Cunningham Review (2016-2017) recommended separating Ontario's home-warranty regulator from the insurer — the origin of HCRA

Claim: Before 2021, Tarion was both the warranty insurer AND the regulator of Ontario home builders — a structural conflict of interest the consumer-advocacy group Canadians for Properly Built Homes had flagged for years. In November 2015 Ontario appointed retired Associate Chief Justice J. Douglas Cunningham, Q.C. to review the Ontario New Home Warranties Plan Act and Tarion. Interim report July 2016; final report December 2016 (released early 2017). The headline recommendation: separate the regulator function from the warranty function.

Source: https://www.ontario.ca/document/final-report-review-ontario-new-home-warranties-plan-act-and-tarion-warranty-corporation

Confidence: Verified.

Cunningham also flagged illegal building, weak transparency on Tarion's Consumer Advisory Council, perceived board capture by industry, and dispute-resolution conflict of interest. Ontario acted in 2017 with Bill 166 (the Strengthening Protection for Ontario Consumers Act, 2017) — see New Home Construction Licensing Act, 2017 (S.O. 2017 c. 33 Sched. 1) — HCRA's governing statute, enacted via Bill 166. HCRA launched February 1, 2021 — see HCRA launched February 1, 2021 as Ontario's new-home builder regulator; 7,232 licensees at March 31, 2025.

For Candid use: When a builder client asks why two separate bodies exist (HCRA + Tarion), the Cunningham Review is the one-sentence answer.