No political leader has tapped into the seething anger of Canadians over the affordability crisis quite like Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre. This crisis, fueled by a government-induced supply-demand imbalance in housing, has seen prices for ownership and market rents double since 2010 as Canada’s economy becomes increasingly neofeudal. These dark economic shifts have hit young Canadians the hardest, turning homeownership and even having children into class symbols of hereditary wealth.
Poilievre’s resonance with voters on housing issues has significantly boosted his popularity, indicating a significant majority government if an election were held today. After coining the notion term “gatekeeper” during an April 2021 House of Commons rant on housing affordability, it has since become a key part of his brand and an unmissable term in the national conversation. Under his leadership, the federal Conservative Party has rallied around the slogan “Bring it Home,” clearly aiming for the prime minister’s office by channeling public frustration squarely at the troubled housing file.
Poilievre shone a light on the issue with a standout video critiquing “municipal gatekeeping” in Vancouver, referencing a CD Howe Institute study to underscore how local barriers and taxes can cause the cost of new homes to skyrocket—up to $1.3M in Vancouver and $350,000 in Toronto from 2011 to 2022. He followed this up with a mostly-accurate viral explainer on the causes of the housing crisis. His housing narratives have been powerful precisely because they speak to the “left-behinds” increasingly aware of the frustrating costs and barriers governments impose on new housing, and therefore their domestic dreams.
A Conservative contradiction
Yet Poilievre has been too quiet—even silent—on the poor track record of Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government.
Now halfway through its second term, Ford’s majority government, re-elected in 2022 to “Get It Done” and “Build, Build, Build” housing, has objectively failed on its promise to spur the construction of one and a half million homes by 2031. Housing starts are falling backward, from 91,885 in 2022 to 85,770 in 2023, embarrassingly short of the 150,000 a year needed to meet the target.
Meanwhile, the most significant recommendations from 2021’s Housing Affordability Task Force — an implied roadmap for Ford’s election promises—remain unimplemented. The government’s lazily legislated Bill 109, the “More Homes For Everybody Act”, has builders complaining that it has actually made processes slower a year later. Much-needed reforms, from by-right fourplexes to upzoning around major transit areas, to a long-promised updated building code, show no signs of life.
The slow pace of provincial and municipal reforms set the stage for the federal Liberals to launch the $4-billion Housing Accelerator Fund, largely to bribe cities in Ontario and British Columbia to implement reforms they should readily adopt themselves as a matter of good governance. British Columbia, under Premier David Eby’s NDP, secured federal funding directly by embracing a series of provincewide market-oriented reforms and became a North American leader. In Ontario, by contrast, Ford’s response has sounded a lot like a gatekeeper: “You can’t have a federal government… dumping funding and not even discussing it with the province.”
“Get off my lawn” Conservatives
Last month, Ford’s directly appointed chair of the “Housing Supply Action Team”, Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens, saw his city’s own application to the Housing Accelerator Fund rejected by federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser for its lack of ambition. Dilkens, citing his provincial role to defend himself, let slip that the province would not be pursuing critical, pro-housing reforms.
What’s been the reaction from Poilievre or the federal Conservatives to the mayor’s NIMBYism or the Ontario government’s poor housing record? Not much. A quiet subtweet from Conservative Housing Critic Scott Aitchison that didn’t acknowledge the mayor directly.
But few examples highlight the shamelessness of the Ford government’s gatekeeping like the saga at 175 Cummer Avenue in Toronto’s affluent Willowdale neighbourhood. In 2021, amidst a severe homelessness crisis, Toronto City Council nearly unanimously sought a Ministerial Zoning Order from Ontario to construct a 56-unit supportive housing development on public property.
Of course, they encountered resistance fueled by typical NIMBYism. What was different however was that it was actually facilitated by Progressive Conservative MPP Stan Cho, who undoubtedly exerted backroom influence to stop his government from issuing it. The result? A two-year delay due to a frivolous appeal to the Ontario Land Tribunal that was ultimately dismissed this January. This pointless obstruction cost Toronto hundreds of thousands of dollars and delayed crucial housing for thousands of its chronically homeless residents.
In this particularly egregious case, the federal Conservatives weren’t just silent. They’re reportedly keen to have Cho to run for them. Progressive gatekeepers rightly get scorned, but apparently, conservative gatekeepers are put up for a possible promotion.
As Canadians cast their gaze beyond the worn path of the Trudeau government, the spotlight turns to Poilievre—challenging him not to be just another “all bark and no bite” leader on housing. The Ford government’s unserious dithering has only deepened our housing quagmire. Encouraging Ontario’s lazy government into action is the most effective way for Poilievre to demonstrate his rhetoric is more than hot air.
The question now is, will he break ranks with his fellow Conservatives in Ontario and call them out for their policy failures? The answer will ultimately reveal his own commitment to ending Canada’s housing crisis.
