Ottawa, ON – After eight years of Trudeau, rent has never been more expensive for Canadians. Since Trudeau was elected, the cost of rent has doubled and housing simply isn’t affordable in most of our cities.
Last week, Rentals.ca released a report highlighting the reality of the Liberal failures to provide affordable rents in Canada. In December, the average asking rents for all residential property in Canada spiralled out of control, ending the year at a record-high of $2,178 in December 2023. This is an increase of 8.6% from a year ago in December 2022.
Worst still, over the past two years, asking rents have increased by a total of 22%, or an average of $390 per month. Nobody can afford this. Canadians in British Columbia are being forced to manage average asking rents of $2,500 while Ontarians have to pay $2,446.
This cost of living crisis has Canadians having to choose between paying their rent, putting food on the table and heating their homes. The only solution to this affordable housing crisis is for the Liberal Government to build more homes, yet Trudeau has told Canadians that housing is not a “federal responsibility,” and Trudeau’s own Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation has confirmed that his government has no plan to build the homes that Canadians need.
As a direct consequence of Trudeau’s inaction, between January 1 and November 30 of 2023, Canada built 17,561 fewer houses than in this time period in the previous year, according to Statistics Canada. Trudeau’s Housing Minister doesn’t understand that Canadians can’t live in photo-ops.
Only common sense Conservatives have a plan to build more homes instead of more bureaucracy and bring homes that Canadians can actually afford.