If a couple has both a city home and a cottage, are both treated as matrimonial homes for equalization purposes?

Potentially, yes. Ontario's Family Law Act doesn't limit matrimonial home status to a single property, so where a couple genuinely and ordinarily occupies both a city home and a cottage as family residences, each one can independently qualify as a matrimonial home, with the same protections and equalization treatment applying to both, rather than only the primary residence receiving special status.

For equalization purposes, this means both properties can lose the usual pre-marriage value deduction that would otherwise apply if either spouse owned one of them before the marriage, since that deduction generally doesn't apply to a matrimonial home regardless of how many a couple has. It also means both properties can require the other spouse's consent before being sold or encumbered while the marriage continues. Whether a specific cottage or second property actually meets the ordinary-occupation standard is a factual question, and a property used only occasionally or informally may not qualify the same way a home genuinely lived in for a substantial part of the year would. Couples who own more than one residence and are separating, or planning ahead, should get legal advice on how each specific property is likely to be classified, since assuming only one property counts can lead to real miscalculations.