Liberals shelve Conservatives' request for probe of plan to buy vacant B.C. condos

A parliamentary moral philosophy citizens committee get together on tues left wing Conservative MPs frustrated when Liberal members voted to shelve their demand for a probe into the plan to buy unsold, vacant condos in British Columbia and turn them into affordable housing.

"We're definitely not going to give up, I can tell you that. We are going to keep fighting for answers on behalf of Canadians, we're going to continue to demand accountability."

Chair John Brassard convened the meeting after Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre wrote to the committee asking for a probe of what he said amounts to a "condo bailout" for developers, bankers and investors.

Poilievre asks Parliament to probe B.C. 'condo bailout,' says it's blocking 'a price correction'

Carney defends $1.45B plan to convert unbought B.C. Condos to affordable rent-to-own

Last month Prime Minister Mark Carney and B.C. Premier David Eby announced the Canada-British Columbia Partnership on Condo Conversion.

"Together, through Build Canada Homes and B.C. Housing, we will leverage innovative financing tools to convert more than 2,200 vacant condo units in priority growth areas into affordable homes," they said in a statement issued by the Prime Minister's Office. 

"This is one of the fastest and most efficient ways to increase housing supply — welcoming British Columbians to new, affordable homes as quickly as possible."

The total potential spend for the project would be about $1.45 billion, with about $150 million each coming from the federal and B.C. Governments. 

Eby said the condos would be purchased at "below construction cost."

Unsold B.C. Condo purchasing plan not a 'bailout': David Eby

The rest of the money would come from the financing tools mentioned in the release which are still being finalized.

The move has been criticized by some housing experts and provincial parties, who, like Poilievre, say it amounts to a significant bailout for developers who refuse to lower prices to reflect a sluggish real estate market.

"How much of this is really a way of helping out the industry versus, I think, a bailout in terms of bad business decisions by some of these developers?" Andy Yan, an urban planner and director of Simon Fraser University's City Program, said earlier this week.

"We need some transparency in this condo bailout, we need answers to some basic questions and at the top of that list is: who benefits?" Conservative MP Jacob Mantle told the ethics committee. 

Mantle said the government should let the price of those units drop until they meet what people can afford — and that developers should take the financial hit of the risks they took in the lucrative Vancouver real estate market. 

"The plan that we have been presented with is to use taxpayer dollars to socialize those losses while developers avoid the full consequences of their actions," he said.

Housing Minister Gregor Robertson wrote to the committee to challenge the bailout accusation.

"The whole intent of this program is to bulk purchase unsold vacant units at below market rates," Robertson said. 

"This will allow access to move-in-ready units that can be turned into affordable housing cheaper and faster than it would be possible to build."

Robertson echoed remarks made by Carney last month, saying both himself and the prime minister received no "direct lobbying from developers in support of this program."

"Our focus is on Canadians and ensuring they have access to homes they can afford, not the interests of developers," he said. 

Liberal MP Linda Lapointe told the committee that the Conservatives were engaged in a "fishing expedition seeking to share disinformation."

"The B.C. Government was clear," she said. "These are not Vancouver condos, they are in B.C. Throughout the province." 

After two hours of committee debate, members voted five to four to shut down discussion of the probe. The motion requesting that investigation remains alive and can be brought back at a later date.

Senior writer

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