Canada’s Trudeau Is Proposing “Fixing” His Country’s Housing Bubble With Even More Government Intervention

Canadian liberal leader Justin Trudeau has proposed a new slate of measures aimed at helping Canadians buy a home during the post-Covid fueled housing boom that has priced many out of the market.

“We need to put an end to speculative housing growth,” Trudeau warned this morning.

Trudeau said Canada’s real estate market has fallen victim to “instability” and “uncertainty” which have led to “soaring prices, bidding wars, rampant speculation and too many vacant properties,” according to CBC. 

Stop us if you’ve heard this one before: the liberal leader said it’s a situation that “demands government intervention” to help people afford homes.  

Trudeau’s plan is going to include billions in new funding and measures to try and stop “flipping” homes. Such measures will including trying to block foreign nationals from buying homes for two years and new regulations to slow “exploitative” real estate agents. 

We’re sure the real estate industry will be thrilled to hear about the changes. 

The measures come ahead of the country’s September election and “when Canadians are telling pollsters that housing is one of the issues they care about most”, the report says.

Trudeau said this week: “If you work hard, if you save, that dream of having your own place should be in reach. But for too many people, it just isn’t — and that’s not right. You shouldn’t have to move far away from your job or school or family to afford your rent. You shouldn’t lose a bidding war on your home to speculators. It’s time for things to change.” 

Trudeau says that if the liberals are re-elected September 20, he’d introduce a first home savings account which would allow Canadians up to age 40 to save up to $40,000 toward their first home and withdraw it tax free when it is time to buy. He also proposed doubling the first time home buyers tax credit from $5,000 to $10,000. 

He also proposed that the government “force the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to slash mortgage insurance rates by 25 per cent,” the report said. 

And what would micromanaging an entire section of the economy be if the government didn’t have a hand in manipulating supply? The liberal leader has also promised to “build, preserve or repair 1.4 million homes in the next four years” by giving cities “new tools to speed up housing construction,” CBC reported.

His party will focus on reining in “abusive real estate practices”, including a new federal Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights would ban “blind bidding”.

And despite the fact that “much of what the Liberals propose in this bill of rights falls outside of the traditional limits of federal responsibility”, Trudeau will reportedly be looking at enforcing penalties under the criminal code and using taxation powers to enforce the new rules. 

One liberal party official concluded: “The Criminal Code is a vehicle through which the federal government could act on those things. But we have our eyes open to the fact that there will have to be some convening with the provinces, work with the provinces but there’s a lot of space for federal leadership.”

Conservative Leader Erin O’Toole fired back: “Mr. Trudeau’s had six years and he’s failed. The housing crisis has exploded in the last three, four years under his leadership. After six years of inaction, more hollow words today is not what Canadians deserve. They deserve a plan.”

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh added: “Housing has become more expensive. Renting has become more expensive. We can’t handle another four years of this.”