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With the 2019 Federal Election approaching, the promises are flying fast and furious. Here is a look at some of the planks we think are going to be most important for our users, here in Saskatchewan, with an emphasis on issues related to housing, mortgages, and property ownership. As Saskatoon has a large proportion of student renters, we also included issues related to student housing, primarily around student finances, and public transportation.

So to summarize, the promises we’ve gathered below are those we feel are important for Saskatchewan landlords and tenants and related to:

1. 1. Mortgages;
   2. Housing construction, improvement, and retrofits;
   3. Income and taxes;
   4. Student financial issues; and
   5. Public transit

It’s still early and we’ll do our best to add proposals and platforms that fit in the above categories as they come in. We’re not advocating for one party or the other here, you can make up your own mind, the intent is just to lay out what is out there in a simple list.

 Liberal Party

• Prioritize social infrastructure spending for affordable housing and seniors facilities
• Eliminate all GST on new capital investments in affordable rental housing
• Introduce a 1% annual tax on foreign-owned residential properties owned
• Free energy audit to help homeowners and landlords determine ways to make more homes more efficient
• Interest-free loan of up to $40,000 to help finance energy efficient renovations
• Net Zero Homes Grant of up to $5000 for homes that are certified zero-emissions
• Institute a $15/hr federal minimum wage
• Additional $3B/year in transit funding for cities

  Conservative Party

• End stress tests on switching a mortgage to a different lender (i.e. rate shopping)
• Institute a 2-year tax credit for energy-saving renovations
• No more GST or carbon tax on home heating and energy bills
• Lower the income tax on income under $47,630 from 15% to 13.75%
• Restore the public transit tax credit of up to 15% on weekly/monthly transit passes

  NDP

• Re-introduce 30-year CMHC-insured mortgages for first time home buyers
• Double the Home Buyer’s Tax Credit (to $1500)
• Create a 15% foreign buyers tax on purchases of residential property
• Remove GST on the construction of new rental units
• Target the green retrofit of all housing in Canada by 2050 using low-interest loans to incentivize upgraded better insulation, windows, heat pumps, etc.
• Create 500,000 units of affordable housing in the next 10 years
• Add $5 billion to spending on affordable housing in first 18 months in office
• Invest $40 million over four years in the Shelter Enhancement Program
• Institute a $15/hr federal minimum wage
• Eliminate unpaid internships (except as part of an educational program)
• Force equal compensation for part-time and contract workers to full-time workers
• Eliminate interest on federal portion of student loans
• Move away from loans by increasing access to Canada Student Grants
• Modernize and expand public transit with an emphasis on electrification and funding

  Green Party

• Mortgage, construction/retrofits, taxes, students, public transit
• Get rid of the first-time home buyer grant
• Improve Indigenous organization access to financing through CMHC
• Restore tax incentives for building purpose-built rental housing
• Change the national building code to require new construction to meet net-zero emission standards by 2030
• Remove “deemed” GST when a developer with empty condo units puts them on the rental market
• Institute a $15/hr federal minimum wage
• Establish a Guaranteed Liveable Income program to replace various income support programs
• Allocate one per cent of GST to housing and other municipal infrastructure
• Appoint a Minister of Housing
• Legislate that housing is a legally protected fundamental human right for all Canadians and permanent residents
• Increase the National Housing Co-investment Fund by $750 million for new builds, and the Canada Housing Benefit by $750 million for rent assistance for 125,000 households
• Eliminate post-secondary education tuition
• Forgive existing student debt held by federal government
• Fund the re-routing of tracks for freight and rail yards away from populated areas