When asked by a reporter about the doubling of housing costs since he became Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau responded by blaming everything and everyone but himself.

“In 2015 when you became Prime Minister, the average house in Hamilton was about $334,000. 2024, it’s $850,000 — beyond the reach of many people. What happened? How did governments let this happen?”

The Prime Minister blamed the Harper Government from nine-plus years ago, and when Pierre Poilievre was the housing minister.

“Decisions taken by governments of all stripes over decades have led to this moment, particularly the previous government, in which Pierre Poilievre was actually housing minister that explicitly said that the federal government should have absolutely nothing to do with building affordable housing.”

Immigration policy contributed to the housing crisis, Trudeau told

Trudeau did not mention the fact that his immigration policy has far outpaced the housing supply in Canada, despite receiving a classified memorandum dated June 24, 2022 that explicitly attributed the crisis to just that.

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,” it read, referring to the year Trudeau took office.

Moreover, last year the Bank of Canada Deputy Governor, Toni Gravelle, also linked Canada’s housing crisis with the Trudeau Government’s immigration policy, stating that the surge in immigration has far outpaced the growth in housing supply, and thus contributed to inflation.

Immigration has doubled, too

Five months after digesting the 2022 memo, Trudeau released his 2023-2025 immigration targets, which not only disregarded the warning given to him, but instead accelerated the rate of immigration.

The Trudeau Liberals have more than doubled Canada’s annual immigration numbers since the pre-2015 Harper Conservative Government, and aim to pack in 485,000 newcomers in 2024, and another 500,000 in 2025, and 500,000 in 2026.

Despite the warnings, the federal Liberals have since said that Canada’s housing affordability situation is aligned with—and requires— their mass immigration plan of 500,000 newcomers per year, namely in terms of labour needs.

Canadians want less immigration, blame it on housing crisis

But Canadians aren’t all convinced, at least according to a recent Leger poll that shows a significant shift in Canadian sentiment towards immigration, with a large majority now expressing concerns about its impact on the housing crisis and health-care system.