Liberals take aim at Conservative housing policy, claiming 178 communities could lose $3B

The political wars over housing continue, with the Trudeau government claiming municipalities stand to lose billions in funding if the Conservatives gain power.

On Monday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre unveiled his latest housing promise if his party forms the next government, vowing to eliminate the GST on sales of new homes worth under $1 million.

But to pay for that tax break, Poilievre says he will scrap the Housing Accelerator Fund and the Housing Infrastructure Fund.

The office of Housing Minister Sean Fraser is warning of the impacts of such a change on 178 communities across the country. It notes the Accelerator Fund has already pumped $1.2 billion into municipalities and still has roughly $3 billion in committed funding that still has to go out the door to help build hundreds of thousands of homes.

The Liberals claim the Conservative plan to cut the funds has many mayors concerned.

“The mayor of Richmond Hill, the mayor of Kingston, Thunder Bay, St. John’s, Saskatoon, Surrey, Cambridge, Barrie, I could go on Mr. Speaker,” Liberal MP Adam Van Koeverden told the House of Commons Friday.

Canada’s largest cities have the biggest shares of the total cash from the Housing Accelerator Fund, with Toronto receiving $471 million, Calgary has a deal for $228 million, Ottawa will get $176 million, Edmonton at $175 million, Winnipeg at $122 million, Vancouver at $114 million, Surrey will receive $95 million, and Halifax is at $79 million.

Hundreds of millions more have been earmarked for suburban communities and smaller cities.

The Conservatives claim these funding programs have failed to address the housing crisis, and that their plan will be a major benefit for those buying new homes.

“On an $800,000 house this tax cut will save homebuyers $40,000, and $2,200 a year in mortgage payments,” says Conservative MP John Brassard. The party also estimates its plan will spur the creation of 30,000 new homes each year.

However, on Tuesday the Housing Minister argued multiple Conservative MPs have written to him supporting communities in their ridings applying for their share of the Accelerator Fund, and asking him to approve the cash.

Some housing experts have fallen somewhere in the middle of this debate, applauding the Conservative tax cut as a bold plan to help people get into homes but also calling for the Accelerator and Infrastructure funds to remain in place.

They believe the GST break should be in addition to these programs, not at their expense.

The following table is a breakdown of the funding deals with each community: