A Lengthy Update
I would like to take this opportunity to update the supporters of our campaign regarding the Petition, Demanding a Public Inquiry into the Financial Services Commission of Ontario. Since my last update, a lot has happened.
Late last year, I had made a request under the Freedom of Information Act for information from the Ministry of Finance on the Financial Services Commission of Ontario (FSCO). I had a lengthy conference call at the end of the year with lawyers for FSCO and the Ministry of Finance regarding my request. The information was delayed, and I was receiving calls extending the time to get the information. On June 8,
2019, FSCO was replaced by the Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario (FSRA). My request was transferred to them and I received calls from them also extending the time to get me the
information requested. About 3 weeks ago, I received the most recent call advising me that they have half the information I requested and that I would receive it within a week, and I would get the other half
in January. As of today, I haven’t received it but hopefully it will arrive shortly.
Over the last year, I initiated this petition Demanding a Public Inquiry into FSCO and I had hoped it would garner a lot of support and I wanted this support to make things easier for me when fighting for justice for the impacted parties, but it has not been getting the support I had hoped for. It currently sits with 1245 signatures. I had hoped by now to at least have reached 5000. The more that sign, the better the chances of being successful in the campaign for a Public Inquiry. Anyone in Ontario can sign the petition as it has been noted that FSCO had failings in all areas of their mandate. They had oversight of mortgages, insurance and certain pensions as well as other financial services. Ontarians could have been impacted in all these areas.
The reason I am pushing for a Public Inquiry is so that we are efficient in getting a solution without putting more funds at risk. A Public Inquiry will provide a complete non‐biased review of the circumstances and all known information can be made available in order to understand the issues and the impacts to Ontarians. The result of the Public Inquiry can lead to liability and at that point, restitution can be the next step. Certain others, namely lawyers, have tried Class Action lawsuits against
the Province and FSCO and a current suit is also targeting the same parties, but prior cases have been unsuccessful and since then, the current provincial government has made it more difficult to sue them.
These cases typically will involve funding from impacted parties and even if it doesn’t require anything up front, in case of a loss, the plaintiffs can be held liable to pay for the other parties’ legal costs, which can be
substantial. The Province and FSCO will have expensive lawyers.
Because the petition was not growing as expected, I decided to take additional steps on my own. I sent a couple of sporadic emails to every MPP office in Ontario. I received several responses. I even met with
an MPP who had expressed interest in the subject matter. I made calls to the provincial Ombudsman based on the feedback from some MPPs and had a lengthy discussion with their office and they had said
that they can only get involved with administrative issues and their office was going to look into the matter to see if they could get involved but it didn’t seem likely based on our conversations. I just
received a call from the Ombudsman’s office last week informing that they did look into it and that they will not be pursuing it further. The letter that followed the call was not consistent with my original complaint so I replied accordingly.
In the last number of months, I was also in correspondence with the Law Society. I had a one‐hour meeting with a Commissioner at the Law Society along with a lawyer for the Law Society discussing various matters.
I had reached out to Premier Doug Ford, the Minister of Finance, Rod Phillips and the Attorney General of Ontario, Doug Downey. I recently was in correspondence with Doug Downey’s office to have a
meeting with him and I am scheduled to meet with the Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Finance on Thursday to discuss the issues. FSCO was replaced due to various issues, pointed out in
several reports and the recommendation was to have them replaced with FSRA but at no point was any investigation done to learn if the failings of FSCO had a negative impact on Ontario residents and to what extent.
In my correspondence, I also recently reached out to the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, Elizabeth Dowdeswell, as she has the power to authorize a Public Inquiry on behalf of Ontario residents. I am
hopeful to have some correspondence with her office and hopefully will get closer to the goal.
In order to help with my campaign, I urge all to share the petition with everyone you know: friends, family, neighbours, colleagues, etc. The
more people are aware of the facts, the better the likelihood of success and the better the chances that we don’t let FSCO get away without consequences.
Thank You for your support and I will continue to work on behalf of all.