Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 28, 2024, Winnipeg, Manitoba TOP NEWS A3 THURSDAY MARCH 28, 2024 ● ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM Bill to protect renters coming: Trudeau Federal pre-budget announcement seeks to link credit score, rental history NONO SHEN V ANCOUVER — A federal govern- ment announcement that rental history could be used on a credit score is a “gamechanger” for those who have been faithfully paying their rent for years, says a longtime advocate of the idea. Jackee Kasandy, chief executive of- ficer of the Black Entrepreneurs and Businesses of Canada Society, said getting funding from banks remains a challenge for longtime renters like her, unlike homeowners who can put up property as collateral. “I’ve rented successfully for 20 years. Why doesn’t that count?” Kasandy said. “I’ve always asked that question.” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an- nounced the plan Wednesday, along with other supports for renters, includ- ing a renters protection fund and a bill of rights. Trudeau said there’s something fun- damentally unfair about paying $2,000 a month for rent, while those paying the same for a mortgage get equity and build their credit score. “Renters matter and young Can- adians put a lot of their hard-earned money toward rent. We think that should count for a lot more,” he said during the announcement. Trudeau told a small crowd at a Van- couver community centre the federal government wants landlords, banks and credit bureaus to make sure rental history is taken into account on credit scores, giving first-time buyers a bet- ter chance at getting a mortgage, with a lower interest rate. “This will make it easier to qualify for a mortgage or even qualify you at a lower rate. And just think about all the other things that will come from having a better credit score; a loan to help you start a small business, for ex- ample,” the prime minister said. Kasandy said she realized she and many other immigrants to Canada don’t own homes but end up paying a big por- tion of their incomes on rent, payments that could be tracked and help build credit over time. “That should count for something and it hasn’t counted for anything. It’s fan- tastic news for all of us, really,” she said of the announcement. The measures announced are part of next month’s federal budget and in- clude a $15-million Tenant Protection Fund, which would pay provincial legal aid groups to help tenants against un- fairly rising rents, “renovictions” or bad landlords. The Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights would also need partnerships with provinces and territories to require landlords to disclose a history of unit pricing and create a national standard for lease agreements. Rob Patterson, a legal advocate with the Tenant Resource and Advisory Centre in Vancouver, said he is “most intrigued” by the promise of a bill of rights for renters. “The biggest way to prevent the con- tinuing rent gouging that we’re seeing in the market is, first off, to make sure people aren’t getting unnecessarily evicted,” he said in an interview Wed- nesday. He said national measures could help ensure “no matter where you are in Canada, you have a reasonable level of security of tenure (and) the ability to feel like you can actually put down roots in your home and your commun- ity.” Requiring landlords to disclose pricing history may not solve price gouging directly, but it may add some social pressure that minimizes it, he added. The changes would also lay the groundwork for provinces to “take steps to start to regulate rent between tenancies, which is what’s really ne- cessary, ultimately, to curb the evic- tion crisis that’s just running rampant across the country,” Patterson said. “We’ve certainly heard from gov- ernment (that) why they haven’t gone toward regulating rents between tenan- cies in some fashion is because the data is not there,” Patterson said. “So getting the data in the first place is the foot in the door that enables some more protective measures to be done to cool the market between tenancies.” Patterson also lauded the planned tenant protection fund, noting his or- ganization is overwhelmed by the de- mand for their legal services. “We’re trying to drink the ocean with a spoon,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s clear that there needs to be more support for tenants.” Finance Minister Chrystia Free- land was also at the event and said a no-holds-barred plan in the upcom- ing budget will help young Canadians “wrestle down” the cost of owning and renting a home. “We need to make real the promise of Canada for younger Canadians,” Free- land said. “We are going to pull every single lever and push every single but- ton to deliver more housing without de- lay.” The government’s budget will be pre- sented April 16. Federal government ministers fanned out across the country Wednes- day making the same announcement. Housing Minister Sean Fraser told media in Toronto some of these issues are in the provincial purview, but the goal is to help people, no matter whose responsibility it is. “The signal that we’re trying to send today is not to bully another level of government to get their house in order, I wish all would do more. It’s to help people who are calling us desperately saying life is too expensive, we think you can do something to help.” The Quebec government said Wed- nesday the proposed federal measures encroach on provincial jurisdiction. Jean-François Roberge, Quebec’s minister responsible for Canadian rela- tions, said its “response is simple: No.” “It’s out of the question to tolerate this new invasion of Quebec’s area of jurisdiction by the federal government, which wants to come in with new con- ditions (and) meddle in our affairs,” Roberge said in Quebec City. The federal government should in- stead focus on reducing the number of temporary immigrants and asylum seekers in the country to relieve the housing market, he said. A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report on housing supply released Wednesday says new home construc- tion is at an all-time high, but demand for rental housing is still outpacing sup- ply. — The Canadian Press ETHAN CAIRNS / THE CANADIAN PRESS Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks Wednesday at a news conference in Vancouver, alongside Minister of Finance Chrystia Freeland and Minister of Emergency Preparedness Harjit Sajjan. Protection from ‘renovictions’ THE federal government’s plan to help renters was rolled out across the country, including in Winnipeg at the West Broadway Commons on Colony Street. Treasury Board president Anita Anand and Energy Minister David Wilkinson spoke about the need to support renters and protect them from “renovictions.” “Sometimes, there’s an uneven bargaining relationship between those who want to rent and those who have a supply of apartments to rent,” Anand said. The Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights aims to “level the playing field a little bit more,” she added. Establishing and upholding renters rights will require collaboration with the provinces “to raise the bar,” Wilkinson said. He expects provincial government support. “Who is against providing appropriate rights to renters?” the minister asked. The plan would also amend the Canadian Mortgage Charter and call on landlords, banks, credit bureaus, and financial technology companies to take rental history into account on a first-time homebuyer’s credit score. When asked if that could backfire and hurt the credit score of those who struggled to pay their rent on time, Anand said renters will be able to decide to have their rent history used. “We want them to be offered that choice.” — Carol Sanders Canadian Taxpayers Association calls on premier to ‘send a strong message to Ottawa’ Manitobans support opposition to carbon tax hike: poll A LARGE majority of Manitobans want Premier Wab Kinew to tell the federal government to put the brakes on the carbon price increase slated for April 1. A poll by Leger, which was commis- sioned by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, found 83 per cent of Mani- tobans either strongly support (57 per cent) or somewhat support (26 per cent) Manitoba joining seven provinces that have been actively lobbying against the increase. “The poll is crystal clear: Manitobans want Premier Wab Kinew to speak out about the tax hike,” said Gage Hau- brich, the federation’s Prairie director. “The overall costs will make it hard- er for families to make ends meet… Kinew needs to publicly oppose the car- bon tax hike to send a strong message to Ottawa.” The carbon price will increase from to $80 per tonne from $65 per tonne next week. It is slated to continue in- creasing until it tops out at $170 per tonne in 2030. Kinew couldn’t be reached for com- ment Wednesday. The poll was released one day ahead of a visit to Winnipeg by federal Con- servative Leader Pierre Poilievre. Poilievre, who has made “Axe the tax” his party’s mantra, will hold a rally at the convention centre Thursday evening. Starting April 1, the federal govern- ment’s carbon price will jump to 17 cents on each litre of gasoline, 15 cents per cubic metre of natural gas and 21 cents per litre of diesel fuel. Haubrich said the parliamentary budget officer determined the average Manitoba family spent $502 on the car- bon tax last year, over and above the annual rebate paid by Ottawa to each family. Manitobans who earn up to $35,808 will be rebated $436 more than they pay, while people who earn between $35,809 to $59,521 will get back $87 more than they pay. On the other end of the scale, Mani- tobans who earn $133,469 and higher will pay $2,029 more than they get back while those who make between $88,659 to $133,468 will pay $690 more than they get in rebates. Manitobans who earn $59,522 to $88,658 will pay $286. Portage la Prairie Tory MLA Jeff Bereza, the party’s agriculture critic, said the impending 23 per cent hike in carbon pricing, which he accused Kinew of supporting, will hit Mani- tobans at the dinner table. That’s because the province is the lar- gest hog supplier in the country, Bereza said, and carbon pricing boosts the cost of fuel needed to heat barns, as well as the amount spent on animal feed. “Can customers of Manitoba pork stomach a 23 per cent increase in prices so that Manitoba producers can break even on the carbon tax?” he said in a statement. “Or will they just find another supplier who doesn’t have to pay the carbon tax? “Either way, the carbon tax hike will cost Manitoba a lot of bacon.” The Leger poll, which involved 400 Manitoba adults, was conducted March 22-24. It has a margin of error plus or minus 4.9 per cent 19 times out of 20. Meanwhile, opposition to carbon pricing sparked vandalism to the office shared by the Manitoba Liberal Party and the Liberal Party of Canada. Windows on the front and side of the one-storey building at 635 Broadway were tagged early Wednesday. “Vandalism is never acceptable,” said Katherine Johnson, executive director of the provincial party. “This vandalism is graffiti that says ‘axe the tax,’” Johnson said. “Obviously, this graffiti is parroting Pierre Poilievre’s negative rhetoric on the federal government’s price on pol- lution.” kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca KEVIN ROLLASON SPENCER COLBY / THE CANADIAN PRESS FILES Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre plans to hold an ‘axe the tax’ rally in Winnipeg today. ;