With a goal to address the issues Canada faces with regard to a rapidly changing and increasing trade and economic uncertainty, Budget 2025 was intended to focus on things the federal government can control.

Budget 2025: Canada Strong was to be “our plan to transform our economy from one that is reliant on a single trade partner, to one that is stronger, more self-sufficient and more resilient to global shocks. Our plan builds on Canada’s strengths – world-class industries, skilled and talented workers, diverse trade partnerships, and a strong domestic market where Canadians can be our own best customers. We are creating an economy by Canadians, for Canadians.”

Generational investments

Budget 2025 delivers on the government’s Comprehensive Expenditure Review to modernize government, improve efficiencies and deliver better results and services for Canadians. It includes a total of $60 billion in savings and revenues over five years, and makes generational investments in housing, infrastructure, defence, productivity and competitiveness. These are the smart, strategic investments that will enable $1 trillion in total investments over the next five years through smarter public spending and stronger capital investment.

Despites such promise, housing industry sources say Budget 2025 comes up short in addressing the issues facing the homebuilding industry in Canada.

Nationally, Canadian Homes Builders’ Association (CHBA) is raising concerns regarding the excessive expectation being placed on initiatives for government-supported housing through Build Canada Homes – an initiative that will help homelessness and low-income households needing support, but not address homeownership for the middle class of the next generation.

No new measures

Despite urgent calls for action, the budget presented no new measures to address housing affordability for the average Canadian who still wants to become a homeowner, CHBA says. It emphasized the promise of a GST exemption for first-time buyers – a measure announced earlier and still not legislated, which has left buyers on the sidelines and stalled new construction.

CHBA also the budget missed an opportunity to expand the GST relief to all buyers of new homes, and to renovations that create added housing units, such as additional dwelling units (ADUs) or secondary suites.

At the provincial level, The Ontario Home Builders Association (OHBA) says it is deeply disappointed with the lack of support for Ontario’s homebuilders and buyers. The budget presented no new measures to unlock supply and restore affordability, as Housing Minister Gregor Robertson previously indicated, and the federal approach remains focused on incremental change rather than transformative action. OHBA says there is no new measures to support the construction of market housing – the segment where most Ontarians seek to buy or rent homes.

And more locally, the Large Urban Centre Alliance, co-facilitated by the Building Industry and Land Development Association (BILD), says it is concerned with the budget’s response to the serious issues impacting the housing sector in Canada’s largest municipalities.

Budget 2025 acknowledges the affordability challenges in new home construction by confirming an increase to the GST/HST rebate thresholds to the first $1 million, with a declining rebate to $1.5 million, but only for first-time buyers – a very small fraction of the market, BILD says.

No sense of urgency

While there is an allocation of $12 billion over 10 years to housing enabling infrastructure, Budget 2025’s treatment of development charges (DCs) is particularly troubling. Not only has the federal government’s language changed markedly, backing away from the commitment to reduce DCs by 50 per cent, but the commitment is now only a framework for federal, territorial and provincial agreements, not an actionable plan to reduce municipal housing fees with any sense of urgency.

Says David Wilkes, president and CEO of BILD and co-facilitator of the Large Urban Centre Alliance: “Not only is the budget based on old data, but its commitments are centred on a reduced Build Canada Homes and vague language on a diluted framework to eventually reduce DCs following successful negotiations with provinces and ultimately municipalities – and the industry is left wondering: How long will that take?”

The Alliance continues to call on the federal government to recognize the magnitude of the crisis and reiterates the need to:

• Treat all Canadians fairly and extend the GST/HST exemption for all new-home buyers
• Keep the election promise to reduce municipal DCs by 50 per cent
• Honour its commitment to bring forward a Multi-Unit Residential Building tax incentive program