Did Poilievre only build 6 homes when he was housing minister?

This article is part of the Reality Check series by Canada's National Observer. Have a question for us? Reach out at [email protected].

During both leaders' debates, Jagmeet Singh claimed that when Pierre Poilievre was housing minister, he only built six homes. At one point in the English debate, he even held up his hands and counted to six while speaking to Poilievre. 

It’s a claim that’s been stated before, by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during Question Period last spring. 

At the debate, Poilievre replied that he had actually built 200,000 homes during his time in Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s cabinet.

Verdict: False

What’s the real number?

First, Poilievere was never housing minister under Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In 2015, he was named the Minister of Employment and Social Development, and Minister of Democratic Reform. There was no housing minister in Harper’s cabinet at the time. Many housing issues got rolled into Poilievre’s domain under the title of social development. 

The six houses number stems from non-profit housing built by the government in the 2015-16 fiscal year, when Poiliever had the file. Under Harper, Canada had less social housing per capita than many other countries. The specific number originated from a breakdown of federal funding that BC MP Jenny Kwan asked for. The data showed that year, only six non-profit or community housing units were built, all in Quebec.

Where does the 200,000 number come from? That would be the 194,461 total housing units that were built across the country during that time, whether or not they had any connection to the feds. It’s a bit of a stretch for Poilievre to take credit for private developer builds. 

The real number of houses is 3,742, when you include non profit housing built by other developers with government assistance.