Higher housing supply, not lowering home prices, are the solution for Canada’s housing crisis, Canada’s new housing minister said on Wednesday.
Gregor Robertson, the former Vancouver mayor who was sworn in as housing minister in Prime Minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet on Tuesday, attended the first meeting of the new cabinet on Wednesday.
When asked by reporters if he thinks home prices need to go down, he told reporters: “No, I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable.”
Robertson said his work as housing minister will focus on building up supply of affordable housing in Canada.
“We need to be delivering more affordable housing. The Government of Canada has not been building affordable housing since the ’90s and we’ve created a huge shortage across Canada,” he said.
“That’s where the big need is right now and I’m very encouraged that the prime minister and our commitment right now in government is to double construction and focus on the affordable side.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday had blamed Robertson for high home prices in Vancouver.
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“If this is the new blood that Mr. Carney is bringing into that cabinet, then sadly for Canadians, nothing is going to change and the role of the Conservative Party will be more important than ever,” Poilievre said.
Carney was asked on Tuesday why Robertson, whose term as mayor saw property prices in Vancouver skyrocket, was the right choice for housing minister.
He was asked if the appointment was an indication that the government does not want property prices to go down.
“You would be very hard-pressed to make that conclusion,” Carney said in response.
“From everything I’ve said and what our priorities are, we have a strong view on housing, a very clear policy developed with a number of members of the team, including with Mr. Robertson. And I’m thrilled that he is in the new role because he brings the type of experience that we need to tackle some aspects of this problem.”
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau in September 2023 had said prices need to stop rising.
“I think one of the things that we know is that prices, house pricing, cannot continue to go up,” said Trudeau at the time. “It’s not fair to young people who feel like cities are turning their backs on them when housing is that expensive. Young people feel like cities don’t want them. They feel like they can’t succeed.“
Last year, though, Trudeau had also said housing needs to retain its value.
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