Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he knows young people are frustrated with him, and chief among those frustrations is the high cost of housing, which has left many young people feeling home ownership is out of reach.
However, Trudeau denies critics who suggest the federal government only began taking the housing file seriously in the last few months.
“We’ve actually made commitments that are adding up to about 300,000 new units over the coming decade. These are the kinds of things we need to accelerate, and there’s no one way of doing it. What we’ve come at is not a single silver bullet,” Trudeau said in a year-end interview with Global News that airs on Christmas Eve at 11 a.m. eastern time.
The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) pegged the average sale price of a detached home at $646,134 in November, up two per cent from the year prior.
In British Columbia, the average home price was $904,793 and it was $828,608 in Ontario in November.
The two most expensive provinces did see a year-over-year price decline, according to the CREA.
Trudeau says federal initiatives like the Housing Accelerator Fund and Rapid Housing Initiative are key to achieving these goals.
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Canada added 430,000 residents between July and September, pushing the population past the 40 million mark, and the question remains of where people will live.
Trudeau says they are working on solving a very real challenge.
“We absolutely have to be part of solving for this. But let’s be clear about the numbers we’re seeing are only about a quarter of those numbers are the federal permanent resident immigration numbers,” Trudeau said.
According to the prime minister, the remaining three-quarters are made up of asylum seekers, temporary foreign workers and international students.
Trudeau says there’s a “concerning spike” in that last group.
“We’re making sure that institutions across the country, as they get accredited by the provinces, are both legitimate institutions, because we’ve seen some fraud and some sketchy practices there, but are also able to house the international students that are coming,” Trudeau said.
The prime minister says Ottawa is also working with employers and communities to ensure there are homes for temporary foreign workers. He said they are essential in keeping Canada’s economy growing but can’t become a burden on communities.
When pressed on Ottawa’s role in immigration-related strains, Trudeau said it’s a matter of working with all stakeholders.
“Of course, we all bear responsibility. This is a challenge that we have to work on all together,” Trudeau said.
“The spike in temporary arrivals over the past two years that total up upwards of two million people need to be responded to. And that’s why there are very specific challenges that we are addressing in partnership with municipalities and provinces, but also with international partners to make sure that we’re managing that flow.”
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