It won't actually hurt new construction as much as it will hurt existing owners.
As I explained, small rental buildings of two, three, four or five units are very common in Quebec. Many years ago, a lot of middle-class people bought these buildings. It was a way for them to be able to buy in centrally located areas, in urban centres, because they could earn additional income from the building.
The people who bought 10, 20 or 25 years ago will easily earn capital gains of more than $250,000 and will be taxed more. Many of them were relying on that asset to fund a good part of their retirement.
Now they are faced with varying tax amounts. We've run a variety of scenarios. As I said, the amount can vary a lot, but in a number of cases, people will have to pay $50,000 or $60,000 more. That will somewhat undermine the retirement plans of someone who has an asset that they can't break up to sell, as they could with shares. In our opinion, it isn't a passive investment either, because that person still invested the time and money to maintain the building. They end up penalized.