Toronto Sun: 'In May 2019, Evan Siddall, who was then CMHC’s CEO, went looking for academics who could tell the government-owned company how best to take a percentage of the value of Canadians’ home sales.
'In an email, uncovered by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation through access to information in March 2021, Siddall admitted in 2019 “I like the idea.” He found the concept “very worthwhile.”
'Shortly after, CMHC gave $250,000 to a group of researchers based at the University of British Columbia to investigate possible home equity taxes.
'What made the Taxpayers Federation’s 2021 discovery so damning was that in July 2020 in response to criticism by Erin O’Toole, who was then a candidate for the Conservative leadership, Siddall had insisted – bare-faced – that CMHC was not funding such a study...'