After nine years, Justin Trudeau and his Ministers continue to tour the country re-announcing broken promises in useless photo-ops. Trudeau has doubled housing costs, rent costs and mortgage costs, and new Statistics Canada data shows no sign of relief on the horizon for struggling Canadians.

The CHMC has said that we need to build 5.8 million homes to restore housing affordability in Canada, but just as we desperately need to get building, housing starts are way down yet again. Housing starts across the country are down 9% year-over-year, and multi-unit starts in particular are down 11%. In Toronto, starts in April 2024 were 38% lower than they were in April 2023. In Vancouver, where over 100% of the median household income is needed just to cover housing costs, starts are down 30% year-over-year and 7% year-to-date. This follows bad news on housing permits earlier this week, a devastating report on rental costs last week, and a worrying report from the Bank of Canada on increasing mortgage costs earlier this month.

Trudeau’s own housing agency has also made clear that Canadians should not expect this trend to change any time soon, with housing starts expected to stay lower through 2024, 2025 and 2026 than they were last year.

Justin Trudeau’s policies are not working, and his failing Housing Minister, Sean Fraser, seems intent to create as much of a mess of the housing file as he did of Canada’s immigration system before. Tens of billions of dollars are being sent out from Ottawa, but housing starts are decreasing and homes continue to get less and less affordable, regardless of whether you are a renter, aspiring homebuyer, or a homeowner staring down a 60% mortgage increase as a result of Justin Trudeau’s inflationary spending driving up interest rates.

Canadians deserve better. Only Common Sense Conservatives will build the homes Canadians can afford.