Thursday March 20, 2025 | EDMONTON, AB [Reporting from VICTORIA, BC]
by Mary P Brooke | Island Social Trends
Today in Edmonton, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced that the federal government will eliminate the GST (5% Goods and Services Tax) for first-time homebuyers on homes at or under $1 million.
He acknowledged that Canada is in a housing crisis. Demand has gone up, supply has not kept pace, and prices are too high for people to afford.
The elimination of GST would apply to the purchase of new and substantially renovated homes, said Carney.
He was accompanied at a construction site by Edmonton Mayor Amarjeet Sohi, to make the GST announcement.
Lowers up-front housing costs:
The tax cut would save Canadians up to $50,000. This will allow more young people and families to enter the housing market and realize their dream of home ownership, said Carney in a news release today.
Eliminating the GST lowers up front housing acquisition costs.
“We need to double housing supply on an annual basis,” said Carney in his remarks in Edmonton today.
Carney feels that dropping the GST will also have a “dynamic effect” on increasing housing supply including that it would spur the construction of new homes.
New on the job:
Having become Canada’s 24th Premier just last week — and without an elected seat — Carney is also expected to announce his candidacy in Edmonton for the upcoming federal election.
He is expected to call the election on Sunday, with Canadians finding themselves in an election on Monday March 24.
The election can be 35 to 51 days long. That would set the General Election Day as April 28 or May 5.
Edmonton today:
“I’m back in Edmonton. I owe everything to this city. It’s where he grew up and his value were forged,” said Carney.
He made his leadership bid announcement in Edmonton in January.
Meeting with premiers tomorrow:
Carney will meet with Canada’s premiers on Friday March 21. The meeting will be “about getting things done” including trade corridors.
The commitment is to deliver projects that are national priorities including through federal legislation.
He will outline “additional levers” to the premiers tomorrow, said Carney.
The country will need to be “as competitive as possible” including in energy, manufacturing and AI –working with industry and provinces.
Trade routes to export critical minerals are one of many considerations.
Deliver faster:
The commitment is to deliver faster and on a different scale.
“We need to do things that have not been imagined or have not been thought possible at a speed we haven’t seen before. That’s the nature of the time, and in order to do that, we’re going to need to use at the federal level not just a commitment for cooperation which we have under my government but also additional levers (being outlined to the provincial and territorial premiers tomorrow),” said Carney today.
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