Feds missed chance to address housing: Ontario finance minister

Ontario’s Finance Minister said there was a lot to like in the federal government’s fiscal update on Tuesday, but the absence of any measures aimed at tackling Canada’s housing affordability crisis was a significant “missed opportunity.”

Ontario’s finance minister said there was a lot to like in the federal government’s fiscal update on Tuesday, such as continued investments to combat the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but the absence of any measures aimed at tackling Canada’s housing affordability crisis was a significant “missed opportunity.” 

“We see in this province, and across the country – clearly -- home prices and rental costs are going up – so what are some of the things we can do today to make life more affordable for those trying to find housing,” said Peter Bethlenfalvy, Ontario's finance minister, in an interview Wednesday morning. 

Despite the rampant surge in home prices in cities and urban regions across the country, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said in her prepared remarks that any housing announcements would be made in the upcoming spring budget. 

Prior to the federal fiscal update, a senior Ontario government source told BNN Bloomberg that the province was prepared to expand the scope of its Non-Resident Speculation Tax that’s been in place since 2017 if the feds didn’t use the fiscal update to make good on a campaign promise to halt all non-resident home purchases in Canada for a two-year period. 

The source said the province was looking to hike the tax to 20 per cent or more, from the current 15 per cent, and expand the tax from the Greater Golden Horseshoe, which consists of municipalities generally within a two-hour drive from Toronto, to the entire province. 

Bethlenfalvy confirmed those changes are indeed on the table, and added the province is also looking at ways to increase much-needed housing supply.