Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced tax cuts on new building projects as part of his federal housing strategy. Poilievre said the cuts will save builders up to $100,000, spur economic growth, and increase the supply of homes in Canada.
While at a press conference in Milton, Ont. on Thursday, Poilievre vowed to build more homes and save builders and new home buyers an estimated $115,000 by cutting taxes.
The plan incentivizes municipalities to cut taxes on new building projects by reimbursing 50% of each dollar in tax relief granted to developers, up to a maximum of $50,000.
Poilievre previously announced a plan to eliminate the sales tax on new homes under $1.3 million. Conservatives estimated that the GST tax cut would be especially effective in the GTA, where homes are more expensive, accounting for a $65,000 reduced price per home.
“Today, in Ontario, 30% of the cost of a new home is just direct government taxes, sales tax, land transfer tax, development taxes. On top of that, there are thousands of dollars of soft costs like delays, zoning, consultants, lobbyists, lawyers and countless other fees,” Poilievre said. “More money from a new home today built in Canada goes to bureaucrats in office buildings than goes to the carpenters, electricians and plumbers that actually build the homes.”
Carney has quickly copied Poilievre’s GST cut plan into the Liberal platform.
He said development charges have risen by $27,000 in the last two years. Building taxes on homes built in Toronto, have gone from $30,000 to $140,000.
“These government costs are passed on to home buyers, turning the dream of home ownership into a nightmare. Instead of challenging these city gatekeepers who jack up development charges, the liberals have rewarded them,” he said.”The Liberals gave the city of Toronto $471 million as a reward for having increased their development charges by 42 per cent. What is the consequence of this? For everyday Canadians, construction is down 39 per cent this year in Toronto.”
Poilievre added that Vancouver and Ottawa tell a similar story after raising building taxes. Vancouver saw a 55 per cent and Ottawa a 21 per cent reduction in homebuilding.
Poilievre said the Liberal government cannot be trusted to all of a sudden fix the problem that was created policies they created.
Poilievre said Carney’s plan to build housing is a carbon copy of Trudeau’s 2017 statements as they both have now said “we’re getting the government back in the business of building affordable homes.”
He said Carney’s plan would not help working Canadians afford new homes and would only increase the size of the government and its numerous bureaucracies.
Poilievre also attacked Carney for announcing a $35 billion modular home program while the company he chaired and likely has investments with is invested in modular homes.
“Carney has no plan to get a single house built. He has a plan to build more liberal bureaucracy and to profit his own company. We don’t need to build bureaucracy in Ottawa,” Poilievre said. “We need to build houses in our communities. We’ve lived through these last 10 years of repeated promises. We should never have believed them, and we should definitely not believe them now.”
He said that Canadians could not afford a fourth Liberal term when the first three terms resulted in a doubling of housing costs.
“We need a new government for a change that will axe taxes, cut red tape, remove bureaucracy to build homes you can actually afford, and put homeowners first,” Poilievre said.
He said during this election Canadians will decide whether Canada can afford a fourth Liberal term or whether Canadians want Canada to thrive and be able to “stand up to Washington with strength.”