Weeks after Ontario’s finance minister offered first-time home buyers a new tax discount, Premier Doug Ford is doubting how effective the policy will be in reigniting the province’s sluggish housing construction sector.

In early November, the province announced it would waive the provincial portion of the HST for new homes under $1 million, mirroring the federal plan announced in the Carney government’s November budget.

The combined incentives, the province said, would save prospective first-time homebuyers up to $130,000 off the cost of a new home.

Limiting the policy to first-time home buyers, however, appears to be a sticking point between the person who runs the government and the person in charge of the government’s spending plan.

As Ford spoke about affordability measures during

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