Ottawa Journal by David Tilson MP — Changes by Trudeau government to negatively impact Canada’s housing market

October 31, 2016 · 0 Comments

tilson The current Liberal government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, continues to make it difficult for hardworking Canadian families to get ahead.
Since coming to office almost one year ago, the current government’s record has been one of economic mismanagement, higher taxes and now with the recent announcement of new measures affecting Canada’s housing market. It will become more difficult for Canadians to afford a home and fewer will be able to obtain a mortgage.
Earlier this month, Minister of Finance Bill Morneau announced a package of measures impacting the Canadian housing market. The measures include closing the tax loopholes, higher standards for mortgage lending and mortgage insurance, as well as plans to shift more risk onto private lenders. Finance Canada claims these measures are aimed at improving financial security for Canadians, market stability and the integrity of the tax system.
The Conservative Official Opposition is concerned about the affordability crisis in Vancouver and Toronto and the related mortgage insurance risk to Canadian taxpayers. However, it is disappointing that the current Liberal government unilaterally made changes without first consulting industry or consumers. Unfortunately, the new rule changes are a one-size-fits all approach, which ignores the differences in local markets. Furthermore, the new measures don’t do anything to assist affordability or economic growth.
We, as the Official Opposition, are concerned that if the current Liberal government makes it more difficult to obtain a mortgage, home ownership may be out of reach, especially for young Canadians. The current government should be taking measures to help Canadians save, lower their taxes and create jobs. Instead, jobs are in short supply with the vast majority of new jobs created under the current government being part-time positions. It is most concerning to learn that economists predict the current government’s housing policies will reduce the value of people’s homes across the country and will reduce Canada’s GDP by 0.3 per cent by 2018.
The economy is stagnant and despite all of the current Liberal government’s spending, the Bank of Canada, the IMF and the OECD have all downgraded their forecasts for Canada this year and the next year. The last year has been a very expensive one for hardworking Canadian taxpayers and most governments would take stock and consider changing the course at this point; however, the current government shows no signs of doing so. They instead want to stay the course and are ready to announce even more massive new spending in the weeks to come.
Canadians from all across Canada are worried about what the package of measures affecting the housing market will mean for them and their concerns are justified. The Conservative Official Opposition will remain the voice of the taxpayer. We will continue to raise the concerns of Canadians and hold the current government to account for its poor economic management, raising taxes, and for making home ownership more difficult for young Canadians.