Ontario Real Estate Association Case Study

In early 2015, with a review of the Municipal Act on the horizon and the possibility of the Ontario Government imposing a Municipal Land Transfer Tax (MLTT) on all home purchases within the province, the Ontario Real Estate Association engaged Counsel to stop the tax from moving forward. OREA had worked diligently to raise its concerns on behalf of its 62,000 members across Ontario, but was concerned that some prominent municipal leaders were supportive of the tax and planned to push for it from a sympathetic provincial Minister, despite dormant public opposition. Counsel was brought on board to provide ongoing strategic advice, direct advocacy and supporting messaging and materials development.

Counsel’s direct advocacy soon confirmed the Minister’s intent to move forward with recommending that the authority for the MLTT be extended to all municipalities province-wide. Nimbly accelerating its strategic approach, Counsel prepared a strategic and tactical plan intended to activate political and public opposition to the tax. Working closely with OREA and their advertising partners, Counsel launched an integrated government and public relations campaign that employed both traditional, new and social media tactics to amplify widely-held fears about the tax and its ill effects on homebuyers, overstretched taxpayers and the economy. Ontarians were not only informed about the impact of the tax and the government’s plan to move forward, but were empowered to participate and share with friends and family.

The integrated campaign was highly successful, generating significant attention in traditional media, as well as impressions in both conventional advertising and across social media. Within weeks, intense pressure from within the governing party forced the Minister to abandon his planned proposal and publicly refute the government’s intent to expand the MLTT across Ontario.