Canada remains in the grips of a historic housing crisis, one that is sure to be top of mind as voters gear up to elect a new Liberal leader to replace Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the wake of his January resignation.
The Liberal leadership race likely conclude after voters hit the booths on March 9, and the winner will assume the role of Prime Minister for a short period. But with a federal election set to occur sometime on or before October 25 of this year, the Liberal candidate that is elected could serve as Canada’s leader for years to come.
Given the gravity of the March 9 election, voters should have a clear idea of how the top contenders plan to tackle the nation’s housing crisis once elected.
The four official candidates include Mark Carney, Chrystia Freeland, Karina Gould, and Frank Baylis, but the most recent polls show Carney and Freeland at least 15% ahead of the next most popular candidate, former Hhuse leader Karina Gould. According to a poll from Mainstreet Research released on February 23, Carney is in the lead with 43% of the vote, followed by Freeland at 31%, Gould at 16%, and Baylis at 3%.
Due to the strong lead by Carney and Freeland, we’ll focus on how these two candidates in particular plan to put a dent in the housing file. Or a giant hole if possible.
Mark Carney
Mark Carney worked in finance before serving as the Governor of Bank of Canada during the 08′ financial crisis, which he is largely credited for guiding Canada through. He was also recruited to lead the Bank of England in 2013 to guide them through the mess that was Brexit. He’s an experienced banker, economist, and non-politician, and comes across as self-assured.
Carney has three goals when it comes to the housing crisis: build more homes, make those homes more affordable, and make homeownership more accessible. He plans to achieve these goals via a number of solutions.
To expand housing supply, Carney is pledging to double home construction through private investment, fund things like modular housing to speed up development, expand and accelerate training and apprenticeship programs for skilled trades, and work with provinces and municipalities to lower development fees, lift “outdated” zoning restrictions and, of course, cut red tape.
To improve affordability, Carney wants to eliminate the GST for first-time homebuyers on homes under $1 million, address the housing needs of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples, and support innovations that increase energy efficiency in homes like mass timber construction and low-carbon concrete.
To make homeownership more accessible to more Canadians, Carney intends to expand access to funding and low-interest loans from CMHC so that smaller builders can develop affordable housing and to double non-profit community housing, including co-op housing.
Carney has also said he will cap immigration “until it can be returned to a sustainable trend” and “fundamentally reform the tax system and incentives to catalyse building.”
Read Carney’s whole plan here.
Chrystia Freeland
Former-Journalist Chrystia Freeland held editorial positions at publications like the Financial Times, The Globe and Mail and Reuters before entering politics in 2013. Her most notable role was as Finance Minister under Trudeau from 2020 to December 2024. She’s undeniably intelligent and an experienced politician, but despite resigning Brutus-style from Trudeau’s cabinet in an attempt to distance herself from him, Freeland served under Trudeau for the entirety of his leadership and many associate her with the now unpopular leader.
Freeland has proposed a 10-point plan for tackling the housing crisis:
Similar to Carney, Freeland has pledged to tie immigration to housing development, cut development charges by restricting infrastructure funding to municipalities who fail to comply, build more co-ops and affordable housing, support modular housing innovation, and cut red tape to speed up housing permitting and construction.
On top of that, Freeland also wants to make homeownership more accessible by scrapping GST for first-time homebuyers, but her platform promises the exemption for home purchases worth up to $1.5 million, outdoing both Carney and PC Leader Pierre Poilievre.
Additionally, Freeland has said she will increase the Tax-Free First Home Savings Account annual contribution limit from $8,000 to $10,000, and the lifetime limit from $40,000 to $50,000, as well as bring back Rent-To-Own programs and give renters credit for on-time rent payments in order to help renters become homeowners.
Lastly, she has pledged to ban AI algorithms that use personal information to artificially raise rents, a scandal corporate landlords are currently being investigated for by the federal Competition Bureau.
Read Freeland’s whole plans here.