ottawa –
Five Conservative MPs have written to the Liberal housing minister asking for funding to be given to communities from a program that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week called disastrous and vowed to cancel.
Housing Minister Sean Fraser made the revelation in the House of Commons on Tuesday, answering questions from Mr Poièvre.
“(Poièvre) doesn’t know because his caucus colleagues wrote to me behind his back and believe that communities will get more housing built through the Housing Accelerator Fund. , is advocating for the funds to be received through the Housing Promotion Fund,” Mr Fraser said.
“My question is to the Conservative members of his caucus: Will they have the courage to stand up and tell him he is wrong?”
The letters reviewed by The Canadian Press were sent between September 2023 and February 2024 by Dan Albus, Michael Cooper, Adam Chambers, Leanne Rood and Rob Moore. The MP represents the ridings of British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick.
Conservative MPs have called on Premier Fraser to approve local residents’ applications for the Housing Accelerator Fund. The Housing Promotion Fund is a program that allows local governments to compete for a pool of funding based on the ambition of their housing construction plans.
Poièvre announced Monday that he would eliminate the program and instead use the money to fund a plan to eliminate the federal sales tax on new homes sold for $1 million or less.
At a press conference, he denounced the Housing Promotion Fund as a “disastrous program that has led to less housing construction and more local bureaucracy.”
But Conservative MPs who wrote to Mr Fraser suggested the program would help build more homes in communities.
Mr Cooper called on the Minister to approve an application from St. Albert, Alta., to build an affordable mixed housing project.
“The federal funds requested are critical to making this needed development a reality,” Cooper wrote in a letter sent in February. This will help address significant shortages.”
In a letter sent in January, Moore endorsed Butternut Valley’s application, saying it “will provide much-needed housing in this area.”
Chambers wrote a letter in November 2023 supporting an application from Midland, Ont., which is “proposing a plan to increase housing within the municipality.”
The town said it was “ready to consider any recommendations or conditions encouraged by the government to increase the chances of a successful application”.
Mr. Poièvre has criticized housing promotion funds since the federal government began making agreements with local governments, saying they increase bureaucracy without building housing.
In a statement to the Canadian Press, Poièvre spokesperson Sebastian Skamski said the Conservative Party’s plan to remove GST on new homes under $1 million would result in “30,000 additional homes per year. ” and said it would reduce the purchase price by up to $50,000 and reduce mortgage payments by almost $3,000. One year.
“Unlike the multi-billion dollar so-called ‘housing accelerator’ photo fund, this common sense policy does not require bureaucratic filings or expensive photo shoots for Liberal political gain, and will Canadians will benefit,” the statement reads.
Skamski did not mention the letter sent by Conservative MPs.
The Liberal government first announced a $4 billion housing boost plan in the spring 2022 federal budget and added another $400 million in its latest budget.
Poiivre has relentlessly attacked the Liberal government over the state of housing affordability, blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the sharpest rise in home prices and rents since 2015.
This message appears to have resonated with Canadians, as opinion polls show the Conservatives with a significant lead over the Liberals.
The Liberal Party has pledged to further address the issue during its 2023 caucus retreat due to palpable anger over housing prices in the country.
In the spring, the government released a 28-page plan to build more housing. Prime Minister Trudeau said the country will build about 3.9 million homes by 2031. A housing promotion fund is one of the plan’s tenets.
The Liberal government says it has signed 177 agreements with municipalities through the Housing Promotion Fund, as well as another agreement with the Quebec government.
Mr Fraser’s office said there was still $400 million in funding left in the program, although applications from local authorities supported by five Conservative MPs had not yet received funding.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.
