It will take years to resolve the affordable housing crisis that is hurting the Canadian government’s popularity even as construction activity reaches its highest level in 80 years, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland said Saturday.
His comments were among the first from a senior member of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberal government to acknowledge the scale of the challenge. Polls show the Liberals lagging behind their Conservative rivals, who blame Ottawa for high inflation and rising real estate prices.
Housing is primarily the responsibility of the ten provinces and major municipalities, with Ottawa’s role limited to policy advice and financial incentives.
“All of us — the federal and provincial governments, cities, the private sector and nonprofits — must work together for a common cause, not for weeks or months, but for years,” he said. Free country.
“Building the housing that a growing Canada needs will require another major national effort,” she said at a conference in Montreal, adding that the country should build housing at a rate and scale not seen since the 1940s and 1950s was no longer achieved.
To increase supply, the government announced it would eliminate the 5 percent federal excise tax on the construction of new rental housing and ask cities to do more to address the problem.
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