[ad_1]
OTTAWA – Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre returned to one of his iconic issues on Thursday, promising to inspire the council so that if he becomes prime minister, he will lower allegations of municipal housing development.
In a video posted to social media on Thursday morning, Poilievre said cash-hungry city government is costing home construction in major Canadian cities, resulting in fewer housing starts and higher listing prices.
“The city hall bureaucrats cut them too. They are called development charges and even paid on the shovel,” Poilievre said.
“Let’s call these allegations what they really mean, the home construction tax.”
Poilievre said the Conservative government will pay the City Hall half the cost of cutting construction taxes to make them fall $50,000 per home.
Coupled with the previously announced GST cuts for new homes, up to $1.3 million, Thursday’s announcement means homebuyers can receive up to $115,000 in tax breaks under the conservative government.
Poilievre also said that if he becomes prime minister, he will eliminate the Free Housing Accelerator Fund and other “bureaucratic” federal housing programs.
Meanwhile, Freec has promised to waive first-time home buyers’ GST, up to $1 million.
Liberal leader Mark Carney also promised to develop Canada’s most ambitious home construction plan since World War II, building 500,000 new homes a year within a decade.
Eric Lombardi, a Toronto-based housing advocate, said that while the conservative proposals have their merits, it has not developed enough.
“The real problem is that, in general, cities with the worst government in Canada still have the right to collect these taxes,” Lombardi said.
“Without a federal agreement to take away that power, we risk billions of dollars without meaningfully reducing the cost of housing.”
Housing starts slowly after seeing modest annual growth in 2024.
In major cities, housing construction is particularly slow.
Housing in Toronto began to decline by 68%, down 48% in Vancouver in February, while both multi-unit and single-core began to decline in the same period last year.
State Post
rmohamed@postmedia.com
Getting deeper national postal political coverage and analysis in the inbox of the newsletter with political hackers, Ottawa Bureau chief Stuart Thomson and political analyst Tasha Kheiriddin are all behind the scenes behind what actually happens every Wednesday and Friday. Register here.
Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive spoons, long readings and provocative comments. Please bookmark NationalPost.com here and sign up for our daily newsletter.
[ad_2]
Source link
