Remarks by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance on new action to lower the cost of housing for Canadians

November 19, 2024

Good afternoon, everyone. We are going to start by commenting on the Canadian economy and the Canada-US relationship, and then on actions we are taking to lower the cost of housing.

Finally, we’ll talk about the new stress test rules and Minister Duclos will give an update on the new set of public lands for housing.

I’d like to start by talking about the good news on inflation. Inflation was two per cent in October. That means for the past 10 months inflation in Canada has been within the Bank of Canada’s target range.

We now know that wages have outpaced inflation in Canada for 21 months in a row and 1.4 million people more are working in Canada today compared to before COVID.

Earlier today we had the third meeting of the Canada-US Cabinet committee. We talked about three principal issues—the Canadian economy, the Canada-US economic relationship and the border.

On the Canadian economy we talked about action we need to continue to take to attract more investment, more capital and more jobs to Canada in this changed and changing global economic environment and with the incoming Trump administration south of our border.

On the Canada US-economic relationship, we talked about ongoing work members of the government are doing and measures we will continue to take to align Canadian policy with that of the US when it comes to China.

On the border, Ministers talked about work happening to ensure our border is safe and secure, to ensure Canadians control who comes to Canada and critically control who does not. Also to ensure that our southern neighbours can have the same sense of security when it comes to their border with us. Ministers talked about measures to ensure both of those things.

Now, regarding the announcements, the first is an announcement on the financialization of housing. Today we are launching consultations on restricting the purchase of existing single-family homes by large corporate investors. Housing needs to be for Canadians—not investors.

Our second announcement is that we’re taking the next step on lifting the GST on new student residences. As you know, last year we lifted the GST on new apartment construction. That is kickstarting the construction of 300,000 new homes. Today, as we said we would, we are launching a consultation to expand the GST exemption to the construction of student residences.

We know the lack of homes for students is an important pressure point on housing generally, particularly in some of the Canadian cities where housing is a most urgent issue. The consultation runs from today through to January 20^th and applies to not-for-profit universities, public colleges, and school authorities.

The third thing I would like to emphasize are the new stress test rules coming into force. This is good news for people with mortgages.

Starting Thursday, more Canadians will be able to switch lenders when renewing their mortgage without another stress test. This means you have options if you are worried about an upcoming renewal.

These are the so-called straight switches. It will give people who have a mortgage renewal coming up more flexibility, more opportunity to shop around without passing another stress test.

Thank you.