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International Trade committee Absolutely, and there were literally hundreds of organizations like ours that were signatories to documents to the effect that we really need to do everything we can to keep our trade routes open, secure and safe at all times. I think the pandemic brought some very bizarre situat
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee There's certainly no question, with all of the challenges we've been facing through the pandemic with the supply chain, that blockades of international borders were a challenge that no industry needed to compound everything else that was going on. It was certainly important that
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee I'm sorry; the question that came through the interpretation was, “What are the costs that are affecting young people attempting to buy their first home?”
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee Thank you very much. I have dropped the interpretation, so I understand your question better, but I'll answer it in English. In terms of first-time homebuyers, obviously the increase in house prices all across the country has been quite dramatic. We are facing a real supply and
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee I think there are a few things that get impacted there. First, we know that when prices go up, they go up fast, and that gets passed on to the user very quickly. We also know that as prices come down, that price stays higher for both builders and consumers, so it's a much slower
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee Yes, they absolutely are, when they can. Sometimes it's so volatile that you couldn't have foreseen it, which was definitely part of the issue early on in the pandemic.
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee Yes, it definitely is. You're always trying to do your best job to estimate the price of all input costs—labour, materials, etc.—so, yes, if you see escalating lumber prices, then you have to price your products accordingly.
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
International Trade committee Thank you, Madam Chair. The Canadian Home Builders' Association is the voice of Canada's residential construction industry. We represent some 9,000 member firms from coast to coast, including home builders, renovators, trade contractors, product and material manufacturers and bu
March 28th, 2022Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee Making sure that we know what the communities of Canada should look like in the future is a really important role of the federal government. It addresses Nimbyism. It addresses density. There have been a few questions about the rapid housing initiative. Our modular construction
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee Exactly. There is a huge opportunity. The federal government makes big, important commitments to infrastructure. There is no reason these can't and shouldn't be tied to the housing Canadians need.
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee I think there has only been a little bit of movement, from my knowledge at least, on that front, but we can look into it more. It is an obvious and big opportunity. The federal government does own lands in many very opportune places that would be great for providing all forms of
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee Thanks for the questions. Obviously what COVID has done is given a different look to many commercial spaces that we expect will be permanent and long-lasting. The ability to bring more residents into different areas—a lot of the time these will be in more urban cores—is a great
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee Yes, we deal with lumber every day. It's a huge challenge right now. It is another situation of supply and demand. We've seen a huge increase in demand for housing of all forms across North America and the lumber industry has had a very hard time catching up with the slowdowns ea
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee Yes. There are certainly lots of opportunities to streamline things, and we do think there is a federal role. Obviously, most of that occurs at the local level and somewhat at the provincial level, but there is a leadership role and an analysis role that the federal government ca
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee
Finance committee I think there are probably two different areas. One, which I spoke to, was the ability to provide more objective information through CMHC on zoning issues and on some of the better practices that can be used to help accelerate getting more market-rate supply into the market at t
May 20th, 2021Committee meeting
Kevin Lee