Alberta Seniors, Community, and Social Services Minister Jason Nixon said while he does not know all of the details of Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre’s plan to axe the GST on new homes, the government appreciates any measure to reduce housing costs. If Poilievre’s idea leads to more new home builds, Nixon said the Alberta government will be supportive. “We are supportive of anything that will help us build more units and lower the cost of living inside our province,” said Nixon at a Tuesday press scrum. “We would have already done something similar if we had a PST, but Alberta does not have a provincial sales tax.” In response, he said Alberta “can’t follow suit because we’ve already done that across our economy and not just housing.” Poilievre said on Monday his government would cancel the GST on new homes under $1 million if elected. .UPDATED: Poilievre promises to axe GST on new homes under $1M and reverse ‘Trudeau’s housing hell’.Without the GST, the Conservatives projected an extra 30,000 homes would be built each year, generating more jobs in the construction sector.The Conservatives said this plan would build more homes for Canadians and make life more affordable for them after nine years of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s housing failures. Nixon followed up by saying he has instructed Alberta Seniors, Community, and Social Services and Treasury Board and Finance to have a look at Poilievre’s plan to see if their numbers matched up at 30,000 homes. “I don’t have anything back on it,” he said. “But again, we support anything that will lower the cost of housing in our province and continue to allow more people to go into the housing market.” Nixon said in May the Canadian government’s target for housing starts is ambitious — so much so it might be impossible. .Nixon says he will work with feds on building more homes .While he knows Alberta’s numbers better, he said Housing Minister Sean Fraser would be better able to speak about housing starts in Canada. “What I will say though is Minister Fraser and I are completely aligned on the only way to solve the affordable housing crisis is to build more homes,” he said.
