Trudeau Claims Housing “isn’t a primary federal responsibility”

Apparently, nothing is Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s responsibility. 

Just today Trudeau claimed (while wearing a bandage on his forehead for some reason)  that “housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility” without a hint of irony based on his contribution to soaring housing prices. 

While Trudeau may think he can get away with the technicality that housing is not a responsibility of the federal government, after years of dramatically increased immigration rates, and massive spending by the federal government, fueling inflation, it has become a federal issue.

Trudeau likely used his ‘not my responsibility’ comment to soften any criticism of his strange plan to spend $64 million in the City of Hamilton to fix up 214 homes, which is likely foreshadowing the announcement of similar spending in other cities. 

Not only is this ineffective, it’s counterproductive. 

Canadians don’t need the federal government to turn into renovators, they need the government to cut taxes, reduce spending, curb immigration, and allow the housing market to recover organically from the sky-high prices. 

If anyone remembers, the Liberals 2015 platform included an “affordable housing plan” that touted it was going to such things as:

• Prioritize significant new investments in affordable housing and seniors’ facilities, as part of the Liberals’ historic ten-year investment of nearly $20 billion in social infrastructure

• Provide $125 million per year in tax incentives to increase and substantially renovate the supply of rental housing across Canada;

• Finance the construction of new, affordable rental housing for middle- and low-income Canadians;

• Inventory all available federal lands and buildings to see what could be repurposed, and make it available at low cost for affordable housing in communities where there is a pressing need;

• Modernize the existing Home Buyers’ Plan so that it helps more Canadians finance the purchase of a home; and

• Review escalating home prices in high-priced markets – like Vancouver and Toronto – to keep home ownership within reach for Canadians living in these areas.

The half of the plan that isn’t just throwing subsidies at home buyers and developers isn’t that bad, but has anyone noticed significant increases in home building in the 905 or Vancouver? 

Since 2015, the Liberals have focused on helping people finance homes but have not helped enable the supply of housing to increase. At the same time, immigration rates are creating a seller’s market where buyers are at a steep disadvantage due to the small supply of homes on the market. 

So while Trudeau may believe he can slip out the back door by claiming housing “isn’t a primary federal responsibility” he has made it his responsibility through his bad policy on other fronts. The problem is that if Justin Trudeau does try and tackle the housing issue he will no doubt double down on his big government subsidy plan, not the tax relief and immigration reforms needed to solve the problem