VICTORIA - As the legislature convened for the afternoon sitting one day this week, the third presence in the house, Green party leader Andrew Weaver, got to his feet with a couple of suggestions for the government to get a handle on the runaway real estate market.

The first was legislation to require the folks who purchase properties to disclose their citizenship and place of residence, whether here, elsewhere in Canada or a foreign country.

Weaver noted how when controversy arose last year over the forces driving real estate speculation in Metro Vancouver, “the government came out with a number of documents purporting that foreign investment wasn’t a factor. These studies were vague and lacked any links to clear, rigorous evidence that supported the claim.”

His proposed private member’s bill, by restoring and toughening a disclosure provision that was in the Land Title Act before 1998, would provide certainty where only anecdotal evidence exists today.

“To be clear, this bill is not about identifying what specifically is driving housing prices to unsustainable rates, but, rather, to ensure that the government is informing itself so any future policy measures are based on a better understanding of what is happening with our provincial real estate industry.”

Then, during the afternoon question period, Weaver floated a further suggestion for the government to protect its revenue stream from the real estate sector by closing a loophole that allows the transfer of ownership within so-called bare trusts without payment of the property transfer tax.

“I speak to real estate developers, I have spoken to mortgage lenders, and I know that this loophole is being used in British Columbia for speculative purposes and to avoid paying property transfer tax,” declared Weaver.

“Will the Minister of Finance introduce legislation to close the loophole — that we are the only province in the country that still allows to exist — by following the lead of Ontario to actually apply the property transfer tax upon change in beneficial ownership instead of change in title? And if not, why not?”

Reacting for the government, Finance Minister Mike de Jong was a study in guarded enthusiasm for both of Weaver’s proposals.

“The idea that is captured within the private member’s bill that he has tabled earlier today” — adding the disclosure requirement to the land title act — “has merit and relates to the need and the advisability of beginning by ensuring that we have a reliable database that tells us more about what is taking place in the market.”

As for the other matter raised by Weaver, the finance minister readily conceded that the Green leader knew whereof he spoke — the loophole was being used here in B.C. to circumvent payment of the property transfer tax.

“I acknowledge that the unregistered transferring of interests in real property in British Columbia does have an impact,” de Jong advised the house. “It also does have an impact on the amount of property transfer tax and the mechanism by which we collect the property transfer tax.”