text: Where was the head of the Royal Bank, all banks, CMHC, and our politicians when we, here in Vancouver, were calling for taxation - anything - to curb foreign speculation in our market?
  
  Oh right - they were all telling us that the foreign buyer demographic was so miniscule that taxing them could not possibly affect price and demand. It was all buyers from Alberta driving up price, millennials with boomer down payments, and all the high paid tech workers!
  
  The long term  effectiveness of the 15% tax is debatable,  especially now that the BC Liberals have just come up with exemptions like  foreign students who can now buy multi million dollar mansions and handfuls of condos (and really - what was up with that?  Why couldn't "students" be restricted to the purchase of one housing unit like a condo to live in,  like Australia does? 
  
  But hey - nice to know the big banks have learned something...maybe. Because we didn't hear a peep out of them in Vancouver for the longest time.