The headlines made the federal Liberals look aggressive, and even a bit patriotic, in their apparent determination to combat offshore speculation in Canadian housing.
But the government’s legislative moves were as vacuous as Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland’s trendy-sounding rhetoric this week, when she said the inability of young Canadians to afford a home today is an “intergenerational injustice.” That’s before she reverted to industry platitudes about building more supply.
When it comes to the other side of the housing equation, reducing demand, there are so many holes in Liberal plans, especially the two-year ban on foreign buyers (an idea blatantly stolen from the Conservatives) that skeptics have astutely suggested the bill is actually being designed to signal how to stick-handle around it.
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