SUDBURY - Approximately five years and four months ago, a group of Sudburians gathered downtown to voice their frustration with a contractor who had allegedly bilked them out of thousands of dollars.
And now finally, David Murray took the stand July 4, 8, and 11 to tell his side of the story, but so far, has only testified regarding 10 of the 45 charges he is facing. Toronto Crown prosecutor, Patrick Travers from the province’s Serious Fraud Office, appeared virtually, as did Murray’s attorney, Stefan Peters, while David Murray testified in the courtroom before Ontario Court Justice Louise Serré.
Although he took the stand last week, Murray won’t continue his testimony until in March, 2025, though there is a court date Aug. 28 to attempt to find a new trial date.
In his testimony this month, Murray cited numerous reasons why he didn’t complete home improvement contracts through his company, Ecolife Home Improvement, and denied he committed fraud. He said staffing issues, material shortages, permitting issues, schedules that prevented him from doing the work he was scheduled to do, and communication issues he blamed on clients misunderstanding. Much of the source of his trouble, Murray said, was Ontario abruptly ending the GreenOn retrofit program, which created a work backlog he couldn’t surmount.
The GreenOn program was a provincial initiative to subsidize home improvement work that improved a home’s energy efficiency. Launched by Liberal government at the end of 2017, Premier Doug Ford scrapped the program shortly after coming into office in 2018.
Murray was first arrested and charged in May, 2019 with 20 counts of fraud over $5,000 and three counts of fraud under $5,000 for taking deposits for work and never accomplishing the work promised.
In November 2019, Murray was arrested again and charged with another 22 counts of fraud, bringing the total to 45 charges.
In speaking with Sudbury.com in April 2019, Murray maintained that the province's cancellation of the GreenON rebate program is to blame for unfinished work.
Murray indicated that the cancellation of the program left him with a backlog of jobs and a timeline to complete them that made his job next to impossible.
The months that followed saw Murray charged for numerous counts of fraud on two separate occasions, having his business licenses revoked by the city of Greater Sudbury and a lengthy court process spanning back to July, 2019.
But Murray testified that he was a well-known and well-respected contractor, known as “a good salesman.” He ran a crew of about 36 people, and had enough work to keep them all very busy.
Over various court dates in 2021 and into 2022, former clients told the court they contacted Murray, or saw him doing other work in their neighbourhood, and asked for a quote on work. If there were windows involved, the clients testified that Murray would tell them about the GreenON program, a provincial grant program, that would help them get their work done cheaper.
They would sign a contract, many testified, but also, give a deposit for the work.
And though the specifics would change, the clients testified that the work they paid for was never completed — or even started. For some jobs, Murray had yet to file for permits.
They accused him of backdating contracts, not contacting the clients, requesting excess deposit money in exchange for money off the total, and accusing Murray of bullying and threats. One former client even accuses him of physical violence, all of which Murray denies.
Murray has been without a business license since 2019, and that year also saw investigations into his work by SNAP Finance, a company he referred his clients to for financing, as well as an investigation by Ontario’s Consumer Protection Office.
Murray denies all the accusations, and has since day one.
“It's like you're trying to get me to change my story,” Murray told his lawyer, rhetorically. “And my story has been the same since day one.”
He said he was “always in contact with my clients.” He said he wasn’t much for email, but he would answer phone or text. “And if I didn't answer you right away, I'd get back to the next day. Unless I was sick. Even on holidays, my wife contests that she gets mad at me all the time because I answer my phone all the time, even on date nights; she says ‘you're never off your phone’.”
Murray also testified the pressure from clients who weren’t having their work completed, both on him and his installers, was having an impact. “Sometimes clients, they push, push, push, and then they wonder why jobs are not done correctly,” Murray testified. “Because you're (the client) is pushing too much, let the guy do his job.”
He testified that countless clients didn’t understand what he was trying to accomplish or the order of work that must be done.
But more than any other issue, Murray spent his testimony detailing the trouble caused by the end of the GreenOn program.
For the majority of his testimony thus far, Murray has blamed the abrupt end to the provincial GreenOn program, a provincial grant opportunity for homeowners to upgrade their windows to more environmentally sound versions.
Murray testified the program ended so abruptly he was unable to complete the contracts he took on. He also pointed to delays caused by the requirement to get staff certified to install windows under the program, and that only specific products could be used on the jobs.
He said there were also material shortages due to the number of contractors trying to get their work done before the deadline, but Murray testified these issues were doubled by the clients continuing to call him “screaming” and “attacking his staff” verbally.
He had a falling out with a window supplier, Euroseal, and detailed how he believed that exacerbated the issue, preventing him from getting materials and making others unusable. He referenced a falling out with a person from this organization, and the need to rectify that before windows could be sent.
Again, Murray testified it was not his fault. He then said Euroseal filed for bankruptcy. Though a UK company with the same name filed for bankruptcy, it appears the Ontario-based company is still operating.
But throughout this, Murray continued to take on new clients under the program, even backdating contracts to allow clients to take advantage of the grants to save money.
However, Murray testified he knew the GreenOn program was doomed “when Doug Ford won the election June 7.”
The grant had been funded by the provincial cap and trade program, which was to be scrapped by Ford’s government.
It was June 19, 2018 the program was initially scrapped, and no applications would be accepted after July. There was a deadline of October, 2018, to complete the work.
But Murray testified that he continued selling the GreenOn program even after the program ended and backdated several new contracts so they appeared to have been signed before GreenOn’s cancellation. Clients with these contracts testified he signed them up — and accepted deposits — into July after the program was cancelled, but the contracts are all dated to April, 2018.
Though he testified he was already facing the same blowback as other contractors over the closing of the program, Murray also testified that he continued selling the program to clients even though “the deadlines were impossible.”
“We were put in it (this situation) and there was no way out of this. I didn't have a moral compass that would morally guide me through this, how to get through this. I've never been a challenge like this,” he testified. “We have challenges with contractors every day. We have weather, it's been the last 10 years has been complicated by it and we get through it. We always have problems. That's the life of the contractor. I'm in the position of fixing jobs. I fix problems. I take jobs that are horrible and I make them right and make them beautiful for clients. But I couldn't fix this.
“I feel bad for everybody involved but it wasn't my fault, I didn't create this problem,” he testified. “I tried to maneuver myself through it. I tried to fix it. You know when you're down five nothing in a hockey game you don't just quit and go home. I tried to fight and win the game.”
Murray will be back in court Aug. 28 to set a date for trial, which could be as far away as March, 2025.
Jenny Lamothe covers court for Sudbury.com.
