Feds Won’t Release Research Verifying Claims GST Holiday for Builders Will Lower Rents

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Nov. 7, 2023. The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland will not release federal research justifying cabinet claims that a GST holiday for builders will lower rents, calling the documents confidential.

Cabinet introduced Bill C-56 back in September to enact a GST holiday on “purpose-built rental housing” constructed by 2036. The cost, according to the Department of Finance, would be $4.6 billion over five years.

According to Blacklock’s Reporter, Bloc Québécois MP Gabriel Ste-Marie asked in an Inquiry of Ministry for access to studies as well as the “source of documents that led the minister of finance to conclude that removing the GST would lower the cost of housing.”

The deputy prime minister replied that all data was confidential.

“The Department of Finance applies the principles set out in the Access To Information Act and certain information has been withheld on the grounds the information constitutes cabinet confidences,” Ms. Freeland wrote in the Inquiry document.

“The department of finance doesn’t have very much respect for elected officials. This has been going on for two years now,” Mr. Ste-Marie told the House of Commons finance committee, where he serves as vice-chair.

“There is a lack of seriousness here, a lack of regard,“ he added. ”When you block parliamentarians from doing their jobs, I oppose that. The government is the taskmaster here and sets the schedule.”

Mr. Ste-Marie said that legislators had little information justifying the expense, describing it as “unacceptable.”

“There are two weeks left before the House rises,“ he said. ”Does the government seriously expect us to go through this mammoth bill and do our jobs properly? You don’t respect the work we are doing here. I hope the next Budget Implementation Act is done properly so we can actually do our jobs.”

Cabinet has not given an estimate of how many new rental apartments it expects to be built as a result of the GST holiday. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Sept. 14 the measure would see “millions of people, thousands of people, getting into new apartments.”

Housing Minister Sean Fraser testified at the House of Commons’ human resources committee on Sept. 27 that he had seen estimates “as high as 200,000 to 300,000 new homes for Canadians over the next 10 years.”

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) managers told the Senate National Finance Committee they had no data on the impact of the GST cut.

“I don’t have a specific figure,” chief CMHC economist Bob Dugan testified Sept. 26. “We haven’t had the opportunity to assess the potential impact. This is an environment that is really difficult right now.”