Charlottetown, January 5, 2023 – “The PEI Government’s so-called plan to address the cost pressures faced by rental property owners is inadequate and a broken promise to the sector,” says Residential Rental Association of Prince Edward Island President, Parker Perry.
Since the King Government announced the 2023 rent freeze, Minister MacKay made repeated claims that a compensation plan would be introduced to offset the impact.
Modest property tax rebates announced yesterday are inadequate to compensate for the massive inflationary pressures faced by the rental sector. Inflation in PEI in 2022 was the highest in Canada, and the cost increases faced by rental property owners were validated by IRAC and the Department of Finance.
“Government has not kept its commitment that rental property owners would be compensated for the arbitrary freezing of rents at a time when property owners have faced record cost increases.”
“All Islanders can understand the analogy of a wage increase. Imagine an employee who has gone through an independent collective bargaining process and a wage increase was awarded. The employer turns around and cancels the increase, giving the employee a one-time payment that is nowhere near the annual wage increase that was awarded. This is exactly what the government has done to Island rental property owners and it is equally unfair.”