Sometimes, copying the smart kid’s homework isn’t a bad thing.

That’s the case when it comes to housing policy.

This fall, federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre rolled out an innovative new housing policy that will, if implemented, significantly lower the price of newly built homes.

Poilievre is promising to remove the federal sales tax on all new homes valued at under $1 million.

Canada’s premiers, including Ontario’s Doug Ford, should do the same.

“The number one cost for a home is government: government bureaucrats, government taxes, government gatekeepers,” Poilievre said at his October announcement.

Poilievre’s tax cut would reduce the cost of a new home by up to $50,000.

Canada has a housing shortage of up to 4.4 million homes, according to the Federal Housing Advocate. To fill that shortage, Canada needs more new builds. Lowering the cost of getting families into new builds is a great way to tackle Canada’s housing crisis.

If families can’t afford to get into newly built homes, they won’t get built. By promising to scrap the federal sales tax on all new builds under $1 million, Poilievre is offering a tangible way to lower prices without creating another new government program and hiring more bureaucrats.

Just take the sales tax off. It’s that simple.

Poilievre’s sales tax cut proposal “will unambiguously make new middle-class family housing more affordable and abundant,” said former Trudeau housing policy advisor Mike Moffatt.

Poilievre is also calling on premiers to follow his lead.

“I understand that all provinces are different,” said Poilievre in a letter to the premiers. “But if you match my announcement with a sales tax cut of your own on new homes, you will save your residents tens of thousands of dollars.”

In Ontario, if the Ford government implemented the same policy, that could lower the cost of newly built homes by up to $80,000. The move would have even more of an impact than a change at the federal level, because the provincial sales tax stands at eight per cent, rather than the federal five per cent.

A couple of years ago, the Ford government set an ambitious goal of boosting Ontario’s housing supply by 1.5 million by 2031.

But the government expects just 88,000 housing starts in 2024, which is well below the 150,000 needed for the Ford government to meet its target. And housing starts this year are down 44 per cent compared to 2023.

Ontario is lagging on its housing goals and bold action is needed. Poilievre is right when he says the biggest thing blocking new homes is government.

Regulation, red tape and high taxes stand in the way.

“The cost to build new homes is just too high,” said Dave Wilkes, President and CEO of the Building Industry and Land Development Association.

The province is blaming high interest rates. And that’s a factor. But it’s not the only problem.

Taxes are squarely within the government’s purview.

If the Ford government really wants to get serious about making life more affordable, building new homes, and meeting its ambitious housing goals, the government must act.

That means axing the sales tax on new homes and looking for ways to lower development fees and taxes to make it more affordable to build and buy homes in Ontario.

The Ford government’s key housing policy to this point has been promoting its Building Faster Fund, which gives municipalities more funding when more homes get built.

But it’s businesses, not governments, that build homes. 

Throwing more cash at municipal governments clearly isn’t working. It’s time to focus on policies that encourage builders to build and buyers to buy.

That means lowering prices, not rewarding municipal politicians with more provincial cash.

With Ford’s housing record lagging, it’s time for him to embrace a new approach, follow Poilievre’s lead and axe the sales tax on new homes under $1 million.