FINA meeting 6 · 2025-10-08 — Committee Evidence — LegisWatch

Summary

The House of Commons Standing Committee on Finance met to study Bill C-4, an act respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians, hearing from five witnesses: Alana Lavoie of Habitat for Humanity Canada, Krista Carr of Inclusion Canada, Ian Lee of Carleton University, Carolyn Whitzman of the University of Toronto, and Amanda MacKenzie of March of Dimes Canada.

Alana Lavoie said Habitat for Humanity builds affordable homes for first-time buyers and welcomed the GST exemption on homes up to $1 million, noting it would reduce costs for families and allow reinvestment into more homes. She urged retroactive application to agreements signed in May 2025 and emphasized that delays have real costs, with savings from the GST directly funding additional construction.

Krista Carr argued that Bill C-4’s reduction of the lowest federal income tax rate inadvertently lowers the value of the disability tax credit and child disability supplement, making people with disabilities net worse off. She proposed increasing the base amounts by 3.45% in 2025 and setting an annual formula to future-proof the credits, and noted that Minister Champagne has acknowledged the issue and committed to a solution.

Ian Lee said the affordability crisis is concentrated in Canada’s 10 largest cities due to municipal barriers like slow permitting and high development charges, not federal tax policy. He recommended that the federal government claw back transfers to municipalities that fail to approve enough homes, and argued that the tax cuts in Bill C-4 will not help the lowest-income quintile, who pay little income tax.

Carolyn Whitzman said the GST rebate for first-time homebuyers is ineffective because most homes remain unaffordable for median-income households, and the income tax cut is insufficient to offset high rents in major cities. She suggested strengthening the rental protection fund and considering tax treatment changes for REITs to preserve affordable rental stock, and agreed with Lee that approval times are a brake on housing starts.

Amanda MacKenzie echoed Carr’s concerns, stating that the reduction in the lowest tax rate will erode the value of the disability tax credit and medical expense tax credit by about $51 in 2025 and $101 in 2026 per claimant, with parents of disabled children most affected. She asked the committee to amend Bill C-4 to increase the base amounts of these credits, and said she is not wedded to a specific method as long as people with disabilities are not worse off.

The committee did not debate procedural motions or votes during this meeting.

AI-generated summary — may contain errors; verify against the official evidence.

Witnesses · 5

Alana Lavoie

National Senior Director, Public Policy, Habitat for Humanity Canada

Opening remarks

Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you so much for the opportunity to be here today. We do appreciate the opportunity to come and speak with you. I am here on behalf of Habitat for Humanity Canada. We are a national charity, founded in Canada in 1985, in Winnipeg, in fact. We work in every single province in the country as well as our two northern territories and until recently, also in Nunavut. We build homes, we build communities and we like to remind ourselves all the time that we build hope. We do this through construction, through repair, through financing, through skills training and of course through advocacy. We are part of the global movement Habitat for Humanity International, which operates in 70 countries. We are very proud of our contributions in continents across the world. Today I want to speak about the GST exemption included in Bill C-4, why it matters to Habitat and why it matters in the context of Canada's housing affordability crisis. Between 2019 and 2025, Habitat local affiliates, our 44 local affiliates, built steadily through some of the toughest construction years we've seen, up to and including this one, serving over 5,000 individuals, including…

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Krista Carr

Chief Executive Officer, Inclusion Canada

Opening remarks

Chair and members, thank you. My name is Krista Carr. I am the CEO of Inclusion Canada. I speak today not only for our organization but also for a broader coalition of disability organizations across this country. Our ask is straightforward: Increase the base amounts for the disability tax credit and the child disability supplement so that their dollar value equals what they would be at 15%, now and in future years. Do not let a general rate cut shrink disability supports. We are here because Canada is about to make a policy mistake that this committee can prevent. This summer, Canada launched the new Canada Disability Benefit. It will provide up to $2,400 per year to low-income Canadians with disabilities. While still not adequate, it is progress. But with this progress, at the same time, Bill C-4 will now reduce the value of the disability tax credit. We cannot give with one hand and take with the other. Here is what is happening. Bill C-4 lowers the lowest federal income tax rate to 14.5% this year and 14% next year. That same rate is used to calculate the value of non-refundable tax credits, including the disability tax credit and the child disability benefit. When the rate…

Amanda MacKenzie

National Director, Public Affairs, Advocacy, and Strategic Communications, March of Dimes Canada

Opening remarks

Good afternoon, Chair and members of the committee. Thank you for the opportunity to speak about Bill C-4 today. I'm Amanda MacKenzie, the national director of public affairs, advocacy and strategic communications at March of Dimes Canada. March of Dimes Canada is a leading national charity committed to championing equity, empowering ability and creating real change that will help people with disabilities across the country unlock the richness of their lives. Together with our partners, we serve, connect and empower people with disabilities to participate fully in life and in their communities on their own terms. I'm here to address the impact of Bill C-4's proposed 1% reduction in the lowest federal personal income tax rate on people with disabilities in Canada and specifically those who rely on the disability tax credit, the DTC, and the medical expense tax credit, the METC. I very much want to thank Krista Carr, Kurt Goddard and the team at Inclusion Canada for their leadership on this file. Inclusion was the first to identify this issue in our community, and their analysis has been widely referenced, including in my own notes. I've also included with my notes a recent…

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Finance

Summary

Witnesses · 5

Bills mentioned