I read with great interest the two Letters to the Editor in REM (July) by Mike Montague and Joseph Panchyshyn and I thought the letters were passionate and to the point.

Mike seems to feel that he has the support of and speaks for the 100,000 members of CREA, and that would be great if he did. Mike, did you miss the part about CREA agreeing to the 10-year Prohibition Order? If the membership had spoken loud and clear then, with the support that Mike feels he has now, then we wouldn’t be talking about it.

Mike proclaims we must take an unprecedented stand once and for all or risk the continued and accelerating erosion of our profession. That’s a profound statement in light of what happened just mere months ago in St. John’s. The vote was taken and CREA and the membership buckled to the Competition Bureau for another 10 years. We had the opportunity to go head to head and have a third party declare who was right and who was wrong, and we ran away, didn’t have the stomach for the fight or the so-called financial wherewithal, and oh yeah, don’t forget the bad press.

Joseph’s letter wondered why the Competition Bureau doesn’t go after the oil industry that rakes in billions of dollars of profits and negatively impact the lives of every Canadian. I’m going to go out on a limb and say I believe it has something to do with the word “billions.” The oil boys have the stomach for the fight and the “billions” to go with it and that makes the Competition Bureau nothing more than an aggravation from time to time. I am sure that will continue unless Melanie Aitken really wants a fight.

I do agree with what Mike and Joseph had to say. Maybe they could get a petition signed by 100,000 members and present it to the president and executive of CREA, showing just how much support they have. I would be happy to sign that petition.

I would also like to nominate Bill Johnston, past-president of TREB, as the next president of CREA. It sounds like he is up for the fight and could actually make it happen, because until it does, Melanie Aitken and the Competition Bureau will have their way with CREA and their 100,000 members, and put us on the shelf 10 years at a time.

I find it ironic that TREB and its 31,000 members is in the position to take on the Competition Bureau, but in the end as Johnston said, they will have a policy in place to appease the bureau, or so he hopes. It sure sounds familiar and almost the same circumstances that CREA had, and we know what happened there.

The membership should stay tuned. You never know when Melanie Aitken and the bureau will come knocking at our door, although I think their knocking could best be described as huffing and puffing.

Brian Hirtle

Broker

Century 21 Annapolis Valley Realty

Kentville, N.S.