Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre says his government would eliminate the federal sales tax on new homes up to $1.3 million, building on a promise he first made back in October 2024.
“Under my plan, it will be easier for a young couple in Surrey, a single mom in Oshawa, and a tradesman in Regina to get on the housing ladder, just like their parents did,” Poilievre said in Vaughan, Ont., on March 25.
The Conservatives say getting rid of the GST on new homes would save homebuyers up to $65,000 on the purchase of an average home in Canada’s major cities, in addition to saving roughly $3,000 every year in mortgage payments.
In order to pay for the tax cut, Poilievre said he would eliminate Liberal housing policies such as the $6 billion Canada Housing Infrastructure Fund and $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund, which the Tories have argued have not resulted in more homes being built.
In October 2024, Poilievre had initially pledged to drop the GST on new homes under $1 million, which he said would save Canadians $40,000 in mortgage payments on a $800,000 home.
Conservatives estimated the measure would cost between $4 billion and $5 billion and said it would be offset by revenue from the GST cut stimulating the construction of 36,000 extra homes.
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The Conservatives have also proposed other measures to address Canada’s housing crisis, such as by removing “gatekeepers” and red tape slowing new housing supply, rewarding cities that meet homebuilding targets, withholding transit and infrastructure funding from cities that do not build sufficient high-density housing around transit, and listing 15 percent of the federal government’s 37,000 buildings and appropriating federal land to be turned into housing.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Mark Carney last week announced a policy similar to Poilievre’s initial housing proposal, saying on March 20 that his government would get rid of the GST for first-time homebuyers on all new and “substantially renovated” homes under $1 million, saying it would provide $50,000 in savings for Canadians entering the housing market.
Carney’s Liberals have also vowed to “supercharge” Canada’s housing plan by allocating funding to modular and pre-fabricated housing to speed up construction times, eliminate barriers to housing by reducing paperwork, taxes, and development fees, and facilitating training for more construction workers.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced on March 24 his government would set aside 100 percent of suitable federal Crown land to build more than 100,000 rent-controlled homes by 2035, while also redesigning and doubling the Public Land Acquisition Fund to acquire more public land to build affordable housing.
