By Pepper Parr
January 16th, 2024
BURLINGTON, ON
The Gazette readership didn’t think very much about the $21 million that the federal government delivered yesterday.
Joe Gaetan, a frequent comment contributor asked “ Exactly how is $4,200 on a $500,000 house spread over 10 years a meaningful investment when inflation at 3% will gobble up most of the benefit. This is nothing more than an attempt at vote getting for the next election.
Adding: “What a bunch of hogwash. First of all Ontario has had an intensification mandate in place going back a number of years. As well if anyone is paying attention much of the housing is along transit routes.
“Then there is the 5,000 homes at a cost of $21 million over 10 years, or $4,200 per unit that will be peanut buttered over the next 10 years at $420.00 per home per year. This propaganda is not worth the cyber space that was foisted upon us.
Media taking notes during the federal funding announcement.
“My favourite phrase has to be “ changing how cities let housing get built” fact of the matter is municipalities have been the roadblock and the feds have zero jurisdiction. How about changing how federal government spending is out of control.
Another reader who has been very influential and effective with his comments on the developments taking place on the eastern side of Spencer Smith Park asks: “Is the Trudeau government not the one that has recently facilitated record-high immigration (> 1,000,000/yr. incl. non-permanent) without planning for any additional housing or hospital beds?
“Does Karina Gould actually think that investing borrowed money now to fix a problem that the Liberals exacerbated will cause Canadians to forget her government’s gross incompetence and their personal financial pain at the next election? I’m sorry, for me it’s just “too little, too late”!
Not exactly votes of confidence. To date there hasn’t been a single positive comment on the federal funding
Please let us know when one of these *half-priced AFFORDABLE homes* comes on the market – so I can buy it and resell the next day – at market rate.
The only way to deal with that is what our UK council did. Rented at affordable price and then sold them to the sitting tenant a number of years later at an affordable price. Rarely were those homes up for sale on the general market. However that was 50 years ago and we believe they have the same issues as we do now.
Margaret Thatcher wanted to give the families in government housing a sense of pride and accomplishment in being a home owner.
Joe Gaetan has done the math that shows what a farce this gimmick is in making any dent at all in housing supply, especially affordable housing. $420 per year per unit over ten years? For 5000 units when we supposedly need 29,000? A drop in the bucket by any standard and that it is from the federal government that has no jurisdiction in housing is insulting. It is the Province that has the responsibility for housing, but it is Canada’s government that is adding to our population like never before and expecting the provinces to find places for new people to live and work.
The Province of Ontario government just defaults to bring everyone into our already crowded GTHA and commands the cities to build more high rises and put more units (now four) on every urban property with a single family home. Sounds like it is going to get really crowded in the GTHA with everyone living in a dense network of small condo units in high rises or small units and suites on the ground.
A new rat race is about to replace the old rat race Burlingtonians thought they had escaped by living here. We might still rate a number 1 on some survey ten years from now, but it won’t be any survey we want to be on.
. Last fall, I was unable to drive due to surgery on my knee but I had to visit the Walk-In Clinic; I got a ride home by taxi. The taxi driver–a new Canadian who has lived and worked in Burlington for the past three years, made the following observation when I asked him how he liked Burlington. He said it was a nice clean city but it was too overcrowded, with congestion and gridlock a serious problem for much of the day. A newcomer can recognize this but not the folks at City Hall, not the province, and certainly not our federal MP–and yet they all feel that we need to add another 29000 people. Expect further serious erosion in our quality of life.
Not surprising.
Trudeau insists on “doubling down” on previously failed policy again in 2024 with the intention to right the sinking liberal ship.
What did Einstein call this, insanity?
Postscript, if the Trudeau regime wants to save the Burlington seat by sending wheelbarrows full of cash…bring it on. But don’t think you are fooling anyone. Putting a bandaid on a problem of your own creation is nothing short of cynical politics
Now if Karina Gould announced that Justin Trudeau was going to “take a walk in the snow” imminently, your readers along with most Canadians would get very excited!