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“I am not a speculator,” says Michelle Kralt.

Eleven years ago, Kralt inherited a two-bedroom bungalow in Sidney, B.C., a suburb of Victoria. Kralt was taking a master’s degree in nursing. Her husband was a medical student. They had a new baby. They’d had to leave British Columbia to pursue their degrees. The house meant the couple could regularly to visit their parents, who lived in Victoria.

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Two years ago, her husband died, leaving her a widow with three small children.

Kralt, 44, works and lives in Edmonton. But she visits the Sidney bungalow several times a year to see her friends and family.

But British Columbia’s proposed new “speculation tax” has Kralt worried she could lose her house, which has doubled in value.

“I may not be able to hang onto it,” she says. “I’m scared. I’m not a wealthy oilman who’s going around buying up properties to flip. I’m a single mom. I’m a widowed nurse. And I don’t know how I’ll be able to afford this.”

Kralt is far from the only Albertan upset by B.C.’s proposed levy. The new tax will apply to homes in B.C.’s hottest urban real estate markets, including Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo and Kelowna. It applies to any houses, cottages, or condos left unoccupied for at least six months a year.