RESCON has been making a lot of noise on many fronts

By Grant Cameron

March 9, 2026

Mahatma Gandhi, famous Indian lawyer, politician and activist, once proclaimed that, “The future depends on what you do today.”

If that’s the case, there should be good things in store for the residential construction industry.

RESCON has been making a lot of noise on a number of fronts - one being the push to reduce sales taxes for first-time buyers of new homes. Legislation before the Senate would result in a five-per-cent federal sales tax cut and trigger an eight-per-cent cut to the provincial portion.

Now, RESCON is asking that the Ontario government extend its cut to all new home buyers - not just first-timers - for a three-year period.

Such a move would preserve nearly 26,000 industry jobs, result in a marked improvement in housing starts and completions, and support roughly $3.9 billion of GDP to Ontario’s economy. Critically, the plan would also be statistically tax-neutral, which means it is not costing the government any money.

A report on the matter was prepared for RESCON by the Canadian Centre for Economic Analysis.

Disturbingly, the report warns that if no action is taken, Ontario stands to average 21,500 fewer housing starts every year over the next decade, compared to the recent 10-year average. That shortfall would account for approximately 390,000 fewer Ontarians being housed by 2035.

The report can be found here. RESCON president Richard Lyall did an interview on the report with Newstalk 1010.

Pre-budget submission

In a pre-budget submission, RESCON outlined a series of 10 actions the Ontario government should take to fix the housing crisis. They include expanding Ontario’s HST rebate to all new home purchasers, rolling back municipal development charges and changing the system, digitizing the approvals process, and supporting off-site construction methods.

In a Daily Commercial News column, Lyall noted that a recent Senate report and RESCON’s pre-budget submission appear to be strikingly aligned - and governments would be wise to take note.

We sent out a press release on the submission and Lyall wrote a column in Storeys that pointed out the urgency of the matter.

Articles on the submission ran in Daily Commercial News and Canadian Contractor.

Call for action

In numerous publications, we called on governments to take action to tackle the housing crisis.

A column in Canadian Forest Industries noted that the clock is ticking for governments to step up, while another in Senso Magazine warned that the residential construction industry is at a crossroads.

In a column in Canadian Real Estate Wealth, we explained why Ontario’s housing system needs a reset, and in a column  in Storeys we outlined how Ontario’s housing cost-to-income ratio is out of whack.

Articles on our point of view also ran in NRU GTHA, the Kincardine News, Canadian Rental Services, and the Ottawa Sun.

Cost of building

In a column in The Toronto Sun, Lyall pointed out how overly restrictive policies and regulations, slow approvals, excessive red tape and exorbitant taxes are contributing to the housing crisis and why half measures and incremental change will not cut it.

Multiplex housing

In a column in Canadian Real Estate Wealth, Lyall explained why the system must be tweaked to enable multiplex housing at scale.

Inclusionary zoning

RESCON came out in support of the provincial government’s proposal to pause Inclusionary Zoning requirements in Toronto, Mississauga and Kitchener. The rules force developers to include a certain percentage of affordable apartments in major housing projects near transit stations.

In a column in Real Estate Magazine Canada, and an article in BUILDING magazine, Lyall pointed out that IZ doesn’t work and only has a chilling effect on projects.

Tiebacks report

In a ReNew Canada article, RESCON sounded the alarm over a proposal to ban tiebacks in Ontario, noting that going that route would spike building costs, increase congestion around project sites, present significant health and safety challenges for workers, prolong construction schedules, and render more developments uneconomical.