CANADA ECONOMICS

INTERNATIONAL TRADE

Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency. July 4, 2017. Exporters Wanted: Seeking New International Markets to Grow Atlantic Economy. New federal and provincial actions, including $20M investment, will lead to more, better paying jobs 

Saint John, NB – Trade and investment are key components of a thriving, more prosperous Atlantic Canada. That is why the Government of Canada and the four Atlantic Provinces are committed to creating the most favourable conditions for businesses to compete internationally and attract foreign investments. Simply put, companies that export grow faster, are innovative, and create more and better paying jobs for the middle class.

This was the message delivered today by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade, and the Honourable Roger Melanson, Treasury Board President and minister responsible for trade policy, on behalf of New Brunswick Premier, the Honourable Brian Gallant, during an announcement in Saint John, New Brunswick. .

Strong pan-Atlantic collaboration between the federal and provincial governments is essential to maintaining a strong, modern economy. To that end, a new Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy – a key action item of the Atlantic Growth Strategy – was unveiled today. As part of this approach, the federal and provincial governments will coordinate resources and activities to support companies across the region looking to grow by selling their products and services in markets around the world.

Over the next five years, the federal and provincial governments will also jointly invest $20 million to provide Atlantic firms with competitive intelligence and market analysis, training and skills development, and in-market engagement activities. The Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy aims to double the number of exporters in the Atlantic region by 2025, raise the value of exports, increase the number of exporters selling to more than one market, and attract more foreign investment to the region.

Quotes

“Atlantic Canadian companies that are globally competitive create wealth here at home. By exporting, they tend to be more innovative, pay higher wages and be more productive, creating more better-paying jobs that strengthen the middle-class and raise the living standards of all Canadians. Together with the four Atlantic provinces, we can strengthen local communities and grow the economy.” 

– The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of International Trade

 “New Brunswick has the most export driven economy in Canada with exports reaching over $12 Billion dollars in 2016. This investment and further collaboration with our partners at the federal government, and across Atlantic Canada, will help our companies become more productive, innovative and competitive, leading to new jobs and economic growth in the region.” 

–The Honourable Brian Gallant, Premier of New Brunswick

“This partnership is focused on growing a strong Atlantic Canada. Our multi-year trade and investment strategy will make sure businesses are prepared to compete nationally and internationally, and that businesses, our leaders, and communities can collaborate on private sector growth. By working together, our world-class region will remain globally competitive and collaborative.” 

–The Honourable Stephen McNeil, Premier of Nova Scotia

“Prince Edward Island companies have had tremendous success exporting goods all over the world, experiencing significant growth at a rate that outpaces the region and country. This new investment will help Prince Edward Island companies get their products to global markets and create good jobs here at home." 

– The Honourable Wade MacLauchlan, Premier of Prince Edward Island

“Our government is pleased to partner with the Federal Government and the Atlantic Provinces on the Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy. Newfoundland and Labrador is a significant exporter that will benefit greatly from this collaborative and coordinated Atlantic Canada approach. With this partnership, and the economic and job creation initiatives included in our vision The Way Forward, the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador is demonstrating its commitment to ensuring the sustainability and economic development of the province. We will continue to work closely with local companies, industry and academia, as well as our Atlantic partners to assist in the targeting and pursuit of new business opportunities at home and abroad.” 

– The Honourable Dwight Ball, Premier of Newfoundland and Labrador

Quick Facts

• On average, small and medium-sized enterprises that export generate more than twice as much revenue as non-exporters.
• Companies that export grow faster and create more and better paying jobs. In Atlantic Canada, every $1 million in exports sustains four to five jobs.
• Having a diverse set of trading partners and export destinations minimizes the threat that an economic downturn in a given market poses to Canada’s economy, and allows exporters to benefit from the rapid growth taking place in emerging markets.
• Foreign investment helps Canadian firms become more productive, innovative and research intensive, and create more, better paying jobs.
• Through the Atlantic Growth Strategy, the Government of Canada and the four Atlantic Provinces are working together to build a vibrant economic future for Atlantic Canada by focusing their efforts and resources to stimulate the region's economy, support the middle class and address both longstanding and emerging regional challenges. Today’s announcement supports the Trade and Investment action area of this strategy.

Backgrounder Atlantic Trade and Investment Growth Strategy: https://www.canada.ca/en/atlantic-canada-opportunities/news/2017/07/backgrounder_atlantictradeandinvestmentgrowthstrategy.html
Atlantic Growth Strategy: http://www.acoa-apeca.gc.ca/ags-sca/Eng/atlantic-growth.html

CETA

The Globe and Mail. 5 Jul 2017. As Trudeau, Irish PM tout CETA benefits, opposition to deal grows. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau came to Europe this week hoping to win support for trade initiatives such as the Canada-EU trade deal known as CETA
PAUL WALDIE, EUROPEAN CORRESPONDENT DUBLIN

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau visits the Great Famine Memorial in Dublin on Tuesday.
But if his first stop in Ireland is any indication, he faces an uphill battle to win over a growing number of critics of the deal.
A surge of Irish opposition to the deal is coalescing even as the country’s newly minted and popular Prime Minister seeks to put down worries over a bad deal. The Irish government is banking on new free-trade relationships in a post-Brexit world, as its neighbour retreats from Europe.
Meanwhile, the Canadian government is aiming to shore up international support for open trade at a moment when the United States is openly skeptical and tearing up deals. Mr. Trudeau met his Irish counterpart, Leo Varadkar, on Tuesday and the two leaders spoke glowingly about CETA, pledging to do all they could to ensure its implementation across Europe.
“The [Irish] government is a very strong supporter of CETA,” Mr. Varadkar said after the meeting.
“We are a small open trading economy and we’ve much more to gain from free trade than we have to lose.”
But his confidence belies the mounting opposition to the deal, known officially as the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement, in Ireland and elsewhere. This week, a variety of Irish groups representing trade unions, small businesses, farmers and environmentalists came out against the deal and urged the Irish Parliament not to ratify it. »
The largest opposition party has also tempered its support for CETA and last fall, the country’s Senate narrowly passed a motion against the adoption of CETA.
“I think it’s impossible for Europe to ratify [CETA] with all the increase awareness about it, because it is not a good deal,” Patrick Kent, head of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association, said in an interview on Tuesday.
The opposition here could be fatal to CETA, which has taken more than seven years to negotiate and has been signed by Canada and the European Union. Under EU rules, all of the 28 EU member states must ratify the agreement along with several regional legislatures. Ireland has yet to indicate when it will move to ratify the deal, but if it doesn’t pass through Parliament here, CETA can’t go forward anywhere.
Mr. Trudeau had been counting on Ireland as an early adopter. But CETA has run into the same problems in this country as it has in many other parts of Europe; in particular, there has been increasing concern about the disputeresolution system.
The agreement creates a new tribunal called the Investment Court System, which consists of a panel of judges that would settle disputes. Canada and the EU have hailed the ICS as a breakthrough in trade relations and the EU has hoped that it would lead to the creation of an international trade court.
However, critics say the ICS gives too much power to foreign companies, which can sue governments if they change policies that hurt company operations. Opponents say that limits governments’ ability to protect the environment, worker rights and health care. And some argue the ICS is a dangerous move toward private courts and away from domestic legal systems. Belgium has challenged the ICS at the European Court of Justice and politicians in several countries, including France and Britain, have questioned the system.
It’s also a concern to many people in Ireland, such as Alice Mary Higgins, an independent Irish Senator who backed the motion calling on Ireland to reject CETA. She sees the ICS as undermining domestic courts in Ireland and Canada.
And she’s worried about the socalled “negative list” aspect of CETA, which means it applies to every part of the local economy unless otherwise stated. That differs from a “positive list,” which would specify only areas where the agreement would apply. Ms. Higgins said Ireland submitted a small list of exclusions, which means CETA could apply to far reaches of the economy. For her, the ICS and the negative list are “toxic elements” that prevent many groups in Ireland from supporting the deal.
“Awareness and concern about CETA is growing,” she said in an interview on Tuesday. Ireland is pro-trade and welcomes increased trade with Canada, she added, “but the message now that’s beginning to come out is that you can be pro-trade and not be in favour of this exact model of trade.”
Not every group in Ireland opposes the deal. Many business organizations, economists and exporters say CETA will benefit Ireland. They say CETA will open up new markets, especially for service industries on both sides. “It is a far-reaching agreement and provides a much-needed shot in the arm for Irish, EU and Canadian traders,” John Whelan, chief executive of the Irish Exporters Association, said in a statement.
Mr. Varadkar, too, remains bullish on CETA. Even though he heads a minority government, he promised to push for ratification “as soon as possible” despite unrest among several opposition parties.
“I understand that there are concerns, people always have concerns about free-trade agreements,” Mr. Varadkar said on Tuesday. “But I think just like all the free-trade agreements that went in the past, there are many more benefits for our country and our people and our economy than there are downsides.”
Mr. Trudeau also struck a confident tone, saying that while he understands the concerns about the deal, there remain many overall benefits.
“Any time we are engaging in ambitious trade deals, there are going to be people with concerns,” he said on Tuesday. “Obviously, there’s always going to be certain people with fears, but at the same time, the optimistic outlook that I know so many more people have, the fact that we are demonstrating at a time where there are worries about globalization, that we can sign good deals that are going to be good for everyone, not just the top 1 per cent and multinationals.”

G-20

The Globe and Mail. Reuters. Jul. 05, 2017. Merkel takes aim at U.S. ‘winners and losers’ foreign policy before G20

BERLIN — German Chancellor Angela Merkel sharply criticised U.S. policy under President Donald Trump on Wednesday, two days before they are due to meet at the G20 summit, for being based on a “winners and losers” view of the world rather than on cooperation.

Merkel will host the two-day meeting of G20 leaders that starts on Friday in Hamburg. Along with Trump, others attending include Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan.

The talks are expected to be tricky as the agenda includes divisive issues such as free trade and climate change.

“As G20 president, it is my job to work on possibilities for agreement and not to contribute to a situation where a lack of communication prevails,” she told Die Zeit weekly.

However, she added that differences should not be pushed under the table.

“While we are looking at the possibilities of cooperation to benefit everyone, globalisation is seen by the American administration more as a process that is not about a win-win situation but about winners and losers,” she said.

She said comments from a Trump security advisor that the world was an arena, not a global community, contradicted her views.

Germany wants everyone to benefit from economic progress rather than only a few, she said.

Europe must pool its energy, she said, adding that ideas of an economic government for the euro zone and of a European finance minister, put forward by new French President Emmanuel Macron, were “two important thoughts”.

Tens of thousands of protesters are expected to march in the city this week against globalisation and what they say is corporate greed and a failure to tackle climate change.

Merkel said she respected peaceful demonstrators in Hamburg but “anyone who gets violent spurns democracy”.

German police used water cannon to disperse around 500 anti-capitalist protesters overnight in Hamburg.

TRANSPORT

Transport Canada. June 30, 2017. Minister Garneau signs important transport agreements with Mexico

Mexico City, Mexico - Canadians rely on a safe and efficient transportation system every day. The relationship Canada has with its trading partners is key for Canadian businesses to grow and for Canada’s middle class to access goods in an efficient manner and at the lowest cost possible.

The Honourable Marc Garneau, Minister of Transport, signed two agreements with Mexico while in Mexico City as he met with transportation counterparts, elected officials and business leaders to reinforce the important trade and transportation links between our two countries.

Yesterday, Minister Garneau met with Gerardo Ruiz Esparza, Secretary of Communications and Transport, to advance bilateral cooperation, as well as discuss policy challenges and approaches, particularly in the aviation sector.

Minister Garneau and Secretary Ruiz Esparza officially signed amendments to the Canada-Mexico Air Transport Agreement, an important milestone in the ratification of the amended agreement, reached last year. Canada and Mexico already enjoy a liberal air transport relationship, allowing any number of airlines from both countries to offer services between any Canadian and Mexican cities. The amended agreement builds on that by removing administrative requirements to make it easier for airlines to react quickly to market pricing conditions. Canadian and Mexican airlines will also be able to serve third countries when operating between Canada and Mexico, with the prior approval ‎of both governments.

They also signed an agreement to allow Canada and Mexico to work together to identify opportunities to fly drones safely. This partnership allows Canada to showcase its leadership on drone regulations and to exchange best practices with Mexico.

While in Mexico, the Minister also participated in a celebration for the 150th anniversary of Confederation, hosted by Canada’s Ambassador to Mexico Pierre Alarie. Minister Garneau spoke to more than 600 guests about the special ties that Canada and Mexico share and their importance to Canadians.

Quotes

“This visit was an excellent opportunity to discuss trade and transportation and share ideas with Mexicans in fields such as security, air, trade and North American relationships. The signing of two important transportation agreements will enhance our cooperation and support economic growth, prosperity, safety for Canadians and Mexicans alike.”

I look forward to continuing to work with our Mexican partners to build our transportation links and further our mutual prosperity.”

The Honourable Marc Garneau

Minister of Transport

“One of the goals of Mexico’s aviation policy is to constantly and steadily increase international connectivity. These agreements are aimed at establishing a dynamic and fruitful bilateral relationship in transport and communication, which will allow us to expedite the flow of people and goods across our borders. This undoubtedly strengthens the links of friendship and cooperation between our countries.”

Gerardo Ruiz Esparza

Secretary of Communications and Transport

Quick Facts

• Canada and Mexico are each other’s third largest trading partner.
• Since the beginning of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1994, bilateral trade between Canada and Mexico has more than quadrupled reaching over $40 billion in 2016.
• Nearly 2 million Canadians are travelling to Mexico every year for both business and pleasure.

The Globe and Mail. 5 Jul 2017. Shippers applaud long-awaited upgrades. Leaders in the shipping and transportation industry are applauding the federal government’s $2-billion commitment to building a national trade corridor.
JOYITA SENGUPTA

The $2-billion National Trade Corridors Fund will seek to eliminate bottlenecks at Canada’s major ports of entry, including the Port of Vancouver.
The National Trade Corridors Fund, a part of the Trade and Transportation Corridor Initiative (TTCI), is inviting infrastructure proposals to address delays and bottlenecks in this country’s major ports of entry and anything else that will help improve the flow of goods between Canada and international markets.
Submissions must be in by Sept. 5, 2017.
“As the movement of goods in Canada grows, disruptions caused by bottlenecks in our trade corridors, or vulnerabilities associated with our changing climate, for example – could limit the benefits from this growth in trade,” Minister of Transport Marc Garneau said on Tuesday at a luncheon at the Ottawa Chamber of Commerce.
The country’s ports handle about $203-billion in import and export cargo annually and are responsible, directly and indirectly, for nearly a quarter of a million jobs, according to the Association of Canadian Port Authorities.
Diane Gray, chief executive of Winnipeg-based Centreport Canada, North America’s largest inland port, said the need for funding was no secret.
“I think everyone would acknowledge that there is an infrastructure deficit and it’s not exclusive to Canada but North America-wide. Most of our trade-oriented infrastructure is 30-plus years old,” Ms. Gray said.
The move is part of a $10.1-billion investment into trade and transportation projects over the next 11 years that was announced in November, 2016, and was included in the 2017 federal budget.
“Investment to eliminate bottlenecks in Vancouver and the [B.C.] Lower Mainland will allow grain from the Prairies and other Canadian commodities to reach world markets more efficiently, strengthening Canada’s economy and improving our nation’s strategic trade and supply-chain infrastructure,” Luc Jobin, CEO of Canadian National Railway Co., said in an e-mail statement.
Wendy Zatylny, president of the Association of Canadian Port Authorities, said that the funding was needed to keep up with the times but isn’t necessarily a sign of disarray or inadequate flow at the country’s ports.
“The term bottlenecks gives the impression that there’s all kinds of cargo jamming up in places, but that’s not the case here,” Ms. Zatylny said. “Port authorities have been working very hard to smooth out the speed bumps in the supply chain, but the problem is that the situation is constantly changing and evolving.”
Ms. Zatylny said that one of the changes the industry needs to prepare for is the advent of larger container ships, which is being addressed by some U.S. ports by deepening the shafts they move through. She also mentioned some legacy issues such as updating rail lines or helping ease the flow of trucks carrying goods in and out of urban centres.
“Infrastructure projects take years to design and build to begin with. You can’t just be responding to problems today,” she said.
Regional initiatives such as this one have succeeded in the past. In 2006, the Asia-Pacific Gateway and Corridor Initiative was started and the federal government provided $75-million for the Robert Bank Rail Corridor Projects.
“That investment has enabled our current $300-million private sector expansion investment in the Intermodal Yard Reconfiguration Project at GCT Deltaport. It is a perfect example how appropriate public-sector investments enable private-sector investments,” Stephen Edwards, president and CEO of GCT Global Container Terminal Inc., said in a statement. GCT Global operates the flagship terminal GCT Deltaport at the Port of Vancouver.
Mr. Edwards said the company was encouraged by the announcement.
Included in the $2-billion being allocated is a $400-million fund specifically for northern transportation infrastructure.
“The fact this project dedicates specific funding for northern infrastructure makes a lot of sense. It’s expensive to build infrastructure in the North, but it’s absolutely necessary to build the economies of Northern Canada as well,” Ms. Gray said.
Also announced as part of the TTCI was $50-million being set aside over five years to work on disruptive transportation technologies, such as self-automated vehicles, and $50-million over 11 years to launch an information system by the new Canadian Centre on Transportation Data.

AVIATION

REUTERS. Jul 5, 2017. Airbus signs deal to sell 140 planes worth $23 billion to China

BERLIN (Reuters) - Airbus (AIR.PA: Quote) has signed an agreement to sell 140 aircraft to China, it said on Wednesday, in a deal worth almost $23 billion at list prices.

The agreement, signed during a visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Germany, is for 100 A320 family aircraft and 40 A350 planes, Airbus said.

"It's one of the biggest deals that we've signed in a long time," Airbus Group Chief Executive Tom Enders told journalists after signing the deal in Berlin.

The planes will be purchased by state-owned China Aviation Supplies Holding Company, which will then allocate them to Chinese airlines.

The A320 planes will be a mixture of the older CEO and the new NEO version with revamped engines, while the majority of the A350 orders are for the -900 model. The deal is flexible pending negotiations with the airlines.

Enders said he expected up to 50 percent of the A320 family planes would come from the Airbus final assembly line in China.

Enders was making his first public appearance since Airbus rolled out a new structure, completing a recent merger between its parent company and its dominant planemaking arm, changes which included a shift in the reporting line for its commercial sales team to Enders.

Enders said the shift in reporting lines for the sales team reflected the fact that commercial aircraft head Fabrice Bregier had been given more tasks in his new role as group-wide chief operating officer.

With orders slowing and the focus shifting to the backlog, Enders said the shake-up allows Bregier to concentrate on deliveries.

"This is merely a burden sharing mechanism because the focus should be on execution and this is what it's all about," Enders said.

"We have plenty of challenges on the execution side, be it the transition to the NEO, the ramp-up of the A320 family, the 350 family, not to mention the A400M, which is not entirely solved," he said.

Enders also said the group was in talks with the Chinese over the A380 superjumbo, which has suffered slow sales.

"It won't happen overnight. It has to be intensively discussed," he said.

(Reporting by Victoria Bryan; editing by Maria Sheahan and Jason Neely)

BLOOMBERG. 5 July 2017. Airbus Seals 140-Jet China Deal, in Talks to Sell Superjumbos
By Benedikt Kammel  and Benjamin D Katz

• European planemaker signs outline orders worth $22 billion
• New accord will also see increased wide-body work in Tianjin
• Airbus CEO Says A321neo Won't Be Hurt by Boeing's 737 MAX

Airbus SE won orders from China to supply 140 single-aisle and wide-body jets worth $22 billion at list prices and said it’s in talks to sell more A380 superjumbos there following the signing of accords on closer cooperation in the aviation and space sectors.

The European planemaker secured an outline deal for 100 A320-series jets split between current and new-engine-option versions, as well as 40 of its latest twin-aisle A350s, Chief Executive Officer Tom Enders said Wednesday in Berlin during a visit to the German capital by Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“This is a great endorsement of our leading products in both the single-aisle and wide-body segments,” Enders said. “China is one of the world’s most important markets for aviation today.” Talks are underway regarding a deal for more A380s to add to five sold to China Southern Airlines Co., with Airbus seeing demand for as many as 100 superjumbos in the region, he said.

Airbus already has a narrow-body production line in Tianjin, east of Beijing, and output of the A320s will be split between that site and Europe, according to Enders. The company is also looking at expanding a Chinese completion operation for its existing A330 model to include the re-engined A330 Neo, as well as the A350, he said, while exploring further collaboration in helicopter manufacturing and space technology.

‘Not Panicking’

Enders announced the plane sales at Airbus’s Berlin offices after leaving the nearby German Chancellory, where Chancellor Angela Merkel separately detailed new accords with China also including Siemens AG and Daimler AG.

The CEO said that while the order backlog for the A380 is “melting” following a sales blank last year and in the first six months of 2017, Airbus is “not panicking yet,” especially since cost savings will allow it to break even on a per-plane basis at a production rate of just one superjumbo a month.

Though the double-decker is proving tough to market, there are still sales leads, with China presenting realistic order prospects, he added.

“I don’t think it impossible that we will have some success there in coming years,” Enders said. “We are in talks.”

The sales agreement is with China Aviation Supplies Holding Co., Airbus said, with the aircraft to be allocated to individual airline operators over the next five to six years.

HOUSING BUBBLE

The Globe and Mail. 5 Jul 2017. Ontario tallies foreign home-buyer figures. Data since province began tracking citizenship show 4.7 per cent of purchasers in Greater Golden Horseshoe were from overseas
JILL MAHONEY
JUSTIN GIOVANNETTI



Nearly 5 per cent of homes sold in the Golden Horseshoe region were purchased by foreign buyers, according to a month’s worth of new data from the Ontario government that reveals the role international investors have played in the area’s overheated real estate market.
The government said on Tuesday that 4.7 per cent of properties that changed hands between April 24 and May 26 in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region were purchased by overseas buyers, offering a glimpse of market conditions. The province announced a foreign-buyers tax on April 20, but most of these sales were not affected by the levy because the contracts were signed before the announcement.
The data cover a wide geographic area that observers say distorts the degree of foreign ownership in the suburbs around Toronto, where it is believed to be more prevalent.
The government’s figure is in line with a survey of local realtors commissioned by the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB) last fall suggesting that 4.9 per cent of transactions involved international buyers in the previous year. TREB used its findings to argue against the introduction of a foreign-buyers tax.
Faced with an outcry over rapidly rising housing prices this spring, the Ontario government announced a package of changes intended to cool the Greater Toronto Area’s overheated real estate market. Among these was a 15-per-cent tax, known as the non-resident speculation tax, on residential properties bought by people who are not Canadian citizens or permanent residents, or by foreign corporations. The province also began collecting data on home buyers’ citizenship status.
On the day he unveiled the non-resident speculation tax, Ontario Finance Minister Charles Sousa mused that as many as 8 per cent of transactions might be by foreign investors. “This indicates to me that the degree of foreign buyers is not as intensive as many may have contemplated,” Mr. Sousa said on Tuesday.
However, the government’s number is close to what housing experts had forecast, so it should produce little reaction in the market, according to CIBC deputy economist Benjamin Tal. “This is almost to the decimal point what the market was expecting,” he said. »
Many industry observers believe the new housing measures have spooked prospective home buyers in the Greater Toronto Area.
According to the Toronto Real Estate Board, average prices in the GTA dropped 6 per cent in May compared with April. However, prices were still up 15 per cent compared with May of 2016 because of large price gains earlier this year. The organization is releasing figures for June on Thursday.
The foreign-buyers tax applies to residential properties purchased as of April 21 in the Greater Golden Horseshoe Region, a stretch of southwestern Ontario municipalities around the GTA from Niagara to Northumberland County.
The government’s overall figure of 4.7 per cent foreign buyers – which represents about 859 sales out of a total of 18,282 – in such a large area masks wildly different experiences, said John Pasalis, president of brokerage Realosophy Realty Inc. He said the number is likely much higher for some suburbs of Toronto, such as Markham and Richmond Hill, and extremely low in small towns.
“It’s skewing the story down,” he said.
“It’s impacting certain neighbourhoods or regions disproportionately.”
The Ontario government hasn’t yet analyzed the new housing data to know which regions might be seeing more foreign activity, according to Mr. Sousa. The housing data will now be released every quarter.
“We’re all trying to compile the information right now and I still would need, I think, a few more months to have some greater degree of comfort to know what our measures are doing,” Mr. Sousa said.
Vic Fedeli, the Progressive Conservative finance critic, said that the release of the data was overdue.
“I’m glad they now have some science because they made a decision based on a photo op. They didn’t have data, they rushed it out,”
Mr. Pasalis supports foreignbuyers taxes but said the Ontario government’s levy does not go far enough because of the multiple exemptions and rebates, including for overseas buyers who purchase properties through children attending university here.
“I don’t think it’s actually going to slow it down very much because they have so many exemptions in it that the only person who really qualifies is someone who has zero connection to Canada,” he said.
Josh Gordon, a professor at Simon Fraser University who researches Toronto’s housing market, said tracking property buyers’ citizenship does not adequately account for the overseas money that is flowing into the region and decoupling housing prices from the local labour market.
“This is just not a good measure of the influence of foreign capital, which is ultimately what we all want to understand, because a lot of it arrives through purchasers who will be permanent residents or citizens and that’s by far the greater share of foreign capital that arrives into a market,” he said. “The citizenship of the buyers is but a clumsy proxy for foreign capital.”
The Ontario foreign-buyers tax was modelled on one introduced in British Columbia last year after foreign buyers were blamed for driving up housing prices.
In B.C. last summer, Premier Christy Clark said data showing that foreigners bought one in every 10 homes in Metro Vancouver in a five-week period forced her government to implement a 15-per-cent tax on international buyers. The proportion of foreign buyers was higher in the suburbs of Burnaby and Richmond, with nearly one in five of all homes sold in those cities going to people from countries other than Canada. The rate for Vancouver proper was 11 per cent and 7 per cent across all of British Columbia.
After the B.C. tax went into effect, sales activity and residential real estate prices eased in the Greater Vancouver region, though the market has since picked up again.

BLOOMBERG. 4 July 2017. Foreigners Account for 4.7% of Home Sales in Toronto Region
By Katia Dmitrieva

• Ontario releases data on foreign buyers after imposing tax
• Estimates are in line with other real estate surveys

The Ontario government said overseas buyers accounted for just 4.7 percent of home purchases in the Toronto area over a recent one-month period. The new data is in line with other surveys, signaling that foreigners haven’t been major drivers of real estate prices in one of Canada’s most expensive markets.

Non-residents bought about 860 properties between April 24 to May 26 in the so-called greater golden horseshoe region of Ontario which includes Toronto, Hamilton and Peterborough, the province said in a statement Tuesday.

The finance and housing ministries began compiling the figures as part of a new housing plan announced in April meant to make homes more affordable and accessible for Canadian residents. One of the measures included a 15 percent levy as of April 21 on foreign investors buying residential property in Toronto and nearby cities.

“Ontario’s strong housing market is a reflection of our growing economy," Charles Sousa, the province’s minister of finance, said in a statement. “While this is great news for the province, the resulting increase in speculative purchases and a spike in home prices created affordability challenges for many and posed a risk to the market."

Toronto is the latest Canadian city to target non-resident buyers, who are often accused of driving up the price of homes by using them as an investments. Prices and sales in the city had been on a tear until early this year, prompting some to point to non-resident factors as a source of the heat. Vancouver last year imposed a 15 percent foreign buyer tax that preceded a slowdown of sales and price growth, though it was short-lived as the market picks up speed again. Both cities followed the lead by Australia, which forces offshore buyers to purchase through a separate buying program.

The Ontario data is in line with other foreign buyer figures from the government and other agencies. Canada Mortgage & Housing Corp. said in April last year that foreign buyers owned about 10 percent of all newly constructed condominiums. The Toronto Real Estate Board, relying on broker surveys, said it was closer to 5 percent for all property types.

“Early indicators show that the plan is working,” Sousa said.

________________

LGCJ.: