Many members were threatened into silence and now are afraid to stand up. But there is power in numbers. TRREB members, come to next weeks Spring AGM at RealtorQuest – Wednesday May 15.

Janice Doe, I actually do know what it takes to run an association. I sat on my BoD for 5 years, 3 of those as government relations chair. I was also chair of the finance committee and co-chair of discipline. I’ve sat on numerous other committees. I’ve attended meetings with MP’s and MPP’s regarding issues of interest/concern for consumers and our colleagues. I’ve been in this business for 21 years so I think I have a pretty firm grasp on how an association is run. What I’d like to know is whether those who are currently making decisions know how to make decisions in an ethical manner with the best interests of the membership at the forefront.

As for this comment of yours…. “Do any one of you know what those votes were about? Did you ask? Did you bother to read the communications that were put out? I doubt it!”

What votes are you talking about? Votes for the orwp? Communications that were put out, about the ORWP?

The task force for this useless scheme had the job of determining the scope and viability of the program. By the 2nd meeting they knew it wasn’t viable unless they forced us into it. They had more meetings of the task force than emails sent to membership. Through at least 8 task force meetings they did not include messaging on the mandatory nature of the plan. Why? Stacey Evoy said that as soon as the task force knew the program would be mandatory, they told the membership.

Clearly not the truth when none of the 4 emails orea sent out prior to June 20th did not include the word mandatory. People can’t ask questions about that which they don’t know exists.

Did YOU read any of the communications? Did you know the program was going to be mandatory? Why was that information kept from us? If this plan was so great, why weren’t we privy to ALL of the information so we could weigh in?

Why was this program a secret? Sounds like you have some inside information so tell us why this was rushed through in under 3 months, with only 4 vague emails and a whole bunch of gaslighting propaganda videos trying to sell us on the barebones plan. They sent us 23 emails over 5 months to invite us to a stupid party, but didn’t have the morals or ethics to give us the same consideration before signing us up behind our back to this plan. Explain that. Give me a good answer as to why our association spent more time, money and energy to plan a party than they did the ORWP.

Like I said already, it’s not to “have our backs” or “provide a safety net”. Because if that was the case they were about 3 years late on that. They had all the down time during a global pandemic to discuss, hold townhalls and gather information about this. But not a single mention of anything before being rammed down our throats in less than a typical closing on a house.

You truly cannot say anything to convince me that it’s in any way acceptable for orea to force self employed individuals to buy a health insurance they don’t need or want.

I question if you are going to be just as supportive when the cost of this anemic plan is doubled and then tripled in the coming years.

OH and by the way…. They haven’t been doing things this way since inception. Individuals used to have a say in the decisions affecting the industry. Odd… This doesn’t even have a damn thing to do with our industry, our individual health care was not written anywhere in OREA’S mandate or articles. What next? What will the powers that be decide for my life next?

I find it next to impossible to believe Sandra and Penny were the only two threatened into silence by TREB, or any other Board…lawsuits, cease and desists, filing erroneous complaints with Disciplinary Committees to make an example out of you, to shame or try and cancel you, etc., Now is the time for a show of hands if you’ve also ever been bullied or intimated by your ‘Board’ or anyone else at the top of the food chain in organized Real Estate, regarding ORWP or any other matter. Perhaps reach out to them or their lawyer; they are going to need your stories and support.

The Ontario Realtors ‘WELLNESS Plan’ has already cost too many Realtors their mental health and so much more.

The only wild accusations made a firmly contained in the Statement of Claim!
Make the Wellness Program optional and let the chips fall wherever they fall!
Allowing any product to stand on its own merits is a sure fire method to check its viability, no?

2. The ladies, grandmother’s defending themselves in this lawsuit were well within their rights to resist this “mandatory” wellness program, and they did so along with a great number of other real estate agents in Ontario. Once the program had been instituted and the grandmother’s had been legally warned off by the plaintiff, they complied, so why the lawsuit?
Well, as with such things there is a lot to be considered in the Statement of Claim, which as usual in such matters appears to be a scatter gun approach with severe financial penalties. But one glaring requirement is the provision of the list of supporters who commented their support on a now defunct Meta page! Of all the claims made by the plaintiff it appears to me that this is the central goal of the lawsuit and that can only be seen for what it is, vindictive and targeting of this plaintiff’s own members who voiced dissent!
Another observation on the many forums discussing this wellness program seems to be overwhelming dissatisfaction with the benefits of the program, it certainly seems inferior to standard mainstream health care cover and in some cases downright detrimental to the mandated beneficiaries.
I also note a comment above by Janice Doe who seems to exude the professionalism of the plaintiff in relation to their efforts to do right by their members and at one point castagates member for being lazy in such matters as voting which is startling seeing as they are mandating matters.
There is much to come, but one thing is for sure, in a free, democratic society attacking dissent is a slippery slope and these two ladies need to be fully supported going forward.

Honestly Tina, you and everyone else on here don’t understand what it takes to run an Association. Every director in every Association is elected to those positions. Those directors go to meetings, at CREA and OREA conferences every year and vote on various issues on behalf of their members. They have done this since CREA and OREA’s inception.
Do any one of you know what those votes were about? Did you ask? Did you bother to read the communications that were put out? I doubt it!
You and everyone else would rather sit on your high horses and concoct your wild accusations that these volunteers are involved in some vast conspiracy to make everyone suffer.
Get off the internet and go outside!

So these women don’t have the right to try to organize an SGM, but OREA has the right to sign us all up for a useless health plan? A health plan that only passed with the strength of TRREB’s vote? That’s pretty rich there Janice! Or maybe you aren’t really a Janice….afterall, you’re using Kevin Crigger’s signature label.

A logical perspective would be that OREA openly discuss a mandate of this magnitude and get people’s thoughts and feelings about it before enacting it. A logical perspective would be that they would have scrapped the whole idea when the task force ascertained that the membership wouldn’t voluntarily take part in it. A logical perspective would be that if OREA believed their own gaslighting, they would have given the membership an option to opt out. A logical perspective is knowing that this plan is going to be a whole lot more expensive in 2026. A logical perspective is holding leadership to higher standards than name calling, lying, and mocking their members. A logical perspective is to question if this is “just a dues increase”, why isn’t everyone getting the same benefits of those dues. A logical perspective is to understand that in ANY perspective, we have been wronged.

How can there not be conspiracy theories when nobody knows WHY we have a health plan forced on us? It is not “to have our backs”. It is not a “safety net”. Anybody with chronic illness will tell you that $750 for drugs is a joke. Anybody with a cancer diagnosis will tell you that $25,000 isn’t going to provide much financial reprieve. Anybody whose faith prohibits life insurance will tell you that $100,000 isn’t worth compromising their relationship with their God.

OREA and any board who voted in favour of this plan should be held to account. They should be made to answer WHY they moved forward with this plan when nobody wanted it. They should be made to answer why this initiative took precedence over our new legislation. Until there are real answers, there will be conspiracy theories.