They say the problem is that not enough homes are being built and corporations are buying some of the ones that are.
“That’s why we are fighting to address the issues that we’re seeing around the financialization of housing, to see a national acquisition fund and to see a moratorium on large corporations swooping in and buying those affordable homes,” said Lisa Marie Barron, MP for Nanaimo-Ladysmith.
“The largest real estate investment trusts over the last number of years benefitted $1.7 billion that they did not pay,” said Jenny Kwan, the NDP’s Housing Critic as she criticized how corporate taxes are set up.
Toronto Star NEWS: Canada launches ad campaign warning newcomers claiming asylum is ‘not easy’
When reached for comment, NDP immigration critic Jenny Kwan said the new measures are an abrupt shift from past policy.
“This about face from Prime Minister Trudeau is a shameless and insidious attempt to use newcomers such as migrants, international students, and asylum seekers as political cover,” Kwan said in a statement emailed to the Star.
It’s a dangerous game on Trudeau’s part, said Kwan, in trying to “shift the blame for his failures” to asylum seekers — one she called “a recipe to further hype-up hate, resentment and discrimination toward racialized people.
“Instead of wasting $250,000 on advertising, they should be investing those resources in processing applications,” said Kwan.