A Dutch multinational is lobbying Ottawa to lower the tax hit for international pension funds investing in Canadian real estate.

The Canadian lobbyist for Netherlands-based real estate investing firm Bouwinvest held several meetings earlier this month with officials from the Prime Minister’s Office, Finance Canada, the federal housing minister’s office and Natural Resources Canada, according to mandatory public disclosures in the federal lobbyist registry.

The meeting disclosures only offer up vague topics for what was discussed. But the firm’s lobbyist registration lists its only ask as “advocating for tax and regulatory changes to increase the viability of Dutch pension fund investment, particularly in the real estate sector.”

Crestview Strategy’s Stefano Holland registered with the federal lobbying commissioner’s office last year to lobby on behalf of the company, which oversees $17.8 billion Euros in assets.

In a post on its website, Bouwinvest said it’s calling for changes in Canada’s tax laws to “increase housing supply and attract stable, long-term capital.”

The firm said it’s proposing a “reciprocal framework for qualified pension investors would create a level playing field for Dutch and Canadian pension funds alike.”

“The proposed approach would support new investment in Canadian housing, infrastructure, energy transition and other real assets, while improving access for Canadian pension funds seeking opportunities in the Netherlands and Europe,” the company wrote.

Under the current rules, Bouwinvest said Dutch institutional pension capital can “face tax treatment in Canada of up to 26 per cent.”

The firm already has a footprint in Canada, investing in recent housing projects in Metro Vancouver. It said the “right framework would allow that model to scale further.”

“Canada is a highly attractive market with strong long-term fundamentals, and we want to continue growing our presence here,” Mark Siezen, CEO of Bouwinvest, said in the post.

“What we are proposing is practical and mutually beneficial: a reciprocal framework that supports housing delivery, strengthens economic ties between like-minded countries and creates new opportunities for both Dutch and Canadian pension funds.”

Bouwinvest recently partnered with several other firms to build mixed-use projects near major hospitals in Vancouver, with a specific focus on providing housing for health-care workers.

Under federal law, all consultant lobbyists — which captures those who work for an outside firm — must register with the commissioner’s office. Internal staff that lobby on behalf of their employer must register if that works makes up a significant part of their job.

The lobbyists also need to file a report with the commissioner when they communicate with public office holders.

Holland has filed 10 communication reports for his work for Bouwinvest, though six of those were all dated for June 15.

According to the reports, Holland discussed Bouwinvest’s ask on that day with the finance minister’s policy director Varun Srivatsan and Matthew O’Connell, the Finance Department’s deputy director for financial sector policy.

The reports also indicate discussions on the same day with the housing minister’s policy director Mary-Liz Power, the energy minister’s chief of staff Eammon McGuinty and Shawn Grover, a senior advisor in the Prime Minister’s Office, among others.

When reached on Wednesday, a spokesperson for the Finance Department wouldn’t give a sense of whether there was any support for Bouwinvest’s proposed changes, but noted that Canada has an active tax treaty with the Netherlands that works to avoid double taxation and promote trade and investment.

“The Government continually reviews the tax and benefit system and it would be inappropriate to speculate on any potential or prospective changes,” Marie-France Faucher said in a statement.

Bouwinvest didn’t immediately provided a response to questions when reached by iPolitics on Wednesday.

The lobbying push highlights the different tax treatment for institutional real estate investors in Canada.

Investments made by Canadian pension plans are exempted from income taxes as long as they remain part of the plan.

For foreign institutional investors, Ottawa hits them with a 25 per cent withholding tax, though this depends on the location of the pension fund as some countries have specific tax treaties with Canada that lower this rate.

Silas Xuereb, a policy analyst and economist with the Canadians for Tax Fairness, said favouring domestic pension funds makes sense because it encourages them to invest in Canada.

This means that Canadians can “have more control over what we invest in and ensure that pension capital fills the needs of Canadians, as opposed to the interests of foreign capital,” he said in an email.

Xuereb said Canadian pension funds aren’t short on cash — they collectively manage an estimated $4.5 trillion in assets. The problem, he explained, is that they’re not spending in this country, with three-fourths of the investments made by the eight biggest funds located outside of Canada.

“Instead of providing more tax breaks, which are an unproven way to stimulate investment, we should require our own pension funds to invest more within Canada,” he said.

“We can even ask them to invest in needed sectors, such as in affordable housing which is sorely needed to alleviate our housing crisis.”

Xuereb said the Netherlands is “widely regarded as a tax haven and providing tax breaks through bilateral treaties is known to contribute to the abuse of tax havens,” and urged Canada to instead “negotiate international tax issues through the UN Tax Convention instead of bilateral treaties.”

NDP parliamentary leader Don Davies said Canada’s biggest housing issue isn’t supply, but rather affordability. And big corporate investors like real estate investment trusts or REITs are only making matters worse.

“We don’t really have a housing crisis. We have an affordable housing crisis, and that’s a key distinction. There’s not a shortage of the kinds of product that wealthy people or investors may want,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

“It’s not that we have a lack of supply — we have a lack of affordable housing supply.”

Davies urged Canadian pension plans to spend more within their own borders to spur major affordable housing projects that their rivals like Bouwinvest would have no interest in pursuing.

This debate all comes as Ottawa faces an impending deadline on the future of its foreign home buyer ban. This ban, which first went into place in 2023, must regularly be renewed for a two-year term.

The current ban is set to expire on Jan. 1.

Realtors in Canada’s largest housing market are calling for an “incremental approach” to lifting the ban that would open the door for foreign ownership of some new build homes.

Toronto Regional Real Estate Board CEO John DiMichele said in a statement to iPolitics that foreign buyers should only be allowed to participate in “new developments that directly increase housing supply,” specifically larger housing types such as multi-bedroom units, townhomes and multiplexes.

He said it was important to dissuade foreign ownership of “smaller speculative condominiums,” but proposed a targeted exemption for condo units that remain unsold within a year or so after release.

Compared to when the ban was first introduced, DiMichele said market conditions “have changed significantly,” with prices and sales numbers falling, deterring new housing construction.

“Allowing foreign purchasers to absorb unsold new inventory would help stabilize the development pipeline, support construction activity, and reduce the risk of cancelled projects, while minimizing impacts on Canadian buyers,” he said.

DiMichele said he supported keeping the ban in place for resale properties because it would “improve presale absorption and project financing while limiting speculative demand.”

Housing expert Mike Moffatt offered a similar take, calling the existing ban “not particularly well designed.”

If it’s not scrapped, he said Ottawa should follow the lead of Australia and include an “exemption for new homes.”

Davies said the ban is already having an impact in Metro Vancouver, with thousands of condos originally built for foreign investors now sitting empty, helping to drive down prices.

The problem, he said, is the Carney government is blunting the impact by walking back other measures targeting the financialization of housing, citing the recent repealing of the Trudeau-era vacant housing tax.

“I’m not praising the Trudeau government — I don’t think they went anywhere nearly as far as they should have. But but the small steps that they did take that were helpful seem to be being rejected by the current Carney government,” said Davies, who represents a Vancouver riding.

“I think that’s just going to reignite the housing crisis, just when it was starting to maybe soften up a bit.”