Will the appointment of Harold Levy to Tarion's board of directors be beneficial to homeowners?

I was astounded to find that the Board of Directors of Tarion, an organization whose purpose is to protect consumers, is chaulk full of home builders. Thanks for this posting. Let's get Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH) on the board.

I agree that Harold Levy will bring his knowledge about real estate fraud to Tarion's board of directors, but I feel it is a bit of a stretch for Minister Phillips to suggest the government has achieved the important goal of enhancing consumer protection for new home purchasers through this appointment. Just as Mr. Levy advocated for legislive change in order to reduce real estate fraud, legislative change to the New Home Warranty Act must be made before consumers of new homes receive the protection they deserve. For now, Mr. Levy still has to work within the current, deficient legislation.

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Q. – Voice at Tarion for Buyers
June 16, 2007

Sorry but there is clearly no reason to be optimistic on the basis of the Toronto Star article.

The questions that we should immediately be raising are:
1. independent – how do we know if the consumer advocate is independent when he was appointed by the Ontario government notorious for its lethargy?
2. review - how will new homeowners ever be able to effectively review the consumer advocate’s independence and effectiveness?
3. communication - what benefit is a consumer advocate when governance rules restrict communication between Board members and new homeowners?
4. outnumbered – isn’t this consumer advocate outnumbered against a Board of how many, ..12 or more construction industry allies?
5. Consumer Advocate Agency – so why didn’t the Ontario government create a new and independent agency given Tarion’s history?

There are many more questions, obviously!

Jerry