It’s your turn ... now ... to act. (If you don’t want to read this whole article, scroll down to “Next Step”)
29,000 (so far) people like you have responded to the anger and outrage reflected in the auto-evict petition. Despite the crucial, fundamental service we provide to Ontario, we have all been vilified, victimized and treated collectively as slumlords.
GOVERNMENT HAS IGNORED YOU (for years)
The government of Ontario has ignored all attempts to discuss the single demand of the petition, a solution that is not only easily and quickly implementable but which has already been mostly accomplished in other provinces.
The government has made no attempt to specifically address the devastating issue of non-payment of rent. And why should it? 91% of all LTB applications are filed by housing providers … consistently annually, and 41.5% of those are for non-payment of rent. The LTB’s only attempt to correct the issue of justice denied to housing providers is to address the delays in due process, not the root issues and consequences of rent loss. The net result is that LTB delays have only worsened.
LTB EPITHETS
Because of the many injustices that have been meted out by the LTB, it’s no wonder it has become derisively known as “Loves Tenants Best,” “Leave Tenants Be,” “Landlords To Blame” and many other epithets.
Perhaps the greatest hidden truth to be discovered about LTB epithets must leave one to wonder in awe if there wasn’t a cosmic presence with a wonderful sense of caustic humour; A perfect anagram of “LandlordTenantBoard” is “Add Troll, Abandon Rent.”
CLASS ACTION?
Many petition signers have asked what the next step is and how they can submit money for a legal fund. Before we consider that step, and in order to achieve and stand upon the moral high ground, it would be in the government’s and housing providers’ collective best interests to try first to resolve the issue politically.
SPEAK UP OR YOUR COMPETITION (Tenant Activists) WILL DEVOUR YOU
Extreme-view tenancy advocate groups are becoming highly organized, with one group claiming 160,000 members across Canada. They are lobbying every single Ontario MPP to “Tell Ford to Support Full Rent Control, LTB Reform, Stop Renovictions AND MORE!” “More” includes the catastrophic policy of Vacancy Control.
This is a link to an automated process for a tenant to send a letter to MPPs with a list of tenants’ provincial housing demands: https://acorncanada.org/take_action/tell-ford-to-support-acorns-demands-for-rent-control-ltb-reform-renovictions-and-more/
NEXT STEP
Demonstrate solidarity or remain “divided and conquered.”
Invest the time to protect your livelihood. EVERY PETITION SIGNER MUST MEET WITH THEIR LOCAL MPP (Member of Provincial Parliament). Meet with them. Don’t just send them the petition. They already have it and 123 out of the 124 MPPs ignored it.
According to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario’s website: (https://www.ola.org/en/photo/members-provincial-parliament-mpps#:~:text=When%20not%20at%20the%20Legislature,school%20openings%20or%20local%20fundraisers.), “When not at the Legislature, MPPs have a number of responsibilities in their home ridings such as meeting with constituents to listen to their concerns, helping to resolve matters related to provincial government services, … “
Many of the more densely populated provincial electoral districts received 1,000 or more signatures each. Imagine if even 100, let alone 1,000 housing providers, demanded a meeting with their MPP.
I can provide you a list of talking points and statistics that no tenant advocacy group ever provides.
YOUR CALL TO ACTION
Here’s a link to find out who your MPP is and their contact info:
https://voterinformationservice.elections.on.ca/en/election/search
Just type in your postal code. Then call them. Meet them. Convince them that the petition demand will solve MANY housing issues, not just rent losses (and consequent municipal property tax losses).
There can be no peace without justice.
Chris.