Jagmeet Singh shows he’s tougher than Justin Trudeau on foreign homebuyers with NDP's 20 percent purchase tax

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      Then the newly minted leader of the NDP, Jagmeet Singh said in 2017 that his mane is superior to that of the other guy famous for his locks.

      “I have more hair, and it’s longer, and it’s nicer,” Singh said in comparison to Liberal Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

      The message was clear.

      Anything Trudeau does, Singh can do better.

      With regard to foreign buyers of Canadian homes, Singh is showing that he’s tougher than Trudeau.

      In the 2021 federal budget, the Trudeau government introduced a one percent tax on homes owned by foreigners starting on January 1, 2022.

      This even as economists indicated before and after the budget rollout that such measure neither makes homes anymore affordable nor solve the main issue, which is the lack of supply.

      But it’s always easier for politicians to blame foreigners, given some of the prevailing attitudes in Canada.

      And so that’s the case in the ongoing campaign for the September 20, 2021 federal election.

      Erin O'Toole of the Conservative Party of the Canada is an example. 

      O'Toole has said that a Conservative government will ban foreigners not living in or moving to Canada from buying homes for a two-year period.

      The NDP’s Singh is no exception either, and he too has a plan for foreigners.

      Singh has announced that an NDP government will slap a 20 percent tax on homes bought by people who are neither Canadians nor permanent residents.

      “Justin Trudeau will keep protecting the interests of the ultra-rich, but I’m ready to make the dream of owning a home a reality for Canadian families,” Singh said in a media release Wednesday (August 18).

      The release stated that Singh and the NDP would “go after big money investors” in Canadian housing.

      “We need to kick out big money investors to make room for working families and young people,” Singh said.

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