Recently fed up homeowners lined up to tell their stories to Toronto Star journalist Clarrie Feinstein. Two of these homeowner stories were covered in today's huge article in the Star. It's behind a paywall so here is a link to the CPBH website:
CPBH's President, Karen Somerville, was also quoted in that article: "...despite Tarion's claims of reforms, it still hasn't done enough to protect buyers of newly built homes..."
The Star gave Tarion plenty of space to try to defend itself. Tarion's CEO since 2020, Peter Balasubramanian, told the Star about numerous steps the organization has taken in recent years to improve. But the homeowners' stories printed in today's Star tell what they have been living in having to deal with Tarion these past few years:
- homeowner Mary-Josee d'Amours: "...during the first two years in the home, I was a mess. The stress has been keeping me awake....Taking on Tarion has been a part-time job on top of my full-time job..."
- homeowner Frank McInnes: "....we were either going to kill each other or kill someone else..."
Obviously whatever Tarion has been doing these past few years is not nearly enough to protect consumers from these nightmares. No one should have to go through this.
It's clear that it's time for the Ford Government to end this experiment of Tarion trying to reform itself - and just get on with what Justice Cunningham recommended in 2016: End Tarion's Monopoly -- and introduce a multi-provider warranty model.
No system is perfect but competition would go a long way to addressing these issues.
What can you do now?
- Send this Toronto Star article to your MPP and tell them that the monopoly needs to end now - like Justice Cunningham said, and
- Ask others to sign this petition.
Thank you for your help!
#EndTarionMonopolyNOW