Canadian Bar Association Warns New Housing Bill Could Discourage Rental Construction

Published on January 5, 2024

The Canadian Bar Association is warning Ottawa that federal legislation to build more rental housing is worded in such a way that it could inadvertently discourage housing construction. “While the intention is to incentivize construction the arbitrariness of the proposed implementation could inadvertently discourage the supply of rental housing,” the Bar Association’s tax law section wrote to the Senate National Finance Committee, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. The group representing 37,000 lawyers said Bill C-56, An Act to amend the Excise Tax Act and the Competition Act, is an “all or nothing” act with terms that are poorly defined and could cause project delays. The bill grants a GST holiday on all new “purpose-built rental housing” constructed from Sept. 13, 2023, to Jan. 1, 2036, at a cost of $4.6 billion over five years according to the latest Fall Economic Statement....

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