We can't really impose the differential rules on foreign-based e-commerce that we enforce on Canada, but we need to have the same rules.
If an Airbnb operation is below the threshold for having to collect and remit GST/HST, then fine, they don't have to. However, more and more Airbnb operations are now businesses, and they're making more than $30,000 a year. I can't remember exactly what the latest GST threshold is, but if that's the case, then they should collect and remit GST.
In the case of Airbnb and Uber, some of these global companies have been quite willing to accommodate, and they've accommodated in other countries. Even in Canada, Airbnb has agreed to pay some of the municipal hotel taxes and so on, in Montreal, and that's being considered in Toronto now and elsewhere.
The government needs to say, “Hey, guys, you have to play by the same rules that Canadian companies play by”, and I'm sure they will do so.
There is an issue, though, with Airbnb. In some big cities, such as Toronto and Vancouver, it is squeezing out some of the rental housing and low-income housing, so it is having some adverse effects for Canadians in that way.