My name is Laurie Wright, and my husband Doug and I are American homeowners here in Canada. We own a single-family property along the southern shore of Ontario in Point Abino. Our home is just one of two other family properties that date back to when my family purchased here in 1905. The original farmhouse still stands on the lakefront, along with a barn and an old ice house.
I grew up spending every summer here in Canada. As a child, I didn't even realize that Canada was a different country. That's how close our border is to my hometown of Buffalo, New York.
We have three children, and my family also spends every summer here and considers our Canadian cottage our home. We support local businesses and tradesmen who work on our homes, and we eat in the local restaurants and support the local markets and farmers. I strongly believe in supporting these local businesses.
We spend almost 160 days here, from mid-May to mid-October, and now we winter in Florida. My husband and I planned our retirement to be both in Florida and here in Canada. This is why it's so upsetting that this 1% underused housing tax has been imposed on Americans in this border town. It is affecting many of my friends and family along the shoreline, and last summer we read that there was this huge housing shortage all over Canada. We understand what a large problem that is to solve.
When we were learning more and more about this new tax on foreign homeowners, we really didn't think that the intention was to tax American cottage owners along this region. It seems that there are many foreign investors who come in and buy a property that they just use to invest money here in Canada, and mostly that's in larger cities like Toronto and Vancouver. We're not those people. We consider it a privilege to spend our summers here.
As last summer went on, we learned that the law had been passed, but the details had not yet been figured out. As we learned more about this legislation, it was really kind of confusing. We had so many questions, like: How do we know if we even qualify for this? Will they send us a tax bill? There were so many vague directions and no clear answers. It was unclear how many of us summer residents this tax would affect.
As the year rolled out, we knew that we had to do something quickly to get our tax ID numbers, as rumour had it that it would be weeks before we would even receive a tax ID number.
To add to our confusion, we found out that our neighbours just across the street from us do not have to pay the 1% UHT, as they are considered rural. They live about 450 metres from my driveway, and if I understand it correctly, the qualifications are being based on the CMA census tract of St. Catharines. The homes across the street are considered rural, but my side of the street is not rural. The boundaries just didn't make any sense. I've attached a map that I think the clerk gave to the committee for reference.
I'd like to go back to our history, though, here along this shoreline, and my friendships with many Canadians that have been fostered for many years. Being from a border town like Buffalo, New York, we have Canadians who travel to our region in Ellicotville to ski and then go down to Florida in the winter as snowbirds, like my husband and me.
We see many Ontario plates all over the United States, and we see many of our Canadian friends in Florida over the winter, when they are residing in their winter residences. It's nice to have dinner with them or play a game of golf while they are in Florida, and I think our friendships really go beyond our borders.
We love our Canadian home. We consider it just that, our home, not our financial investment. We want to continue our plan of being retired here, supporting the local community and watching our children and grandchildren carry on that tradition of spending summers along the shores of Lake Erie.
The 1% UHT is not friendly to the Americans who live along this region. It's an ugly can of worms that is just not friendly at all. We hope that you understand how negatively this affects us.
Thank you to the members of Parliament, especially Tony Baldinelli, and the House of Commons for taking the time this afternoon to hear our frustrations with this tax and your consideration to fix it.
Thank you.