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We consistently hear the Trudeau government’s rhetoric about helping the middle class, and people trying to join the middle class. When you ask Canadians, they say one of the defining characteristics of the middle class is home ownership. So why do governments keep making middle-class home ownership harder?

Recently, a key interest rate went up, making it harder for thousands of Canadians to own a home or upgrade to a larger one when the kids come along. I’m not talking about the Bank of Canada rate, or the rate banks actually charge for mortgages, but an imaginary rate the federal government simply invented to restrict access to mortgages.

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Beginning Jan. 1, families getting mortgages with down payments over 20 per cent must prove they could pay a theoretical interest rate that is two percentage points higher than what they actually negotiated with their lenders. When actual rates go up — as they did last week — this imaginary “stress test” rate automatically goes up too, so it’s always two points higher. For practical purposes, homebuyers just saw their purchasing power slashed by about 20 cents on the dollar.