Manitoba’s PC government says it’s still too soon to call a public inquiry into the real-estate and construction scandals that plagued the City of Winnipeg more than a decade ago despite the resolution of a pair of city lawsuits over its police headquarters.
In 2013 and 2014, the final two years of former mayor Sam Katz’s time in office, a trio of external audits examined what went wrong with the commission of Winnipeg’s police headquarters, the construction of four new fire-paramedic stations and major real-estate transactions that included the sale of Canad Inns Stadium, the Parker land swap and the purchase of the former Canada Post complex in downtown Winnipeg.
The police headquarters project was also the subject of a five-year RCMP investigation that concluded without charges as well as civil litigation by the city against former city chief administrative officer Phil Sheegl and primary police-HQ contractor Caspian Construction.
In 2017, city council asked the province to call an inquiry into the construction and real-estate scandals. Manitoba’s PC government, under both former premier Brian Pallister and his successor, Heather Stefanson, declined that call on the basis the police headquarters remained the subject of legal proceedings.
At first, Pallister made this statement on the basis the RCMP investigation was still ongoing. Stefanson used the same argument when the civil litigation was underway.
The RCMP investigation into the police headquarters ended in 2019. In March of 2023, Caspian and dozens of other defendants settled with the city after agreeing to pay $21.5 million to $28 million, depending on how quickly the money is paid.
Appeal dismissed
Then on Friday, Manitoba’s Court of Appeal dismissed a Sheegl appeal against a Court of King’s Bench ruling the former CAO accepted a bribe from Caspian’s Armik Babkhanians and breached his duties as a public officer by favouring Caspian in the award of the primary police-HQ construction contract.
The PC government nonetheless maintains the police HQ remains before the courts and thus can not be the subject of an inquiry.
“It still remains before the courts today and our decision remains the same,” Stefanson said Monday.
A spokesperson for Manitoba Justice clarified the premier’s comments by stating the paperwork on the Caspian settlement has yet to be finalized.
“The documentation necessary to formalize a settlement has not yet been filed with the Court of King’s Bench. Until the scope of the settlement is fully clarified through the requisite court filings, it is premature to call the litigation conclusively resolved,” the spokesperson Jon Lovlin said in a statement.
“The verdicts and settlements reached so far demonstrate the justice process is working.”
The city expects to reclaim all of the money from the Caspian defendants over the course of several years.
The office of the mayor in Winnipeg reaffirmed the city’s desire for a provincial public inquiry.
“The mayor still supports an inquiry. Council’s 2017 request for an inquiry has not been rescinded,” said Colin Fast, communications director for the mayor’s office.
Manitoba’s official opposition also continues to support an inquiry. NDP leader Wab Kinew reaffirmed his support on Monday.
TORONTO – One expert predicts Ottawa‘s changes to mortgage rules will help spur demand among potential homebuyers but says policies aimed at driving new supply are needed to address the “core issues” facing the market.
The federal government’s changes, set to come into force mid-December, include a higher price cap for insured mortgages to allow more people to qualify for a mortgage with less than a 20 per cent down payment.
The government will also expand its 30-year mortgage amortization to include first-time homebuyers buying any type of home, as well as anybody buying a newly built home.
CIBC Capital Markets deputy chief economist Benjamin Tal calls it a “significant” move likely to accelerate the recovery of the housing market, a process already underway as interest rates have begun to fall.
However, he says in a note that policymakers should aim to “prevent that from becoming too much of a good thing” through policies geared toward the supply side.
Tal says the main issue is the lack of supply available to respond to Canada’s rapidly increasing population, particularly in major cities.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 17,2024.
OTTAWA – The Canadian Real Estate Association says the number of homes sold in August fell compared with a year ago as the market remained largely stuck in a holding pattern despite borrowing costs beginning to come down.
The association says the number of homes sold in August fell 2.1 per cent compared with the same month last year.
On a seasonally adjusted month-over-month basis, national home sales edged up 1.3 per cent from July.
CREA senior economist Shaun Cathcart says that with forecasts of lower interest rates throughout the rest of this year and into 2025, “it makes sense that prospective buyers might continue to hold off for improved affordability, especially since prices are still well behaved in most of the country.”
The national average sale price for August amounted to $649,100, a 0.1 per cent increase compared with a year earlier.
The number of newly listed properties was up 1.1 per cent month-over-month.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2024.
MONTREAL – Two Quebec real estate brokers are facing fines and years-long suspensions for submitting bogus offers on homes to drive up prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Christine Girouard has been suspended for 14 years and her business partner, Jonathan Dauphinais-Fortin, has been suspended for nine years after Quebec’s authority of real estate brokerage found they used fake bids to get buyers to raise their offers.
Girouard is a well-known broker who previously starred on a Quebec reality show that follows top real estate agents in the province.
She is facing a fine of $50,000, while Dauphinais-Fortin has been fined $10,000.
The two brokers were suspended in May 2023 after La Presse published an article about their practices.
One buyer ended up paying $40,000 more than his initial offer in 2022 after Girouard and Dauphinais-Fortin concocted a second bid on the house he wanted to buy.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
