Continuing his pre-budget spending pledge tour, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is promising a $15-billion top-up as well as reforms to the federal apartment construction loan program.
Related to this loan program, Trudeau says the federal government also plans to launch a new “Canada Builds” initiative to help build more rental housing across Canada.
Styled after the “BC Builds” program, the aim is to allow provinces and territories to access federal loans to “launch their own ambitious housing plans.”
Similar to other new federal housing spending offerings, access will be dependent on meeting all of the program’s criteria, as well as a series of additional benchmarks.
In order to access this funding, provinces and territories will have to commit to spending their own money on housing, plan to build on government and vacant lands, and cut development approval timelines to no longer than 12 to 18 months.
The $15-billion loan top-up to what will now be a $55-billion fund providing low-cost financing to homebuilders will help finance the program’s aim of constructing of more than 131,000 new apartments within the next decade.
The federal government also plans to reform the program with the intention of increasing access and making it easier for builders to get shovels in the ground.
This will include extending loan terms, widening financing access to include housing for students and seniors, and allowing builders to move ahead with multiple construction sites at once.
According to a release from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the Liberals will also launch a new “frequent builder stream” to speed up application times for “proven home builders.”
Since its launch in 2017, the government says this apartment construction loan program has allocated more than $18 billion to help build more than 48,000 new rental homes.
Trudeau and his cabinet have been holding daily press conferences teasing out pieces of the upcoming 2024 federal budget, which will be tabled on April 16.
So far, the budget announcements have leaned into housing as a priority—specifically “building more homes, faster”— as the Liberals try to target younger voters.
According to the 2021 census, Canadians under the age of 26 are more likely to rent than own their homes, and spend more of their paycheque on shelter than older Canadians.
OTTAWA – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the NDP is caving to political pressure from Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre when it comes to their stance on the consumer carbon price.
Trudeau says he believes Jagmeet Singh and the NDP care about the environment, but it’s “increasingly obvious” that they have “no idea” what to do about climate change.
On Thursday, Singh said the NDP is working on a plan that wouldn’t put the burden of fighting climate change on the backs of workers, but wouldn’t say if that plan would include a consumer carbon price.
Singh’s noncommittal position comes as the NDP tries to frame itself as a credible alternative to the Conservatives in the next federal election.
Poilievre responded to that by releasing a video, pointing out that the NDP has voted time and again in favour of the Liberals’ carbon price.
British Columbia Premier David Eby also changed his tune on Thursday, promising that a re-elected NDP government would scrap the long-standing carbon tax and shift the burden to “big polluters,” if the federal government dropped its requirements.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
Simon Jolin-Barrette, minister responsible for consumer protection, has tabled a bill to force merchants to calculate tips based on the price before tax.
That means on a restaurant bill of $100, suggested tips would be calculated based on $100, not on $114.98 after provincial and federal sales taxes are added.
The bill would also increase the rebate offered to consumers when the price of an item at the cash register is higher than the shelf price, to $15 from $10.
And it would force grocery stores offering a discounted price for several items to clearly list the unit price as well.
Businesses would also have to indicate whether taxes will be added to the price of food products.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
