{"id":35417,"date":"2026-05-07T08:58:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:58:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35417\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T08:58:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T08:58:06","slug":"construction-union-faces-internal-probe-over-purchase-of-4-million-toronto-area-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/35417\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction union faces internal probe over purchase of $4-million Toronto-area house"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

An investigation by The Globe and Mail has found that the owner of a numbered company that bought this $4-million property in Nobleton, Ont., was the Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council, one of Canada\u2019s largest construction unions, has been placed under the supervision of its U.S. parent organization and will undergo an internal probe after The Globe and Mail reported that it had quietly purchased a $4-million Toronto-area home for the use of its top official.<\/p>\n

The CRC, which is based in Vaughan, Ont., and says it has 60,000 members in 30 locals across Ontario and Western Canada, is led by its executive secretary-treasurer, Jason Rowe. It oversees hundreds of millions in pension funds and has received millions from the federal and Ontario governments for skills-training programs.<\/p>\n

A Globe investigation published last month revealed that in 2022, the union used a numbered company that listed Mr. Rowe and his spouse \u2212 who is also a union official \u2212 among its directors to buy a 4,400-square-foot home in Nobleton, Ont. <\/p>\n

The union acknowledged that the couple lived in the five-bedroom, five-bathroom property for two years, from 2022 to 2024. The union\u2019s executive board was not told about the house and its intended purpose and did not vote on the purchase, according to a source familiar with the union\u2019s decision, as The Globe reported. The Globe did not name the source because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the union\u2019s internal matters. <\/p>\n

Now, according to a letter obtained by The Globe, the general president of the Washington-headquartered United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, Douglas McCarron, has announced a \u201cvoluntary trusteeship\u201d for the CRC.<\/p>\n

In the letter, signed by Mr. McCarron and dated May 5, the long-time American union leader says he met with the CRC\u2019s executive board that day \u201cto discuss a recent article by the Globe and Mail that made accusations concerning the Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the CRC.\u201d<\/p>\n

The union leader, the numbered company and the $4-million house<\/a><\/p>\n

The document says the executive board, on a motion moved by Mr. Rowe and passed \u201cwithout dissent,\u201d agreed to invite the international union in for a voluntary trusteeship, so the U.S. parent could conduct \u201can independent investigation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The letter says the move cancels \u201call delegate meetings and elections\u201d while the trusteeship is in place. And it says a union official named Dan Siverson would serve as the CRC\u2019s supervisor.<\/p>\n

In a letter to the CRC\u2019s member locals, obtained by The Globe, Mr. Siverson says he is a 30-year member of the carpenters\u2019 union and that he \u201cwill supervise the investigation.\u201d He also said he plans \u201con keeping members informed on its progress as conclusions are reached.\u201d<\/p>\n

A copy of the motion passed by the CRC executive, also obtained by The Globe, is signed by eight members, including Mr. Rowe. It says the executive members \u201cwelcome and consent\u201d to the trusteeship and \u201cneed independent supervision and oversight to promptly investigate the serious allegations made against the CRC\u2019s leadership as set forth in The Globe and Mail article.\u201d <\/p>\n

It also says the probe may also look into other matters that the international union, known by the shortform the UBC, deems necessary. The motion says the executive members \u201cneed the UBC to take corrective actions to fix any problems found.\u201d<\/p>\n

A spokesman for the Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council did not respond to a request for comment. Neither Mr. Rowe nor Mr. McCarron responded to requests for comment on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

In 2022, the union used a numbered company that listed Jason Rowe and his spouse \u2212 who is also a union official \u2212 among its directors to buy this 4,400-square-foot home in Nobleton, Ont.Sammy Kogan\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The purchase of the $4-million home for Mr. Rowe\u2019s use was itself related to a previous trusteeship imposed on the Ontario-based union by its international parent. <\/p>\n

A numbered company, which the union says it owns, bought the property on Nov. 11, 2022. At the time, a trusteeship had left control of the CRC (then known as the Carpenters\u2019 District Council of Ontario) in the hands of Mr. Rowe, who is also the international\u2019s Canadian district vice-president, and a small group of trustees. <\/p>\n

Neither the CRC nor its U.S. parent have answered questions about why this previous trusteeship was imposed.<\/p>\n

According to a disclosure document filed with the U.S. Department of Labour, the April, 2022, trusteeship was imposed to \u201ccorrect corruption or financial malpractice.\u201d The document provides no details of any allegations or what was done to address them at the time.<\/p>\n

After first telling The Globe that the $4-million home \u201cwas not purchased for the use of any one person,\u201d the union said the house was needed, on a short-term basis, for Mr. Rowe, who lived in Manitoba before being brought in to lead a restructuring of the Ontario-based organization.<\/p>\n

In an e-mailed statement last month, the union said the decision to purchase the house \u201cwas disclosed to members of our executive board\u201d and \u201capproved through our established governance processes, including oversight under the organization\u2019s bylaws.\u201d But the union did not directly answer questions on whether the executive board had voted on the purchase, or provide details of what it says was disclosed.<\/p>\n

The statement also said the property was \u201cacquired as part of a broader strategy to strengthen the organization\u2019s long-term financial position\u201d but was \u201calso used as a short-term, employer-provided residence.\u201d<\/p>\n

The property in Nobleton was transferred to the union-owned Carpenters\u2019 Regional Council Building Corp. for $0 in May, 2024, for reasons the union has declined to explain. It had undergone $290,000 in renovations, according to material provided by real estate agents when the union later listed it for sale at $3.75-million. It has since been taken off the market, and is being rented out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: An investigation by The Globe and Mail has found that the owner of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35418,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[164,224,238,214,212,239,17,211,230,231,227,213,210,235,171,234,143,222,249,215,216,229,225,226,219,240,220,244,245,247,242,246,94,243,217,142,233,113,232,241,223,236,48,237,228,221,218,248],"class_list":{"0":"post-35417","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-toronto","8":"tag-alberta","9":"tag-arts-news","10":"tag-bc","11":"tag-breaking-news","12":"tag-breaking-news-video","13":"tag-british-columbia","14":"tag-canada","15":"tag-canada-news","16":"tag-canada-sports","17":"tag-canada-sports-news","18":"tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","19":"tag-canadian-breaking-news","20":"tag-canadian-news","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-education","23":"tag-environment","24":"tag-federal-government","25":"tag-foreign-news","26":"tag-globe-and-mail","27":"tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","28":"tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","29":"tag-government","30":"tag-life-news","31":"tag-lifestyle","32":"tag-local-news","33":"tag-manitoba","34":"tag-national-news","35":"tag-new-brunswick","36":"tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","37":"tag-northwest-territories","38":"tag-nova-scotia","39":"tag-nunavut","40":"tag-ontario","41":"tag-pei","42":"tag-photos","43":"tag-political-news","44":"tag-political-opinion","45":"tag-politics","46":"tag-politics-news","47":"tag-quebec","48":"tag-sports-news","49":"tag-technology","50":"tag-toronto","51":"tag-travel","52":"tag-trudeau","53":"tag-us-news","54":"tag-world-news","55":"tag-yukon"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35417","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35417"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35417\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35418"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35417"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35417"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35417"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}