CONSUMERS' REFORM TARION

May 11, 2016 6:25 pm

Remembering Earl Shuman

The tragic circumstances surrounding the passing of Earl Shuman last week are one of the
reasons I decided to write this piece.
For those who didnt know him, he fought for 27 years to rectify injustices he saw in the Ontario
government monopoly, Tarion Warranty Corporation, and the abysmal access to justice
problems faced by ordinary people trying to get their homes fixed under Tarion and the License
Appeal Tribunal.
Earl took on the legal establishment by challenging the lunacy of some Tarion case law and its
heavy-handed use of the justice system. He explained one of the absurdities to me this way: if
you buy a new home and install a 24 carat gold toilet in it, youre the builder of the home under
law because you contributed more than a certain dollar amount to the homes overall value. So
even if youre a dentist, you can be deemed a builder under Ontario law. He called this the
Shuman Test Fraud. Many cases have been decided since his own case years ago following
this principle, which sounds like something out of George Orwells Animal Farm.
I met Earl Shuman and his wife at Queens Park several years ago at one of the many meetings
to try to bring transparency and accountability to Tarion. Real reforms have not been made to
this government monopoly in over 40 years. Builders interests are the best understood by policymakers; consumers are often labelled unscrupulous, trouble-makers, whiners, or malcontents
who wouldnt be happy with the Taj Mahal. Builders, on the other hand, are politically wellconnected, they have the loudest microphones, the deepest pockets, and lobbyists and lawyers to
make their views well understood by policy-makers.
Earl was engaged in a Sisyphean task up against these Goliaths, rolling a huge rock uphill only to
have it come crashing back down on him each time. He didnt play by the rules, but he often
tried to. Many of us who are accustomed to crusty, irritable, feisty figures learned with time how
to read him. He was a rule-breaker, rubbed many people the wrong way, but he knew that nice,
polite, people seldom bring about real change.
He attended a Tarion Review town hall meeting a few weeks ago. When he saw me come in, he
motioned for me to sit down next to him. He brought a well-used copy of the Ontario New Home
Warranties Plan Act which Tarion administers for the public on behalf of government. He read
from it to the attendees, ministry lawyers and officials present. He pointed out the intent of the
legislature was not to have the law drift so far away from its consumer protection intent. Since
Tarion makes its own regulations, with oversight as thin as a spiders web, he knew this was
flawed, outdated legislation. He knew this was the 900-pound gorilla in the room.
He drove from Cobourg the night before, suffering from a cold, paid for his own hotel room to
attend the impossible weekday timing of the meeting from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. He tried to keep his
years of anger and frustration at bay, tried to keep his cool. He did. Giving me a big hug when he
left, he thanked me for being there and contributing. I wrote him a short e-mail afterward saying
hed done well under what we all knew were difficult circumstances.

CONSUMERS' REFORM TARION

May 11, 2016 6:25 pm

Earl wanted these injustices to be exposed by the media in a sustained and front-page way like
the press covered the Ghomeshi, Ford, and Duffy scandals, and various messy society
divorces. Journalists often told us they wanted sexy stories. This was a decidedly un-sexy
story, until you buy a new home and find out how flawed and out-dated the policies are which
govern this important financial decision in your life, buying a new home.
Earl asked me last November to keep a file of all the documents relevant to his 27-year work,
and correspondence with senior officials. A few times he said, now eerily meaningful to me, that
he wanted to make sure someone would take his work forward and all these years wouldnt go to
waste, If something ever happens to me, he said several times. I assured him I have wellorganized files, not as extensive as his pool-table full of documents, but all his years of work
wouldnt be lost.
Hed from time to time e-mail me and ask what I thought of a letter hed sent to a top official, or
what I thought of his Supreme Court of Canada application, for example. Hed say to me, see if
you can spot the game-changer words in this document. Anyone in our communication groups
whos worked on Tarion/LAT issues could pick out those words.
Earl knew every nook and cranny of the legislation, the Criminal Code, all the legalese, the
double-speak, and the political games. He used to commiserate with me how hard it is to write
to politicians and journalists, how achingly long it takes to craft a persuasive, well-researched email, and wait endlessly for no answer. Many of us struggled with this, without the benefit of PR
people, legal advisers, and researchers, all we have is our sense of right and wrong, and our
kitchen tables. Over the years Earl became an expert at clear, well-documented, persuasive
writing; though his style was lengthy, he mastered it.
I suggested he write a book, and use social media to his advantage. The press was obviously not
covering these problems in-depth and in a sustained way as he knew they deserved. He looked
forward to his retirement in a few months, and promised hed do more work when he finally had
more free time. Then you will really see me fly, he told me in February.
A few months ago he retired. He attended the Tarion Review town hall meeting on April 5th, his
birthday, and according to his wife, Krista, he descended after that into a black hole of frustration
and despair.
The news of his sudden death and the circumstances surrounding it, described to me by his
shaken wife, caught me off guard and made me cry like a grade school kid. Earls story is heartbreaking and complex. He worked on justice and consumer protection issues for almost 30 years.
Many of the injustices he exposed are still festering, some getting much worse. Too many
consumers continue to suffer under builder-biased policies administered by a monopoly claiming
its protecting consumers, while protecting the builders its supposed to regulate.
Earl and Krista drew together a communication group of concerned consumers determined to
fight for reforms to Tarion, the LAT, and justice. All of us will make sure his 27 years of work
were not in vain.

CONSUMERS' REFORM TARION

May 11, 2016 6:25 pm

To the Ministry of Municipal Affairs/Housing official who inquired several months ago why
these issues were so urgent:Did anyone die?, she asked.
Well, actually yes, someone has.

In memory of Dr. Earl M. Shuman, April 5th 1951 May 6th, 2016