Dara Bowser issued a News Release today that provides some information related to a law suit now underway concerning these same HVAC Systems. Here is the link: http://tinyurl.com/nw4mgpn . Meanwhile, in response to Dara Bowser’s call for an Inquiry under the Building Code Act, Minister McMeekin’s July 31, 2015 response was that he is not going to hold an Inquiry. But what IS the Wynne Government going to do? Government and Consumer Services’ Minister Orazietti’s Chief of Staff and Policy Advisor abruptly ended discussions in January 2015 about these HVAC systems and Tarion. Minister Orazietti responded to consumers who wrote to him seeking help with responses that did not address their requests/concerns but instead discussed Tarion’s “progress”. Minister Orazietti is responsible for consumer protection and Tarion currently. When Minister McMeekin was the Minister of Consumer Services, responsible for consumer protection and Tarion, consumers wrote to him asking for help regarding these HVAC systems. For example, in a Dec. 14, 2009 e-mail to Minister McMeekin, a consumer said: “….During their investigations Tarion found that every house tested on the street is deficient…..As purchasers we all subscribed to the Tarion program and now we are being asked to suffer inadequate heating and cooling on a technicality……Mr. McMeekin, if you lived on this street and were cold at night I believe that you would be far more sympathetic and that you would undoubtedly agree that each house needs to have its HVAC system repaired or replaced……We are tired of waiting for solutions and we are loosing faith in a Liberal government which could permit such an injustice.” CPBH understands that no meaningful response was provided by Minister McMeekin to any of these homeowners who wrote to Minister McMeekin when he was the Consumer Services Minister. Now, wearing a different Minister’s hat - this time as the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing - Minister McMeekin responded to Dara Bowser on July 31, 2015 and said: “Thank you for your submission calling for an inquiry under the Building Code Act into Building Code enforcement related to Small Diameter High Velocity HVAC Systems. After careful consideration of the materials that you prepared, I would like to inform you that I will not be proceeding with an Inquiry. I respect the considerable time and thought that you have given to this matter. Accounts such as yours about how the regulatory and enforcement system for new construction plays out on the ground are very helpful, and will help us to improve it.” To some, what Minister McMeekin did NOT say speaks louder that what he did say in his July 31, 2015 letter. For example: He did not say that these HVAC systems meet the Ontario Building Code. He did not say that there is not a problem. Some also wonder whether Minister McMeekin should have immediately declared a conflict of interest when he received Dara Bowser’s call for an Inquiry in May 2015, given the previous submissions to him asking him for help in relation to these HVAC systems when he was the Minister of Consumer Services. As this law suit is now plodding through the Courts, winter is around the corner, and far too many Ontario consumers will once again be in the cold…..in homes that do not meet the minimum standard of the Ontario Building Code according to Dara Bowser and other technical experts. So, what can you do now? Despite Minister McMeekin’s July 31, 2015 response to Dara Bowser, this petition remains open. Please encourage your friends, neighbours, family members, etc. to sign it. When signed, Premier Wynne also receives a copy. This matter appears far from over, and perhaps Premier Wynne herself is going to have to deal with it given the responses thus far from Minister Orazietti and Minister McMeekin. It is important to remember, according to CTV’s W-Five in 2012, about 50,000 of these systems had been installed in the GTA alone at that time – and they continue to be sold in Ontario today. Thank you in advance for any assistance you can provide in helping to get additional signatures on the petition.