Freeland tables 'affordable housing and groceries' bill, Trudeau calls for all-party backing

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has tabled new legislation to implement the promised removal of GST from new rental developments, and to revamp Canada's competition laws, framing the bill as a package that will result in more affordable housing and groceries, eventually.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland has tabled new legislation to implement the promised removal of GST from new rental developments, and to revamp Canada's competition laws, framing the bill as a package that will result in more affordable housing and groceries, eventually.

Facing pressure in the polls and from within his own Liberal caucus, last week Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised this suite of measures in an effort to address Canadians' ongoing cost-of-living concerns.

Speaking from New York City as he wrapped up his UN trip, Trudeau called on the other parties—some of which are trying to advance similar legislative proposals of their own—to get behind the government's bill.

"I urge opposition leaders back home to help us get today's real solutions passed quickly. We're focused on making life more affordable for Canadians, and we'll be continuing this work in the days and weeks to come," Trudeau said. 

Bill C-56, which is being titled "The Affordable Housing and Groceries Act," is the first piece of government legislation to be introduced in the fall sitting.

"More competition will ease sticker shock at the grocery checkout line. Eliminating the GST will get more housing built faster so that more Canadians can have an affordable place to call home," Freeland said during an afternoon press conference alongside a handful of ministers, vowing the Liberals will have "more to say and to announce in the weeks to come."

Through the bill, the federal government is aiming to incentivize the construction of more apartment buildings, student housing, and senior living spaces by offering a 100 per cent rental rebate off of the GST paid on new purpose-built rental housing, up from the current 36 per cent and the existing GST rental rebate phase-out thresholds for new rental housing projects.