Mr. Speaker, just to be clear, this debate is about the housing supply act before the House, which is about $1.7 billion that would be distributed among the provinces and territories to boost housing supply.
We already have an uptake on this with the province of Ontario. It was announced a few months ago. Ontario, thanks to the federal support that is tied to the bill, would be rebating the full 13% of the harmonized sales tax, the HST, on new homes up to $1 million. Buyers of those new homes up to $1 million could save up to $130,000. When we combine that with the initiative around reducing development charges, which is 30% to 50% with municipalities in Ontario and is administered by the province of Ontario, it is an additional up to $70,000.
All this is in response to the crisis that Ontario, particularly the GTA, has had with the housing market. There is oversupply in the housing market and other challenges, such as uncertainty in the market, buyers not buying and builders not being able to move on projects. This is about getting the housing market going across the country, particularly in Ontario and B.C.
