Ottawa’s pledge of $500,000 for Statistics Canada to research foreign homebuyers’ expansion into Canada is unlikely to have much impact on solving the problem, Macdonald-Laurier Institute Senior Fellow Philip Cross told BNN.
Cross also believes the department receiving the money – Statistics Canada, where Cross used to be chief economic analyst – is unlikely to be best-suited to tackling the issue.
“What the half-million buys, I have no idea”, says Cross. “It seems to be just a matter of saying ‘well, we’re doing something about it’”.
Ottawa pledged the $500,000 to delve into the issue of foreign homebuyers as part of last week’s federal budget.
To watch the full interview, click here.
