Where Do Canada’s Political Parties Stand on Housing? Here’s What We Know So Far

Wahi takes a look at previous comments from leaders of Canada’s major political parties to gauge where they stand on housing ahead of the next election.

By Josh Sherman | 4 minute read

Proposals to date from Canada’s big three political parties address homeownership, renters, housing construction, immigration, and more.

Canadian mortgage borrowers are living in uncertain times.

The next federal election could be as far away as October, but that hasn’t kept leaders of Canada’s major political parties from making a variety of housing-related promises in recent months.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s resignation announcement earlier this month appears to have given Canada a case of election fever, adding to speculation that voters could be headed to the polls early, in spring.

While fully costed platforms have not been released, here’s what we know so far about politicians’ plans to address the country’s ongoing housing crisis. 

Conservative Party of Canada

With a sizable lead in the polls, Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party of Canada is on pace to form a huge majority government. Under Poilievre, the party continues to build out its housing vision. The CPC has made more than one announcement bolstering its proposed housing regime in recent months:

• The carbon tax isn’t the only tax that Poilievre wants to axe. He’s also set his sights on federal sales taxes applied to new homes priced under $1,000,000 — and he wants Canada’s premiers to follow suit at the provincial level. Removing the 5% GST alone would save buyers as much as $50,000 on the purchase of a new home.
  
  Canadian economist Mike Moffatt has lauded the proposal as “the boldest middle-class housing proposal released to date from any federal political party.” However, he also had reservations about its scope and proposed funding source. To pay for the rebates, Poilievre wants to scrap other housing initiatives, such as Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Housing Accelerator Fund. “Cancelling these programs would be a mistake,” he writes in The Hub.
• Poilievre has also vowed to undo last year’s hike to capital gains taxes, which apply to profits realized on the sale of secondary properties, such as cottages and rental investments.

These announcements follow earlier pledges included in Poilievre’s Building Homes Not Bureaucracy Act, a private members act tabled in Parliament this past September. 

• The bill includes threats to withhold federal funding from “unaffordable big cities like Vancouver” if they don’t increase the rate of homebuilding by 15% each year. Big cities would also face penalties “for egregious cases of NIMBYism,” a term used to describe lobbying acts that interfere with the construction of new housing and is drawn from an acronym that stands for Not in My Backyard.) Building bonuses would be handed out to municipalities who successfully boost supply. 
• The Conservatives want to liquidate 15% of the 37,000 buildings owned by the federal government on the condition that the properties are used for future affordable housing.
  
  In general, using federal land to create more housing — a policy the Liberals have embarked on as well — is a good idea, suggests Moshe Lander, a senior economics lecturer at Concordia University. “I certainly don’t have a problem with the government selling off assets that they’re not using in a productive way,” he tells Wahi. “Go ahead and sell them off,” he continues, noting one condition: oversight is required to make sure that the housing is affordable and ends up helping those in need. 

Liberal Party of Canada 

Following Trudeau’s resignation announcement, questions are swirling not just about who will lead the Liberals into the next election but also what their policy priorities might look like.

The 2024 federal budget included a number of housing-related policies, some of which have already come into effect. Take new mortgage rules, for example, which include extended amortizations to lower monthly mortgage payments and a higher cap on insurable mortgages.

Other moves, such as the proposed changes to capital gains taxes, are reportedly in limbo. The tax changes did not receive royal assent before Parliament was prorogued, squashing any lingering bills or motions (royal assent is the step through which a bill becomes law). The Liberals have committed to introducing a Home Buyers’ Bill of Rights alongside a separate Renters Bill of Rights, both of which have yet to come into effect as well. 

• More recently, the federal government announced it was reducing immigration levels to 395,000 permanent residents this year and 380,000 in 2026, with another 365,000 slated for 2027. Prior to the reduction, Canada anticipated the arrival of about new permanent residents in 2025 and 2026, respectively.

   

  The pullback would slash Canada’s housing-supply shortfall by an estimated 534,000 units, according to a report from the Parliamentary Budget Officer published on Nov. 15, 2024. Poilievre, too, has suggested his government, if formed, intends to slow the pace of immigration and tie it to housing supply.

New Democratic Party

NDP leader Jagmeet Singh has addressed the media on several housing-related issues of late. A number of comments address renters, who make up approximately one-third of the Canadian population, specifically.  

• Late last year, Singh proposed banning corporate ownership of affordable housing as part of a broader plan to tackle the high cost of living in Canada, one that also includes removing GST on essential items and price caps on certain food items.

   

• This past summer, the b-word came up again when Singh revealed plans to, if elected, establish a nationwide ban on renovictions. While landlords in Canada can legally evict tenants to undertake substantial renovations to a rental unit, it’s known as a renoviction when this is done in bad faith. For example, a landlord may claim they are renovating a unit only to relist it at a higher rent without improving the dwelling.

   

• Singh has also doubled down regarding NDP’s stance on eliminating GST on new homes. Unlike the broad CPC proposal, the New Democrats are focused on getting rid of GST related to the construction of affordable rental units.

   

• The NDP website outlines a sweeping plan to encourage the construction of at least 500,000 units of affordable housing in 10 years. “This will be achieved with the right mix of effective measures that work in partnership with provinces and municipalities, build capacity for social, community, and affordable housing providers, to provide rental support for co-ops, and meet environmental energy efficiency goals,” the website notes. 
  
  While social, co-op, and other forms of non-profit housing have stagnated for decades, the NDP proposes “dedicated fast-start funds” to reignite construction in the segment. Like the Liberals and Conservatives, the NDP propose using federal land as part of the plan.