D.P. Murphy Inc
Mark Doucet
General Counsel at DP Murphy
A seasoned General Counsel with a track record of successfully
delivering legal services for large organizations with particular
strengths in negotiating and drafting complex legal agreements,
completing large-scale commercial transactions, and effectively managing
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DP Murphy
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Vice President Legal
IFA Hotels & Resorts
Shawn Murphy
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DP Murphy
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Vice President Legal
IFA Hotels & Resorts
Shawn Murphy
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INDIVIDUAL MEMBER
Evictions overturned for P.E.I. tenants being displaced for Tim Hortons staff
Rentals regulator overturns eviction notices issued by Tim Hortons franchisee in Souris
But it's a bittersweet victory for at least one of them.
After a hearing on the evictions earlier this month, P.E.I.'s rentals regulator — the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission — ruled Friday that the rental agreements of existing tenants will remain in place, and those tenants can stay in their homes.
Brenda Hanson is one of three residents who fought to remain in her home in the small town at the northeastern tip of the Island.
Brenda
Hanson says she is holding on to the empty boxes she gathered up, in
case D.P. Murphy Inc. successfully appeals the overturning of its
eviction notices. (Brian Higgins/CBC)
She said she had started collecting boxes and was getting ready to move, but hadn't yet found a new place to live.
"I'm overjoyed to be staying," she said, adding of her landlord: "If I'm going to leave, I'm going to leave on my own terms, not his."
D.P. Murphy operates several Tim Hortons franchises across Prince Edward Island.
According to documents the company filed with IRAC, the company had planned to use the building to house temporary foreign workers coming to work at the Souris branch of the coffee shop.
Lawyers for D.P. Murphy declined to comment for this story.
Tight rental and labour market
Hanson said the need for housing — and workers — is well known in the community. But she said the evictions wouldn't have helped with those challenges.
"Every day you turn on the news, the biggest issue is there's no place to live, no apartments," said Hanson.
"And I understand there's no workers either, but we shouldn't have to leave our home to house them."
Beverley Harris says she moved into a new apartment while waiting for the eviction decision from IRAC. (Brian Higgins/CBC)
The decision brought up mixed feelings for tenant Beverley Harris, who had already made arrangements to move out of her two-bedroom top-floor apartment into one half its size.
"I feel pretty good in that we got the eviction overruled," she said. "The other part of me is sad that I had to move."
Harris said she felt "forced" into moving. She had begun looking for another apartment when she wasn't sure what the outcome of the hearing would be.
"When I went to look for housing, there was not much available," she said.
"I guess out of fear I took that apartment…. I ended up moving there 'cause we didn't get our decision till Friday and it was kind of too late to turn back then."
Harris is paying rent on both apartments this month, and having to downsize because her new place in a seniors' housing building is so much smaller.
She said the process has been costly; she hired a mover, gave some of her things to charity, and is paying for storage for other items.
She said she's seeking compensation from her former landlord, "just to cover my moving cost because that was an extra cost to me that I wasn't planning on," she said.
"I don't think that's unfair to ask for that, plus the stress that we went through."
Appeal period not over
With IRAC's ruling behind them, both women said they are now waiting for the appeal period to pass so that they can move forward.
"I didn't get rid of my boxes just yet," said Hanson.
According to IRAC, the parties in an eviction appeal decision have 20 days to file an appeal.
473 Comments
Content Deactivated
I see the circus in Souris is still going on in fine style
John LEE
An easy-fix for our home-boys clearly at reach, - a small nature at hand - Premier and Cabinet super friends not gonna stake/take a stance here in minimal stance or quick tax-payer stances otherwise.
David Amos
Reply to John LEE
C'est Vrai
Lynette Browne
Content Deactivated
I like your French
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Lynette Browne
I am also Pro Life
Lynette Browne
Reply to David Amos
?
Gerry Ford
Well Murphy; you can't have your donut and eat it too......
David Amos
Reply to Gerry Ford
Wanna bet?
Barry Pattern
Withdrawing Murphy from using the TFW program would send a strong message!
He'll have to hire Canadians!
Lynette Browne
Reply to Barry Pattern
Would anyone want to work for him though after all this fiasco?
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Barry Pattern
Dream on
Content Deactivated
Content Deactivated
Reply to David Amos
David Amos
Reply To Robert Joyce
Nope They ARE Liberals
Paul McGown
It is cheaper to evict the tenants than to pay a living wage to Tim employees, apparantly. We should look to the famous quote from Henri Balzac .......Le secret des grandes fortunes sans cause apparente est un crime oublié, parce qu’il a été proprement fait.
Harold Martin
Reply to Paul McGown
I'm defending this guy, it's super despicable what he did, but it is possible he really can't get local workers.
John Munson
Reply to Paul McGown
What in the good gracious are you going on about?
Lynette Browne
Reply to Harold Martin
Yes, but he could have offered to build housing/accomodation for these TFW that he needed (I agree it is quite feasible under the current program that Canadians don't want to do these jobs) instead of booting out locals.
Peter Ryerson
Reply to Paul McGown
A living wage is like $60,000 a year these days.
David Amos
Reply to Peter Ryerson
Yea right
Harold Martin
Reply to Lynette Browne
Yeah, one of the evicted found a place. The trick is: he's the landlord already so this is the cheap "easy" way to do it. Slimy.
Peter Ryerson
Reply to David Amos
Well, perhaps if you live at home, that might be different. 😆
Tarl Cabbot
Reply to Harold Martin
> "possible he really can't get local workers."
So what?
It's kind of like going fishing without yer nets, then whining about it.
If ya haven't got the resuorces (human resources included) to run the business . . . yer grounded.
close the doors and go home.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Peter Ryerson
Are you jerking an old dog's chain?
Harold Martin
Reply to Tarl Cabbot
Or you can use this handy government program. 😋 I bet this Tim's only makes a dime in tourist season.
Lynette Browne
Reply to Harold Martin
I agree. I am just suggesting if he was a better person :), he could have used some thinking power and smarts to help his community and keep everyone happy - keep the tenants and hire local construction workers to build temporary housing.
Tarl Cabbot
Reply to Harold Martin
> "use this handy government program. "
It's causing problems. Not solving them. Better to close the business.
D.P. Murphy has no plans to hire locally. His business plan is insolvent and is begging for government dole outs. And, at the same time displacing local residents.
That is just poor business planning. Typically that leads to failure, and D.P. Murphy should fail.
Ken Hall
Reply to Paul McGown
I had one of those but the wheels fell off.
Paul McGown
Reply to Paul McGown
He could get the people if he paid enough money. Foreign workers are basically indentured servants ; the status of their work visa is based upon continuing employment with their sponsor. And you are wrong ; he is indefensible.
Landlords today have to factor in all the expenses associated with landlord and tenancy board processes
Shep Turner MacGregor
Reply to Don Jake
Yeah, hard being a parasite these days, with the minimal limits regulations place on parasitism meaning they can suck ever so slightly less blood.
Peter Ryerson
Reply to Don Jake
Rent is high because people are greedy.
It’s quite simplistic, actually.
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to Peter Ryerson
It's also high because there's more demand than there are supplies.
Greed isn't the only reason, and the ones do it solely because of it know that they're getting away with it now because because they know there's more demand for housing than there are supplies of housing. They know they'll rent that place, even 10 people ends up living inside of it to be able to pay for it.
David Amos
Reply to Peter Ryerson
Get grand a year and you are no longer needy just greedy?
Peter Ryerson
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
Greed is the only reason.
if there was no laws put in place, then they would raise the rent a hundred to $200 every year and then complain about how “broke” they are.
Jeff Sinclair
Reply to Peter Ryerson
Just remember that the cost of absolutely everything (except maybe insurance) has gone up in relation to operating a household. Especially the mortgage.
Some landlords may be greedy, but in many situations, the landlord is being fleeced just as bad by the people/companies higher in the food chain (banks, utility costs driven by fuel prices, property tax increases).
Now, the landlord in this story? They are something else....
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to Peter Ryerson
You do understand how supply and demand works?
When there less supply and more demand the price of that supply that's left goes up.
That's the situation we're in right now there's not enough rental supply of housing that is affordable.
I agree that rents should not go up $100 or $200 every year but realistically how are the landlords to make a profit and make mortgage payments, keeping building maintain and fixed, and paying the property taxes when those cost goes up?
Not all landlords are the enemy just as the same as not all tendons or the enemy.
They are just business owners that chosen to incorporate themselves so now they have to deliver to the shareholders and I mean deliver.
I have some hobbies and one of those hobby had me researching how to become a business owner. If I ever do ever decide to start my own business, I don't want to incorporate and have investors and shareholders, it sounds like it's too much trouble than it's worth. There's can be financial penalties for failing to meet predictable quarterly profit that was forecasted or the failure of the returns that the investors were promised at a certain date.
David Amos
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
I was a businessman and a buddy of mine who was a Rhodes Scholar taught me the "Golden Rule" and another piece of wisdom out of the gate that have always stood me in good stead. Seems that you studied enough to know the first one but I doubt you have heard of the other.
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
And what's this other rule that you assume, which could be a correct assumption, that I haven't hear about?
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
I was wondering if it was ruler wisdom that I should have wrote.
I don't really know what the rule is or how it goes. From what my understanding is before anyone starts a business they should research, how to start a business. Once that done, write a business plan. It really smacks reality right to someone's face having everything written down, from start off cost, that means how much does permit licensing and equipment would cost, to how much rent would be for 3 months 6 months for a year, insurance, cost of workers and ect ect until you know what risk you would be taking before you make a decision I'm going forward or just shelving the idea.
You also don't start a business unless you yourself is going to be working in that business.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
The other was "If you hear the sound of hoof beats think horses not zebras" or Occam's razor
So it was what I assumed. I shouldn't start a business until I have the money to start the business or win the lottery. Whichever one comes first, if ever.
It could be out of my hands one of these years, if I ever sell over $1,000 worth of my hobby I have to file my taxes as a business and pay HST for it.
Reply to David Amos
It should be ght not HST.
David Amos
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
I don't pay Income tax
Because all you get is refunds? Because not doing or paying someone to do them and sending your income taxes is just plain not Canadian.
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
You SIN doesn't even get deleted when you die, it happens when your last taxes are filed by your deceased loved ones or by a lawyer.
They don't just go deleting SIN, a number that you're given when you're born, just because you haven't done your taxes in years.
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
What would a circus in Souris have to do with pei, let alone with Tim Hortons, TFW, and the decrease stock of affordable housing?
In case you haven't read the posting guidelines, off topic post, normally evaporates.
David Amos
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
Wrong again
BTW You will find your lecture of me in my blog
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
Don't you remember, you told me to look you up because you used to be a member of parliament or something. I found your blog then.
Nadine Buckmaster
Reply to David Amos
Oh well, I'm pretty sure your audience are entertained. My post have a lot of misspellings tonight. So at least you have that.
David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Nadine Buckmaster
I was blocked for a year Hence I can't remember everybody who attacked me over the years I find it interesting that you decided to call me a liar though
Tim Hortons franchisee in P.E.I. evicts tenants to make way for temporary foreign workers
‘I don’t think it’s right,’ says advocate for 3 tenants fighting eviction
One of three people fighting eviction notices they received from the local Tim Hortons franchisee in Souris, P.E.I., says the company has no legal grounds to make tenants leave their apartment building.
D.P. Murphy Inc., which operates a number of Tim Hortons franchises across Prince Edward Island, bought the apartment building at 4 Pleasant St. in November, and issued eviction notices to the tenants on Jan. 5.
According to documents filed by the company with the Island Regulatory and Appeals Commission, P.E.I.'s rentals regulator, the company plans to use the building to house temporary foreign workers.
"There's no legal grounds on which to do this at all," said Cécile Sly, one of the tenants taking on the corporation, its lawyer and now the provincial rentals regulator.
D.P.
Murphy Inc. bought the apartment building at 4 Pleasant St. in Souris
last year, and issued eviction notices to the tenants in January. (CBC)
According to the eviction notices, D.P. Murphy said it's planning to convert the premises "to a use other than residential," which can be grounds for eviction under section 15(1)(b) of the Rental of Residential Properties Act.
Sly said they don't think that can apply, given the company has said it plans to house workers in the building.
They noted the property remains zoned as residential.
The mayor of Souris, JoAnne Dunphy, said there's been no application filed to change that zoning – but such a change would not be necessary in order for the building to be used for staff housing.
"If it was changing into a business such as a hotel, then it would mean the owner would have to apply for a zoning change and a business permit," Dunphy told CBC News via email.
"We certainly do not like to see anyone lose their homes," she added. "There is a shortage of housing in our area."
Housing temporary foreign workers 'essential'
P.E.I. is seeing a pressing demand for both workers and housing.
When the province's tourism industry began to rebound post-pandemic in the latter part of 2021, employers in the service industry said they were having a hard time getting workers to come back to their jobs.
We are… very concerned about possible public dissemination of our business records so I felt I had no choice but to notify the rental officer of this issue.
- Mark Doucet, lawyer for D.P. Murphy Inc.
Since then, demand for workers has continued to grow, with the province's traditionally high unemployment rate reaching a record low of 4.9 per cent last June.
The P.E.I. government launched a new stream of its provincial nominee program early last year, open to the tourism industry.
Then the federal government announced an expansion of the temporary foreign worker program, allowing tourism businesses to take part.
In documents filed with IRAC as part of the eviction case, D.P. Murphy said providing staff accommodations has been "an essential part of our sponsoring temporary foreign workers," according to a statement signed by Abdul Babar, the company's senior human resources manager.
A tight rental market
But the company's plan for the Souris building is coming at a time when housing in P.E.I. has become a hot commodity.
P.E.I.'s apartment vacancy rate dropped to 0.8 per cent in 2022, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. That's the lowest rate among all of Canada's provinces.
A lack of staff accommodations in Souris "has meant managers driving staff for over an hour to and from Charlottetown," Babar wrote, "or the employees drive on their own, often late at night on winding roads and in winter conditions."
D.P.
Murphy Inc. operates a number of Tim Hortons franchises on P.E.I.
According to documents filed with the Island Regulatory and Appeals
Commission, the company plans to use the building to house temporary
foreign workers. (Stacey Janzer/CBC)
In its filing with IRAC, D.P. Murphy listed four other Island properties it uses for staff accommodations, including a home in Souris where the company listed 10 tenants.
In some cases, the company said it charges workers a monthly rent of between $200 and $400. In others, the accommodations are listed as a taxable benefit for the employee.
The company said the rent charged to staff "is so that we can begin to recover our costs and is not intended as a profit centre for the company."
Tenants could face 'fines or sanctions' for sharing info
D.P. Murphy's lawyer, Mark Doucet, said the company would not provide comment for this story.
However, the day after CBC News advised D.P. Murphy that it had received copies of the company's submissions to IRAC, Doucet said two of the tenants fighting their eviction notices, both seniors, had been warned by the commission they could face "fines or sanctions" for sharing records related to their hearing.
Both tenants later declined to provide interviews to CBC News.
Rosalind
Waters with P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing says the story is
emblematic of the power imbalance between landlords and tenants on the
Island. (CBC)
"We are… very concerned about possible public dissemination of our business records so I felt I had no choice but to notify the rental officer of this issue," Doucet wrote in an email.
He cited a provision of the Rental of Residential Property Act that requires confidentiality in hearings over rental increases. However, the same provision is not included in the legislation relating to eviction proceedings.
But Doucet said that under the act, the director of residential rental property at IRAC has "the power to determine rules of procedure."
CBC News then asked IRAC what confidentiality requirements could be placed on an eviction hearing.
"The Commission cannot comment on matters that have come before the Director or that may come before the Commission," was the email response.
"Matters at the Director-level are private and confidential and between landlords and tenants. If the matter is appealed to the Commission, that is when it becomes public."
A landlord with 'deep pockets'
Rosalind Waters, a volunteer with P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing, said that group has "attended numbers of hearings over the years… and never have tenants been told that they can't talk to anyone about what went on in the hearing. So the optics of this are not good."
"It kind of illustrates the huge power imbalance between landlords and tenants in this province," Waters said, adding it can be intimidating for tenants to go up against landlords who have "a lawyer representing them, and a landlord that the tenants know has deep pockets."
It kind of illustrates the huge power imbalance between landlords and tenants in this province.
- Rosalind Waters, P.E.I. Fight for Affordable Housing
Waters said her group has been advocating for "massive investment in public and non-profit housing" with below-market, subsidized rents "so everybody has access to decent, affordable housing. And of course migrant workers should have access to decent affordable housing."
But she said it's wrong to pit such workers against existing residents as has happened with the evictions taking place in Souris.
"I don't think it's right and I also don't think it does anything to solve the housing crisis for folks who live up around Souris," she said.
'Not an issue of national security'
Sly said their hearing is coming up Feb. 23.
They said some other tenants left without trying to fight their evictions, and some people have told Sly they should be "frightened" to stand up against such a big corporation.
P.E.I.'s
apartment vacancy rate dropped to 0.8 per cent in 2022, according to
the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, making it difficult for
tenants like Cécile Sly to find a new place to live. (CBC)
But Sly said they want to have their eviction notice declared invalid — and said they won't be silenced when it comes to talking about the results of their hearing.
"This is a rental board hearing, not an issue of national security."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Stacey Janzer
Tim Hortons shops on P.E.I. not for sale: Danny Murphy
Have you heard Danny Murphy is selling his many Tim Hortons restaurants?
So has he. And he has heard enough.
The province’s best known coffee man wants to quash persistent rumours that he is trying to sell any or all of his Tim Hortons and Wendy’s outlets.
“I’ve never talked to anybody and I have no interest in selling,’’ he says. “I’m going to work for a long time.’’
The 58-year-old businessman started out as a baker at Tim Hortons in 1979. Today, he owns 20 Tim Hortons coffee shops and five Wendy’s restaurants in P.E.I. that employ about 900 people. He also has another five Wendy’s in Montreal.
Murphy says he remains very hands on in the operations, regularly getting in behind the counter of his businesses that dot the Island.
He still relishes the fast pace.
“I really enjoy this business and I have no intention of leaving it. None.’’
He has no plans, though, to add to his current number of shops that serve up double doubles and Timbits. He notes the coffee market is “pretty much’’ saturated in Prince Edward Island.
However, he is pumping money into giving his stores fresh, new exteriors.
Murphy is also concentrating expansion to the hotel portfolio of his business empire.
Have you heard Danny Murphy is selling his many Tim Hortons restaurants?
So has he. And he has heard enough.
The province’s best known coffee man wants to quash persistent rumours that he is trying to sell any or all of his Tim Hortons and Wendy’s outlets.
“I’ve never talked to anybody and I have no interest in selling,’’ he says. “I’m going to work for a long time.’’
The 58-year-old businessman started out as a baker at Tim Hortons in 1979. Today, he owns 20 Tim Hortons coffee shops and five Wendy’s restaurants in P.E.I. that employ about 900 people. He also has another five Wendy’s in Montreal.
Murphy says he remains very hands on in the operations, regularly getting in behind the counter of his businesses that dot the Island.
He still relishes the fast pace.
“I really enjoy this business and I have no intention of leaving it. None.’’
He has no plans, though, to add to his current number of shops that serve up double doubles and Timbits. He notes the coffee market is “pretty much’’ saturated in Prince Edward Island.
However, he is pumping money into giving his stores fresh, new exteriors.
Murphy is also concentrating expansion to the hotel portfolio of his business empire.
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