Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is pressuring Canada’s provinces to remove barriers to building more housing, including requiring them to freeze municipal development charges and allow up to four units on every lot.
But as Trudeau’s government sinks in the polls, the prime minister is attempting to relieve Canada’s sky-high housing prices by boosting construction—and to put the spotlight back on provincial and municipal governments, which control most of the direct policy levers on housing. The new provincial infrastructure money will be earmarked for “critical housing infrastructure” such as water, wastewater, stormwater, and solid waste infrastructure, the news release said.
Ontario Housing Minister Paul Calandra’s office said the provincial government needs to see the details of the proposal. “However, we know that local municipalities know their communities best and don’t believe in forcing them to build where it doesn’t make sense,” a spokesperson said in an e-mailed statement.