Working for Healthy, Safe, Durable, Energy Efficient Housing for Canadians since 2004

Project Examples



Here are some examples of CPBH projects

Federal

CPBH has identified a number of priorities for changes by the Canadian federal government including:

  • Ensure that all newly built homes and condos meet appropriate levels of energy efficiency. With more than 200,000 new builds in Canada each year, this could provide a significant contribution to the environment. Possible ways that this could be done:
    • from a federal government perspective, determine what the appropriate level of energy efficiency is and communicate this to the provinces/territories, and Canadians generally;
    • work with the provinces/territories to ensure that as new homes/condos are built that they meet this standard during construction. For example, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) could resume its role of inspecting during construction as was the case until the mid-1980s;
    • provide a monitoring and oversight role by the federal government and take corrective steps as necessary.
  • Refocus CMHC to ensure that this Crown Corporation also includes housing quality in its mandate. Examples of ways that this could be done:
    • again, CMHC could resume its role of inspecting during construction;
    • as a minimum, CMHC should conduct regular substantive research focusing on whether homes/condos at least meet the minimal Code requirements and make its findings public.
  • Ensure that homes in Northern Canada are safe, i.e., free of mould and have potable water. The federal government has taken some steps toward this, but much more needs to be done.
  • Strengthen consumer advocacy overall by the Canadian federal government. According to Senator Pierrette Ringuette’s keynote speech in Sept. 2017 at a consumer conference:

“…There has been a decline in consumer advocacy since the 1980s in Canada, not because the issues are no longer important, not because there are not people to fight the fight. But largely, I believe, because funding for your work has been on a steady decline. There needs to be more public funding for consumer advocacy. And this is not just an issue of the amount, but it requires stability.

The current system of donations and contribution funding through Office of Consumer Affairs is inadequate. It does not provide secured, stable funding. Currently, there is roughly 1 million to 1.5 million annually doled out for specific projects, but no ongoing funding for consumer advocacy. The office of Consumer Affairs is also part of Industry Canada and is often on the opposing side of the actions they are being asked to fund…”

Read the speech: Senator Ringuette Keynote PDF format

As one specific example, the Office of Consumer Affairs should recognize homeowners “stuck” with Code violations as victims of “white collar crime” and establish a mechanism to address this.

Manitoba

Manitoba announced in March 2019 that its new home warranty legislation that was supposed to be effective January 1, 2017, has been repealed.  CPBH had participated in developing that new legislation at the request of the then NDP government.

CPBH continues to encourage Manitoba to move forward quickly to adequately protect buyers of newly built homes.

Ontario

Ontario has the largest number of new homes built annually in Canada, about 60,000, and is the province with the largest number of issues reported to CPBH. Our work in Ontario is focused in these main areas for much-needed new legislation:

  • Enforcing the Ontario Building Code during construction.
  • moving forward with significant, meaningful change to the mandatory monopoly Tarion Warranty Corporation. For example, one key change that is needed is to end Tarion’s monopoly and introduce a competitive warranty model like most of the rest of Canada enjoys. These priorities are in keeping with the results of Justice Cunningham’s Tarion Review:
    • Replacing the Licence Appeal Tribunal for new home warranty appeals.
    • Enacting meaningful change to the private home inspection industry.
    • Addressing the significant issues with Ontario’s Delegated Administrative Authority (now Administrative Authority) model.

These projects are in addition to our work directly with homeowners who come to CPBH for assistance.

If you would like more information on any of these projects, or if you have project suggestions for CPBH, please e-mail info@canadiansforproperlybuilthomes.com .

 

 

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