Condo Proposal and Housing Affordability

on this condo proposal.

It's, I mean, you know, the federal government

was enthusiastic about us announcing this

before all the details were out,

but in the absence of the details,

the plot has been lost a little bit here.

So I'm happy to share some of the information with you.

If you are a condo developer that took a bet

on the high end of the market,

and you're facing a significant potential loss of profits,

what we are proposing will not assist you.

The government of BC has been very clear,

I've been very clear,

that we are seeking to make housing

more affordable for people.

And that includes inevitable corrections in the market.

What we see as an opportunity right now

is the chance to buy products

below the cost of construction,

below the cost of what government can build them for,

and make them available through a rent-to-own program

for British Columbians.

The numbers don't work in Vancouver,

but they do work in places like the Fraser Valley,

Vancouver Island, and the Okanagan.

The federal government brought forward to us a proposal

that looked a lot like Ontario's,

which was the elimination of the GST on new homes.

To put it bluntly, that just doesn't work

in British Columbia.

First of all, for first-time buyers,

you don't pay the GST, you don't pay the PST.

And so that would be a tax program exclusively

for people buying a second home.

And we're just not doing that.

I understand that Ontario's circumstances are different,

but that's why we don't support the proposal

of the development industry.

The goal here is to get people into homes,

to give them the ability to get into the market

when they might not otherwise be able to do so as a renter,

and to do so below the cost of construction

in areas outside of Vancouver.

Look forward to having more to share about the program

as we develop the details,

but we think it has lots to recommend it

over the proposal that was advanced in Ontario.