It was with great interest that I read Jim Adair’s article
(MLS proposals ‘anti-competitive’ says Pearce, REM September). My stance has
always been that there are numerous “fat cats” at both the national and local board
levels of real estate. David Pearce should be commended on his stance for truly
treating his position at CREA in the same approach as any professional would
their own company – due diligence on all fiscal matters. It is unfortunate that
the “fat cats” continue to waste members’ dues and simply pass resolutions that
the membership pay whatever is approved by the directors without having any
regard to true governance.
Regarding TREB President Dorothy Mason’s comment on having a
chartered accountant for a CFO and as such implying that this “guarantees”
fiscal responsibility, this is only true if the CFO’s comments are accepted as
fact and agreed to without question. Is this the case? If the CFO stated that
only the president should attend the meetings in Halifax, would that be instantly accepted by
all the other directors, or would debate follow in an attempt to persuade the
CFO to accept the additional cost? Simply budgeting for an expense or stating
that directors have always attended does not justify the misuse of members’
funds. It appears very obvious why Mr. Pearce no longer wishes to be one of the
“fat cats”.
CREA and apparently all boards across Canada run
parallel to every form of government (this is evident by Mason’s comments).
Their attitude is that they better spend the budget they have; otherwise they
may not get the play money next year. Directors, don’t worry, just pass another
levy to all 86,000 members, after all it’s only another $20 or $30 each. How
about asking the membership what they want and expect? Remember those Realtor
TV ads?
I wonder if any directors would run their own companies with
the same frivolity and reckless abandonment with which they use Realtors’/members’
dues. Pretty easy when you have no superior to report to. What these groups
need is a little competition from the private sector. Only then would they
either clean up their act or perhaps cease to exist, similar to the dinosaurs.
We need more Pearce’s at all these levels.
John Hripko
Calgary
