Liberals say Poilievre 'doesn't care' about the housing shortage and mock his record

Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser said Monday that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre doesn't re‐ ally care about building more homes and is just whipping up "fear" and "anxiety" in order to get elected.

Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a housing conference in Ottawa, Fraser said it's "frustrating" to see Poilievre pitch policies that "prey on the anxieties of peo‐ ple who are very worried" about buying a home without "actually offering solutions."

Fraser recently released three-minute video on social media. It blasts Poilievre's plan as a poor imitation of what the government is al‐ ready doing to tackle a crisis that has left homes out of

areach for many Canadians.

The video, entitled "Pierre doesn't care," is similar in style to one Poilievre re‐ leased earlier this year on the same topic. The video goes after the Tory leader's record as housing minister in the last Conservative govern‐ ment.

It's a sign that the Liberal government is starting to fight back against Poilievre, who has led his party to a commanding lead in the pol‐ ls. Poll aggregator 338 Cana‐ da suggests the Conserva‐ tives enjoy an 18-point lead nationwide. Poilievre has made housing a central plank of his policy playbook.

WATCH: Federal minister pushes back against Con‐ servatives on housing

Poilievre has released a relatively detailed housing plan built around a program that would tie federal fund‐ ing for municipalities to housing starts.

Under his proposal, cities would have to increase the number of homes built by 15 per cent each year. Munici‐ palities that fail to meet that target would see their federal grants withheld at a com‐ mensurate rate.

The Conservative plan al‐ so would make a $100 mil‐ lion fund available to cities that greatly exceed the target.

Fraser said that's a lot less than the government's ex‐ isting $4 billion housing ac‐ celerator fund, which sends money to cities that cut housing-related red tape and allow more homes to be built on a particular plot of land.

The government has cut more than a dozen deals with cities using the accelera‐ tor fund - agreements that Ottawa maintains will create hundreds of thousands of homes nationwide in the coming years.

Fraser also told confer‐ ence attendees Monday that Ottawa will ramp up its lowinterest construction loan program - an initiative that will give developers access to cheaper cash if they build more homes.

He suggested there may be more funding for this pro‐ gram in the upcoming feder‐ al budget.

It's a program that doesn't necessarily cost Ottawa any money - the expectation is that the loans will be paid back with interest - but it leverages the government's superior credit rating to get more privately built homes on the market.

Citing Canada Mortgage and Housing Corpora‐ tion(CMHC) data, Fraser's so‐ cial media video said that housing starts during Poilievre's tenure were lower than in any year of the Liber‐ al government.

"He wasn't very good at it and I'm not sure he even cared," Fraser said, while also criticizing the previous gov‐ ernment's track record on af‐ fordable housing and apart‐ ment construction.

"Pierre's plan isn't going to solve the housing crisis be‐ cause Pierre doesn't care about the people it impacts most," Fraser said. "The thing Pierre cares about most is Pierre."

Poilievre and Fraser rou‐ tinely spar in the House of Commons over the housing issue.

Poilievre has blamed Fras‐ er for the surge in interna‐ tional students during his time as immigration minister, while Fraser has said the Tory leader isn't up to the task of governing.

Poilievre has called Fraser "the minister of photo-ops and media puff pieces." He's routinely called him "incom‐ petent."

In Fraser's Nova Scotia, homeless encampments have popped up in Halifax in places where they never were before - something Poilievre has cited as an in‐ dictment of the Liberals' housing record.

"Trudeau told us that media darling Sean Fraser would reverse the Liberal housing crisis. What hap‐ pened? Housing photo ops are up 100 per cent. Home building is down 7 per cent in 2023," Poilievre said in a soci‐ al media post.

Poilievre is right about that last figure - the CMHC's January report found that housing starts were down seven per cent in 2023 com‐ pared to the year before.

There were 223,513 units recorded last year, compared to 240,590 in 2022, according to CMHC data.

That drop is likely attribut‐ able to higher interest rates the Bank of Canada's hikes to tame inflation have made it more expensive to build any‐ thing.

But there were some bright spots in two of the country's largest cities, de‐ spite the challenging interest rate environment.

Housing starts were 5 per cent and 28 per cent higher than in 2022 in Toronto and Vancouver, respectively, the CMHC said.

Speaking to reporters at the same housing conference Fraser attended, acting presi‐ dent and CEO of CMHC Michel Tremblay said there's a "dire need" for more supply to restore housing affordabil‐ ity.

CMHC projects the coun‐ try needs to build 3.5 million more housing units by 2030 to meet explosive demand as the country's population ex‐ pands, thanks in part to record immigration.

"That number is quite daunting," Tremblay said.