The Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) was recently fêted by the Canadian Public Relations Society (CPRS) for the successful “Say No to Another Home Owner Tax: Don’t Tax My Dream” campaign, an advocacy against the levying of the municipal land transfer tax (MLTT) on cities beyond Toronto.
 
As reported by REM Online, the bronze award from the CPRS came just a little over a month after an ACE award from the Canadian Public Relations Society. The CPRS citation focused on the OREA campaign’s use of public relations to influence both policy regimes and popular opinion on the MLTT.
 
The OREA campaign—which included, among others, a consumer awareness website, grassroots advocacy, radio ads, and increased visibility in news and social media—opposed the Ontario government’s plan to permit all municipalities to charge the tax, which will add upwards of $10,000 to the cost of home purchases.
 
“It is an honour for OREA to win this award and be recognized in front of our international colleagues. This award winning campaign highlights the strength of the Realtor voice at Queen’s Park in stopping the spread of the MLTT,” OREA president Ray Ferris announced.
 
“This award belongs to Ontario home buyers, who will keep over $1 billion in their pockets annually as a result of the campaign,” Ferris also said of the ACE honours the month before.  “And this award wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work, dedication and commitment of OREA staff and the agencies who assembled and executed the Don’t Tax My Dream campaign on a very aggressive schedule.”
 
The campaign has been identified as a major contributor to the provincial government’s decision on December 2015 to not expand the tax beyond Toronto.
 
Prior to the campaign, a survey by Ipsos Reid last year found that fully 89 per cent of non-Toronto residents of Ontario opposed the MLTT, while 77 per cent said that the transfer tax would severely restrict their prospects of buying a new home.