Finance Committee on Oct. 20th, 2025

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Do you think the policy to double or triple immigration rates was the right one, as it pertains to housing prices?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

I'm here to talk about the first-time homebuyers' tax break on GST, so that's where I want to focus my remarks. That's why I'm before the committee.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

As minister of housing, you have no opinion on the matter of immigration rates as they pertain to housing prices.

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Exactly. I'm the Minister of Housing and Infrastructure, and I'm here to speak about the first-time homebuyers' tax break.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Okay.

What major city in Canada would you say has the worst housing affordability in Canada right now?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Our housing affordability markets in Vancouver and Toronto have both had the most challenges in recent years.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Vancouver was recently called the third-least affordable housing market in the world. As the former mayor of Vancouver, do you find it somewhat ironic that you were chosen to now lead this policy file on the national level?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

It's quite the opposite. I think that, having lived through many challenges getting affordable housing built—seeing prices escalate in my city, as mayor; seeing inactive governments, like the Harper government, which did not deliver on making housing more affordable; and, then, the change we've seen in recent years—

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Minister, was having housing increase while you were mayor the prerequisite to being appointed as housing minister? Do you think that's a positive experience?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

I think that understanding how housing works at the local level and the importance of strong partnerships with federal and provincial governments is critical to understanding how we make housing more affordable.

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

I remember the old adage that you learn more from your failures than your successes—although this might be taking it to another level. I mean, you oversaw the creation of the Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency, which was established to create more housing units, primarily. You also ran for mayor on the promise of ending homelessness in Vancouver. I want to give you credit, as you were the longest consecutive-serving mayor in Vancouver's history, but let's look at the record on that key promise. Between 2008 and 2018, housing prices soared, homelessness got even worse and, today, both issues are worse than ever before.

Why should Canadians trust you to tackle this issue today as Canada's housing minister?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

I appreciate the member citing some examples that did yield very good results. The Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency has built thousands and thousands of affordable units of housing in partnership with the federal government, and in recent years it has delivered significant affordability in Vancouver. We have seen challenges but also significant investments in affordable housing. That's what we need to see across the country for us, really, to turn the tide—

[Aaron Gunn, Conservative, North Island—Powell River, BC]

Minister, quickly, in my last bit of time here, you previously said that you did not believe housing prices needed to come down in Canada. Do you still hold that view?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

To be clear, we need to see average prices of housing for Canadians come down. We need to build a lot more non-market housing to bring down that average cost. That's the focus here: more supply that is affordable and targeted to the people who need it the most, like first-time homebuyers being able to access the $50,000 savings—

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you, Mr. Gunn.

That concludes this round of questioning. We'll now go to Mr. Turnbull from the Liberals for five minutes.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

Thanks, Chair.

Thanks, Minister, for being here.

I appreciated your opening remarks. I know we're here to talk about the GST rebate for first-time homebuyers, but I want to just.... We've heard from a few witnesses who encouraged us a number of times to think of the housing market as a system. You mentioned it being a system in your opening remarks, which was encouraging. It's also, as I understand it, a very segmented market: Depending on your income, you're in a different segment of that market.

What I want to do is ask you a question about the GST rebate, which is really just one of a whole number of measures that are geared toward helping first-time homebuyers get into the market. We did 30-year mortgages in the past and tax-free saving accounts, and we reduced the price of mortgage insurance by 25%. There's quite a long list. It's a stackable combination of factors.

Why is the GST rebate the newest step that's going to help, and how does it complement those previous efforts to help first-time homebuyers get into the market?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

The GST break for first-time homebuyers is very targeted at first-time homebuyers, giving them the opportunity for home ownership.

I've spoken about Build Canada Homes and the other very significant initiatives that we're rolling out to make housing more affordable. That's primarily for below-market rental housing, while this is an initiative for home ownership that gives first-time homebuyers an opportunity to save up to $50,000.

That's a big chunk, on up to a million-dollar home, that will make a difference for affordability of ownership on the market side, but we need a full array across the housing system, from homelessness to the housing market. We need to be very targeted and methodical, going through and ensuring that we are putting affordability measures in place across the continuum of housing for Canadians in different parts of the country with different incomes. We need to make sure that everybody has access to safe, secure housing.

Previous measures have been taken by the previous government. Some of them were on tax, as you mentioned, and some of them were on housing supply. We have the housing affordability fund, and we've seen investments in housing infrastructure that are very significant, as the member from Quebec mentioned. We need to see a comprehensive investment across housing infrastructure on the specific supply of affordable housing and also on the tax measures that make it more affordable.

[Ryan Turnbull, Liberal, Whitby, ON]

In short, we're using every lever at our disposal to try to address the affordability challenges. That's what I hear you saying.

I want to pivot to a similar but related question.

In my riding, I live in a suburb of Toronto, Whitby, which is just outside, on the east side. We're constructing a lot of housing, and some of it is sitting on the market. It's all in the range of under $1.5 million, so this GST rebate measure would actually apply to a lot of the units that are not turning over.

I understand that developers need that turnover in order to finance their next project. Do you see some urgency in getting this measure to royal assent? I think it may actually impact the specific problem in my riding, which is the lack of turnover of some of those units. Do you think it will address that challenge?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Yes, I think it will help. It's a targeted measure to get up to 47,000 homes a year into the hands of first-time homebuyers and save them money in the process.

We do have a glut of supply in Toronto and the GTA market, and in Vancouver as well. It would be good to see many of those homes sell to first-time homebuyers in the near term, and the sooner this bill can be moved to royal assent, the better. I would urge the committee to advance this ASAP so that we can offer both first-time homebuyers and the developers on the market side the opportunity to move that stock of housing that is not selling right now. It's on the market but it's not moving, and as the member stated, we need to see those sales so that more new homes can be built.

[The Chair, Liberal, Karina Gould]

Thank you, Minister, and thank you, Mr. Turnbull.

Mr. Garon, you have the floor for two and a half minutes.

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

Minister, my Liberal colleague asked you some very tough questions, so I'm going to give you a bit of breathing room and ask you some easier questions.

Last week, the Bloc Québécois set out the non-negotiable conditions for its support of the budget. Among other things, we're asking the government to renew funding for the rapid housing initiative, which, according to the agreement with the Government of Quebec, supports the construction of social housing in Quebec, and we're asking that this funding come in a single envelope with no conditions.

As minister, do you think that's a good proposal?

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Thank you for your question.

We certainly recognize that housing in Quebec involves a distinct context, including M-30, and we are committed to working respectfully within that framework. Where we're going to be working closely with the Quebec government and with all provincial and territorial governments is on Build Canada Homes. That is where we're seeing the most significant investment and partnerships with provinces and territories—

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

My question was specifically about the rapid housing initiative and that envelope.

Is it a good idea, yes or no? It's not a very complicated question.

[Gregor Robertson, Liberal, Vancouver Fraserview—South Burnaby, BC]

Is the member referring to the affordable housing fund or the housing accelerator fund?

[Jean-Denis Garon, Bloc, Mirabel, QC]

I'm talking about the rapid housing initiative, the only program that works for Quebec.