Last Thursday, the Board of Directors of CREA approved a settlement with the Competition Commissioner - subject to member approval at the Special General Meeting that will take place in St. John's later this month.
CREA and its lawyers have already held meetings with the leadership of a few Boards and Associations. More meetings will be held prior to the SGM - including this week and the next one.
Typically, when an agreement is reached between two litigants, the deal is complete once it is signed by both parties and filed with the court. In this case, the agreement with the Competition Bureau will only be final if members vote in its favour at the SGM. Therefore, until that time, the agreement is in escrow. In the event the agreement is not ratified, the litigation would continue its course - with Tribunal hearings beginning in April.
For these reasons, CREA cannot publicly disclose the proposed agreement.
CREA leadership will only discuss specifics in individual meetings with Boards and Associations. Meanwhile, CREA's President, Georges Pahud, observes that, "while media coverage has generally been balanced, there have been some factual errors in certain stories," which the Association would like to correct. Thus, in a recent dispatch sent by CREA, it is shown that "the agreement does not grant public access to the MLS® System," which "remains a member-to-member service. Moreover, it does not require brokerages to change their business models. The agreement specifies that Boards and Associations cannot prevent or discriminate against mere posting business models," the dispatch emphasizes.
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