speaks out about Tarion

DR. PETER SILVERMAN spoke out on this video clip for social media after the Tarion Annual General Meeting. Mr. Silverman is a well-known broadcast journalist, a consumer advocate for 25 years, and has won numerous high-profile awards for service to the Province and the people of Ontario.  He hits the nail on the head in his assessment of the problems at Tarion Warranty Corporation.  

WHAT’S BROKEN AT TARION?

by B.Captijn

“There’s a disconnect” as Mr.Silverman points out, between what Tarion’s vast marketing machinery is telling the public, and what consumers actually experience with the new home warranty. Last night’s Annual Public Meeting seemed to leave Tarion’s board numb or dumbfounded by the intensity and sheer number of concerns voiced by consumers. Some board members I talked to seemed unaware of the serious concerns consumers have voiced with their organization.

Its true what Peter Silverman says in this short video clip taken after the meeting: this is a political problem. Karen Somerville of the consumer organization CPBH clearly states this in her message to the Premier, also posted on social media after the meeting.

But with the building industry the main contributor to Provincial political campaigns, there’s no political will to clamp down on builders’ influence or privileges at Tarion. Since neither the Ombudsman of Ontario nor the Auditor General can scrutinize Tarion’s business practices, and since the Ministry of Consumer Services seems to have become little more than a puppet of Tarion, this is a monopoly dominated by the industry it is supposed to be regulating. If it seems Tarion doesn’t really care about consumers, its because they don’t have to. There’s no independent body looking over their shoulders. Do you want to find out what Tarion’s 9 Vice Presidents and Board members earn? Sorry that’s a black box too, they are not subject to the Sunshine List either.

A monopoly without effective oversight is a scary thing.  For consumers, not builders.

Many consumers and MPPs support Rosario Marchese’s Bill 139 for Accountability and Oversight of Tarion, and PC MPP Norm Miller’s Bill 190 for the Auditor General’s oversight of Tarion. Both bills have promising support in the Legislature, but will be in limbo if Ms.Wynne calls an election in May/June 2014.

My suggestion, which has been made by many others, on several occasions:

Split up the warranty-providing function of Tarion which is meant to serve consumers, from the regulating and licensing function, which serves builders. You cannot serve two masters at the same time. Tarion is a “walking conflict of interest” in the words of a prominent MPP who has often spoken out about Tarion.  Splitting up these two conflicting functions would eliminate the conflicts which are currently causing consumers so much hardship. With all the lawyers, senior accountants, and “corporate governance experts” on Tarion’s board, are we to believe they don’t see this?

 

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May 1, 2014 · 8:38 pm