quote:

Alberta and B.C.’s latest conflict: a new tax that hits vacation homes
A measure designed to curb speculation in B.C.’s overheated housing market is having some unintended consequences for Albertan owners.

Marsha Graham, a realtor licensed to sell in Alberta and B.C., lives primarily in Calgary but dreams of the day she can retire to live full-time in her Victoria inner harbour condominium. If she can still afford it.

On budget day, Graham flew home from Victoria and landed to news she was among legions of Albertans who own vacation properties in B.C. subject to a new speculation tax. The levy, if it is applied to out-of-province owners as the budget suggests, will inflate her property tax bill, which was $2,200 last year, by an additional $9,434 by 2019. “You know, that’s a really nice vacation” she says. “It is not an inconsequential amount of money to me and most people.”

The proposed “speculation” tax will apply to Metro Vancouver and Fraser Valley communities on the B.C. mainland; the Victoria and Nanaimo regional districts on Vancouver Island; and the resort communities of Kelowna and West Kelowna, where many neighbouring Albertans own vacation homes. It is designed to force out-of-province owners to contribute more to B.C. government coffers or rent out their homes in cities where rents are sky-high and vacancy rates less than one per cent.

Renting would not suit Graham, who spends about 100 days a year at her Victoria residence. She sits on her strata board, is a member at the local golf club and is friends with many of her neighbours. Graham feels connected to her Victoria community, which is why the proposed speculation tax really stings: “I’m being treated the same as somebody who is not a Canadian, never comes to the community and just leaves the place vacant.”

The proposed tax has already been dubbed a “punishment tax” on chat sites frequented by Albertans with vacation homes in B.C. Many feel it is discriminatory and suspect the motivation behind it is the ongoing oil pipeline fight between the two provinces. It’s easy to see why.

B.C.-Alberta relations have been exceptionally tense of late, despite both provinces being led by NDP governments. Alberta Premier Rachel Notley’s political future depends on landing a pipeline to carry heavy oil from the Alberta oil sands to tankers off the B.C. coast, and she is adamant a proposal by Kinder Morgan to expand its existing pipeline must proceed.

B.C. Premier John Horgan’s tenuous government hangs on support from three anti-pipeline Green Party members. He’s doing what he can to scuttle the pipeline and recently mused he would look for ways to limit the amount of oil currently flowing through B.C. That prompted Notley to ban the imports of B.C. wine, a prohibition that was dropped after Horgan referred his question to court. But the whole thing left Albertans smarting over what they see as B.C.’s parochial disregard for their economic livelihood. “It just seems like B.C. wants the rest of Canada to go away. What would happen if every province acted like that?” asks Allan Roles, a Calgarian who owns land in Kelowna and hopes to build a retirement home soon.

Graham has a similar reaction. “I think Alberta, rightly or wrongly, is often viewed as this kind of big, bad oil place and all we want to do is sell our oil and we don’t care about our environment and communities. But the reality is, it’s not just Alberta that’s dependent on oil.”

B.C. Finance Minister Carole James said the tax does not discriminate against Albertans, telling Maclean’s in an emailed statement that the only motive behind it was easing housing affordability. The levy had been in the works since the government was formed seven months ago, James added, noting: “It doesn’t matter if you’re from Toronto, Montreal, Calgary or overseas, the speculator tax will impact those who choose to speculate or take housing stock off the market.” Experts including Tom Davidoff, a professor at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, give the government the benefit of the doubt. Horgan’s goal is to get re-elected, and imposing a tax for reasons he can’t talk about does not further that goal, Davidoff says.

But the mayors of Kelowna and West Kelowna—who acknowledge the need to address affordability problems in their own cities—worry the new tax will kill the real estate market and push investors to nearby communities like Penticton, B.C., which, for now, are exempt. Elton Ash, regional executive vice-president for Re/Max of Western Canada, says deals are already falling apart, and expresses worry about the optics of the new tax. “What’s the message given to the rest of the world from B.C.?” he says. “We don’t want you to move here.”

Kennith Brandon, who grew up in B.C. but now earns his living in Calgary’s oil and gas economy, says that was the conversation over dinner with friends on a recent Saturday night. Brandon feels a bit guilty about owning a Kelowna vacation home that gets used by his family in the summer but sits empty the rest of the year: “I’m part of the problem.” But Calgarians like him can’t shuck the feeling the new tax is discriminatory. “That’s what people are hurt about.”

quote:

Elton Ash, regional executive vice-president for Re/Max of Western Canada, says deals are already falling apart, and expresses worry about the optics of the new tax. “What’s the message given to the rest of the world from B.C.?” he says. “We don’t want you to move here.”

quote:

Brandon feels a bit guilty about owning a Kelowna vacation home that gets used by his family in the summer but sits empty the rest of the year: “I’m part of the problem.” But Calgarians like him can’t shuck the feeling the new tax is discriminatory. “That’s what people are hurt about.”

Guest2553 posted:

Guest2553 posted:

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

MR WORLDWIDDDDDDDDDDDEEEEEEEEEE

UnfortunateSexFart posted:

Another realtor assassinated in Vancouver.

http://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4538961

HookShot posted:

I will never stop laughing at Pitbull showing up at these "business" expos.

Lupin posted:

Vancouver man extremely upset about plan to create temporary housing units for homeless people, kicks librarian at open-house community meeting


Lol the anime sprint

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/...=vicecanadafbca

namaste friends posted:

Lmao I'm not clicking a loving vice link

namaste friends posted:

I haven't noticed the realtor Holocaust. How many have been mercilessly slaughtered?

captains of industry

namaste friends posted:

I haven't noticed the realtor Holocaust. How many have been mercilessly slaughtered?

captains of industry

I would blow Dane Cook posted:

Hopefully the wolf of Whistler is safe.

HookShot posted:

With these prices I hope they all get loving stabbed:

quote:

Housing
What may be worse is that fourth-quarter GDP figures were exaggerated by temporary factors in housing. Spending on residential structures surged in the last three months of 2017 to an annualized 13.4 percent, the strongest quarterly increase since 2012. The gain was led by stronger-than-expected new home construction, and as buyers rushed to get ahead of tighter mortgage qualification rules that came into effect Jan. 1.

The increase in residential spending was responsible for 1 percentage point of the 1.7 percent growth rate, Statistics Canada said. Residential investment had been a drag on growth the previous two quarters.

Risky Bisquick posted:

QUIET CI, Poloz is gonna plan for 4 rate increases to out do america

quote:

West Vancouver mansion-owning satellite family to be deported after judge dismisses review


A so-called “satellite family” from China involved in immigration fraud, who bought a multimillion dollar mansion in West Vancouver after immigrating to Canada through the Quebec investor program, are to be deported after a judge threw out the judicial review of their removal order.

49-year-old Xiao Qing Ling, her husband, and her two sons, landed as permanent resident under the Investor class for the Provincial Nominee Program for Quebec in December 2006, according to the case heard at the federal court in Ottawa[1].

On January 3, 2007, just ten days after landing, the the family returned to China, and over the next seven years, only visited Canada intermittently.

In 2011, approximately five years after first landing as permanent residents, the family applied to renew their permanent residence cards through New Can Consultants (Canada) Ltd. / Wellong International Investments Ltd, two unlicensed immigration consulting businesses offering services in Metro Vancouver, whose owners are doing jail time for industrial-scale immigration fraud[2].

New Can fabricated false employment and other documents for renewing the expired PR cards for the Ling family, but they did need to use these false documents.

Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, then known as Citizenship and Immigration Canada, renewed Ling’s PR card after she falsely claimed she was absent from Canada for only 837 days.

An analysis of stamps in her passport and CBSA ICES traveller history showed that, in reality, Ling was absent from Canada for a total of 1,332 days in that five-year period.

The mother and her sons returned to Canada to live long term in 2014, but the father renounced his PR status in 2015, establishing a “satellite family”, where the main income owner lives in China while the dependants live in Canada.

In April 2016, while attempting to enter Canada from the United States, Ling was detained and interviewed by a Border Services Officer of the CBSA, who determined that she had failed to meet the residency obligations to maintain her PR status.

CBSA calculated she was absent for 1,261 days, quite substantially more than allowed in the 2011 to 2016 time frame and also concluded that Ling had directly or indirectly misrepresented herself in 2011 on her application to renew the PR cards, because she omitted dates of travel and did not properly calculate days absent from Canada.

In July 2017, she appealed the CBSA’s removal order to the Immigration Appeal Division, claiming relief on humanitarian and compassionate grounds[3].

While the IAD found that the family had “[…] positive establishment in Canada”, referring to the Applicant’s significant Canadian assets including the $8M home in West Vancouver acquired in 2014 (it and other Canadian assets are worth well over $10M), and to the fact that her children started to attend school in Canada in 2014, the division concluded that Ling’s efforts post-2014 were, “more likely than not an effort to diversify the family’s assets out of China and to demonstrate establishment in the instant proceedings.”

The IAD dismissed Ling’s appeal.

“She (and certainly her husband) are sophisticated and aware of the immigration rules, and it is simply not believable that they were innocent “victims” of New Can/Wellong,” Sterling Sunley wrote in the IAD decision. “The extent of the breach is great, and it is not significantly mitigated by any reasons given by the appellant for her departure and failure to return sooner.”

Federal court judge Henry S. Brown did not find anything amiss with the IAD decision.

“Overall, I have come to the conclusion that the Decision is justifiable, transparent and intelligible,” federal court judge Henry S. Brown wrote, dismissing the judicial review. “In addition, the Decision falls within the range of possible, acceptable outcomes which are defensible in respect of the facts and law.”

CBSA removal orders, which are stayed during judicial reviews, come back into effect if the reviews are dismissed, and those under such orders are required to leave Canada immediately.

“If you fail to appear for a removal interview or a scheduled removal date, the CBSA will issue a Canada-wide warrant for your arrest,” CBSA warns. “Once arrested, the CBSA may detain you in a holding facility before removal.”

namaste friends posted:

Lmao 693 sqft