Western Standard - April 11, 2022


Poilievre calls out 'gatekeepers' while addressing home ownership in Vancouver


Episode Stats

Length

5 minutes

Words per Minute

165.44402

Word Count

857

Sentence Count

59

Misogynist Sentences

1

Hate Speech Sentences

4


Summary

Why is it that Vancouver has the 3rd most unaffordable housing market in the world, behind only Manhattan and Los Angeles, and Singapore, and even Singapore, all places with more money and people but less land? Well, partly because the government at Ottawa has printed over $400 billion of new cash, much of which has funneled into the mortgage system and been borrowed out by wealthy investors who have borrowed it and bid up housing prices. But the other reason is that local gatekeepers are blocking the poor, the working class, and our immigrants from the privilege of owning a home here in this country.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 Want to see a $5 million house here in Vancouver?
00:00:02.800 Feast your eyes on the home of your dreams.
00:00:05.480 Here it is, $4.8 million is the listing price for this baby.
00:00:09.640 Now, before I go any further, let me acknowledge that a realtor would tell you
00:00:12.960 you could tear it down and build more units on it.
00:00:16.000 The place next door appears to have about six units on a similar footprint of land.
00:00:21.440 So let's say that you get six units right here.
00:00:24.220 Well, that works out to $800,000 for every single unit just in land costs.
00:00:29.420 But then, of course, you'd need materials and labor to build.
00:00:32.360 And you'd need all the government permits and building approvals from City Hall.
00:00:38.100 So that means that each unit is going to be over a million dollars.
00:00:41.240 A million dollars for the privilege of living in a multi-unit housing situation
00:00:45.940 that would ultimately mean a mortgage for many people of $950,000.
00:00:52.780 Who can afford payments on a $950,000 mortgage?
00:00:56.680 Forget property taxes and utilities.
00:00:58.640 Why is it that Vancouver has the third most unaffordable housing market on planet Earth
00:01:05.020 ahead of Manhattan, Los Angeles, London, England, and even Singapore?
00:01:09.960 All places with more money and people but less land.
00:01:13.680 Why?
00:01:14.420 Well, partly because the government at Ottawa has printed over $400 billion of new cash,
00:01:19.160 much of which has funneled into the mortgage system and been borrowed out by wealthy investors
00:01:23.980 who have borrowed it and bid up housing prices.
00:01:26.960 But the other reason is local gatekeepers.
00:01:29.460 According to the C.D.
00:01:30.460 Howe Institute, the governmental cost for every single unit of housing in Vancouver is $644,000.
00:01:39.840 That's the cost of getting your approval, getting the zoning change, getting the permit,
00:01:44.620 and paying all the fees directly to the city and to the many consultants you have to hire to get it done.
00:01:49.980 These government gatekeepers protect the wealthy.
00:01:52.820 They get wealthier and wealthier by the day as their limited and scarce property goes up in value.
00:01:59.780 But the working class person who can't actually pay his or her bills, let alone save for a mortgage,
00:02:07.000 finds their purchasing power go down and down.
00:02:10.220 Their wages are actually worth less.
00:02:13.080 So what is the solution?
00:02:15.040 One, well, a Polyef government will stop the central bank from printing cash for politicians to spend
00:02:20.940 and the wealthy to borrow.
00:02:22.500 That will deal with some of the over-demand.
00:02:25.120 But on the supply side, a Polyef government would require municipalities like Vancouver
00:02:31.420 speed up building permits and reduce the governmental cost associated with building things.
00:02:37.520 My message to City Hall here in Vancouver is remove the gatekeepers.
00:02:42.140 Stop blocking the poor, the working class, and our immigrants from the privilege of owning a home here in this country.
00:02:47.900 It used to be a right, and it should be, again, if you're prepared to work hard,
00:02:52.360 you should be able to own a house.
00:02:53.620 Look at this house for a second.
00:02:54.780 I just want you to think about this.
00:02:56.960 Back when this was built, it was probably a family with a very modest income
00:03:02.860 could have afforded that piece of heaven for themselves.
00:03:07.760 And I don't say that facetiously.
00:03:09.540 It would have been a wonderful, cute little house to live in for a working family.
00:03:15.120 They could have, with a wage of a trucker and a waitress,
00:03:18.620 probably bought that house 40 years ago and paid off the mortgage in a reasonable time frame.
00:03:24.760 But now, 40 years later, we look around and say, could young people with a similar working class background own the exact same house?
00:03:34.840 And the answer is no.
00:03:35.800 Why is that?
00:03:36.820 Aren't we supposed to be moving forward?
00:03:39.480 Shouldn't our working class be better off today than it was 40 years ago?
00:03:43.880 Why is it that we were able to house a family with a modest income in a house like that four decades ago?
00:03:51.060 And now, even when you subdivide it into six units instead of one, it's still not affordable for a working class Canadian.
00:03:59.240 The system is broken.
00:04:00.860 It protects the privilege.
00:04:02.740 The cost of government is driving up the cost of living.
00:04:05.780 We need to fix the monetary system to ensure it no longer inflates asset values out of reach.
00:04:11.900 And we need to get the local gatekeepers out of the way so that we can build more homes.
00:04:16.780 In other words, stop printing money, start building houses, that's what a PolyEF government will do.
00:04:23.280 If you want to take back control of your life and give yourself, again, the freedom to own a home,
00:04:28.360 buy a membership to support me in this forthcoming leadership race so that I can fight for you
00:04:33.340 and put you back in control of your life by making Canada the freest nation on earth.
00:04:41.900 Have a great day.
00:04:50.680 Work with you.
00:04:51.960 Work with you.
00:04:53.580 Everybody has known as an ant.
00:04:55.420 The children and children pud происbars for their life.
00:04:58.640 Work with you.
00:04:59.720 Work with you.
00:05:00.800 Work with you.
00:05:01.780 Work with you.
00:05:02.180 Work with you.
00:05:04.080 Work with you.
00:05:06.460 Work with you.
00:05:07.360 Work with you.
00:05:08.820 Work with you.
00:05:09.740 Work with you.