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Tom Rakocevic

  • MPP
  • Member of Provincial Parliament
  • Humber River—Black Creek
  • New Democratic Party of Ontario
  • Ontario
  • Unit 38 2300 Finch Ave. W North York, ON M9M 2Y3 TRakocevic-CO@ndp.on.ca
  • tel: 416-743-7272
  • fax: 416-743-3292
  • TRakocevic-QP@ndp.on.ca

  • Government Page

I appreciate the question from the member and my friend. I think he misunderstands me. In fact, I’ve spoken rather supportively of this legislation. I’ve said it’s positive in many different ways, and it will improve consumer protection in Ontario.

The only difference is that what I’ve asked for and what I’m pushing for is to bring us to that gold standard. What I’m calling for is the establishment of a consumer watchdog, in parallel to what the government is trying to achieve here. I think we can all agree that consumer protection is a priority and I think we all want what’s best for consumers.

That’s the current state of the system. So even as we continue to improve the consumer protection laws, as we continue to put laws more and more—I don’t want to just say in the favour of consumers, but actually fair laws that should be there. The problem is they continue to have to go to court. As I have said and as you repeated, we’d better arm them with these consumer protection laws, but regardless, when they go up against entire industries or big corporations, they remain ungunned.

There are many ways to do that. One would be to implement a consumer watchdog here in Ontario. Another way would be to find a way to work harder and to support and perhaps even fund organizations that have consumer protection at their heart so that they could stand up for all of us and be a counterbalance to an industry that works so hard to tell government to do what they want.

As part of my speech, I think a lot of the heaviest criticisms of this bill came from those same home warranty advocates that I quoted, and they are justly frustrated, because they continue to be reached out to by new home purchasers that feel that they’re not continuing to be protected. So I think there are a lot of areas within the realm of consumer protection that need to be addressed, specifically in the areas of new home warranties.

I appreciate the member for that question and continuing speaking for those advocates because we haven’t forgotten them, and there’s a lot more we need to do to protect new home purchasers here in Ontario.

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