Questions and responses 45th Parliament, 1st session May 26, 2025, to present

With regard to the goods and services tax new housing rebate for a new or substantially renovated house used as a primary residence: (a) how many homeowners applied for the rebate, broken down by year since 2017; (b) how many first-time home buyers applied for the rebate, broken down by year since 2017; (c) what is the breakdown of (a) by those whose property was a new build versus an existing home; and (d) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by province or territory?

With regard to the government's elimination of the goods and services tax for first-time home buyers on new homes up to $1 million and the reduction of the goods and services tax for first-time home buyers on new homes between $1 million and $1.5 million: (a) as of what transaction date does this tax measure come into effect; and (b) will this measure be done through a refund system, or will first-time home buyers be exempt or subject to a reduced tax rate at the time of purchase?

With regard to the First-time home buyers' goods and services tax/harmonized sales tax rebate, since the program came into force and broken down by province and territory: (a) how many applications have been received; (b) how many applications have been approved; (c) how many applications have been denied; (d) what is the total value of rebates paid; (e) what is the average value of rebates paid; (f) how many applications are currently under review or awaiting a decision; (g) what is the average processing time for completed applications; and (h) what is the fiscal cost of the program to date, in total and broken down by type of cost?

With regard to the goods and services tax rebate for first-time home buyers: (a) how many homeowners applied for the rebate, broken down by year since 2017; (b) what is the breakdown of (a) by those whose property was a new build versus an existing home; and (c) what is the breakdown of (a) and (b) by province or territory?

With regard to election security and the amendments made to the Canadian Elections Act, as proposed in Part 4 of Bill C-4, An Act respecting certain affordability measures for Canadians and another measure: (a) was the initial decision to pursue the amendments made in response to (i) the ongoing litigation proceeding in British Columbia regarding whether federal political parties are subject to provincial privacy legislation, (ii) the decision of Delegate Loukidelis dated March 1, 2022, (iii) the decision of Justice Weatherill of the British Columbia Supreme Court dated May 14, 2014, (iv) the British Columbia Office of the Information and Privacy Commissioner's pending investigation of the federal political parties; (b) what are the details of how the initial decision to pursue the amendments to the Canadian Elections Act was made, including (i) the date on which the policy direction to pursue these amendments was first approved, (ii) the ministers, ministerial offices, departments or central agencies that authorized proceeding, (iii) whether the amendments were developed in response to concerns related to election integrity, foreign interference, or data-driven campaign practices, (iv) why the similar amendments already made to the Canadian Elections Act via Bill C-47, from the first session of the 44th Parliament, were considered inadequate; (c) what are the details of the policy development pathway, including (i) summaries of any briefing notes, options analyses, or interdepartmental memoranda, (ii) identification of any alternative approaches that were considered and rejected, (iii) any consideration of options that would have subjected political parties to independent privacy oversight or enforceable data-protection standards; (d) which actors influenced the final approach adopted and how, including (i) the names of any political parties, campaign organizations, data-analytics firms, or other external advisors, that provided input, (ii) the nature of each actor’s input, (iii) which, if any, of these actors raised concerns regarding data access, targeting capabilities, or regulatory constraints; (e) was the lack of independent cybersecurity oversight identified as a potential national security risk; (f) were any independent officers of Parliament or oversight bodies, including the Privacy Commissioner of Canada, the Chief Electoral Officer, or officials responsible for election-security and foreign-interference mitigation, consulted, and if not, why; and (g) is the government doing anything to address the concerns raised by the Commissioner of Canada Elections, in their brief submitted to the Standing Committee on Finance on October 20th, 2025, including concerns about (i) lack of enforcement powers, (ii) lack of resources to enforce the provisions, (iii) lack of clarity regarding the provisions’ scope?