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?