Tory MHA calls for consumer watchdog and updated laws in wake of HVAC business fiasco

What's the point of having fines, if you've never laid one? 

That's what Tory politician Helen Conway Ottenheimer is wondering in the wake of a CBC Investigates story on an HVAC company that appears to have left customers — including one of her constituents — without a promised warranty, and has raised questions about what protection consumers have in this province. 

Conway Ottenheimer is calling on the provincial government to strengthen its consumer protection laws and hire an independent watchdog to investigate claims like the one brought to her by a constituent who made a complaint against Atlantic Standard HVAC earlier this year. 

"They're failing not only consumers but, in particular, seniors and other vulnerable people ... as of late," Conway Ottenheimer said in a recent interview.

"I think there needs to be significant reforms to the current legislation and that has to happen quickly."

Conway Ottenheimer said she learned more about the consumer protection process when assisting her elderly constituent navigate how to lodge a complaint. 

"It's my understanding from people that I've heard from, even my own constituents, that [the Department of Digital Government and Service N.L.] has really been ineffective and not successful in getting justice and getting some remedies for the problems that [consumers] face," she said. 

Digital Government and Service N.L. Minister Sarah Stoodley had originally agreed to an interview but her department later sent along a statement and answers to questions instead. 

The province's Consumer Protection and Business Practices Act prohibits "unfair" and "unconscionable" business practices, but it appears no business has ever been fined for breaking that law. 

In an emailed statement, the department stressed that not every complaint constitutes a contravention of the act, and that often complaints can be resolved by working with the consumer and business. 

If an investigation finds a business contravened the act, the director within the department can issue a compliance order. That order could result in a business having to compensate consumers or take action to remedy a dispute.

If that fails, the director of consumer protection and business practices can file the compliance order with the Supreme Court of Newfoundland and Labrador.

But the department could not say how often any of that has happened, because it doesn't track compliance orders.

And fines can only be imposed by the court — not the director — meaning it's up to the consumer to proceed through that process themselves.