The Competition Bureau needs to be given a good dose of pink. It’s the latest colour in the ongoing battle against bullying, whether it is in our public high school systems, society as a whole, and certainly our government.
 
I think the Competition Bureau needs to be told by someone in authority that it should stop with the compliance kick it is on when it comes to organized real estate and its member boards. It’s our membership, little old you and me, that the cost – extra dues for the legal defense fund to wager the good fight against the Competition Bureau – filters down to in the end.
 
It would seem to me that if the Competition Bureau is allowed to huff and puff anytime they want to at our industry, they should be required to show their hand and produce evidence of a problem, if in fact there is one. Instead they are allowed to make broad-based statements to our industry, to the effect that we are still watching you, but we really don’t have to tell you exactly why and/or whether or not we are going to go forward and do anything, but we certainly want to keep you on the edge of the cliff! You never know when we will push you over, or that gust of wind will come up and blow you off that cliff.
 
Maybe the next time the Competition Bureau wants thousand and thousands of pieces of documentation from CREA and its member boards and associations, CREA should find a sale on bright pink paper and make it a point to send those documents on the pink paper. Maybe the Competition Bureau will get the message – stop bullying CREA and its membership or maybe 97,000 members will arrive at your office wearing pink. Then, maybe they will get the message.
I have had enough of the Competition Bureau when it comes to their huffing and puffing and flexing their muscles at our industry. I would like to hear what other members think. Surely I am not alone on the cliff!
 
Brian Hirtle
Broker
Century 21 Annapolis Valley Realty
Kentville, N.S.