The member of the Kamloops Chamber of Commerce behind a plan to have community land trusts play a larger role in solving the housing crunch says his online petition will now be a matter-of-record in Ottawa.
Launched at the end of October, Colin O’Leary’s official online petition to have the tax codes changed has received the requisite 500 signatures needed to be put before the Commons.
O’Leary says he feels his petition can gain multi-party support once put to the floor, noting it mirrors a federal tax break which has been on the books since 2006.
“It’s called the Ecological Gift Program,” said O’Leary. “What that program does is, it actually says, if you donate land for ecological purposes, you get a tax credit for the value of the land, and you don’t have to pay capital gains tax on it.”
Under the existing rules, anyone who donates land to a community land trust is hit with capital gains taxes, which O’Leary argues is keeping people from donating land which could then be used by the municipalities which operate the community land trusts to create more housing options.
“If you look at the Ecological Gift Program, between 2006 and 2015, over a billion dollars’ worth of land has been donated for ecological purposes using that program,” notes O’Leary. “Can you imagine if we got a billion dollars’ worth of land donated for affordable housing right now, without costing taxpayers a dime?”
Backed by Kamloops Conservative MP Frank Caputo, O’Leary says he believes his plan can gain non-partisan support within the Commons.
“We had the opportunity to actually speak to Minister [Ahmed] Hussen, the federal Housing Minister, when we were in Ottawa,” said O’Leary. “He loved the policy. He thought it was fantastic, and so we are trying to get his support as well in getting this in front of [Finance Minister] Chrystia Freeland, who is really the minister we have to get this in front of.”
O’Leary says the Canadian Network of Community Land Trusts is now actively involved in campaigning on his behalf, suggesting anyone else who wants to support the initiative should highlight this with their local Member of Parliament.
Once introduced on the floor of the Commons, the federal government will have 45 days to give an official response to the petition.
