From Conservative Party Communications

Plan incentivizes municipalities to cut building taxes while taking sales tax off for $100,000 savings per home.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre announced that on top of axing the sales tax on new homes, a Conservative government will incentivize municipalities to cut building taxes, for a total savings of $100,000 on an average home in Canada’s big cities. For every dollar of relief a municipality offers in development charges, a Conservative government will reimburse 50%, up to a maximum of $50,000 in savings for new homebuyers.

Poilievre already announced his plan to eliminate the sales tax on new homes under $1.3 million, which will save homebuyers up to $65,000. Combining the two policies will lower the cost of a new home by up to $115,000. For an average home in the GTA or Vancouver, the savings will be approximately $100,000. Conservatives will also require cities to publicly disclose their development charges and explain how the federal reimbursement will be used so Canadians can hold municipalities accountable when they build bureaucracy instead of homes.

“After the Lost Liberal Decade that saw housing costs double, it’s time for a new Conservative government that will provide affordable homes for Canadians,” said Poilievre. “The Liberals have broken the promise that hard work buys an affordable home in a safe neighbourhood. Conservatives will restore it by building more, taxing less, and lowering costs for homebuyers to save $100,000 on a new home.”

Taxes and development charges are now more than 30% of new home costs in Ontario and British Columbia. In Toronto, development charges skyrocketed from under $30,000 to nearly $140,000 during the Lost Liberal Decade, and across Canada, they’ve increased by $27,000 in just two years. These government charges are passed on to homebuyers, turning the dream of homeownership into a nightmare for everyday workers and young Canadians.

Instead of standing up to municipal gatekeepers who jacked up development charges to fund bureaucracy, Liberals rewarded them. After the Liberals gave the City of Toronto $471 million, the city increased charges 42%, leading to a 39% drop in housing starts. Ottawa and Victoria also raised taxes after receiving Liberal funding. In Victoria, housing starts fell by 55% even as development charges went up by 258%.

During the Lost Liberal Decade, with Mark Carney as their economic advisor, housing costs in Canada doubled, rising faster than in any other G7 country. It now takes longer to save for a down payment than it does to pay off a mortgage. And 80% of Canadians now believe homeownership is only possible for the rich.

Mark Carney is recycling the same old Liberal promises that didn’t work for the last decade. He says these Liberal policies will make housing affordable, but under the Liberals, costs have doubled. As usual with Liberals, Carney thinks more government is the answer. He says he wants the government to build homes, but his plan will just add more bureaucracy to a government that can’t get anything built and can’t even issue passports on time. Carney and the Liberals have no plan to actually help people buy their own homes.

“Mark Carney doesn’t understand the struggles everyday Canadians face being priced out of their communities and losing the dream of homeownership to taxes and inflation,” Poilievre said. “We can’t afford a fourth Liberal term of government run by out-of-touch elites. Only a new Conservative government will put hard-working Canadians First–For a Change–and restore the promise of homeownership by building more, taxing less, and bulldozing bureaucratic barriers.”