Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s housing bill was defeated in the House of Commons in a second-reading vote.
The Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Québécois voted against the legislation 203 to 117 on Wednesday.
Poilievre introduced the bill in September in response to the housing crisis. The Building Homes Not Bureaucracy Act aimed to speed up the construction of housing to alleviate the ever growing housing shortage.
The Conservatives blasted the “Liberal-NDP coalition” for blocking a bill they say “would’ve built the homes that Canadians desperately need.”
“These are common sense solutions that will address the housing crisis Justin Trudeau has created in this country,” the party said in a statement. “But the Liberal-NDP coalition are no longer listening to Canadians. Only a common sense Conservative Government will bring homes that Canadians can afford.”
The potential legislation would have rewarded Canadian municipalities that vastly exceed their housing targets by granting them money reallocated from the federal government’s Housing Accelerator Fund.
Major cities, such as Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, would see their housing targets increased annually by 15% and be funded by money set aside for federal infrastructure with specific amounts allocated based on each city’s targets.
Municipalities could have also become eligible to receive money from a $100 million pot if they “greatly exceed housing targets,” stated the bill.
Another stipulation for cities to receive funding under the bill would have been that they “not unduly restrict or delay the approval of building permits for housing.” If an “eligible person who has reasonable grounds” to suggest that building permits have been prolonged or prohibited, they would be able to submit a complaint to the federal government.
Executives who didn’t meet their housing targets or have applications for new housing construction treated within an average 60 day period, would have been liable to be punished by having their bonuses withdrawn.
Housing affordability has been a staple among Poilievre’s promises if elected, and one that appears to be resonating with Canadians as the Conservatives hold a substantial lead over the Liberals in a number of opinion polls.
To meet the Trudeau government’s current housing targets, which include building almost four million new houses by 2031, Canada would have to build just over one house every minute up until that deadline.
The ambitious plan laid out in the Liberals’ 2024 budget said that the goal of 3.87 million new homes would include 2 million net new homes on top of the 1.87 million homes expected to be built by 2031.
Between 2015 and 2023, Canadian housing starts were anywhere from 195,535 to 271,198 per year, averaging 225,104 houses built per year, according to Statistics Canada.
Between 2022 and 2023, housing starts fell by over 21,000 units.
Based on the current average, the Liberals won’t even accomplish their goal of the 1.87 million homes expected to be built by 2031, let alone the 2 million new homes.
To accomplish his goal, Trudeau would have to find a way to build over 65.84 houses per hour and 1.096 houses per minute.
