If you don’t think we need property rights enshrined in our constitution, think again. Ontario’s proposed Bill 101, the Home Energy Rating Act, will materially affect the rights of property owners to sell their property in the most direct and unencumbered way possible.
 
This legislation is going to directly affect homeowners throughout the province and yet there has been no public consultation or disclosure. Currently most buyers hire and pay a home inspector as a condition of their offer to purchase. The same could be done if it becomes the norm in the market with energy audits. But to mandate a homeowner must have an energy audit done prior to selling their own property is a dangerous precedent and begs the question, what property rights do we have? You can sell your used car with or without a safety certificate, so why not your home? Curiously in the media release for this Home Energy Rating Act, the quoted proponents of this legislation are Vladan Veljovic, president and CEO of Greensaver, an energy assessment company;  Stephen Koch, executive director of Naima Canada, a supplier of insulation products;  Chuck Wilson, director of REEP North America, which is an energy audit company;  Ken Elsey, president and CEO of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance, which is sponsored by Enbridge;  the Province of Ontario; and the Ontario Power Generation Corporation.
 
This legislation undermines our basic property rights and freedoms under the guise of energy efficiency. 
 
Jim Carroll
Sales Representative
Re/Max Escarpment Realty
Hamilton