Justin Trudeau’s ‘shrug and blah’ approach to housing could get him evicted

With his party down as much as 10 points in the polls and his big cabinet shuffle looking like a damp squib, Justin Trudeau didn’t step to the podium in Hamilton on Monday trying to hand his political opponents a gift. But when he told reporters: “I’ll be blunt ... housing isn’t a primary federal responsibility,” that’s exactly what he ended up doing.

It was yet another sign that his government still doesn’t get it on the housing file and that it will almost certainly lose the next election if that doesn’t change soon.

In fairness to the prime minister, he was technically correct in his remarks. Unlike national defence or the postal service, the housing market and its growing list of woes do not fall solely or even primarily to the federal government. But when a growing number of Canadians are watching their futures get trampled to death by soaring housing costs, pointing out how the division of powers works in Canadian federalism isn’t likely to be well received. That’s especially true when the leader of the Opposition and his social media team can contrast the prime minister’s statement with his previous words on the subject.

The significant role that previous federal governments played in delivering housing — including, ironically, the one led by his own father — doesn’t help his argument here, either.

“During the ‘stagflation’ squeeze and oil shocks of the early 1970s, the minority Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau (backed by the NDP) legislated the National Housing Act — which spurred the formation of housing co-ops and provided grants to restore old homes and build social housing,” the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives’ Ben Isitt wrote back in 2009. “Nearly 1,000,000 low-income Canadians were housed through an array of federal and provincial programs during these innovative years.”

There’s a second truth embedded in Trudeau’s comment, one that’s much more significant than the technicality around the division of powers and responsibilities. If housing isn’t a “primary federal responsibility,” that’s at least in part because his own government refuses to treat it as one. If it could move mountains during the COVID-19 pandemic, why can’t it be bothered to nudge more than the most modest molehills when it comes to housing? When young Canadians are practically begging for a shock-and-awe strategy, why are the Trudeau Liberals giving them shrug-and-blah instead?

That approach was personified by the recent announcement in Hamilton, one that will deliver a grand total of 214 new units of housing. Yes, every little bit helps right now, but when the prime minister is personally announcing such tiny drops in the proverbial bucket, it makes you wonder if the Liberals have any intention of filling it — or if they even know how.

The Conservatives don’t have a quick fix for the housing crisis, of course, and that’s in part because there are no quick fixes here. But at least they’ve figured out how to show they care about it. “We will fight tooth and nail against big cities that say no to more housing,” Conservative housing critic Scott Aitchison tweeted. “And yes, it is a fight for more housing. The gatekeepers and special interests will do everything they can to stop Pierre Poilievre and I. But it is a fight worth having.”

He’s right. As the Globe and Mail’s editorial board noted in a recent piece, the backlog is still at the civic level, where governments continue to slow-roll the sort of major changes that are required. In cities like Vancouver and Victoria, councils have made superficial improvements to their zoning laws that were kneecapped (deliberately, one suspects) by the additional regulations and requirements they imposed. “The housing market is tilted against new buyers and renters,” they wrote, “with existing and new supply running well below demand. This is the root cause of Canada’s housing supply squeeze and blame can be pinned on local politicians who oversee rules that allow — and mostly disallow — new housing.”

If Trudeau’s government doesn’t find a way to join this fight, housing-sensitive voters — and especially younger ones — have every reason to give Poilievre’s Conservatives a trial run. Sure, some of them would probably rather continue voting Liberal, while others might find Poilievre’s digital theatrics and populist politicking off-putting in the extreme. But desperate times call for desperate measures and for some reason, the Trudeau Liberals still don’t seem to realize that.

Getting rid of the minister who wrote an op-ed defending said municipal leaders and their role in the housing crisis is a start, but that’s more of a parry than a punch. Trudeau will have to start throwing some real haymakers if he wants to prevent the same young voters who put him in office in 2015 from booting him out in 2025.