For Immediate Release                                                             April 27^th, 2009

(Queen’s Park) - Consumer Services Minister Harinder Takhar and the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO) failed to protect Ontario travellers well before Conquest Vacations closed its doors, revealed PC MPP Lisa MacLeod in a press conference this morning.

MacLeod, the PC Critic for Consumer Services, uncovered what appears to be a systemic breakdown of disclosure at TICO on working capital at another Ontario vacation company dated as far back as 2006, during the Liberal government's first term in office.

Problems in the travel industry date back to the closure of One Step Travel.  An Ontario Court of Justice, after hearing TICO knew for seven of One Steps' ten years that they lacked working capital said of TICO, 'should TICO have sanctioned (One Step) much earlier, that perhaps the offences would not have resulted.'

"TICO and Takhar clearly knew that there were problems in the travel industry, but instead turned their backs on travellers and retailers,” stated MacLeod.  “Why in the case of One Step did the Minister take no steps to further protect consumers?  Who knows if lessons learned from the One Step debacle could have averted the Conquest situation?" 

Action taken sooner by the Minister could have prevented Ontarians from being stranded when Toronto-based Conquest Vacations went out of business.

MacLeod was joined by Bruce Bishins, President of the Association of Retail Travel Agents - Canada, and Paul Vymyslikcky, a Conquest traveller (April 12-19) in the Dominican Republic, one of many Ontarians that Minister Takhar failed to protect.

“We are grateful to Lisa MacLeod for taking on this important and timely issue,” stated Bishins.  “Ontario’s consumer protection policies for travellers need urgent review and more proactive attention from the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services which oversees the Travel Industry Council of Ontario.”

TICO’s Board of Directors has three representatives directly appointed by the Minister.

“Harinder Takhar must be held directly accountable for ignoring the warnings and failing to act,” stated MacLeod. “His job is to protect consumers, and make sure TICO is doing its job.”  

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For more information, contact Jad Haffar at (416) 325-6351

TIMELINE - Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO)

November 28, 2006: One Step Travel (1091873 Ontario Inc) voluntarily terminated its registration to operate as a travel retailer under the Travel Industry Act, 2002 (TICO Board of Directors Commissions Third Party Review of One Step Travel Closure, TICO website, February 25, 2009).

March 28, 2007: Mr. Mazdak Anvari and 1091873 Ontario Inc. operating as One Step Travel, Student Escape Tours and Parsia Travel were each charged with one count of transferring funds from the Travel Industry Act Trust account for payments not related to the travel services for which the money was entrusted, one count of failing to file with the Registrar within five days a copy of the financial institution trust agreement and one count of maintaining more than one Travel Industry Trust Account without the Registrar’s written consent.

June 23 - 25, 2008: TICO testifies in court that it knew that One Step Travel had insufficient working capital in seven of its ten years including three years in which it had negative working capital. TICO also testifies that One Step Travel was late in each of its 10 years in filing its annual financial statements with TICO, some times being three to four month late in filing.

Ontario Court of Justice makes its decision with respect to One Step Travel and Mr. Mazdak Anvari. “In my opinion, should TICO have sanctioned Mr. Anvari much earlier, that perhaps the offences would not have resulted” (Ontario Court of Justice, Reasons for Sentence - Justice Sculthorpe, June 23 – 25, 2008).

June 24, 2008: Annual General Meeting of TICO where members approved a motion for a public inquiry into the demise of One Step Travel. TICO objected to such an inquiry stating that it had no authority to convene such an inquiry and that it would not be bound by one in any event.  TICO refuses any cooperation with the duly constituted Task Force (Association of Retail Travel Agents, Letter to the Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services, February 3, 2009).

January 6, 2009: ARTA submits Task Force Interim Report to the travel industry community in Ontario and advises what was uncovered in the court transcripts. The Task force reports on TICO’s lack of cooperation (Association of Retail Travel Agents, Interim Report of the Independent TICO Public Inquiry Task Force, January 6, 2009).

February 3, 2009: Association of Retail Travel Agents (ARTA) writes to the Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services – Harinder Takhar – with respect to One Step Travel asking for a public inquiry for further investigation surrounding the 2006 demise and asks to meet with the Minister to share critical information about the One Step Travel matter (Association of Retail Travel Agents, Letter to the Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services, February 3, 2009).

February 25, 2009: TICO indicates that it will commission a third party review of One Step Travel (TICO Board of Directors Commissions Third Party Review of One Step Travel Closure, TICO website, February 25, 2009).

March 5, 2009: Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services replies back to ARTA with respect to their request for a public inquiry of One Step Travel and states that “his schedule does not permit” a meeting with the Task Force (Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services, Response letter to ARTA, March 5, 2009).

March 18, 2009: ARTA writes to the Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services on its disappointment for the Ministry’s failure to act and to meet the Task Force (ARTA, Letter to the Minister of Small Business and Consumer Services with, March 18, 2009).

April 15, 2009: Conquest Vacations Inc. shuts down

April 16, 2009: Deputy Minister, Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services responds to ARTA informing that this matter has been referred to the Ministry of Finance and that a review will be conducted by the Ontario Internal Audit Division (Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services, Response letter to ARTA, April 16, 2009).

ATTENDACE AT PRESS CONFERENCE:

• Mr. Bruce Bishins, President, Association of Retail Travel Agents-Canada, and coordinator of the Public Inquiry Task Force approved by TICO registrants at the 2008 TICO AGM.
• Mr. Paul Vymyslikcky, resident of Kitchener, who was a Conquest passenger (April 12-19) at Bahia Principe Cayacoa in the Dominican Republic.
• Mr. Simon Parry, President of Helen Thompson Travel (former TICO board member)

QUOTES

(Bruce Bishins, President of the Association of Retail Travel Agents – Canada)

"We are grateful to Lisa MacLeod for taking on this important and timely issue. Ontario's consumer protection policies for travellers need urgent review and more proactive attention from the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services which oversees the Travel Industry Council of Ontario (TICO). Ms. MacLeod's rapid and positive response to our call for immediate intervention was a refreshing and confidence-building offer of assistance. All travellers owe her thanks for stepping up to this matter so quickly and effectively." 

(April 15, 2009 - Conquest Vacations statement published on its Web site - http://www.conquestvacations.com)

“Unfortunately, this has been a result of overcapacity and price war among the major tour operators, unrealistic and unreasonable demands by the credit card processing companies, credit squeeze and economic turmoil in recent months making it impossible for companies like Conquest to continue in business even after weathering many storms over the past 37 years.”

(Michael Pepper, President and CEO, TICO – April 18, 2009 – Toronto Star)

 “I’m not going to suspend somebody when they’re offside of working capital, but if they can’t address it, that’s when I’m going to take some action.”

(Michael Pepper, President and CEO, TICO – April 21, 2009 – Toronto Star)

“Sure, we knew what the situation was with Conquest, just like we do with everybody else…but I’m not here running TICO to close people down. If people are in financial difficulty, we try to work with them and we try to work it through.”

(NDP MPP Peter Kormos – April 21, 2009 – Canadian Press)

 “I think TICO has demonstrated itself to be a total failure when it comes to consumer protection.” 

(PC MPP Randy Hillier – April 21, 2009 – Canadian Press)

“What purpose and what value are we getting out of TICO? Clearly we have to review how TICO operates.”

(Consumer Services Minister Harinder Takhar – April 21, 2009 – Canadian Press) “I’m not aware of any issue facing the travel industry that is serious and that consumers should be concerned about at this time.”

(Consumer Services Minister Harinder Takhar – April 21, 2009 – Toronto Star) “You can call TICO and find out more if you need more information. They can ask when they’re booking and see how solid they are.”

(Premier Dalton McGuinty - April 21, 2009 – Canadian Press)

“I think we owe a little more to travellers (but) I’m not exactly sure what that is. I’m wondering if there’s not more notice that we could have given to travellers dealing with Conquest that it was experiencing some real challenges.”  

(Premier Dalton McGuinty - April 22, 2009 – Globe & Mail)

“They paid their money, played by the rules ... and then, in some cases, they were tossed out of their hotel rooms, threatened with jail, forced in some places to pay twice over. None of that is acceptable”

(Bruce Bishins, President of the Association of Retail Travel Agents – April 18, 2009 – Toronto Star)

 “I don’t know the level of shortfall, but if TICO found this out and working capital wasn’t immediately injected into the company, TICO should have suspended them. TICO’s mandate is consumer protection. It’s not to protect registrants…There’s a concern that if TICO isn’t steering the rudder properly in its mandate of consumer protection and scrutinizing travel businesses that may have financial difficulties, then the fund will become drained”