By Pepper Parr
August 7th, 2023
BURLINGTON, ON
While in Hamilton handing out federal funds last week Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there’s “simply not enough places for people to live” and said more initiatives like the one he was handing out money for are needed to create affordable housing in Hamilton.

Did Andrea Horwath, sitting beside Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. hit him or is that band aid on his forehead something he get when the wife he is now separated from took a whack at him as she was walking out the door?
He also said: “Housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility, not something that we have directly carried out. But it is something that we can and must help with,”
It was a bit of a mixed message and a major disappointment for those who were expecting the federal government to be deeply involved in the housing crisis.
It was the federal government that made the decision to bring millions of people to Canada to help with the labour shortages. One would expect them to be quite a bit more than at the table when the housing needs were being worked through.
The federal government has the Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) in place; an organization that has led a number of very innovative and successful housing development initiatives across the country.
Is it too much to ask that someone- maybe the new Minister of Housing- to come up with a major initiative?

Sean Fraser being sworn in as Housing, Infrastructure and Communities
He holds a law degree from Dalhousie University, a Master’s degree in Public International Law from Leiden University in the Netherlands, and a Bachelor of Science from St. Francis Xavier University. He represents Central Nova, a constituency in Pictou County in Nova Scotia.

Burlington MP Karina Gould reads her email – let her know what you think.
He has the smarts, what we need to know is – does he have an understanding of just how serious the housing situation is ? One would hope that he realizes it is going to get worse before it gets better.
If he takes his que from the Prime Minister (Housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility) we then do have a problem.
Burlington has a Member of Parliament who is heard when she speaks in Caucus – pop her a note expressing your opinion. When an MP gets a couple of hundred emails – they respond. Karina Gould can be reached by email at karina.gould@parl.gc.ca
Salt with Pepper is the musings, reflections and opinions of the publisher of the Burlington Gazette, an online newspaper that was formed in 2010 and is a member of the National Newsmedia Council.

There is little doubt in my opinion that continued runaway spending, record debt levels, inflation, along with massive immigration primarily to Ontario has significantly impacted our ability; however historically dysfunctional of our systems to provide affordable accommodation. Particularly now too with the competition for scarce skilled construction workers.
Who would continue to applaud Canada bringing in refugees and asylum seekers to sleep on streets when many that are already here cannot afford food or shelter?
The fact that cities are now expected to further raise property taxes to cover some of these costs along with income redistribution initiatives is completely wrong headed. This is about the most regressive taxation ever considered.
Past time for that walk in the snow….
Trudeau, in part, has caused the housing crisis, but, as to has he walked away from the crisis. The proof can be found in his own words.
Really Joe, this video is from November 2017–almost six years ago. And given how much the housing and rental crisis has increased in that time, your video only proves that Trudeau loves the limelight to make the “grand pronouncements” but in fact, achieves nothing concrete–it’s just another one of Trudeau’s broken promises.
So,we agree then. He is the main cause of the made in Canada housing crisis.
I agree that housing is not a federal problem alone to solve since the root of the problem lies in too much regulation (local and provincial) which slows down approvals for residential development. Also, no one in their right mind wants to become a Landlord with the current dysfunction of the Landlord Tenant Board where it takes 10 months to evict a nonpaying tenant.
The Feds need to provide the money for housing however if they are in charge of immigration and letting people into the country.
This high demand for housing also drives the rents up. Add more supply of government Non profit housing and the rents will stabilize.