OREA’s PAC 2012 – a great success!

Between November 20 and 22 OREA held its annual Political Affairs Conference (PAC) in downtown Toronto.

The primary purpose of the conference is to educate delegates on OREA’s current lobbying issues. Our Government Relations Chair Pat Verge along with OREA’s Matthew Thornton provided a detailed description of the most pressing REALTOR® issues. This year OREA is:

• lobbying for an amendment of the Electronic Commerce Act, 2000 to facilitate the use of    electronic agreements of purchase and sale

• fighting for a salesperson’s right to form personal real estate corporations 

• pushing for a province-wide registry for marijuana grow operations and

• working to prevent the spread of municipal land transfer taxes across Ontario

Click on each issue for more information.

The second goal of the conference is to inform OREA’s politically engaged members on the latest political developments and prepare them for their advocacy duties. At this year’s PAC, delegates had a chance to hear from the prominent political and public figures, including the Progressive Conservative’s leader Tim Hudak and the leader of Ontario’s New Democrats Andrea Horwath as well as the Minister of Consumer Services Margarett Best responsible for the Real Estate and Brokers Business Act, 2002.

PAC delegates also picked up useful tips on how to lobby MPPs effectively from the former MPP and cabinet minister David Caplan. They heard from the experienced political pundits and the media panel on how the Ontario political landscape is likely to shape up in the future and how the American presidential election might impact Canada and Ontario.

Finally, several delegates from Ottawa met with the Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty during PAC, where they discussed issues of importance to REALTORS®.

Attending delegates left the conference feeling better educated and excited to apply their newly learned skills to advocate on behalf of Ontario’s 55,000 REALTORS®.