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I'd hope this would make an impact in their reelection chances, but I don't think they were doing great with the union crowd to begin with and the Conservatives won't be very good on these issues either.

I'd argue pineapple (especially grilled) is actually really good in a burrito, if not "authentic". The issue here is that it's on the burrito, and the burrito looks terrible to begin with.

If these "richies" were actually investing their money in making the country better, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

I'd be ok with it but we'd have to go all in.

Yeah, by definition they'll go along with it. Probably come up with some convoluted reasoning as to how it was the plan all along.

Right, but I guess my point is how would statscan know if a house has 1, 2, 3, or 4 units if they all share the same official address? Tax data? Driver's licence/service cards? And as for the census, how is it accurate if only one of the households in a multi unit house gets one?

Either way it's irrelevant to this discussion, because the article you linked didn't use statscan data:

Most data was curated from a select number of sources: Japan Statistical Yearbook, European Housing 2002, Australian Bureau of Statistics, Canadian Home Builders Association, Infometrics, US Census.

We have rent control in BC (I think, unless I misunderstand), but I'd be willing to ease the restrictions a bit in exchange for vacancy control. I've only been in my current place for 4 years, but if I had to move (renoviction or personal use) I'd be looking at almost a 150% increase for something comparable. I know I'm not alone in that. I could handle a 10% increase per year if it meant I had the flexibility to move if I needed an upgrade or my landlord was simply being an ass.

If I spent 100% of my paycheques for the next 2 months on things that are temporarily tax free, the amount of money I'd save would be… less than my rent increase for the next year.

Edit: I forgot I have to still pay rent for those 2 months, so more like 8 months increased rent, or factoring in all the essential bills more like 6. When all's said and done the realistic GST savings might allow me to buy a large pizza and a dip at the end of February.

I'd be curious to find out if these stats take into account the prevalence of secondary (or even tertiary) suites, especially the unofficial ones. Officially the place I live in is a single family home, originally designed for a family of 4. My family of 3 lives in about 700sqft and there's another family of 4 living in about 1000sqft upstairs. Do the stats count us as 1 household? I've never been sent a census form to fill out, I don't have a legally distinct address or seperate utilities. I know many people in similar living arrangements, how are we counted in the statistics?

This just reminded me I had an account from years ago. Deleted.

I don't see how this would make money laundering for organized crime any easier than it is today, the tax would just be shifted to the landlord side (likely at a higher rate since they're probably in a higher tax bracket) and off the tenant.

Right now the tenant earns money, pays income tax on that money, pays rent, and the landlord pays taxes on that money (if they're honest and report it all) but can claim their mortgage interest as a tax deduction.

I think the tenant should be able to claim some portion of their rent as a tax deduction. It would require an official record of rent paid, which would keep the landlord honest. I'd say the mortgage interest on a rental property probably shouldn't be tax deductible either, but even still this would have the biggest impact on those large private landlords that are often what you'd call slumlords.

Edit: I'm obviously not an expert on taxation or housing policy so if I'm wildly out of touch I'll accept that, I just think it's kind of bullshit that the government subsidizes the mortgages we pay for our landlords with the money we paid the government when we worked for it.

I think we need a rental tax credit. Whether it's partial or fully tax exempt, doesn't really matter. If every renter was reporting their rent payments on their taxes it would be impossible for landlords to dodge their own taxes, thereby shifting the tax burden where it belongs.