Poilievre Vows to Remove GST From Purchase of New Homes Under $1 Million

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on Oct. 8, 2024. The Canadian Press/Spencer Colby

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has pledged to remove the federal sales tax (GST) on new homes under $1 million if his party forms government.

Poilievre made the announcement at a press conference in Ottawa on Oct. 28, saying that cutting the GST on the purchase of an $800,000 home would save more than $40,000, or $2,200 per year, in mortgage payments. He said provincial governments would also be encouraged to remove the sales tax from new home sales.

Poilievre estimated the measure would spur construction of another 30,000 homes per year.

Housing and rental costs have shot up in recent years, impacted by several factors including spiking inflation and higher interest rates, as well as increased demand from record immigration levels.

The federal government has made housing affordability a “core priority” in recent years and implemented several policies to encourage home building, including a Housing Accelerator Fund, National Housing Strategy, and Apartment Construction Loan Program.

In September, the federal government announced mortgage reforms that included raising the $1 million price cap on insured mortgages to $1.5 million. First-time homebuyers and buyers of new builds will also be eligible to take on 30-year mortgages, while the previous maximum amortization period was 25 years.

Poilievre said in order to pay for his promised tax cut, a Tory government would cut $8 billion from the Liberals’ housing programs, which he criticized as being ineffective.

The Tory leader told reporters his government would cut the Liberal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund—which allocates $4 billion until 2027 to encourage home building in cities. Poilievre also said he would get rid of the $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund created in 2024 to reduce the infrastructure costs of new homes.

As part of his plan to “fix the budget,” Poilievre has proposed that each new dollar in government spending must be accompanied by a dollar in savings.

When announcing the Housing Infrastructure Fund in early 2024, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the new program would help “address the shortage of housing options for Canadians,” and make it “fairer for younger generations who feel like they’re falling behind because housing costs are too high.”