From: brewnoser2@gmail.com   
      
       
   Harper figures he's already got some taxpayer-financed goodies in his sack for   
   this particular ethnic group, so let's play on one of the major concerns for   
   lower-mainland residents.  One that the rightwing premier of the province has   
   refused to address,    
   should that impact her next election chances.   
      
   And don't confuse "gather data" with actually taking any action to stop   
   foreign purchases of residential properties in Vancouver.  This is strictly a   
   provincial and city matter - and he bloody well knows that.   
   _________________________________   
   VANCOUVER -- The Canadian Press - Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2015   
      
   Tories would gather data on foreign home ownership if re-elected: Harper   
      
   Conservative Leader Stephen Harper said on Wednesday that his government, if   
   re-elected, would begin collecting data on foreign ownership of Canadian real   
   estate - and would consider new taxes and regulations to ensure housing   
   remained   
   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^   
   affordable.   
      
   Mr. Harper, who has made numerous campaign promises since the federal election   
   got underway, made the remarks in Vancouver, where the average price of a   
   detached house has soared to $2.23-million amid intense debate about an   
   affordability crisis and the    
   role that foreign capital and "non-resident" buyers play in the city's housing   
   market.   
      
   On Wednesday, The Globe and Mail reported that Macdonald Realty Ltd., a   
   prominent British Columbia real-estate company, said 70 per cent of the   
   properties priced at more than $3-million that it sold in 2014 went to buyers   
   from mainland China - and that    
   21 per cent of the buyers of homes worth between $1-million and $3-million   
   also went to such buyers.   
      
   In his remarks, Mr. Harper mentioned "real-estate speculation" and the large   
   number of condos that have been bought up but kept empty as an investment, by   
   foreign buyers - a phenomenon that, in Vancouver's downtown Coal Harbour   
   neighbourhood, was found    
   in one study to account for nearly 25 per cent of all condo units.   
      
   "There are real concerns that foreign non-resident real-estate speculation is   
   the reason some Canadian families find house prices beyond their budgets," Mr.   
   Harper said according to a prepared statement.   "If such foreign non-resident   
   buyers are    
   artificially driving up the cost of real estate, and Canadian families are   
   shut out of the market, that is a matter we should do something about."   
      
   The role of foreign investment in Vancouver's real-estate sector is a subject   
   that remains hugely controversial for several reasons, at least in part   
   because the city has historically been shaped by Asian immigration -   
   particularly from Hong Kong.   
      
   Real-estate firms and homeowners have profited immensely as prices for   
   detached houses and luxury properties have soared in recent years - boosted in   
   part by tens of thousands of millionaires from China who arrived in the last   
   decade on formal "immigrant    
   investor" programs launched by the federal and provincial governments.   
      
   But many think this additional demand has forced aspiring local homeowners to   
   bid up lesser-valued properties to the point where the strong, new demand from   
   Chinese buyers has actually trickled down into property categories and   
   neighbourhoods far outside    
   where foreign investors tend to buy properties - such as Vancouver's West Side   
   and Shaughnessy neighbourhoods.   
      
   Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson has asked B.C. Premier Christy Clark to   
   intervene in the market and consider a speculation tax, but Ms. Clark said the   
   province will not take any measures - partly because it doesn't consider   
   foreign ownership of property    
   a problem, and partly because new regulations would lower the value of   
   homeowners' properties.   
      
   A backgrounder on the Conservative Party website said Mr. Harper would spend   
   $500,000, starting in 2016-17, to collect data on "foreign buyer activity ...   
   particularly in Vancouver and Toronto," and "take action" in co-ordination   
   with the provinces to    
   make sure real estate in Canada remains affordable.   
      
   The Conservative website refers to other jurisdictions that have tracked and   
   enacted regulations to counter the effects of strong foreign-capital inflows   
   into real estate - such as Australia, which limits foreign investors to new   
   housing units and bars    
   them from purchasing existing housing stock. It also mentions "tax tools."   
      
   Eveline Xia, a local activist who recently held a rally on housing   
   affordability called "Give Us Data," said she was shocked by the fact that a   
   federal politician has raised the subject of foreign ownership in real estate,   
   but hoped that the issue    
   remained non-partisan.   
      
   "There are people who are coming up to me saying they will vote for anyone who   
   takes this on," Ms. Xia said.  "And I just wish that the other parties will   
   match it. Collecting data should not be a left, right or centre issue.  It   
   should be common sense."   
      
   Dan Scarrow, who runs Macdonald Realty's Shanghai office and courts Chinese   
   buyers for Canadian real estate, said more data on the subject is definitely   
   needed but he was unsure what Mr. Harper intends to actually do about it.   
      
   "I applaud any effort to collect more data on this issue, although I'm   
   cautious about what the federal government can or will do about this," Mr.   
   Scarrow told The Globe.   "After all, Canada is a big country, and a policy   
   that may help one region may    
   inadvertently hurt another."   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)