Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Yesterday Canada’s most trusted contractor was here in Yellowknife speaking at a construction conference. His name, I’m sure no stranger to most, is Mike Holmes. He raised many topics of interest in his talk, but one area that was of significant interest to me, which I’ve raised in this very House, is consumer protection for new homeowners.
New homeowners, Mr. Speaker, need consumer protection and it is a growing concern in my constituency, across the North and even in Canada. To be direct, a new home buyer is left to the goodwill of the person they are buying their new home from. Whether it is a new home bought from a contractor or it is a home being sold to them from another family, the only warranty these people often receive is often joked about in the industry, which is called taillight warranty. When those taillights disappear, that’s when the warranty disappears. As Mike Holmes put it, a person can purchase a car, or even a refrigerator or a coffeemaker today and they receive some level of consumer protection through a warranty. The funny thing is they have better consumer rights than someone buying a new home.
Imagine, Mr. Speaker, a family buying a new home or even just a used home from another family, and that family, in essence, is risking everything they have with both their finances and their dreams and hopes on what most people in the industry describe as a one-time, 15-minute walk-through. They have no guarantees on anything that their new home is built right or that nothing has been covered up for a quick sale to get it out there.
Sadly, this government has no interest to stand behind our constituents or people of the North. I’ve raised this matter to the Minister of MACA, and the department feels that if no one is complaining, then they don’t have an interest on this subject. Why does this government need to wait for a train wreck before it takes interest on a particular issue?
I even went up to Mike Holmes after his talk and explained that this government has little interest on this particular subject. He was shocked when I told him this, as I continue to be shocked, because good families are put in a risky position if a dangerous situation happens and no one is there to protect them. Our government abandons them. I often wonder why the families in Ontario and even Alberta are better concerned or more concerned than our government takes towards our constituents.
Mr. Speaker, this government could do something today. First, it could agree to take action to ensure that there is protection for families out there, to ensure that they are not unnecessarily put at risk. Mr. Speaker, the Minister would be shocked to know that even industry would welcome this: honest safeguards to protect family and people in the industry. Mr. Speaker, people don’t need to get stuck with lemons. I will have questions for the Minister of MACA later today. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Hawkins. The honourable Member for Nahendeh, Mr. Menicoche.
