By Nojoud Al Mallées
He argued for the reduction in a six-minute video posted online, saying governments are partly to blame for high property prices because they charge too much sales tax.
“The number one cost of a house is government: government bureaucrats, government taxes, government gatekeepers,” Poilievre said at a news conference in an Ottawa suburb Monday morning.
Conservatives estimate the new measure will cut $40,000 off the cost of an $800,000 home and spur the construction of 30,000 more homes a year.
Since becoming Conservative leader in September 2022, Poilievre has attacked the Liberal government over the rapid rise in house prices and rents since Trudeau came to power in 2015.
This message appears to have resonated with Canadians who are fed up with the high cost of living.
The Conservatives have enjoyed a double-digit lead in the polls for more than a year, putting the Liberals on the defensive.
Poilievre said Monday he would pay for the tax cut by abandoning liberal housing policies.
That includes the Housing Acceleration Fund, which offers housing construction money to cities if they adjust statutes and regulations seen as barriers to new construction.
Poilievre said a Conservative government would also abolish the housing infrastructure fund, which sets aside $5 billion for deals with provinces and territories in exchange for adopting certain housing policies.
Conservatives expect tax revenues to increase due to increased residential construction spurred by the policy.
“And of course, we’re going to get billions of dollars in additional revenue from construction workers and construction companies making more money building more homes,” Poilievre said.
The Liberal government removed GST fees on new apartment construction last year to encourage more rental construction, but the NDP and Conservatives have said they will only maintain the reduction for rentals affordable or below market prices.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser criticized the Conservatives’ plan to fund the tax cut by ending existing housing programs that he says are working.
Fraser said recent zoning changes by municipalities have legalized the construction of denser housing through the Housing Acceleration Fund and suggested that eliminating the program would hurt low- and middle-income families.
“It is unacceptable to me to promote a program if the result is that middle class and low-income families pay more, if the benefit of the program is then opened up to the investor class who might have five or six homes .and suddenly gets a tax cut paid for by ordinary Canadians,” he said Monday.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published October 28, 2024.
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Last modification: October 28, 2024