Canada’s Housing Affordability Crisis
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Summary
Brad Viss is the Shadow Minister for Housing in the House of Commons of Canada. He is also the Member of Parliament for Mission, Matsquee, Fraser Canyon in beautiful British Columbia. In this episode, Brad talks about the housing affordability crisis in Canada and why the government needs to do more to address it.
Transcript
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Hello and welcome once again to The Blueprints. This is Canada's Conservative Podcast. I'm
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your host, Jamie Schmael, Member of Parliament for Halliburton Corps, the likes Brock, and
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Canada. As always, if you can't watch it or listen to it right this second live, you can
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download it later on on platforms like Google Play, Spotify, iTunes, you name it. It is
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out there. Our guest today, we're back by popular demand. Brad Viss, the Member of Parliament
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from Mission, Matsquee, Fraser Canyon in beautiful British Columbia, is also the Shadow Minister
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for Housing. And this is a topic that is extremely top of mind for, I think, everybody these days.
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Now, you kicked off a motion, I think it was last week, on the housing debate. Maybe you
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can tell us a bit about that. Yeah, so I put forward a motion, talking about the cost of
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housing, that the cost of housing continues to rise out of reach for everyday Canadians,
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and that the current government has failed to provide sufficient supply of housing, despite
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touting time and time again, that they're spending billions and billions and billions of dollars
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to address the housing crisis in Canada, yet they have nothing to show for it. And under
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their watch, affordability has gone down the chute, and young people are wondering whether
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they're ever going to be able to own a home again. And that's a big problem. And that's
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something we need to look closely at. And that's something that we need to put reasonable solutions
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forward to keep the dream of homeownership alive. So I think there's two tracks here. There's
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one that the government's doing, they're spending all this money to create housing units. So that's
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kind of the not on the ownership side, that's on the more of the providing supply for those
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that can't afford it or need a leg up, I guess, if you will. The other side is the affordability
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side, which if you're selling, life's pretty good. If you're trying to buy, life is very tough. And
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that has to do come back to the fact that we continue to print and borrow money at a high rate.
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And we saw with the budget, we have billions of extra spending, all couched in COVID, right has
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nothing to do with COVID. But they say we need to spend this and that infrastructure because of COVID.
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And this is causing that problem that we're trying to identify and talk about today.
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No, absolutely. And I've spoken about this a few times in the House of Commons.
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And I'll put it out there. I'm not an economist, but you look at when the government started
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printing money, and you look at the correlation with the rising cost of housing, there's something
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there. And really what it comes down to, one of the big reasons why there's an affordability crisis
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in Canada is that the government of Canada is spending too much money right now. And in the end,
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that's hurting the people they're purporting to help. And that's a big problem. And frankly, we just
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have, in some cases, the government's outdone itself, and people are hurting because of that.
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And it's really, really scary for millennial parents that last year had been saving up for
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five, seven, 10 years to finally get that first condo, which I might add where I live probably
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costs over $500,000, or that first house, which a year ago could have been $750,000, which
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is now a million bucks a year later. And they're left wondering, why did the government do this?
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And why am I being left in the lurch with no pathway forward? And that's, and that's why I'd
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really, really begun pushing the supply issue, for example, because no matter who I talk to across the
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political spectrum, including the new president of CMHC, whom I asked directly, what's the biggest
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impediment to affordability in Canada? And she said, it's supply. And I asked her again, just to make sure
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that I was getting this right. What's the biggest impediment to affordability? Supply. We're not
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building enough in Canada. And then at the same time, we've got a government that's printing money
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and making the cost of everything go up and up and out of reach of the people they're purporting to
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help. So Canada has lots of land, lots and lots of land. What is the problem? Why are we not building?
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Why are we not meeting the laws of supply and demand? Yeah, well, you know what, I will say at some
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level, it is, and I'm not going to bash in any way on municipalities and the provinces. But a big a big
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part of the issue we we lack enough supply is that our municipal processes aren't quickly enough.
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Where the federal government comes in, though, is that we fund a lot of municipal infrastructure,
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we have the gas tax, we have direct transfers. We did this when when the conservatives were in power
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too. But we don't see enough approvals for projects. And we see, in some cases, we have
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nimvious bylaws where there's neighborhoods or communities that don't want to see more densification,
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for example, or don't have the wherewithal or the ability to, to plan ahead for a major development
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because they wouldn't know how to go about that process. And that's where the federal government
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comes in. Because this liberal government continuously, if you speak to parliamentary
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secretary Adam Vaughn, he says, the government is coordinating its major infrastructure spending
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with developing new neighborhoods and getting more supply built. And I say prove it and they and they
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can't, they're just they're just saying that. And the proof, though, is in the spring auditor general
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reports, which outlines that the government of Canada basically can account for the Canada
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infrastructure plan. They don't know where they don't know how 1000s of projects are going.
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If it weren't for the pandemic, I think we'd be hearing a lot more about report nine in the in the
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spring reports of the auditor general. But basically, the liberal government has a big massive F
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when it comes to infrastructure spending, which does relate to building more homes and building the
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neighborhoods and communities that all Canadians want to see. But it's not happening under their watch.
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Yeah, I think I think also, and I wish I had it in front of me. But there was an article just out
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this week, I read that in the world rankings, Canada is in the top 10, in terms of crippling
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bureaucracy when it comes to actually building anything. And we can talk about a subdivision to
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a major infrastructure project. It's, it's the the rules, the regulations, the red tape, which is in
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according to this article in the world rankings, just crippling any development, job creation,
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and progress in a lot of our parts of our country. And that should be extremely concerning.
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Yeah, I think I might have read the same article. It was based on some reports from Scotiabank in the
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Globe and Mail. And the president of Scotiabank said, and they outlined that of all developed countries,
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Prime Minister Trudeau was at the G7 over the weekend. Of all G7 nations, Canada, Canada is the
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country with the worst record of getting anything built. And as it relates to new housing, we have
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the worst record as well of any G7 country, we were just really bad at getting things done in this
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country right now. And the Scotiabank was calling on the federal government to address the supply crisis
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to work with the private sector, to bring the federal government, municipalities and provinces
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together at this critical time when homeownership is way, way out of reach for so many people
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to find a solution because our social well-being, our economic well-being in this country is predicated
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on the ability of someone to own a home. Like Habitat for Humanity is building a new subdivision in my
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riding just up the road from my office in Mission British Columbia. And they keep telling me, Brad,
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when we get people that have never owned a home, their children do better, their children
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make more money. It is the biggest predictor of how well you're going to do socially and
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economically in this country. And the liberals are chasing that dream away for new immigrants and
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young people who just want to have what their parents had. It's not a lot. They just want a place
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that they can call home and that they can raise their kids in a safe environment. And that's scary that
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But it's also not that. It's that and more. I think for those on the left, they are quite
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comfortable with the fact that people become dependent on government. And we all know what
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happens when you don't have the ability to, perhaps if you choose to get the home that you want
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and transfer that wealth, whether you sell it, whether you rent it out or whatever, if you're
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renting forever at the end of that term, you know, you can say you have mortgage for 30 or 35 years
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at the end of it. Unfortunately, you don't have anything to show for it. You don't have any transfer.
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And I think that's what the left quite likes is that if they keep people in these in these units,
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make it so unaffordable for for the average Canadian to buy a house, they will become dependent on
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government. And and you don't have that, as you say, the ability to kind of climb up the economic
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ladder. Yeah. And you know what, and it's really, really troubling to see the federal liberals go
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down that path. Because numerous times in question period last week, numerous times in committee,
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I've been saying to Minister Hussain, I've been saying to the Prime Minister, what are you doing
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about the supply crisis in Canada? And time and time again, they refer back to their national housing
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strategy $70 billion. And I'm thinking, well, what are you doing on the economic side to get more
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built? What are you doing about productivity? And their answer is, no, everyone, you can depend on
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the government of Canada for a social housing unit. And that's ludicrous. And it's wrong. And it's not
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even feasible. And Rami Bowers, that committee, the new CMHC president, and I'm sorry, I keep referring
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to her. But she said, if without the federal government engaging the private sector, we're going to
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continue to face the affordability crisis we're facing right now in Canada. But under Justin Trudeau,
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the liberals refuse to engage the private sector on housing. And that is really, it's erasing the
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ability of a generation to own a home, and to have that financial and social security that home
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ownership provides. And it is dangerous what we're doing right now. And not to mention, as you talked
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about before, the inflationary pressures that we are continuing to face, you know, the value of a
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dollar isn't the same as it was a couple of years ago. And again, we go back to what the government is
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doing. They are borrowing and printing money at an outstanding rate without the economic development
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side behind it, causing that value of the dollar to go down, and the assets to go up. And and it is
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extremely troubling, because they continue to spend on things that have nothing to do with COVID. But
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they are saying it has to do with COVID. So example, Brad, you just mentioned infrastructure,
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Canadian municipalities and provinces get an annual transfer of money for infrastructure,
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that liberals decided to transfer more money that was printed to those provinces and municipality for
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infrastructure. But that's not the problem. The problem is with these lockdowns, because the
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government failed on three things, borders, vaccines and rapid tests, that we weren't able to reopen the
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economy. So it's government with its boot on the neck of the economy, that's stopping this activity. It's not the
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No, no, no. And that's, that's a really good point. And I can, I can, when you're just saying
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that I'm thinking of so many people in the tourism business in British Columbia right now, who are just
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so scared about their future. The government of Canada hasn't been engaged, cruise ships are a
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multi billion dollar industry where I live. And people that come on cruise ships from United States,
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they travel quite extensively throughout the lower mainland and all of these entrepreneurs that have
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invested their, their lives into their businesses are questioning whether they're even going to be
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able to move forward after the pandemic, because the government's been slow, so slow to respond to the
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very, very unique challenges they're facing. I'll also point out like on the inflationary effect,
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like I got a lot of people in my riding who worked in, in the, in the trades, who are part of the
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steelworkers or the Christian Labour Association in Canada, these people make good six figure incomes,
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and they're telling me with the cost of gas at 145, a head of cauliflower at five bucks after
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childcare and their mortgage, they got nothing left at the end of the month. And these, these are the
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people that we, we need to be spent, that need to spend money to keep our economy going. But because
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of the inflationary effect of this government, of the, of this government's policies, their, their,
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their life is becoming less and less affordable. And there's long-term and ripple, there's long-term
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consequences. And there's a ripple effect when, when people have to spend more of their money on
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certain things and not on others that prop up the economy. So we often hear the Liberals talk about
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their first time home buyers program. And, and for those that don't know what it is, it is, it's a bit
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of a disaster because the government's in terms of helping you out with your down payment owns a chunk
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of your property. And that depending on the value, which in this case, it goes up, the government then
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owns a bigger piece of your home. So when you sell it, you actually will owe them in many cases,
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probably a lot more than what you borrowed. Brad, maybe you could tell us a bit about that
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colossal failure. Yeah. You know what? I'm, I'm baffled by, by this program. You know, some,
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some private sector companies are starting to look at shared equity mortgages, which help people get
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into the market. I understand the value of that, but the way the government of Canada program works,
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it's just ludicrous. First off, you have to qualify. And that's what the stress test and
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everything else, you got to qualify for a mortgage. And if you do qualify, so the bank and the bank and
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CMHC have already indicated, according to all the rules and regulations we have, that you can afford
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this property. Then you can choose whether or not you want to partner with the government of Canada
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Canada for up to 10% equity share in your home. But the liberals ran on this policy and they,
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they, I think they first announced it in budget 2019. And they said that it was going to help
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200,000 people or so in its first two or three years. We're in year three now, and the programs
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help 10,600 people, according to the most recent report. So whatever the government says they're doing
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to help first-time buyers, it's not working because people hate the program. Mortgage brokers
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hate the program. Real estate agents hate the program because people don't want the government
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of Canada to have a stake in one's primary asset and that's your home. So I think the government's
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completely missed the mark on this. Canadians have responded and said, hey, it's not working.
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And I think we need to look at other ways of maybe reducing mortgage costs, extending terms
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and amortizations to help first-time home buyers. And I should say it wasn't 200,000, it was 100,000.
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So they've helped like just over 10% of the people they purported to help.
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Okay. So I think some of our solutions here. Sorry, that was a mouthful.
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That's okay. We are running out of time. So I think some of the solutions here,
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stop printing money, stop spending it on programs that have nothing to do with COVID relief. Again,
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we saw very little in terms of healthcare and long-term care increased spending. A lot of things
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like the daycare program, the infrastructure above and beyond what was already budgeted,
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nothing to do with COVID, but they're just spending and spending on pet projects that they feel
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are necessary. Start building. Let's reopen the economy as quickly and as safely as possible.
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That means vaccines, first and second shot. We're doing quite well as a country in first shot. Second
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shot, we dropped down considerably. And so we need those things to all come into play to get people
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back to work and our economy back on track. Is there anything else you want to add, Brad? I always
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give the guests the last word. Yeah, no, first off, thanks for having me, Jamie. And you're right.
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We need a data-driven plan to reopen our economy. What people want is their livelihood. They want
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their purpose found through gainful employment. And the government's not giving us a jobs plan.
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And then just going back to housing for a second, the government needs to work with the private sector
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to get housing built. It's not a fast solution, but it's the best solution to address some of the
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affordability crisis that we're facing. And I'm happy to be on your show again and look forward to
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coming on again soon. And yeah, we got a serious problem related to housing. And as a young dad,
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as a millennial, I know what people are facing right now in this country listening. I know that young
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families have done everything right. They followed all the rules and the system's failing them.
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Because the system's failing them, I get that. And I'm working night and day to bring forward
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policies. And Erin O'Toole's working night and day to bring forward policies that are going to give
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you the dream of home ownership again, that are going to give you that foundation of success
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to go forward in life. And that's our big priority right now. And we got to defeat this Trudeau
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government. They're destroying our economy. And people are at a loss and we got to keep fighting,
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I couldn't have said it better myself. Well done. Brad Viss, the Member of Parliament for
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Mission, Matsquee, Fraser Canyon and beautiful British Columbia. Also the Shadow Minister for
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Housing. We appreciate him coming on the show once again. We do appreciate you for joining us.
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