Juno News - More condo bailouts？ Liberals won’t rule it out

00:00:00.000 The housing minister is refusing to say whether the federal government is considering a bailout

00:00:10.820 for condo developers in Toronto. The Kearney government has already pledged $3.2 billion

00:00:17.660 to bailout developers and lenders in Vancouver, stuck with some 2,200 overpriced BC condos.

00:00:26.440 Reporters asked Gregor Robertson whether Toronto developers are next on the bailout list.

00:00:32.380 I wanted to ask you about the plan to buy up vacant condos in Vancouver.

00:00:37.380 Is that something you're looking at doing in Toronto?

00:00:39.580 And how do you justify using taxpayer money to bail out, as some people are describing, developers?

00:00:46.140 Well, let me start with the broader toolkit here,

00:00:49.100 because that's one tool that we can use to get more affordable housing available.

00:00:53.660 But Build Canada Homes, as I mentioned, is our main approach with getting affordable housing built.

00:00:59.260 We've got $13 billion invested there, including some in a rental protection fund.

00:01:05.120 Now, Prime Minister Carney was not always in favour of bailing out failed business ventures, speculators, and lenders.

00:01:13.600 Here he is back in 2011, sounding more like a free marketer.

00:01:17.500 If you run a small business, if you run a family farm, if you make a mistake, you'll go out of business.

00:01:22.620 You run a large bank, you have to be rescued because you'll have such bigger impacts on the rest of the system.

00:01:28.680 That doesn't make sense.

00:01:29.740 And so there's a variety of things that are being put in place, being designed so that banking can be like any other business.

00:01:35.740 If you succeed, you get rewarded.

00:01:37.480 But if you fail, you fail, your institution fails, and the rest of the economy continues to go on.

00:01:42.440 In time, U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra says there is no sign of a new trade deal between

00:01:50.160 his country and Canada ahead of the July 1st deadline.

00:01:54.100 He told CTV the ultimate decision rests with the leaders of the two countries.

00:01:59.920 We are not far away from a very significant deadline when it comes to the trade agreement

00:02:04.080 between Canada, the United States and Mexico.

00:02:06.480 Do you, sir, have a gut feeling as to what will happen on July 1st?

00:02:10.880 I don't think obviously we're not anywhere close to announcing any type of a framework

00:02:16.240 or an interim agreement.

00:02:17.640 I really think it's in the hands now on our side.

00:02:21.460 It's going to be the president and I'm assuming on the Canadian side it will be the prime

00:02:27.680 minister to determine what the next steps are and directionally where we're headed.

00:02:34.160 Our guest today is Franco Terrazzano who is director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation.

00:02:39.680 Welcome once again, Franco.

00:02:41.380 Hey, my pleasure.

00:02:42.360 Thanks for having me on.

00:02:43.800 So what do you think of this condo deal?

00:02:46.520 The bailout in Vancouver is costing taxpayers $3.2 billion.

00:02:51.700 And it's not just for the condos.

00:02:53.460 There are other aspects to this deal.

00:02:55.680 But my concern is that it's going to be extended, that they're looking at Toronto.

00:03:00.780 And so far, the question has been asked to the housing minister, Gregor Robertson, and

00:03:06.640 He basically ducked the idea that he's in negotiations with the Ford government on bringing the same thing to Toronto.

00:03:13.820 But that could be even more expensive when you consider the fact that there's a lot more empty condos in Toronto.

00:03:21.380 What do you make of all of this?

00:03:23.540 Oh, it's brutal. I mean, look, at the end of the day, what is this?

00:03:27.160 It's a bailout, right, for developers or home builders or whatever you want to call it.

00:03:31.480 But look, if the government goes through with this, taxpayers are getting soaked.

00:03:34.900 and look uh i've got four main issues with this there's probably more but let's just start with

00:03:39.660 four number one taxpayers shouldn't be bailing out developers okay this is taxpayers money right

00:03:47.000 why does the government think it can take money from struggling canadians who can't afford homes

00:03:51.260 many canadians barely afford to keep up with their own rents and then to take that money and give it

00:03:56.520 to some developers like come on right uh we don't have all the information but it sounds like the

00:04:01.940 government is going to try to buy up what about up to 2200 condos in vancouver that currently

00:04:07.420 aren't being sold it could end up costing taxpayers just for that uh like 1.5 billion dollars that's

00:04:13.880 some of the estimates i've been hearing but number two okay the government is intervening in the

00:04:20.100 marketplace as prices have been falling and as prices would have come down because these uh

00:04:26.740 developers, these home sellers, they would have to lower prices. Number three, you see government

00:04:32.740 taxes, regulations, fees, charges already making homes in Canada more expensive. And number four,

00:04:38.740 Mark, as you're talking about, the incentives in this are brutal, right? Number one, you can expect

00:04:44.280 politicians in other parts of the country, not just Vancouver, to now want a deal for developers

00:04:49.860 in their own provinces potentially. But number two, what type of incentive does this give to

00:04:55.360 other developers across Canada, right? Hey, don't worry if you can't sell your condos,

00:05:00.560 right? We'll just come in and potentially bail you out as well. So awful incentives at play here.

00:05:06.920 Yeah, exactly. I mean, it's buyer beware in terms of if you're a speculator, you want to speculate

00:05:12.840 in the real estate market. Many of them did very well. I'm sure they bought extra homes and speed

00:05:18.480 boats and Lamborghinis when times are good. But when times are bad, well, you take your lumps

00:05:26.140 if they don't want to, because they're friends of the government, friends of Mr. Carney. Some of

00:05:32.620 them have held fundraisers for the Liberal Party. And so I guess you get a break and, you know,

00:05:39.420 you get to be shielded, bubble wrapped against the effects of the market when it hurts you.

00:05:44.580 But what I don't understand is, I mean, if you're that concerned about affordability, as the government claims to be, then why not let the price fall in the marketplace?

00:05:54.260 You know, why not let those condos go for what the market demands?

00:05:57.840 And maybe it'll be 30 percent less.

00:06:00.100 You know, maybe the developers and lenders might have to take a haircut.

00:06:03.500 But so what? That's their problem.

00:06:05.060 They rolled the dice.

00:06:06.240 They got burned.

00:06:07.420 Then they should face the music.

00:06:09.400 But the fact that they're intervening here at a time when affordability isn't such an issue, I mean, this is, to me, seems like a perfect opportunity to let the market bring those prices down naturally and give people a break.

00:06:24.640 So, you know, rather than paying 1.2 for a condo in Vancouver for whatever, 500 square feet or whatever you might get on a good day, you know, let the price come down and let affordability arise as a product of market action rather than sticking your nose in and propping up, essentially propping up the housing values, which are overly inflated.

00:06:51.180 Nothing about this makes sense from my vantage point.

00:06:54.880 No, I mean, it doesn't make sense to me either economically, right?

00:06:58.600 It absolutely doesn't make sense.

00:07:00.320 It's very bad.

00:07:01.380 I mean, look, we all know that the housing market has been crazy in Canada, right?

00:07:06.180 Massively rising housing prices, everything extremely expensive.

00:07:11.400 Okay, so then you have these home builders and developers who are making money when the market is going up.

00:07:16.680 And then what?

00:07:17.540 The government wants to.

00:07:18.480 So essentially you have privatized profits and then socialized cost, right?

00:07:23.460 Where, look, if a developer or a home builder or whatever you want to call them,

00:07:28.880 if they're not selling because they want to sell at a higher price, too bad, too bad, right?

00:07:34.540 If people aren't willing to buy at that higher price, well, that's too bad for you.

00:07:38.480 You shouldn't be getting a taxpayer handout from these governments, from these politicians, right?

00:07:43.900 To your point, if they can't sell with the higher price, they have to lower the price, right? And that would bring the price of homes down, right? What might be bad for these condo sellers or developers would be good for homebuyers and for renters, right? Because you have more competition that would drive the price of homes down or the price of these condos down.

00:08:07.340 and in fact in the vancouver condo market i was just doing a little bit of research

00:08:10.780 that competition has already helped the price of condos go down and then the government intervenes

00:08:17.100 with a taxpayer bailout potentially more than a billion dollars that just provides a horrible

00:08:23.600 incentive right because think about what this incentive shows uh you know future developers

00:08:29.240 other developers hey go build the home try to sell it for an extremely high price if nobody's

00:08:35.940 willing to buy it, ah, it's okay. The government will step in and give you a bunch of taxpayer

00:08:40.160 cash. It's brutal. Let's be real. Crime is up. Repeat offenders are released on bail. Police

00:08:47.520 responses are slower than ever. And in many places, law abiding citizens are expected to

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00:09:51.400 yeah all you have to do is have a couple of fundraisers for your local liberal candidate and

00:09:56.540 you know, invite the prime minister, invite Mark Carney and, you know, get yourself some

00:10:02.580 handshaking done and networking. And if the market goes south, that's all right. He'll come through

00:10:09.140 and save you. I mean, it's just a horrible look. There's nothing good about this. And now I think

00:10:16.700 they're weighing the backlash of which there's some, but I have no doubt that they're looking

00:10:21.520 at Toronto, because, of course, I'm sure Doug Ford has some friends who are also developers

00:10:27.180 left holding the bag on a bunch of, you know, toxic investments in the condo market.

00:10:33.740 They'd love to get some relief, have the government come in and do it there. After all,

00:10:39.540 because now you've set the precedent. I mean, you can't just say, well, this is only for

00:10:43.720 Vancouver, you know, nobody else. Well, Toronto's like, yeah, hello. What about us? And then

00:10:49.080 Montreal says, hey, you know, we've got some, in Calgary, you know, all these markets have

00:10:55.420 condos on available that are overpriced because of what we've seen in the real estate market over

00:11:02.120 the last couple of years. And the idea that we're going to be bailing all of them out,

00:11:07.720 I mean, it starts off with 3.2 million or so, and we could be well into 10 or 15 billion by the time

00:11:16.240 to smoke clears, who knows? Do you think that Ontario is also maybe looking at this? And what

00:11:24.020 would be your message to Premier Ford? Do I think other politicians in other provinces

00:11:29.940 also want a taxpayer handout? Unfortunately, right? I mean, this is the other incentive I

00:11:35.800 was talking about, right? I mean, you're going to have these other politicians in cities,

00:11:40.320 potentially mayors, I don't know, maybe even premiers in other provinces who are looking

00:11:44.620 at what the government just announced in British Columbia in Vancouver, where taxpayers are

00:11:49.220 essentially going to buy up a whole bunch of unsold condos. Yeah, I think that creates a

00:11:53.920 pretty horrible incentive where you're going to have potentially other mayors, other councillors,

00:11:58.360 premiers in other provinces are going to be like, hey, where's my taxpayer bucket of cash,

00:12:02.580 right, for developers here? I think it's a horrible, horrible incentive that the government

00:12:06.720 has created. But look, I even think this problem goes further than just the bad incentives,

00:12:12.340 which we both talked about um mark i think this also goes down to who fundamentally owns the money

00:12:18.660 this is taxpayers money that the government is taking and giving to developers essentially right

00:12:24.300 it is essentially a bailout for developers or home builders or whatever you want to call it right

00:12:29.700 they these home builders these developers should be forced uh to if they don't want to sell at a

00:12:36.020 high at the higher price okay they suffer losses or they're forced to lower their prices so people

00:12:41.820 and sell the condo at a price people can actually pay and afford, right? Look, it shouldn't be up

00:12:48.960 to taxpayers to essentially bail out bad decision making or higher price condos, right? This is

00:12:55.800 taxpayers' money. So as bad as the incentives are that we've talked about, as bad as the whole

00:13:00.440 economics around this is, I also think this is a fundamental issue that the government shouldn't

00:13:05.240 be taking other people's money to essentially bail out developers or home builders in whatever

00:13:10.800 city across Canada. Yeah. And I wonder how much of this is political in terms of the government

00:13:17.500 wanting to give the impression that the economy is strong. And, you know, with they always say

00:13:23.980 that, well, where our economy is coming back, you know, we're in good shape or number two in the G7

00:13:30.760 or whatever their talking point is for the day. I mean, if that starts to fall flat because

00:13:39.320 real estate values collapse by another 30%, all of a sudden the government can't really make the

00:13:46.860 case that your life is good. I mean, think of who supported Mark Carney, right? The elbows up crowd,

00:13:52.020 a lot of boomers who bought their house decades ago, paid them off, paid it off and have seen 0.87

00:13:57.840 their investment grow substantially. You're sitting on a home that you paid 150,000 for many

00:14:05.100 decades ago, and it's worth a million and a half, two million, you know, you feel good because

00:14:11.100 you're a millionaire. And now all of a sudden, the market says you're not a millionaire anymore,

00:14:16.440 because the value of your home just fell. You know, it's, it's been a frothy real estate market.

00:14:23.280 And now reality is going to hit you, you know, like a boot in the butt, you know, and so all 0.80

00:14:30.320 of this coming out and the government is trying to pretend that that's not happening. And by 0.95

00:14:35.300 throwing government money, throwing tax dollars into the buyout of these condos and other, who

00:14:42.340 knows, may extend it to other properties. You know, they want to pretend like, you know, we're still

00:14:48.140 rich. You know, you're still out there. You're richer than you think, you know, over there with

00:14:53.360 your home in Cabbage Town. I think that's part of it because you know what the wealth effect is,

00:14:59.280 right? If your home is worth a lot of money, it's paid off while you feel rich, and I guess you feel

00:15:05.900 good about the state of the country, and you might as well vote liberal another day. If you feel that

00:15:10.780 all of a sudden your investment has collapsed 30%, 40% in one year, meantime, your assessments are

00:15:18.660 still up there because, you know, the municipalities and so forth have yet to catch up with the real

00:15:24.740 assessment of your home. You know, you're going to start getting a little grumpy. You know, you're

00:15:28.560 to start looking at the government. These guys are doing a lousy job. And I think that they know

00:15:33.640 there's a backlash coming. There's a reckoning coming for these guys when it dawns on Canadians

00:15:40.960 from one end of the country to the other, that things are not going so well. And the real estate

00:15:45.780 and the values of their real estate has a strong sense of whether or not the economy is going well

00:15:52.080 or not what do you think hey uh i can't believe i have to say this out loud but a strong economy

00:15:59.280 a healthy economy doesn't need a government bailing out developers with taxpayers cash

00:16:06.240 right like can't believe you got to say that out loud state the obvious um but you know like that

00:16:12.320 is a good indication of hey guys things aren't going so great right now uh if the government

00:16:19.040 is stepping in with taxpayers' money to bail out developers and home builders, right? Pretty good

00:16:23.900 indication that things aren't going so well. Let me cut through some more spin here from the

00:16:28.700 government, okay? Because the government is essentially trying to say like, oh, this is for

00:16:33.080 housing affordability, which is crazy because if you wanted home prices to go down, you would let

00:16:39.360 home prices go down, right? You wouldn't intervene into the market as the condo prices are falling

00:16:47.740 or would have to fall right so if the government really wanted home prices to go down it would let

00:16:51.840 home prices go down and that's what would have to essentially happen um if you had all these

00:16:57.080 you know home builders holding on to these condos well they would have to drop their prices so that

00:17:02.280 they can actually sell the units right that's what would happen but here's the thing folks at

00:17:06.520 the end of the day government is not the solution government is the problem okay you look at all the

00:17:13.020 different regulations fees charges taxes that are driving up the cost of homes here in canada

00:17:18.980 it's insane right i've seen studies showing that these types of housing regulations these

00:17:24.420 added costs from government whatever you want to call it are increasing costs uh for homes in

00:17:29.820 canada in some places by hundreds of thousands of dollars a report i saw on the vancouver housing

00:17:35.900 market as you look at these housing regulations adding extra costs uh by like 600 000 bucks

00:17:42.120 onto the price of a home in Vancouver, right?

00:17:44.860 So like newsflash, government, these politicians,

00:17:48.840 these bureaucrats, they are not the solution.

00:17:51.700 They are the problem. 1.00

00:17:53.860 Yeah, and by the way,

00:17:55.320 we're bailing out these developers

00:17:57.600 and lenders with borrowed money.

00:18:00.460 So we get to borrow money at the market,

00:18:03.380 you know, and our interest rates are probably higher

00:18:06.020 than a lot of people would like,

00:18:07.760 borrowing the money in order to buy out these condos

00:18:11.920 at prices that are not consistent with what the market says.

00:18:20.660 I mean, again, this is an absolute boondoggle.

00:18:23.380 Last word to you, my friend. 0.97

00:18:25.520 I mean, it's clown world, right?

00:18:28.240 Look, interest charges.

00:18:29.700 Look, the government is borrowing tens of billions of dollars every year, right?

00:18:32.900 The federal government is borrowing, what, like $70 billion this year,

00:18:36.280 give or take, something close to that.

00:18:37.780 interest charges on the debt costing us more than a billion dollars every week welcome to canada

00:18:43.060 folks where every single dollar you pay in federal sales tax goes to pay interest charges on the debt

00:18:48.820 and now the government thinks it's a good idea to use taxpayers money that it doesn't have

00:18:53.380 to bail out condo developers what what are they thinking it's absolute lunacy franco terrizano

00:19:00.840 thank you so much appreciate it hey i appreciate you having me on and sorry for being a little

00:19:05.000 fired up today. The Canadian Taxpayers Federation. All right, my friends, if you enjoyed this show,

00:19:12.260 consider supporting great independent journalism by becoming a premier member of Juno News.

00:19:17.020 Please go to junonews.com backslash straight up. You can find the link below. It helps us do what

00:19:22.500 we do. Thank you so much. We'll see you next time.

Juno News - June 25, 2026

More condo bailouts？ Liberals won’t rule it out

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