Regulation of the real estate industry in Alberta has been in an upheaval in recent years. There were industry concerns about the lack of effectiveness of the Real Estate Council (RECA), which led to a KPMG review, released in 2019. That led to the Minister of Service Alberta dismissing the entire Council.
The current RECA structure seems quite vacant with former oil and gas consultant Duane Monea acting as a temporary administrator.
In July 2020 the government put forward Bill 20, which will restructure RECA into a series of councils. RECA will cease to be involved in the education side of the real estate industry. One interesting proposed change, which has not received a lot of attention, is that Bill 20 proposes to change the provision that a real tor under investigation for wrong doing can simply agree to withdraw lifetime from the industry, and the result is that any investigation must cease. Now the proposed change is that a lifetime withdrawal does not cease any investigation, and wrongdoings particularly criminal activities like mortgage fraud and money laundering would continue to be investigated even with a lifetime industry withdrawal.
Rainbow Investigations has been on record for recommending changes to the Lifetime Withdrawal clause for years. All kinds of former realtors and mortgage brokers have gotten off simply because of this clause, particularly during the time period of 2008 – 2013.
Here is a link to a story on the proposed changes
https://globalnews.ca/news/7023788/alberta-real-estate-amendment-act/
