Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre are trading barbs over Canada’s growing housing crisis and if the matter is a federal responsibility.
The exchange was first sparked after Trudeau spoke on the issue in Hamilton, Ont. on Monday. Speaking with reporters at an affordable housing complex, Trudeau stated that housing is “something we can and must help with” but avoided taking responsibility for the increased cost of housing, saying that it’s “not a primary federal responsibility.”
The Prime Minister was in attendance to cut the ribbon on a housing complex where the average rent would be $1,400 a month, leading reporters to question him if this was the new standard for affordable living in Hamilton.
While speaking at a press conference in Ottawa on Tuesday, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre responded to the prime minister’s comments. “That’s funny because eight years ago he promised he was going to lower housing costs,” said Poilievre. “No wonder he wants to wash his hands of his horrendous and unprecedented record.”
In Hamilton, Trudeau also claimed that Polievre’s only plan to curtail the high cost of living was to cut programs, stoke Canadians’ fear and encourage their anger.
“His answer to everything is cuts and be angry,” said Trudeau. “That’s not Canada. That’s not how we build a stronger future. That’s not how we’ve gotten through the challenging times we’ve had in the past.”
In response, Poilievre said, “Justin Trudeau is upset that I am saying things are broken. Maybe he should stop breaking them,” the Conservative leader responded.
Trudeau has long since been outspoken on the issue of affordable housing, even before he was the Liberal Party Leader.
In 2008, while making his second-ever parliamentary comments, he said, “In my travels throughout my riding of Papineau, I heard time and time again how access to affordable housing is a major challenge for Canadian families … high housing costs mean young people and new Canadians cannot buy homes, which leads to increased pressure on existing affordable housing,”
It was also a campaign platform promise during the 2015 election. “We have a plan to make housing more affordable for those who need it most – seniors, persons with disabilities, lower-income families, and Canadians working hard to join the middle class,” said Trudeau.
However, at the onset of the Trudeau government, the cost of an average Canadian home has only skyrocketed. In 2015, the average cost of a home in Canada was $413,000, whereas now the Canadian Real Estate Association estimates that the average home cost sits at $702,409. An increase of almost 70% in seven years.
Those who rent are facing similar price hikes. When Trudeau first took office, the average rent prices for Canada’s largest 35 cities was $966 per month. In 2023, the average rent, according to Rentals.ca, suggests a median rent of $1,811 per month for a one-bedroom apartment.
While the federal government does not have direct control over housing costs as zoning and permitting are primarily decided at the municipal level, there are other decisions they can make to alleviate the stress put on the housing market.
Poilievre has campaigned on a promise to increase the Canadian housing supply by threatening to deny federal funding to municipal and provincial governments that can’t meet federal targets on home construction. One of which would be to, “require unaffordable big cities like Vancouver to increase homebuilding by 15 per cent annually or face big financial penalties and have portions of their federal funding withheld.”
Another factor adding to the rising cost of real estate is the Trudeau government’s immigration levels. Immigration has increased dramatically over the last several years resulting in over one million new residents entering Canada in 2022. Analysts, including Mortgage Advantage’s Robert Mogensen, argue that the government’s steep immigration targets has made it difficult for housing construction to keep up with the demand.
