Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Minister. I'm pleased to have you at the committee.
I'm glad to be able to amend the bill to ensure that housing co-operatives are also captured by the GST rebate. I think that's an important improvement, and it's one I'm looking forward to making in legislation soon.
One of the other concerns that New Democrats have with respect to the GST rebate—we haven't been able to reach an agreement so far, but I'm hoping it may yet be within reach—is applying the GST rebate to non-profit housing projects that either began construction or began in some other significant way prior to September 14 this year. I don't have complete numbers and we'd be very happy to have complete numbers. Please send those along to the committee if you have them. I suspect that the government has them somewhere.
There are a number of non-profit housing projects that the federal government is funding through the national housing strategy that aren't proceeding because the increase in interest rates has meant that the original business case for the housing when it was approved for financing, grants or whatever the support from the government is.... Because of rising interest rates, the projects haven't been able to proceed. For those projects, applying the same GST rebate can be the difference between moving ahead or not.
I'm wondering if you have those numbers and if you'd be able to provide them to the committee, either here today or promptly after this meeting.
Are you concerned about projects that the federal government has approved funding for that aren't proceeding because we're in difficult times and interest rates have been going up? What do you say to non-profits that are waiting to hear if the GST exemption is going to apply to them, so they can move forward with the projects they thought they had a financial basis to proceed with until the ground shifted?