Prime Minister Justin Trudeau claiming housing isn't a primary federal responsibility flies in the face of everything he's said about the issue since coming to power in 2015.
Seriously, what is he thinking?
Appearing in Hamilton on Monday to announce four affordable housing projects creating 214 new units, to which federal taxpayers contributed $45 million, Trudeau said: "I'll be blunt as well. Housing isn't a primary federal responsibility. It's not something that we have direct carriage of. But it is something that we can and must help with."
He blamed the previous Stephen Harper government for abandoning housing policy, accusing Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre of being a party to that decision.
He also said the Ontario government should be doing more.
We agree with Trudeau that all levels of government have a part to play in the issue of housing supply, but for him to claim affordable housing isn't a primary federal responsibility, undermined his own message that, "of all the cost-of-living challenges … housing is the most expensive thing."
If that's true, given everything Trudeau has said about the importance of affordable housing since he came to power in 2015, it had better be a primary responsibility for him.
As for Trudeau not having "direct carriage" of the issue, he has direct carriage of immigration, where he's rapidly increasing the level to 1.45 million new arrivals between 2023 and 2025, contributing to the surge in demand and higher costs for housing nationally.
Trudeau knows this. As he said Monday: "Right now we're facing a real challenge around housing in terms of supply. There's simply not enough places for people to live."
On the campaign trail in 2015, Trudeau promised a "comprehensive National Housing Strategy" to "make housing more affordable for those who need it most – seniors, persons with disabilities, lower-income families and Canadians working hard to join the middle class."
As of March, 2023, according to the feds, taxpayers have committed $33.69 billion to Trudeau's national housing strategy, which will top out at over $82 billion in March, 2028.
Trudeau says this has helped almost two million families and individuals get the housing they need.
If he's going to claim successes in federal housing policy, he has to account for its shortcomings as well.
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