Finance Committee on April 22nd, 2021

[Ed Fast, Conservative, Abbotsford, BC]

That's very helpful—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

We're going to have to end it there, Ed. I'm really sorry about that.

Mr. Fraser, you have time for about two questions, and then we have to close.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

First, maybe let me add some clarity to this.

I just point out that CMHC, in the discussion that preceded my questions, it's not just their opinions they don't offer [Technical difficulty—Editor] but by law they don't offer advice on tax policy to the government.

I'll point out just for the record that the minister is absolutely clear that the government is not considering a home equity tax in any way, shape or form. Any suggestion to the contrary is entirely false.

I have a quick question for Mr. Céré.

Let's say the government had not introduced the emergency measures to support workers and businesses, such as CERB and CEWS. What would the impact on the economy have been?

[Pierre Céré]

The economy would have completely collapsed. A lot of people would have gone broke. A lot of people would not have been able to cover their basic necessities, paying their rent, mortgage and so on.

The help provided by the government was enormous. I did some quick math. Since September, the government has spent $200 billion on CEWS, CERB, the CRB and the EI measures. That is $200 billion in direct support that people received.

That money goes right back into the local economy. That $200 billion is a colossal amount of money. It's more than a decade's worth of EI payments delivered in a single year directly to Canadians. That speaks to the scale of the crisis we've just been through.

Without that help, a whole lot of bank and credit union managers would have been lamenting their customers' inability to make their mortgage payments. People would not have been able to afford groceries. The government provided direct assistance to people. The support was welcome. Off the top of my head, I think—

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

This will be your last question, Sean.

[Sean Fraser, Liberal, Central Nova, NS]

My friend and colleague Elizabeth May has been left out of this meeting. I would be happy to give her a question before we wrap up.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, Elizabeth, we need a fairly quick one.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

I'm so excited. I have a quick one for Dr. Kershaw.

I'm very interested in the tax announced in the budget, the non-resident, non-Canadian vacant house tax.

I would like your take on that.

[Dr. Paul Kershaw]

It's a valuable tool. It's one minor tool in the tool box. Will it be sufficient? No. Do we need to go considerably further to address some of the broader root causes? Absolutely yes.

[Elizabeth May, Green, Saanich—Gulf Islands, BC]

Perhaps I could squeeze in another quick one.

What do you think the effect of Airbnbs are on affordable housing?

[Dr. Paul Kershaw]

We absolutely need to regulate short-term rentals so that we keep our housing supply available for locals as opposed to visitors.

[The Chair, Liberal, Wayne Easter]

Okay, we're going to have to end it there, before somebody tries to sneak in another one.

In any event, I am really sorry to have to rush the end of this meeting, but we're already into another committee's time. I apologize to those who didn't get any questions. It was a very interesting discussion.

Witnesses, thank you to all of you. Your presentations, even if you didn't get a question, are on the record and will be considered in our study.

With that, thank you all very much.

The meeting is adjourned.