Liberals say Poilievre ‘doesn’t care’ about the housing shortage and mock his record
Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Monday that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre doesn’t really care about building more homes and is just whipping up “fear” and “anxiety” in order to get elected.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a housing conference in Ottawa, Fraser said it’s “frustrating” to see Poilievre pitch policies that “prey on the anxieties of people who are very worried” about buying a home without “actually offering solutions.”
Fraser recently released a three-minute video on social media. It blasts Poilievre’s plan as a poor imitation of what the government is already doing to tackle a crisis that has left homes out of reach for many Canadians.
The video, entitled “Pierre doesn’t care,” is similar in style to one Poilievre released earlier on the same topic. The video goes after the Tory leader’s record as housing minister in the last Conservative government.
It’s a sign that the Liberal government is starting to fight back against Poilievre, who has led his party to a commanding lead in the polls. Poll aggregator 338 Canada suggests the Conservatives enjoy an 18-point lead nationwide. Poilievre has made housing a central plank of his policy playbook.
Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser accused the Conservatives of ‘talking a big game to inspire a sense of fear or anxiety amongst the Canadian public.’ On Saturday, Fraser posted a video to social media saying Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre ‘doesn’t care about building more homes.’
Poilievre has released a relatively detailed housing plan built around a program that would tie federal funding for municipalities to housing starts.
Under his proposal, cities would have to increase the number of homes built by 15 per cent each year. Municipalities that fail to meet that target would see their federal grants withheld at a commensurate rate.
The Conservative plan also would make a $100 million fund available to cities that greatly exceed the target.
Fraser said that’s a lot less than the government’s existing $4 billion housing accelerator fund, which sends money to cities that cut housing-related red tape and allow more homes to be built on a particular plot of land.
The government has cut dozens of deals with cities using the accelerator fund — agreements that Ottawa maintains will create hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide in the coming years.
Fraser also told conference attendees Monday that Ottawa will ramp up its low-interest construction loan program — an initiative that will give developers access to cheaper cash if they build more homes.
He suggested there may be more funding for this program in the upcoming federal budget.
It’s a program that doesn’t necessarily cost Ottawa any money — the expectation is that the loans will be paid back with interest — but it leverages the government’s superior credit rating to get more privately built homes on the market.
Citing Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) data, Fraser’s social media video said that housing starts during Poilievre’s tenure were lower than in any year of the Liberal government.
“He wasn’t very good at it and I’m not sure he even cared,” Fraser said, while also criticizing the previous government’s track record on affordable housing and apartment construction.
“Pierre’s plan isn’t going to solve the housing crisis because Pierre doesn’t care about the people it impacts most,” Fraser said. “The thing Pierre cares about most is Pierre.”
Poilievre and Fraser routinely spar in the House of Commons over the housing issue.
Poilievre has blamed Fraser for the surge in international students during his time as immigration minister, while Fraser has said the Tory leader isn’t up to the task of governing.
Poilievre has called Fraser “the minister of photo-ops and media puff pieces.” He’s routinely called him “incompetent.”
In Fraser’s Nova Scotia, homeless encampments have popped up in Halifax in places where they never were before — something Poilievre has cited as an indictment of the Liberals’ housing record.
“Trudeau told us that media darling Sean Fraser would reverse the Liberal housing crisis. What happened? Housing photo ops are up 100 per cent. Home building is down 7 per cent in 2023,” Poilievre said in a social media post.
Poilievre is right about that last figure — the CMHC’s January report found that housing starts were down seven per cent in 2023 compared to the year before.
There were 223,513 units recorded last year, compared to 240,590 in 2022, according to CMHC data.
That drop is likely attributable to higher interest rates — the Bank of Canada’s hikes to tame inflation have made it more expensive to build anything.
But there were some bright spots in two of the country’s largest cities, despite the challenging interest rate environment.
Housing starts were 5 per cent and 28 per cent higher than in 2022 in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, the CMHC said.
Speaking to reporters at the same housing conference Fraser attended, acting president and CEO of CMHC Michel Tremblay said there’s a “dire need” for more supply to restore housing affordability.
CMHC projects the country needs to build 3.5 million more housing units by 2030 to meet explosive demand as the country’s population expands, thanks in part to record immigration.
“That number is quite daunting,” Tremblay said.
