The Ontario government has announced it will continue with reforms to the province’s builder-led, new home warranty corporation, Tarion, including the establishment of a separate regulator to divorce the builder warranty program from consumer protection.The steps are similar to those promised by the former Liberal government and “continue to punt” the Tarion monopoly over new home warranties further down the road while the Progessive Conservative government launches another round of consultations, said consumer advocate Karen Somerville of Canadians for Properly Built Homes (CPBH).In addition to a separate regulator, the province says it will look at allowing multiple new home warranty providers, something that is available in other Canadian provinces. It also plans to provide more information on condo developers, require Tarion to publish its board and executive compensation and rebalance a more skills-based board.Calling Tarion “broken,” Government and Consumer Services Minister Bill Walker also said that, “The increase in pre-construction condo cancellations have not gone unnoticed.”He made the announcement at a new housing development in Port Hope, Ont., on Wednesday alongside Krista Shuman, whose husband, Earl Shuman, died two years ago following a 27-year battle over the home they purchased from a builder that was not registered with Tarion.“This is a day my husband had hoped to see. I am extremely proud to say he worked for decades to bring all of us here this morning,” she said.Somerville said her group will continue to push for meaningful change to Ontario new home warranties but questioned why the government is tinkering with the Tarion structure if it is seriously looking at allowing competition.“The importance of choice here is very key,” she said. “There’s no perfect system but competition beats monopoly hands down for consumer protection every time.” Tarion was crea ...
|
