Canada On Verge Of Housing Crisis Due To Liberal Inaction, Poilievre Warns
Adedokun Waliyu
2 min read
Government inaction on housing is leading Canada towards an unprecedented crisis, Canada’s Opposition leader warns.
Speaking Tuesday from a residential construction site in Brampton, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre said inaction by the Mark Carney Liberals on homebuilding is sparking an unrecoverable cycle of layoffs, unemployment and withering-away of skilled trades — leaving Canada with a devastating shortage of skilled workers.
“The Canadian Home Builders’ Association says that 35% of their members are already laying people off,” Poilievre said.
“The Residential Construction Council (of Ontario) says that the sector is already laying off thousands of people, and that’s happening mostly in the Greater Toronto Area, where unemployment is already facing near-record highs.”
He also pointed to 106,000 jobs lost over the summer, giving Canada the second-worst unemployment numbers in the G7.
“If these trades workers lose their jobs, we may never get them back,” Poilievre said.
“They will have to move to find work, they may leave the housing sector altogether, and then three years from now, the housing shortage will be even worse than it is right now.”
Liberal Leader Mark Carney greets supporters inside a Georgetown pub during a campaign stop on Monday, March 31, 2025, in Halton Hills, Ont. The major party leaders continue campaigning across the country as Canadians prepare to go to the polls April 28, 2025.
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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre waves during a campaign stop speaking to the International Longshoremen’s Association in Halifax on Wednesday, April 23, 2024.
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Poilievre described the situation as “triple-crisis,” owing to most Canadians being priced out of home ownership, prices too low to encourage owners to sell, and builders unable to build homes.
Instead of government plans to increase home building, Poilievre said they only need to do one thing.
“Get out of the way,” he said.
“We have great homebuilders who know how to build homes — the only thing they need is permission, but they can’t get it because of slow bureaucracy.”
Pointing to the Liberals’ lifting much of their 2025 election platform from Conservative policy points, Poilievre said he’s encouraging the government to do more of the same.
“We’re actually going to propose solutions,” he said.
“As we go back to Parliament, we want Mark Carney and the Liberals to steal our best ideas so that we can reverse the damage that they have done.”
