麻豆影视

Skip to main content

Canadian government 'actively examining' options to crack down on short-term rentals: Freeland

Share

Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says the federal government is 鈥渁ctively鈥 exploring options to help provinces return short-term rentals to the long-term rental market and increase housing stock across the county.

Freeland made the comment Tuesday at a joint press conference with Industry Minister Fran莽ois-Philippe Champagne and Treasury Board President Anita Anand, after the B.C. government announced its own legislation to make changes to the short-term rental market earlier this week.

鈥淚 also want to quickly address the B.C. government's new legislation to regulate the short-term rental market,鈥 Freeland said. 鈥淭his is a positive and important step in the right direction, in an area of provincial jurisdiction.鈥

鈥淲e know that short-term rentals through sites like Airbnb and Vrbo mean fewer homes for Canadians to rent and live in full time, especially in urban and populated areas of our country,鈥 she added. 鈥淭hat is why our government is actively examining what options and tools exist at the federal level, to ensure more short-term rentals are made available as long term-rentals, as permanent homes, for Canadians to live in.鈥

B.C. Premier David Eby announced the Short-Term Accommodations Act with the province鈥檚 Housing Minister Ravi Kahlon on Monday. The act will triple the fines for hosts who break the rules, and implement other new requirements for operators, in an attempt to return existing short-term rentals to the long-term market.

According to the B.C. government, there are currently about 28,000 short-term rentals across the province, a significant percentage of which are run by for-profit operators as opposed to residents renting out their own homes or vacation properties.

Across the country, Freeland said, it is estimated that returning short-term rentals to the long-term market in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver alone could free up about 30,000 units.

She said that while housing largely falls within provincial jurisdiction, the housing shortage issue is 鈥渟o important鈥 that the federal government is examining any possible 鈥渢ools鈥 within its jurisdiction 鈥渢hat would make a difference in this space.鈥

She listed the federal government鈥檚 recently announced plans to waive the GST on purpose-built rental housing as a measure being taken to increase the number of homes available to rent or buy.

鈥淏ut even if people started building the day after the (prime minister) announced it in London, Ontario, it takes a while for those new apartments to be built,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o we are looking around and are saying, 鈥榃hat can we do right away that makes more homes available for Canadians?鈥 And the short-term rental is one of those spaces.鈥

Freeland said there will be further details on the federal government鈥檚 plans in the coming weeks.

With files from 麻豆影视 Vancouver鈥檚 Lisa Steacy

IN DEPTH

Opinion

opinion

opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike

When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.

Unusual flippered feet are making their way into the Saint Lawrence River this weekend. Led by underwater explorer and filmmaker Nathalie Lasselin, volunteer divers are combing the riverbed near Beauharnois in Mont茅r茅gie to remove hundreds of tires that have been polluting the aquatic environment for decades.

Local Spotlight

Cole Haas is more than just an avid fan of the F.W. Johnson Wildcats football team. He's a fixture on the sidelines, a source of encouragement, and a beloved member of the team.

Getting a photograph of a rainbow? Common. Getting a photo of a lightning strike? Rare. Getting a photo of both at the same time? Extremely rare, but it happened to a Manitoba photographer this week.

An anonymous business owner paid off the mortgage for a New Brunswick not-for-profit.

They say a dog is a man鈥檚 best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.

A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.

Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.

The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.

It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.

Stay Connected