In Canada exemption from CGT only, and
ONLY applies if the residential dwelling is owned as a "principal residence'. There is no silly 'Bright Line Test' that we have in NZ on multiple ownership of houses. But the article makes no mention of the NZ residential market because in the past i've posted this before:
https://i.imgur.com/4GMUvHT.jpg
There's high housing prices in Canada... and then there's silly stupid, out of this world, high housing prices in New Zealand where it's many multiples of disposable income. Look closely at the chart and you will see Canadian house prices are really not that different to other OECD nations. But somehow the NZ line is excessively high at the top. I do not see this changing much as the vast majority of NZ's wealth by individuals, is locked into owning real estate.
Then there's an issue of banking quality that the article mentions, but unlike NZ, banks in Canada are regulated differently and have strong stress testing measures. When there's an alarm, then you get articles like this to warn share holders and the gov'ts in a case of insolvency. However, Canada does not have much of a record of bank bankruptcies like you see in the US, all due to strict gov't regulations and limits to how they and issue mortgages (along with restrictions on how foreign banks can conduct business in Canada vs NZ most of our banks here are foreign owned). You have mandatory CDIC deposit insurance in Canada, while there's none in NZ.
I'll repeat again, it's often healthy to have losses by those to leverage too much. But in NZ, there's a different kind of leverage as the banks here know that NZ houses don't collapse like they do in America. The continual, gradual, rising of NZ houses only makes the top 1% attain more wealth, while the general population OVERALL ; ends up OVER paying for a house. By all means, please look over in Canada and compare. In a new suburb big city, what a $2M house in Auckland say North Shore buys you compared to say the same $2M house in Surrey Vancouver. Not only the Canadian house is 1.5 - 2 times LARGER, but the streets are wider, more parking spots, safer against children riding their bicycles up and down the street, more efficient urban planning by use of alley ways (for future 'Lane House - 2nd dwelling' development). But the minute a person looks to buy their 2nd house as an investment, well i'm afraid the tax book is thrown at you. If you're rich and wealthy, your vacation home in Vancouver will be slapped with a Vacancy Tax. If you're a non-resident buying a house in Canada, how about a 20% tax on the purchase price? (psst. that's $400,000 you pay on a $2M home). The non-resident person buying NZ houses does not see any of these taxes, in fact, NONE at all. But it does not have to be this way ; yet none of the NZ political parties have the guts to balance our housing problem with CGT.
Another thing. Unlike NZ, in Canada you can get a 15 or 20 year mortgage LOCKED in FIXED rate. This means for many if they mortgaged 2 or 3 years ago, they could be leap frogging the recent high mortgage rates we see today.