The looming holidays are a tough time to get filler anecdotes, so the kid who wrote the piece (a page at the legislature half decade ago, and a bike mechanic 2 yrs ago), finds a sociologist (expert on real estate?) who is certain that the program benefits only people who vote Liberal. So this is not vote-buying for the re-election in 19 weeks, it's a pay off? Hilarious.

This is a modest, voluntary program, non-mandatory, you can skip it. The Gov't has a huge bank of revenue from the (Foreign) APTTax, has overloaded BC Housing with cash and can't create social housing fast enough.  In 2015, BC collected $1.5 billion in PPT, before the 15% surcharge. Shortly after they brought in the new tax, they rec’d $500 million more than anticipated. Finally, there are dozens of factors that go into determining housing finance, no one can isolate one and say it was a deal-maker or deal-breaker. 

If it was true that these experts could predict the future with accuracy, they wouldn't need day jobs.