Portrait of Pierre Poilievre
Politician · policy
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Pierre Poilievre on Housing Crisis

Anti-bureaucracy housing plan (strong)

TL;DR

Pierre Poilievre advocates for solving the housing crisis by aggressively cutting municipal bureaucracy and linking federal funding to annual construction targets.

Key Points

  • Introduced the Building Homes, Not Bureaucracy Act, which mandates a 15% annual increase in housing builds for large cities to receive full federal funding.

  • Proposes to remove the federal sales tax on new homes priced at $1.3 million or less to boost affordability for buyers.

  • Intends to withhold federal transit and infrastructure funding from cities until high-density housing is built and occupied around transit stations.

Summary

Pierre Poilievre asserts that the current housing crisis stems primarily from excessive government gatekeepers, red tape, and regulations that prevent sufficient supply from being built quickly. He contends that in major cities like Vancouver and Toronto, a significant portion of a home’s cost is due to these bureaucratic delays, fees, and taxes, rather than just land and construction costs. His core solution is outlined in the proposed Building Homes, Not Bureaucracy Act, which aims to overcome municipal inertia by imposing strict conditions on federal funding.

This plan centers on a strict mathematical incentive: requiring large, unaffordable cities to increase their annual home construction rate by a compounding 15% or risk having federal infrastructure and transit funding withheld. Conversely, municipalities exceeding this target would receive financial bonuses. Furthermore, he proposes cutting the federal sales tax on new homes under $1.3 million and repurposing federal land and buildings to accelerate the creation of new housing stock, while holding the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation accountable for faster approvals.

Key Quotes

My practical solution to the housing crisis is to take the federal sales tax off new homes under $1.3 million.

He also says the government needs to get immigration “under control,” arguing that the large influx of newcomers over the past decade has caused housing shortages.

Frequently Asked Questions

Pierre Poilievre's main focus is on increasing housing supply by cutting what he calls municipal gatekeepers and red tape. He plans to use federal funding as leverage, penalizing cities that do not meet aggressive annual housing construction targets and rewarding those that exceed them.

Yes, he has proposed eliminating the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the purchase of any new homes valued at $1.3 million or less. He also suggested removing GST on new affordable rental units.

He has committed to listing 15 percent of the federal government's buildings and all appropriate federal land within a year and a half of his law passing. The stated goal for this land use is to build homes that Canadians can afford.