Documents obtained by The Counter Signal reveal that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was informed by the Secretary of the Cabinet Janice Charette, that his immigration policy was directly causing the country’s housing affordability crisis.
In a classified memorandum dated June 24, 2022 and addressed directly to Justin Trudeau, Canada’s top bureaucrat placed the blame for the Canadian housing crisis squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister’s immigration policy.
“The purpose of this note is to provide you with an analytic summary of the report’s findings,” Charette began.
Documents show supply shortage is “key factor”
The memo informed Trudeau that Canada’s housing supply shortage is the “key factor” behind the affordability crisis, and the country’s homebuilding pace is woefully short of filling the gap by 2030.
“There is broad agreement among experts that homebuilding has been insufficient in comparison with housing demand in recent years, particularly with the increase in immigration since 2015,” referring to the year Trudeau took office.
Trudeau disregards warning
Five months after digesting this report, Trudeau released his 2023-2025 immigration targets, which not only disregarded the dire warning given to him, but instead accelerated the rate of immigration.
The Trudeau Liberals are on track to pack in 465,000 new permanent residents in 2023, 485,000 in 2024, and 500,000 in 2025.
The memo further stated that Trudeau’s homebuilding efforts were dramatically undeserving Canada’s needs. While national homebuilding did ramp up slightly in 2021, building 223,000 new units, the actual annual pace needed is 665,000 per year, “which would be significantly more ambitious” than what the Trudeau government is banking on in Budget 2022.
The secret document illustrates the Trudeau government’s unwillingness to listen to reason and act in the best interests of the country.
Housing supply worsening
“CHMC projects that the housing stock will grow by approximately 2.3 million between 2021 and 2030, and, when it incorporates economic factors alongside demographic factors, it projects that an additional 3.5 million additional housing units are needed beyond current projections to restore affordability.”
With the current government’s strategic plan, that number will not be met.
In 2022, Canada took in more newcomers than ever before, with 431,645 new permanent residents. The year prior, Canada also set a record, with 401,000 newcomers.
Under Trudeau housing availability has consistently deteriorated
Since Trudeau assumed office in 2015, Canada’s housing crisis has consistently deteriorated. Currently, the average home price stands at 8.9 times the median household income, exacerbating the existing housing supply shortage.
On July 31, Trudeau said he would try to help the housing situation but added “I’ll be blunt as well — housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility. It’s not something that we have direct carriage of.”
The Memo:
