VAUGHAN, Ont. - Liberal Leader Mark Carney says his government would double Canada’s rate of residential housing construction over the next decade to nearly 500,000 new homes per year.
Not good enough. We need at least 1 million new homes a year. We need to force municipalities to allow for mixed-use zoning so that we don’t only create single-family homes in suburbs that are largely disconnected from transit and amenities. We need to discourage urban sprawl and incentivize mass transit.
The Liberals know this because they talk to developers and municipalities and want their centrist “compromise” to be the solution. It won’t be, it’ll just be another half-measure that the Conservatives can point to when they want to highlight the poor spending choices of the opposition.
The Canada Housing Accelerator Credit is already the federal level incentive for density-favoured zoning. Zoning is handled by the provinces who can override municipalities, but the feds can’t override provinces re: housing. Poilievre’s platform is to revoke payments to provinces as punishment for not meeting housing quotas, but this is only going to get provinces more in debt and the budget crunch will only make building housing more difficult.
We need at least 1 million new homes a year
So a crown corporation building homes to get construction to half that level is good. And provinces can bolster that with appropriate zoning changes to spur provincial, municipal public and private development to get to that million target. Sitting back and complaining about the whole plan because it’s not the silver bullet isn’t helpful here.
I don’t really see how I can be helpful here since I’m not a municipal official or an elected representative, complaining is really all I am able to do as an average person.
I’m tired of being promised change only to be met with half-measures that get scrapped by the next party in power. Aren’t you sick of every policy being a version of “we’ll commit to making things slightly better over the next 10 years, when we’re no longer accountable for our failures”?
I’m tired of mediocrity being celebrated because the alternative is societal regression. So yes, I’m complaining. Oh no, how terrible.
Hold that thought in your heart, then organize after the election with other people that have that same thought. Go to your MP and have them introduce private member’s bills to get the change you want to see. Send petitions to the new government. Volunteer in your community or work in areas you want to see change.
If that doesn’t work, bring forward change in our political system ahead of the next election, not when we have to pull away from the brink of fascism.
Not good enough. We need at least 1 million new homes a year. We need to force municipalities to allow for mixed-use zoning so that we don’t only create single-family homes in suburbs that are largely disconnected from transit and amenities. We need to discourage urban sprawl and incentivize mass transit.
The Liberals know this because they talk to developers and municipalities and want their centrist “compromise” to be the solution. It won’t be, it’ll just be another half-measure that the Conservatives can point to when they want to highlight the poor spending choices of the opposition.
The Canada Housing Accelerator Credit is already the federal level incentive for density-favoured zoning. Zoning is handled by the provinces who can override municipalities, but the feds can’t override provinces re: housing. Poilievre’s platform is to revoke payments to provinces as punishment for not meeting housing quotas, but this is only going to get provinces more in debt and the budget crunch will only make building housing more difficult.
So a crown corporation building homes to get construction to half that level is good. And provinces can bolster that with appropriate zoning changes to spur provincial, municipal public and private development to get to that million target. Sitting back and complaining about the whole plan because it’s not the silver bullet isn’t helpful here.
I don’t really see how I can be helpful here since I’m not a municipal official or an elected representative, complaining is really all I am able to do as an average person.
I’m tired of being promised change only to be met with half-measures that get scrapped by the next party in power. Aren’t you sick of every policy being a version of “we’ll commit to making things slightly better over the next 10 years, when we’re no longer accountable for our failures”?
I’m tired of mediocrity being celebrated because the alternative is societal regression. So yes, I’m complaining. Oh no, how terrible.
Hold that thought in your heart, then organize after the election with other people that have that same thought. Go to your MP and have them introduce private member’s bills to get the change you want to see. Send petitions to the new government. Volunteer in your community or work in areas you want to see change.
If that doesn’t work, bring forward change in our political system ahead of the next election, not when we have to pull away from the brink of fascism.