Lobbying registration dated 2026-02-03
Registrant: Kevin Lee
Client: Canadian Home Builders' Association
Targeted institutions:
Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)
Treasury Board Of Canada Secretariat (TBS)
Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC)
Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions Canada (OSFI)
Canadian International Trade Tribunal (CITT)
Global Affairs Canada (GAC)
Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC)
Transport Canada (TC)
Canada Post Corporation (CPC)
Women and Gender Equality (WAGE)
Finance Canada (FIN)
House of Commons
Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
Statistics Canada (StatCan)
Rural Economic Development (Minister’s Office)
Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC)
Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada (HICC)
National Research Council (NRC)
Competition Bureau Canada (COBU)
Canada Revenue Agency (CRA)
Bank of Canada
Privy Council Office (PCO)
Senate of Canada
Health Canada (HC)
Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC)
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC)
Public Safety Canada (PS)
Prime Minister's Office (PMO)
Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED)
Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC)
Acts: Financial Institutions
Income Tax Act
Excise Tax Act
Interest Act
Underused Housing Tax Act
Government funding received:
Institution: Natural Resources Canada (NRCan)
Amount: 3294000.00
Lobbying activity details:
Discuss implications for the Canadian home construction sector surrounding proposed 25% tariffs from the United States.
Greenhouse gas emissions policy with regard to including residential sector savings in any cap-and-trade program and associated compensation arrangements
Amendments to the Excise Tax Act to adopt the single threshold/full rebate model for the GST New Housing Rebate for both home ownership and rental housing
Promote a federal YIMBY (yes in my backyard) campaign. New developments (especially densification and mixed income
housing) are often met with local public opposition even when aligned with community plans. A national NIMBY-to-YIMBY campaign can facilitate a smoother transition into the communities of tomorrow.
Increase and target federal investment in housing R&D to build better houses for the same price or less.
Opposition and modification of proposed changes to the tax treatment of privately held corporations.
Modernize Tax Treatment of Joint Ventures in Residential Constructyion
Seek Federal research on improved environmental guidelines for residential communities to determine more specifically their cost and technological implications for practitioners in the residential cosntruction and development industries
Revise the tax regime to avoid GST being applied to new “purposebuilt” rental developments. This increases rents for tenants and renders the business model for investing in purpose-built rentals less attractive, hence discouraging the construction of affordable rental properties.
Replacement of the Contract Payment Reporting System with an alternative that requires all participants in the construction industry to register for a Business Number with the CRA, and that pursues those engaging in cash-only transactions much more aggressively
Financial Institutions:  Ensuring that regulations and guidelines relating to the Interest Act and mortgage financing do not create market distortions that undermine housing affordability and choice
Adopt affordability as a core objective of the National Building Code and to all related standards.
Support Transit-Oriented Development, Complete Communities and the “Missing Middle” of Housing - To ensure that Canadians get maximum benefit from federal infrastructure investments, the Government needs to support increased supply in the “missing middle” – whether “gentle intensification” via secondary suites, conversion of larger units or medium-density low-rise mixed-income housing, in walkable communities with ready access to public transit.
Amendment to the Underused Housing Tax Act to remove the requirement that builders and developers from having to file a tax return (UT-2900) for newly constructed units when the units are already exempted from the tax.
Government policies to encourage more Canadians to consider a career in the skilled trades and support the apprenticeship system.
Allow Net Zero and Net Zero Ready renovations to qualify for the GST/HST New Housing Rebate.
Modify the Residential Mortgage Underwriting Practices and Procedures Guideline (B-20) - the "stress test" for both insured ad uninsured mortgages to reduce the test rate on a declining basis for 7- and 10-year mortgage terms.
OSFI Guidelines for Residential Mortgage Insurance Underwriting
Practices and Procedures (B-20 and B-21) - attention to the long?term fundamentals of Canada’s housing system, as well as the impact on current markets and Canadians opportunity for homeownership, is an essential backdrop to any further federal policy or regulatory actions by the ensemble of agencies reporting to or through the Minister of Finance, and by the Department itself.
Support voluntary programming initiatives like ENERGY STAR, R?2000 and CHBA’s Net Zero Home Labelling Program enable homeowners to choose higher levels of performance on a voluntary basis, moving the market forward without damaging affordability in entry?level homes.
Update the federal immigration system to proactively attract much-needed skilled workers in residential construction.
Amendment of the Excise Tax Act to adopt a permanent home renovation GST rebate
Revise tax rules for accessory suites, such as granny flats and laneway housing, as the current tax system, which incorporates land value rather than just construction costs, and is discouraging this important form of infill housing that is favoured by more and more municipalities. These innovative infill projects increase the
number of affordable homes in established neighbourhoods.
Enhance R-2000 standard to reflect improvements in energy efficiency and water efficiency technologies, new building practices and technologies, and other factors that define R-2000 as the leading-edge home building standard
Develop a next-generation energy rating system to replace EnerGuide
Support for housing research, analysis and demonstration projects on topics of priority interest to the residential construction industry, e.g., on housing market trends
Canada’s Housing Finance System - address stability concerns without causing damage to the residential construction industry or to the economy. Measures to cool markets can easily precipitate economic decline, triggering the very conditions they were intended to safeguard against.
Rigorously enforce provisions of the Income Tax Act and Excise Tax Act in relation to combating the underground "cash economy".
The role of Build Canada Homes and the impact upon housing needs in Canada and to ensure that market-rate housing policies are still pursued by the government in addition to the mandate of Build Canada Homes.
Support local and provincial submissions to the Red Tape Reduction Commission to address issues associated with the Contract Payment Reporting System operated by the Canada Revenue Agency
Work with provinces to have the EnerGuide Rating System (ERS) label on all houses at the time of resale and expand ERS (and its software tools updated) and be promoted so that ERS becomes the backbone of all renovation incentives.
Ensuring that the National Housing Strategy and the Poverty Reduction Strategy are coordinated, and address the
entire housing continuum, from transitional and social housing right up into market-rate rental and homeownership.
Working with the home construction industry to support innovation and capital investment to increase industry productivity both for in-site built approaches and factory-built solutions.
Ensure that increased energy efficiency requirements under the model National Building Code follow proper protocols prior to adoption
Update and index the thresholds for the GST New Housing Rebate.
Reintroduce 30-year amortization periods for insured residential mortgages for new construction.
Federal efforts via the Financial Transactions Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FINTRAC) to combat money-laundering as they affect the residential construction industry to ensure that regulations can in fact be implemented given the many small businesses involved in the industry
Continued financial support for Canadian Home Builders' Association (CHBA) activities under the R-2000 program, Net Zero Energy Ready and Net Zero Energy programs and Local Energy Efficiency Partnerships program.
Amendments to Immigration Act with respect to transitional rules for some economic class immigrants, undocumented workers, and pass marks for those applying as immigrants to Canada as skilled people
Implement CMHC Construction Financing, including low-interest financing for market-rate housing for ownership from the government, plus a new construction loan insurance program.