Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to thank our officials for being with us today.
Thank you for your time.
As you probably are aware, this underutilized housing tax or underused housing tax is a huge issue in my community of Fort Erie. We have about 900 American residents, according to the mayor. U.S. Congressman Brian Higgins has indicated that he did a survey. He has been contacted by about 400 individuals. In a survey of about 162 residents, 50% of them or more have owned residences in that community for 50 years or more.
On the implementation of this tax, for example, Mr. Khan, as you mentioned, Finance developed it. They undertook their consultations during the election period of 2021. I asked the question: How many residents in Niagara have you heard from? The response was “zero”. Well, just because of these hearings, we have 150 submissions right now with regard to the tax.
The U.S. trade representative met with the international trade minister in May and specifically referenced the underused housing tax and the concerns of the American government. Mr. Higgins has said that he wants to avoid a situation, a race to the bottom, but he's prepared to introduce legislation in the United States, and the impact that could have on Canadian snowbirds.... I don't want to get to that situation. I want to get to a resolution. There's a solution to be found to the concerns that are being brought forward.
I was wondering, based on the consultations and on the U.S. trade representative's bringing forward the concerns, has the minister directed you to look into the fact of additional changes that could be made or put forward to address some of the concerns, primarily in the rural communities such as Fort Erie?