The Greater Montreal Real Estate Board (GMREB) is asking its members if they want to withdraw from CREA membership.

“Your Board of Directors has decided to hold information sessions on this topic in the first week of September,” says Patrick Juanéda, president of GMREB, in a memo to members. “It is very important that you attend one of these sessions as you will soon be asked to vote on the GMREB’s future within CREA. During these sessions we will provide you with all of the information on this dossier and we will propose a specific plan for the future for the Quebec real estate industry. In addition, CREA representatives will be on hand to speak to you and answer your questions.”

The information sessions will be held Sept. 5 in Laval and Sept. 6 on the South Shore. An English session will be held Sept. 7 in Pointe-Claire. All board members will receive more details and registration information this week.

“Then, in the week of Sept. 10, you will be consulted electronically in order to give your opinion on a possible GMREB withdrawal from CREA,” says Juanéda. “It is important that you take the time to attend an information session so that you can express your opinion while having a full understanding of the issues.”

In late July, Quebec’s Federation of Real Estate Boards told brokers in an email that it would be ending its 18-year membership in CREA as of Dec. 31. The move came after the Haute-Yamaska board in Granby expressed its desire to leave CREA. Boards in Mauricie and St-Hyacinthe have also consulted their members on the question and have received strong majority support to leave CREA by the end of the year.

The GMREB is the second-largest real estate board in Canada, with more than 10,000 members.