Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre leaves a press conference in Brampton, Ont., on Tuesday.Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says the federal goods and services tax should be axed for all homebuyers to help ease the housing crisis.
Previously, Mr. Poilievre said he would eliminate the 5-per-cent GST on new homes priced under $1-million.
“Today, I am proposing to axe the sales tax for all homebuyers,” he told a news conference on Tuesday in Brampton, Ont.
And he said he would expand that policy to cover homes under $1.3-million.
“Unfortunately, in the GTA today, as amazing as it sounds, you can’t get the average house for a million dollars,” Mr. Poilievre said.
The federal government has moved to eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes that cost $1-million or less.
In late May, Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne introduced legislation to provide the GST rebates, but it is not expected to be passed until Parliament returns this fall.
Mr. Poilievre was highlighting the Conservative approach to an issue that is expected to be in the spotlight as MPs return to the House of Commons on Sept. 15 after the summer break.
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The federal government has promised action on housing, while the Conservatives have said it has failed to move on the file since Mark Carney replaced Justin Trudeau as Prime Minister.
Mr. Poilievre noted that housing starts are down in the Greater Toronto Area, where preconstruction sales of new homes have also declined. And the housing industry, he said, is also losing jobs.
He restated key Conservative housing commitments Tuesday, promising to match a Liberal commitment to cut building taxes by 50 per cent, kill the capital gains tax on reinvestments in new housing and tie federal infrastructure dollars to homebuilding.
“We are prepared to work with any party that will adopt these common-sense ideas,” he said.
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The federal government is betting on a new entity called Build Canada Homes to deal with the housing crisis, hoping to double the rate of homebuilding in Canada within the next decade.
Mr. Carney has said the operation will return government to homebuilding by creating affordable housing, offering low-cost financing to builders of such housing and encouraging innovation in the sector.
During the recent federal election campaign, Mr. Carney said Build Canada Homes would provide tens of billions of dollars in financing for affordable homes.
This week, he told a news conference in St. John’s that additional details will be released in the next few days, while the Liberal caucus is meeting in Edmonton.
Federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson is scheduled to hold a news conference Wednesday in Edmonton, accompanied by Environment Minister Julie Dabrusin and Rebecca Bligh, president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities. They will be addressing the topic of sustainable affordable housing in Alberta.