The Empire Club of Canada Presents
Solving the Housing Crisis – A Conversation with Canada’s Housing Minister
Chairman: Sal Rabbani, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Moderator
Mike Van Soelen, Past President & Director, Empire Club of Canada; Managing Principal, Navigator
Distinguished Guest Speakers
Michael Cooper, Chief Responsibility Officer, Dream
The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, Government of Canada
Tony Irwin, Interim President, Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations
Head Table Guests
Brad Bradford, City Councillor for Ward 19, Beaches-East York, City of Toronto
Jenna Donelson, 1st Vice-Chair, Empire Club of Canada
Kent Emerson, Past President of the Board of Directors, Strategic Lead, Empire Club of Canada
Deputy Minister Kelly Gillis, Infrastructure and Communities, Government of Canada
Sherry Larjani, President, Spotlight Development Inc.
Victoria Mancinelli, Director Public Relations, Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, LiUNA
Sheamus Murphy, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Janice Myers, CEO, CREA
Issac Olowolafe, Founder and General Partner, Dream Maker Ventures
Mark Richardson, Chief Technology Officer, Toronto Housing Now
Councillor Alvin Tejdo, City of Mississauga, Ward 2
Caitlin Tolley, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Julia Zhang, President & CEO, JD Development Group
Introduction
It is a great honour for me to be here at the Empire Club of Canada today, which is arguably the most famous and historically relevant speaker’s podium to have ever existed in Canada. It has offered its podium to such international luminaries as Winston Churchill, Ronald Reagan, Audrey Hepburn, the Dalai Lama, Indira Gandhi, and closer to home, from Pierre Trudeau to Justin Trudeau; literally generations of our great nation’s leaders, alongside with those of the world’s top international diplomats, heads of state, and business and thought leaders.
It is a real honour and distinct privilege to be invited to speak to the Empire Club of Canada, which has been welcoming international diplomats, leaders in business, and in science, and in politics. When they stand at that podium, they speak not only to the entire country, but they can speak to the entire world.
Welcome Address by Sal Rabbani, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, and welcome to the Empire Club of Canada’s first event of 2024. I’d like to wish you all a healthy, prosperous, and purposeful year ahead. My name is Sal Rabbani, and it’s an honour to stand before our community, both in person and virtually, as Chair of the Board of Directors of the Empire Club of Canada.
To formally begin this afternoon, I want to acknowledge that we are gathering today on the traditional and treaty lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the homelands of the Anishinaabeg, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples. We encourage everyone to learn more about the Traditional Territory on which you work and live
To kick off 2024, we’re welcoming on our stage The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, Government of Canada. Welcome, Minister. Thank you, Minister, for joining us to discuss how we can develop smart policies, direct strategic investments, and implement innovative solutions, to solve Canada’s national housing crisis. Our in-person tickets sold out almost a week ago, and it goes to show how important this topic is for Canadians.
This isn’t the first time we’re talking about the housing crisis, and it also won’t be the last, for sure. In October, we held a panel of experts discussing the housing affordability issues, the housing supply gap, and how they’re impacting growth, job mobility, the construction market, the job market, and our quality of living as a country, and so much more. One of the conclusions back in October was that in order to solve Canada’s housing crisis, we need to adopt an all-hands-on-deck approach. We’re happy to continue advancing this conversation on this critical topic, for Canadians and for Canada.
We need more housing, faster housing, more sustainable housing, and more affordable housing in Canada, and we’re in the race for ideas to accelerate house construction. The most recent solution that the Minister and his team have put forward is a throwback to a federal government program from the post-Second World War, when Canada, the CMHC, developed blueprints to speed up the construction of homes for the thousands of soldiers who are coming back home. I look forward to hearing more on this, and also how the Minister’s team is working with other levels of government to advance this project, and help solve the critical issue of housing.
The Empire Club is a not-for-profit organization, and we’d like to recognize our sponsors, who generously support the club, and make these events possible and complimentary for our online viewers to attend. Thank you to our Lead Event Sponsors, the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations, and Dream; and thank you to our VIP Reception Sponsors, CUREA [?] and LiUNA; and thank you to our Supporting Sponsors, OREA, TD, and Rios. Thank you also to our Season Sponsors, AWS Amazon Web Services, Bruce Power, and Hydro One.
As always, we accept questions from the audience for our speakers, and you can undertake to scan that QR code found on your program booklet. For those joining us online today, if you require technical assistance, please start a conversation with our team, using the chat button on the right-hand side of your screen.
You know, one more thing before we kick off this event—and it’s something that we do in January, since January’s naturally a month for looking ahead—I always use this time of year to discuss with my friends and our professional circles, you know, what’s that one thing, the idea or opportunity that will shape the New Year? What’s the most important element that we need in 2024 to succeed, in a world that is reshaped and being redefined every day by AI, climate change, energy transition, technology adoption, you know, geopolitical instability, polarization, all of those things. And the one thing that kept coming up in my conversations this January was the need to broaden our view, perspective, intentionally looking for different perspectives, challenging ourselves to always expand our horizons, and listen, really listen, to others, their positions, and their ideas. I’d like to pass this on, and encourage all of us here today to think beyond our own viewpoints, our own experiences, our jobs, and our respective industries in 2024. Use this opportunity we have to learn something new, actively seek something different, even contrasting ways of thinking; look to sectors completely different from our own when we need business ideas, or ways to innovate.
Thank you all for being a part of the Empire Club Community. You know, please engage in the conversation, ask questions, and put ideas forward. If at the end of our events you’re more informed, more inspired, or more intrigued, it means we did our job. We did our part to help, broadening our collective horizons. On behalf of my fellow board directors, the Empire Club of Canada staff, and volunteers, I want to assure you that we’ll continue to work hard and remain committed to bringing you the best speakers, on the most relevant themes, throughout 2024 and beyond.
It is now my pleasure to welcome Michael Cooper, Chief Responsibility Officer at Dream, to introduce our guest speaker. Michael, welcome.
Opening Remarks by Michael Cooper, Chief Responsibility Officer, Dream
Good afternoon, Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, many members of various levels of government, and all of the distinguished guests today. On behalf of Dream, it gives me great pleasure to welcome everybody here today. Dream is a Canadian real estate company with a global reach. We’ve always tried to build our business by achieving financial goals, while pursuing social environmental goals as well, and to leave a lasting impact on the communities and world around us. At Dream, it’s our privilege to contribute to the creation of market housing, affordable housing, all as part of building better communities throughout Canada.
Housing is not only a basic human need, but also cornerstone of the well-being, stability, and development for all of us, society as a whole, and the growth and health of our economy. Tackling this complex but foundational issue requires the collaboration of all three orders of government, the private, and also the not-for-profit sector as well. After decades of government stepping back from investing in housing, we now see all governments stepping back in. In 2017, we saw the government, the federal government, launch the National Housing Strategy, with an $82 billion investment—most of which are loans that the government will get repaid.
Despite increases in interest rates and construction costs, buildings supported by the minister, the federal government, and other levels of government, continue to get built, and contribute to increasing the housing supply. Minister, it’s encouraging to see the determination, speed, and results-oriented approach that you have brought to the housing file. Your work with municipalities across the country on the rollout of the Housing Accelerator Fund, to enable faster approvals and zoning reform, is to be commended. The waiver of the HST for purpose-built rental introduced in September of last year, was a game changer for the development industry market, that like market units, as well as affordable units, and extremely important for all of Canada.
The housing crisis has impacted every urban centre in the country. What this legislation unlocked was our ability to get shovels into the ground quickly, at a time when it’s never been more critical to build new homes, nor has it been more difficult. At Dream, this legislation positioned us to move forward, building 5,000 net new purpose-built rental apartment units in Ottawa, Toronto, Saskatoon, and Calgary.
Minister, you’re building on the success of the RCFI financing, while responding to the changing market dynamics, by launching the new Apartment Construction Loan Program with an additional $15 billion of loans, that will be the catalyst to build many thousands of new affordable housing units and new market units. And again, this $15 billion will be repaid back to the federal government, so it has a minimal cost.
At Dream, we’ve been privileged to witness firsthand the impact of this program on our residents’ lives. In 2018, the provincial government announced the market offering for West Don Lands. With RCFI financing, government-not-for-profit partnerships, last summer, we welcomed the first families into their new homes. Many of these families are coming from shelters or transitional housing. This was a new beginning for these families, and to use their own words, a life-changing experience. This building has a total number of units of 770, of which 30 percent are affordable—some of them are very deeply affordable. In total, our development will have over 2,000 units, with 600 units as affordable.
Another program getting real results is MLI Select. Just this past December, I was in Ottawa with the mayor, MPs, and city councillors, Ottawa Community Housing, and our partners called Common Living, to opening a new rental building at Zibi, our 35-acre, Net-Zero community. In that one building, we’ve integrated two floors of affordable housing with the Ottawa Community Housing Organization, we’ve also created co-living with the [indiscernible], but at least 30 percent less expensive than individual apartments, plus market units.
Through the many programs we’ve been able to access, we’ve been able to create inclusive and innovative rental buildings, to respond to the diverse needs of the residents of Ottawa. Now, many other developers and not-for-profits are taking advantage of these programs, resulting in hundreds of apartment units, including affordable, announced to be started or announced to be completed, literally, weekly. Tens of thousands of units are being created since the program was created. The results are tangible and substantial, even if the press doesn’t reflect these great contributions to increase supply and reduce the housing crisis.
Your experience with challenging files, after your role as Minister of Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship from 2021 to 2023, and as a Member of Parliament since 2015, have prepared you for the unique and exciting challenges, and potential accomplishments of housing. We’re looking forward to hearing you speak today, and I know that everybody in the room is ready to work with you to relaunch the National Housing Strategy, and continue to tackle the most pressing issue in this country, housing. Thank you.
The Honourable Sean Fraser, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, Government of Canada
Just got to wait for the song to finish before you get things underway, here. Look, Michael, to everyone at Dream, to the Apartment’s Association, thank you so much for the generosity in hosting today’s event. And I want to say, what a privilege it is to gather here to chat about one of the most pressing topics when it comes to Canadian politics, but more important, to the well-being of people who live in communities across the country. And that, of course, is addressing the national housing crisis.
Look, I come from a small community in rural Nova Scotia; I live in a small town now. Being in Toronto is always an interesting experience for those of us who grew up in communities with a population of about, like, 200 total people—eight of whom, by the way, were my immediate family. You know, it’s interesting, when you think about somebody from that background when you’ve got more wildlife than people, why’d they put this guy in charge of housing, of all things? But the reality is, the small community where I live in Nova Scotia is starting to experience some of the challenges that people would have observed in Toronto over the last number of years. There’s no community who is immune from the impact of the pressures on housing markets across this country. And it’s important that we understand the regional nuances and the opportunities, if we’re actually going to escape the challenging situation that we’re in.
The reality is, the pressure on individuals as a result of not having access to adequate or affordable housing is extraordinary. Think about the impact on a young professional starting their career. Has that great job offer to get their feet under them professionally, but can’t manage to afford a place in the city that they want to call home. Think about students in this country—I know we have a handful who are up on the balcony here, today—who tell me when I meet with them that sometimes they can’t find a place within an hour commute of their studies; spending time trying to figure out how they’re going to find a place or get home, rather than focusing on their studies to set them up for success in the future, is a challenging environment. When I talk to seniors, who tell me the only thing they want is to be able to age in the community where their grandkids are being raised. I don’t think that’s too much to ask. And we need to make sure that we have the housing stock to make that a possibility.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge that you can observe on the streets of this community, in particular, the impact of a lack of affordable housing on society’s most vulnerable. Now, these challenges are enormous, but I believe that they can be solved. And I want to do everything that I can to actually help end Canada’s national housing crisis. It won’t be easy; it won’t happen overnight. But with political commitments from governments at different levels, with cooperation between government and the private sector, nonprofit builders, and Indigenous leadership, I believe we can actually bring the housing crisis to an end.
Over the course of the next few minutes, I hope to identify some of the challenges that put us in the position that we’re in today, and importantly, some of the policies that we have the ability to influence at a federal level, that will actually help us overcome the challenges that may be large in scale, but are not necessarily particularly complicated.
The first challenge—which, I think, will be obvious to anybody in this room who’s ever tried to build a house or a project—it’s really expensive to build in Canada. The cost of land, materials, supplies, labour, interest, have all increased in recent years. When you’re talking to builders who are trying to figure out whether a project’s going to pencil, they’re telling you, “We need support to make it happen.” It may come in the form of a direct contribution for affordable housing projects, low-cost financing to get things over the line, or tax incentives that can actually reduce the cost of building across the board, which will see a systemic increase in the number of homes that we build in this country.
It’s not enough, though, to make sure that we’ve got supports in place to help overcome some of the financial challenges that are really manifesting in a different and more substantial way, on the heels of the COVID-19 pandemic. We also have to overcome 30 years of inertia, where federal governments of both Liberal and Conservative persuasion made decisions not to invest in affordable housing. Going back to the late ’80’s, into the, certainly the early ’90’s, and up until 2017, affordable housing was dismissed as something that was not the responsibility of the federal government. The challenging result that we’re living through now is it’s not a coincidence. It’s a direct and predictable consequence of governments over three decades choosing not to make the necessary investments to build out the housing stock that will make sure that we actually have roofs over the heads of some of the most vulnerable members of our community.
There will always be people who cannot afford a place to live. And it’s important and incumbent, I believe, on governments to work together, to ensure that everyone in this country is able to find a place to call home. The cost of not dealing with this issue exceeds the cost of actually taking action. When you deal with the consequences of somebody who can’t afford a home, you’re dealing with increased healthcare costs, as a result of pressures on emergency rooms and mental health services. You’re finding people who more often run into challenges with law enforcement. You’re, importantly, running into people who can’t maximize their potential and contribute fully to their community or to the economy, if they’re focused every day on where they’re going to find a place to live.
Now, we’ve advanced certain programs over the last number of years to help out. The Affordable Housing Fund is a good example; the Rapid Housing Initiative during the pandemic is a good example. We’re going to continue to look for ways to directly support the construction of affordable housing in this country, so we can overcome those three decades of a decision by various governments not to invest.
Importantly—and Michael alluded to this—one of the challenges that we have that’s not purely financial in nature is the government’s decisions, taken at a municipal level. Different cities across this country have restricted housing supply—in my view unnecessarily, and often to accommodate an NIMBY attitude towards residents of their community who don’t like the idea of having more neighbours. To me, it’s unconscionable that we would have rules in place that prevent a large apartment from being built next to a transit station. It makes no sense in a housing crisis to say to a person who owns a piece of property, in their own name, that they can’t build a fourplex to make more room for their neighbours, to help end the crisis in their own community.
The Housing Accelerator Fund was designed with these kinds of challenges in mind. The incentive that we’ve put on the table has seen what appears to be the largest upzoning effort nationwide in the history of the country, over the past six months alone. We’ve seen deals not only in Toronto, but Calgary, Vancouver, Halifax, London, Kitchener, the list goes on, where we’re fundamentally changing the way that cities are allowing homes to be built, and incentivizing adoption of new technologies to importantly speed up the process of actually getting that approval, and avoiding the need to go through what can often be a burdensome municipal council approval process to get there. I know there’s a few counsellors from this city that I’ve seen in the room, both from Mississauga and from Toronto, Alvin, and Brad—I’m sure there are more here, as well—I want to say thank you for the advocacy that you’ve done to help us push deals across in line with your respective cities.
Now, even if we have a perfect policy framework in place when it comes to the financial supports we put in place, even if every municipality in the country had open zoning practices and fast approvals, we are very quickly going to run into a new bottleneck when it comes to getting homes built in this country, and that’s the productive capacity of the Canadian economy to actually build the homes that we need. The reality is, we are building not too far off the record level of home building that this country has ever experienced, going back to the early ’70’s. But we need to significantly increase the pace, if we’re going to come close to addressing the affordability challenges that exist as a result of restricted supply.
There’s a few things that we’re working on now that are going to make a meaningful difference. The first is to invest in training, in collaboration with organized labour and the private sector, to ensure that we’re equipping the Canadian workforce to meet the demands of the home-building economy in this country. We also need to continue to use targeted immigration programs, including some of the changes we made to the Express Entry System, to allow people who have talent in the skilled trades—where we have a shortage in Canada—to come to Canada and contribute their talents to our communities, and to make a difference at home.
But importantly, we need to build more homes and factories. The reality that I see when I talk to people in communities is that, if we continue to build homes the way we have for the past century, we will never get out of the situation that we’re in now. We need to incentivize, particularly through the regional development agencies, opportunities to scale up factories that exist, and to incentivize investment from those who will build homes in the future.
But it’s not purely a financial incentive that we can put in place. When I talk to people in the sector, they tell me they need consistency of demand. They need to know, if they’re making the investment to build that factory, that they’re going to have orders that will justify the investment they make. This is where a unique idea that we borrowed from Canada’s past is going to make a meaningful difference: the adoption of a catalogue of pre-approved designs to get more homes built. If we demonstrate that there’s going to be a basic volume, we’re going to allow factories to produce them en masse, reduce the price through the economies of scale they’re going to achieve. We also believe it’s going to reduce the barriers for entry for smaller players in the market, who may be looking to avoid the cost of an architect for that first fourplex that they put up, as they seek to start building homes and contributing solutions.
You know, it’s kind of funny, sometimes—I’ve got a couple of kids at home, a seven-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son. And my little guy absolutely loves construction; there’s a machine, he wants to stay and hang out. I realized a couple of weeks ago, he thinks I’m a construction worker. And it’s really funny, we’ll be watching Handyman Hal on a YouTube thing, when I’m supposed to be parenting, but I have a call coming in—and I’ll flip something on YouTube, I’ll admit, once in a while—but it appeared to me that when we were, I was chatting with him, I’ll say, “Do you like some of this stuff?” He said, “Yeah, this is what Daddy does.” And I’m like, Oh. I realize on the phone, I’m talking about building homes all the time; he thinks I operate heavy equipment. The reality is, that’s not what I do day-to-day. But indirectly, we’re all pulling in the same direction.
As we solve some of these challenges around the financial contributions to make projects pencil, as we continue to invest in affordable housing, incentivize municipal changes, and we continue to grow the Canadian workforce, we can’t forget the responsibility we have not to leave different cohorts of Canadians behind. Right now, we have a homelessness crisis in this country. We need to work with municipalities and community service providers who know what the unique solutions are on the ground, to ensure that everyone has a roof over their head. I’ve made the economic case just a few minutes ago that it’s actually an investment that will help pay for itself, if we can come together across levels of government.
But we also have a responsibility not to leave a generation behind. When I talk to groups of people my age and younger, finding a place in the housing market is the number one thing that we chat about. When I talk to people who are graduating from the educational institution, right now, they’re focused on whether they can find a place to rent. And if we bring up home ownership, it feels like a fever dream that they will never get to experience. I believe that there is an opportunity to create a sense of hope for young people in this country, that they will be able to find a place to live in the short term, and a place to own, should they choose, in the long term. This is where programs like the First Home Savings Account come into play. Creating an opportunity for people to save tax-free has demonstrated to me that there is more optimism out there, sometimes, than we like to admit. More than 500,000 people have signed up for this program in recent months, which demonstrates, there’s at least half a million young people in this country that don’t only believe, one day, that they will own a home, but that are actively saving for their first one today. If we continue to listen to people who are impacted by the housing crisis, we’re going to be able to solve the housing crisis.
I’m a relentless optimist in all things, but with housing in particular. But this is not blind faith that I’m putting behind the idea we can overcome the housing crisis. I have faith because we’ve done it before. When soldiers came home from the war, in the 1940’s, we saw tens of thousands of people coming back to Canada all at once. And through different government actions, the establishment of Crown Corporations tasked with building out the homes, we actually built the homes necessary to welcome those people back, who served the country overseas. A generation later, when Baby Boomers came of age, through different tax incentives that were put in place, we saw a massive construction boom that set the record for the number of homes that we built in any given year—and particularly in the early 70’s. We have done it before, we can do it again. But the reason that I’m particularly optimistic is when we do it again—yeah, you could applaud if you want, it’s okay. [Applause]
But just to offer a concluding thought, when we solve the national housing crisis, there is not a country in the world that I believe has a brighter economic prospective in the next few years than the Canadian economy. Show me another country in the world that has a trading relationship with every G7 economy. Show me another country in the world that has an abundance of natural resources like Canada has. Show me another country in the world that has a workforce as educated as the Canadian workforce. I believe this country has all of the ingredients to be one of the strongest economies anywhere on the planet. All we have to do is to make sure the people who are going to drive that economy have a place to live, and that’s the mission. Thanks so much, it’s a pleasure to be with you.
Sal Rabbani
Thank you, Minister. I’d now like to invite to the stage my dear friend Mike Van Soelen, Past President and Director of the Empire Club of Canada, Managing Principal at Navigator, to facilitate our fireside conversation with the Honourable Sean Fraser.
Mike Van Soelen, Past President & Director, Empire Club of Canada; Managing Principal, Navigator
Nice to meet you.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
The pleasure’s mine.
Mike Van Soelen
I talked to your staff a little bit yesterday in advance of this, and asked what could I speak about, you know, where could I go. And they really said, you know, you can go anywhere you want. Then they also said—and I’m a former political staffer, I said, “Well, could you just send me his remarks, and then I’ll have some sense of where he’s going?” And they go, “Well, we do that if we could, but he tends to just speak off the cuff.” So, like, since what grade seven, are you the kid who just jumped up ready to talk in front of the class…
The Hon. Sean Fraser
Yeah.
Mike Van Soelen
…or is this hard-earned, nine years provincial politics—or federal politics?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
No, my mom made me read scripture on Sundays in church until I left high school, so I got my public speaking chops at the St. Andrew’s Parish in [indiscernible], Nova Scotia.
Mike Van Soelen
Perfect. Well, let’s get into the topic at hand—and of course, you can be completely honest; it’s just me and you, sitting between eight flags, and we can jump into it—so, one of the cheapest words in politics, I suppose, is “crisis.” People throw it around, people might make a case that there’s a crisis in healthcare or education. Certainly, this room being as full as it is, I think there’s a lot of people who believe that, indeed, housing is in crisis—you used the word. Is this really a crisis, or is just where the fiasco vortex has sort of stopped today, and it’s going to move on?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
Look, the word means different things to different people. I do believe we’re experiencing a national housing crisis. But it doesn’t impact everyone in the same way. Talk to somebody who does not have a place to go to sleep tonight; they are living in crisis. Talk to Northern Communities who’ve been living without adequate housing for generations, often as a result of government decisions to change the way that they’ve lived; they know what a housing crisis looks like. But when we start to see a systematic impact across a wide swath of Canadians, it’s impeding our national productivity, it’s creating an environment where it’s difficult for people to sometimes make a life, or to allow the Canadian economy to flourish. When you have that systematic impact in every region of the country, that’s when I believe you’ve reached a national crisis stage. So, yeah, I believe we’re there. But I believe the crisis is solvable.
Mike Van Soelen
Now, you know, I’d have to ask—and we’ll get to solutions, and we’ll unpack other parts of this, as we get going—but of course, you’ve been elected since 2015, the Prime Minister, and you came in with the Trudeau government at that time. Certainly, your government, including the Prime Minister, have expressed interest in tackling this issue from day one. Some critics have said, you know, you’ve been asleep at the switch. How do you respond to, how do you respond to those concerns?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, there’s—I understand the argument, look, you’ve been in government for eight years, why is not every problem fixed? You realize challenges change over time, and new problems emerge. When we came into office in 2015, the focus on our housing policies was really addressing the lack of investment for 30 years in affordable housing that I mentioned at the microphone. That’s where the adoption of the National Housing Strategy came from. And it had a unique focus on building, certainly, some homes in the market through the RCFI program that Michael alluded to—but that has some affordability components to it as well—but largely, directed at a combination of low-cost financing and direct subsidies to build affordable housing for low-income families.
What we’ve seen over the course of the last few years, in particular, is the challenge has expanded to a much broader swath of Canadians, and communities in every region of the country. The challenge now is not just around low-income families in large urban environments, it’s for middle-class families in every part of the country. People are having a dramatically difficult time finding a place that they can afford to live, and it’s having an impact right across the country. So, despite the investments that we’ve been making to try to catch up on 30 years of not having those investments, we needed to change our approach as the environment changed, as the landscape changed on the heels of the pandemic. As we see people over the course of COVID-19 were buying up property, sometimes as, in my part of the world, a lot of—I know we get a lot of questions about immigration—the largest source of newcomers to my hometown has been the foreign land of Ontario, where people have come in to buy up vacation properties. And it’s put real pressure, when interest rates were low and people snapped up those properties, on the housing sector in my own community.
So, as the circumstances change, as we deal with, now, a heightened interest rate environment, increased land costs, challenging finding labour, we need to change our approach to mirror the realities that exist today, that maybe didn’t exist eight years ago.
Mike Van Soelen
Perfect. And if people use the QR code, you can try to get questions to me, and I’ll try to get them to the minister at the same time. Your Housing Accelerated Fund seems to be having some success. You mentioned it; I think the Prime Minister was out on it earlier this week. One of the things that’s been raised with me is that people would like to see you be even tougher with municipalities. The restrictive zoning is, you know, I know there’s deals that you do with different municipalities to get this done, and people think it should be even tougher. Like, there’s gonna be no participation by the federal government, if the municipality doesn’t agree to remove the restrictive zoning that’s in place. Are you willing, is there a thought to making that a condition of the program?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, yeah—and look, in effect, that has been playing out. The reality is, there’s not a city who signed a deal with us who hasn’t, more or less, ended exclusionary zoning in Canada. And we’ve got, I think it’s, we’re up to 19 deals, plus the province of Québec, with communities across the country so far. There will be more. Part of the program that isn’t visible to the public—because we’re not seeking to make examples of bad guys; we’re trying to increase the ambition of good actors in this country, and encouraging them to do more—there are cities who won’t receive funding, because they don’t want to end exclusionary zoning in Canada. I know who some of them are, and maybe they’ll change their ways. Frankly, we’ve seen a change in approach overnight, when we have certain cities that have a healthy rivalry with their neighbours actually adopt less restrictive zoning practices. And the city who’s been pushing back on some of the measures that we’ve asked them to change suddenly see that, when their neighbour gets some of the cash, they’d like some too, and they have a change in heart.
So, cities should know that, if you’re not willing to be amongst the most ambitious cities in the country when it comes to zoning reform permitting processes, you won’t be successful. We’ve received 540-some-odd applications in this fund. The $4 billion will make a difference, but we might end up with somewhere in the ballpark of 150 successful applicants depending on which communities we end up funding. It doesn’t offend me if I choose one over the other, and it shouldn’t offend the municipalities either. It’s not personal; it’s about housing output. So, if you want to tap into the fund, be more ambitious than your neighbours.
Mike Van Soelen
All right. This is your chance to call out those municipalities you think are doing a poor job, honestly.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
I probably owe them a phone call first. No, I won’t put anybody on the spot, because my real hope is not to embarrass anyone; my real hope is to encourage increased ambition. If there’s communities who are experiencing growth and have an opportunity to have growth in the years ahead, my goal is not to shame them publicly; my goal is to get them to increase their ambition. And I don’t think it would be helpful for me to point it out today, right now.
Mike Van Soelen
Now, I was really interested in the, you alluded to it, the catalogue of pre-approved designs, sort of going back to a post-World War II time when—and I live near East York, here in the city, and there’s all those sort of post-World War II bungalows there around that area. It’s interesting, it’s bold, and seems like out-of-the-box thinking. How much of a problem is this solving in all the problems, of course, that are in the housing space?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, time will tell—there’s no silver bullet. If there’s a good idea, we need to implement the good idea. This is a good idea. We know it’s a good idea, because it’s actually worked in Canada before. Now, we have to update it for the current context. I don’t know that the Victory Homes or Strawberry Box Homes that we see in communities right across the country are going to allow us to achieve the same rapid construction and density that we need to solve today’s challenges. But at the core, the idea of making freely available common designs that can be produced at a large scale quickly, and be turned into not just designs, but actual homes quickly, with labour-efficient designs, with cost-effective designs, with sustainable designs, we’re going to be able to more quickly overcome some of the challenges that face.
In particular, I think there’s two ways that we’re going to be able to scale up home building, as a result of that particular policy. We need all the other ancillary policy supports, as well; but the first is when I’m talking to people who are thinking about starting their very first company. The cost of getting someone to design the building they’re going to put up, and more importantly to them, the time it’s going to take, is actually a huge barrier for them to enter the sector in the first place. The second is for institutional builders who have the opportunity to either scale up or build a factory. They want to know there’s demand there. We are telling them—they’re telling me, rather—right now that the biggest challenge they face is certainty that there was going to be demand. Real estate is a boom-and-bust industry; I expect it will continue to be for a significant period of time. If somebody makes the investment to build out a new factory and enters into a bust cycle, they may lose the entire value of an otherwise healthy company. If they have faith that there’s going to be consistent demand for certain components of buildings, or entire buildings altogether—not just single-family homes but low-medium-rise buildings, accessory dwelling units—they may actually tool up their factories to build more of those units. And when you achieve the economies of scale, you produce faster, you drive the cost down, and you allow us to get more done in a shorter period of time for less money.
Mike Van Soelen
It seems like this policy filed is filled with double-edged swords. So, you’re talking about factories and building these houses—which does sound like an innovation that’s worthwhile pursuing, and it would be great to see more people get involved in it. But of course, skill, we have a skilled labour shortage as well, in this country, and that makes, that makes this difficult—and, and it’s mounting. So, as you look at that challenge, and particularly in terms of this crisis, how is your government thinking about that?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, this is a huge challenge. And it tends to fly under the radar, because everyone’s so focused on the price that we’re dealing with, and the supports we need to put in place to overcome a challenging interest rate environment, and a challenging cost environment more broadly. This is the one that will—we can overcome the challenges to get the homes built that should be built today, but are facing financial pressures. I have faith we can do that. The biggest challenge that I see once we get over that barrier really is the productive capacity of the economy. So, part of it is going to be growing the workforce. We need to work with the people who are building homes, and the people who are supporting the workers—private sector, nonprofits, labour unions in particular—to identify the right kind of training programs. We also need to embrace the skills that exist outside of Canada, by targeting our immigration programs in a way that brings folks in.
But when we look at building more homes and factories, we have to be cognizant of the fact that it may be a different skillset that’s required to build a home in a factory setting, than it will be to have a stick-built home on a site. When you actually engage with folks who are in this space, some of them actually need folks with expertise in software design…
Mike Van Soelen
Right.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
…who are going to be building out the systems to design or build some of these homes. When we actually talk to folks who realize that, if you do it in a factory, you can’t just build any home, but you have to design the buildings that will require the fewest workers, because the workforce doesn’t yet exist.
Mike Van Soelen
Right.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, if you actually look at the different efficiencies from the people who know the sector, the answers are there. We have tremendous advice that comes from our officials in the civil service. But if I only am speaking to people in boardrooms in Ottawa, I’m going to develop programs that serve the people who administer the system, not the people who use it. If we remain connected to the people on the ground, they know what the answers are; they are telling me every day. And it’s my job to go implement them.
Mike Van Soelen
So, one of the thorny issues around all of this is immigration. We’ve always been a country that welcomes immigration—I’m a son of an immigrant family, myself—and we get into the skilled labour piece. Part of the solution to the skilled labour shortage is, of course, more immigration. Conversely, you know, I think you even acknowledged that immigration has sort of put out of whack, a little bit, the supply and demand dynamic in housing. Do you have a worry—how are you thinking about immigration? Do you have a worry that our country’s long history of warmly embracing bringing new Canadians to this country is, is challenged by this housing crisis?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, there are very real challenges when it comes to the tie between housing and immigration. But we can’t lose who we are, or lose sight of the fact that immigration, more broadly, is an essential part of Canada’s economy today, and will be in the future. One hundred percent of our labour force growth in Canada comes from immigration. One-third of the doctors in Canada are newcomers, a quarter of the nurses in Canada are newcomers. When we are talking to labour unions here in Toronto, they’ve been telling me, when I was the immigration minister, of the need to create opportunities for people to transition to permanent residency, or to continue to attract the talent we need.
To put it into perspective, as we’ve increased our immigration levels through the federal government’s permanent residency programs, it got a lot of attention. But it’s not that far off our historical average since the end of the Second World War; we’re in roughly the same ballpark of our average since then—ballpark one-and-a-half percent of the population. We have new challenges that have emerged with our temporary programs that I think we need to be honest about, and we need to address. If I look at the international student program—which, by the way, provides a pipeline of young and talented people who want to make a contribution—but I see that the numbers have grown by several hundred thousand over the past few years alone.
Mike Van Soelen
M’hm (affirmative).
The Hon. Sean Fraser
One of the challenges that we have is that the federal government doesn’t set a level for the temporary programs. It hasn’t in the past, it’s not going to—in the recent past—and it’s not going to necessarily be a permanent function of the design. But there’s mixed jurisdiction. Provinces identify the institutions who are eligible for the student program. Institutions are motivated to bring in more and more international students, because they can charge a higher tuition and support the operation of their institution. There’s a lot of good actors in the space, and it’s very important we don’t paint them all with the same brush. I do think there are bad actors in the space who are seeking to personally profit, on some occasions, under the false promise of permanent residency for students where that will not be the case. And it’s created a scenario where we’ve seen several hundred thousand additional people come to Canada, sometimes under false pretenses. This is a challenge we need to address. And we will address it. And we’re working together closely with Minister Miller’s team at IRCC to chart a path forward, that will ensure that the people who are coming here are pursuing a legitimate course of study, have an opportunity to make a difference in Canada, and that they’ll be well supported.
I believe institutions, if they’re going to be financially better off as a result of embracing the student program, also have a responsibility to provide housing for them. We’re developing a trusted partner model with institutions right now to reward those good actors, who fully support their students, provide housing for them, with preferred access to study permits. As challenges emerge, we need to address them. This is one that has become a bigger challenge over the last year or two, and we’re going to work towards solving it, without losing sight of the fact that, with the exception of Indigenous peoples, everyone in this country came from somewhere else. I’m no exception, you’re no exception.
Mike Van Soelen
All right. Yeah, it does seem like one of those thorny issues that’s sort of crept up on the country. Someone offered to me the other day—and somebody can check whether this is true—but I think it’s one of the largest sources of new Canadians are people now coming through the school system.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
M’hm (affirmative).
QUESTION & ANSWER
Mike Van Soelen
There’s a lot of questions in the room about rental housing. A person has made the point, acknowledging what you’ve done in that space has been helpful, but more needs to be done. We think of those students coming out of education, you know, people early in their professional lives. Rental housing is probably a solution for them, among many others. What’s the government doing? What more can be done to help in that space?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, look, if you go through the various different buckets I’ve outlined in my remarks, all of them will support the construction of more rental. I also think as a society, we need to embrace the idea that there are different housing outcomes that will allow a person to thrive and to succeed. Not everyone has it as their dream to have a single-family home with the white picket fence. Some do, and that’s okay. But to the extent that we can create opportunities for more people who are happy to rent, knowing that what motivates them is needing to have a place in an urban environment, close to services, with access to transit, and economic opportunities that come with living in one of Canada’s big cities. We can embrace a culture of people who are willing to rent, because I know they’re there, now. In fact, I talked to a lot of the people who’ve moved to Atlantic Canada because there’s not sufficient housing capacity in Ontario, and they want to find a place that’s more affordable. They may not want to live there forever; they may not be looking to buy a place. But making sure that there’s rental stock available where people want to live is going to be key.
The number one thing we need to do is to make the math work for builders. So, the GST piece got some attention today; that is a big deal. The Rental Construction Financing Initiative converting to the Apartment Construction Loan Program, with a recapitalization of $15 billion, is going to make a big difference. We’re eyeing up new reforms to that program that are going to reduce the time to access it, for builders who can speed up the process of getting to a decision, and we’re also looking at broadening the eligibility, the categories of eligibility, so different kinds of homes may be able to benefit from the program to create more space. There are many opportunities that I see, when it comes to embracing rental. But all of them require that we partner with cities, to allow for the kind of density that we absolutely need. It will do no good to change the financing equation if, at the end of the day, cities won’t allow a particular kind of building to be constructed in their city. So, it’s all tied together. And if we coordinate the approval process at a municipal level with our pre-approved designs, with the financing opportunities we have, we can dramatically speed up the process, and give more certainty to the people who are going to build out those apartments that in fact they’re going to be able to, and they’re going to be able to break even or even make a profit, should they decide to go ahead.
Mike Van Soelen
Well, speaking of profit and what that may mean, there’s a lot of upvotes for this question: What are your thoughts on a potential speculative asset bubble? Is there one? Do you think it exists? What could the federal government do?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
It’s challenging to assess the question, not because there’s not an answer, but because the answer is different in different parts of the country. Real estate markets are inherently local. Canada doesn’t have a monolithic home building sector, or real estate market. In my hometown—though I grew up in a community of 200, we’ve got almost 10,000 in the neighbouring town that I live in today—there’s not a lot of real estate speculation going on. You do see, in larger urban environments, some challenges with investors who are seeking to buy properties as commodities, rather than a place for a family to live. We want to put measures in place to try to tackle some of these challenges. Some of them we need to tinker with, to reform in response to the sector that we hear about.
But look at some of the efforts around an underused Housing Tax. We want to remove the incentive that somebody will have to buy a place that nobody’s going to live in. We want to make sure that if you’re buying a home and you want to move to Canada, that you’re actually coming, and moving to Canada, and living in that space. There’s different things that we can do to tackle this. But some of the challenges that we run into is, at a federal level, the tools we have largely touch on spending powers, taxation powers, and criminal powers. Those are not always the right solutions. Sometimes we need to work with communities who can identify what the unique solution is in their backyard, that may work in downtown Toronto but has no application in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. So, it can be a bit of a slog doing the work community-by-community. But if we’re not willing to do it, then what business do we have in government?
Mike Van Soelen
So, Toronto; we’re here. There was some argument at the table I was having before we came up, was whether this was, in fact, the hardest place in the country to build a house—there were, some other municipalities were offered as candidates. But it does seem particularly difficult here, and it’s the biggest city. Is there anything you’re seeing, have you worked with, reached out to the new mayor? What does that relationship look like, and are we able to get past some of the big challenges that are clearly holding things back in this city?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, first, the first question is the relationship with the mayor. I have an excellent working relationship with Mayor Chow, and our teams are in touch constantly. The first time we actually met in person, after my appointment to this position—we did have some engagement when I was in the immigration portfolio—but when I came into this position, we had the most productive meeting you could imagine around the kinds of municipal zoning reforms that ultimately led to the deal, through the Housing Accelerator Fund. And her response, when I talked about needing to increase density, she said, “You know where I’m from, right? Hong Kong has density. I can do density.” And I said, “Okay, maybe that’s not quite the exact model we’re looking for; but if you can allow more apartments near transit stations, more apartments near post-secondary, more apartments and more density where the infrastructure services opportunities already exist, we’re going to be in a very healthy starting point, and we can sort out the details as we go forward.” We stay in touch on a, have discussed housing challenges and opportunities a number of times since then.
I do find that there are challenges because the rapidity of the appetite for change, and increasing the number of homes that we’re building quickly—in this city, and across Canada—is really putting pressure at a staff level across levels of government. When you’re trying to dramatically change the way that you zone around transit, when there may have been people working in the city who’ve been trying to adopt a particular approach or strategy over years, it can take a lot of work to overcome some of the direction a given community was going. That’s not specific or unique to Toronto, by the way, but I’d suggest that it also is a challenge in this city.
But if we actually remain committed to actually solving the problems, by staying at the table, realizing when our role involves public investments, and when our role is advice or cooperation, or when our role is to get our nose out of their business, we can actually land in a place where we can implement a meaningful change. But my sense is, the next 5 to 10 years in this city are going to be phenomenal, if we can land some of these big policies that allow builders to build, knowing that the economics of a given project work. I have faith that we can work through all of the federal municipal challenges that exist in the city of Toronto, and we’re going to remain at the table to make it happen, get it done.
Mike Van Soelen
Yeah, it’s perplexing for us who live in this city—because it already feels like a construction zone—that we’re actually not getting the housing done. But it feels like we’re in a good spot to ask this question, which comes from the floor: Will you work with FCM, AMO, Ontario’s Big City Mayors, and others, on a new funding relationship with cities that goes beyond individual funding, to a whole new way to support cities?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, yeah, I’m open to it. And I think—and on the flip side of that equation is not just finding a new way to support cities, but realizing to the extent that we’re going to be a funding partner, that we need to insist on certain outcomes as well. We’re moving forward with some new conditions we’re going to place, for example, on the Canada Community Building Fund, to ensure that there’s actual housing needs assessments being done at a local level, so communities know what they need, and what infrastructure they’re going to need, to build out the houses that will accommodate their residents. Similarly, with the Public Transit Fund, we intend to enforce conditions on the agreements we sign with municipalities, so we are not in a situation where somebody’s building out a federally-funded transit system without density at the actual transit stations that we’re contributing to.
But there are real challenges, when it comes to municipal finance in this country right now. They are dealing with enormous costs, as we see them experience growth, as we see them face new expectations, the new pressures—not just as a result as of population growth, but also as a result of the impacts of climate change on their cities, particularly those who’ve been through wildfires, floods, hurricanes, storm surges. The extraordinary cost that falls to cities is not going to be able to be covered, if they want to maintain the existing level of services, if something doesn’t give.
One of the things that I’m interested in is figuring out how they can generate revenue, aside from the fairly blunt instrument of municipal property taxes. So, I’m open to different solutions. There’s a unique Municipal Growth Framework FCM is pitching right now. We will definitely want to ensure that there’s buy-in, not just from the federal government or FCM, but also provinces, who have constitutional authority over municipalities in our constitution. So, we need to work through some of these challenges. But I just see the extraordinary costs municipalities face, the limited tools they have to actually make good on the projects that they want to move forward with, that we all want to see. So, yes, remain open. We’ll remain committed—having some of these discussions now, in fact—but we have a lot of work left to do, right?
Mike Van Soelen
And of course….
[Single audience member clapping]
The Hon. Sean Fraser
We have a municipal counsellor in the crowd.
Mike Van Soelen
Right. We have a few, we have a few. Of course, between you and the municipalities are the provinces. Any—well, what province is doing the best? No. Or what would you like to—who do you think’s doing a good job?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
I would normally shy away from that question because it can be a challenging conversation. I can’t, I would not have been able to imagine two years ago the kind of reforms we’re seeing in British Columbia, when it comes to housing. It is extraordinary. Their commitment to build the climate-resilient infrastructure that’s going to enable more homes, their commitment to rapid zoning reform that will allow people to build where they want to build, their commitment to fund affordable housing is really, it’s, it’s admirable. There is no one who has caught up to where Premier Eby and Minister Kahlon have taken British Columbia. And it’s wild, it’s all of the reforms we’re looking at. It seems we’ve been working on something for months, and two weeks before we’re ready to announce, they’ve beaten us to the punch. I think some people are beginning to think that we’re just copying whatever they do. But it’s really been extraordinary to watch the ambition that they’ve demonstrated. I do think there is good work going on in every province, I should say. But to see the pace at which British Columbia has increased this ambition, and implemented change—not just talked about it, not just studied it, but actually changed their laws and made the investments necessary to make it happen, it’s remarkable what they’re doing in British Columbia.
Mike Van Soelen
All right. Minister, you’ve been very clear, and you’ve outlined a lot of programs, and the focus you’re going to have. Final question: if you’re back here in a year, create a report card for yourself. What would you like to be able to say you’ve—in the next 12 months, this is a pressing crisis—what would you like to be able to point to?
The Hon. Sean Fraser
So, it’s a fascinating question because I—everyone in this room probably knows, there are factors at play, outside of the control of every one level of government, that will impact home building in this country. What I want to look at as a measuring stick for success: certainly, we hope to see that we can reverse the trend in new home starts in this country, but what’s far more important to me is that I use this unique moment in time that I’ve been given, a privilege to try to actually have an impact on a pressing issue for our country, so that not when I’m here 12 months from now, but when I come join you as a guest 20 years from now when I’m retired from politics, there’s not a community that’s dealing with a housing crisis. I think we can put ourselves on a track, over the next year, to ensure that every Canadian has a roof over their head, that young people can afford a place to live—whether it’s to rent or to buy, should they choose—that cities can attract the workforce they need, without fear that the workers who are going to drive the economy can’t find a place that they can afford.
So, to me, the policy track that we put ourselves on, by eliminating exclusionary zoning, by ensuring that the economics actually work for people who are going to build the homes, to bake-in investments in affordable housing for the long term, and to actually grow that industrial capacity, including with factory-built homes—if we have those policy outcomes in the next year, I know that 20 years from now, we will not be dealing with a housing crisis. Thankfully, it seems that all three levels of government, Indigenous leadership, the private sector, and nonprofits, are all aligned. It’s rare that you see all of those players singing from the same songbook. Everybody wants to build more homes faster. If we can implement the policies over the next 12 months that will get us there, over the course of my career, I’ll feel like I’ve done the job that I was tasked to do.
Mike Van Soelen
Minister, thanks for coming to the Empire Club.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
It’s a pleasure.
Sal Rabbani
Thank you, Minister.
The Hon. Sean Fraser
Thanks, Sal, appreciate it.
Sal Rabbani
Thank you, Mike, for leading today’s discussion. Before I go to the appreciation remarks, I would like to take pause, I would like to acknowledge the students up there—and everyone, give them a round of applause. We’ve got students from TMU, University of Toronto, York University, Humber, and George Brown College.
I’d now like to call upon Tony Irwin, Interim President of the Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations, for the appreciation marks. Tony.
Note of Appreciation by Tony Irwin, Interim President, Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations
Thank you so much. Thank you, Sal. The trouble of speaking at the end is all the good ideas have already been said, so I will try to be, ask for your indulgence for just a few moments. I would like to first say thank you to Minister Fraser for thoughtful remarks—of course, my industry colleague Michael Cooper, as well—but Minister, you gave, like I say, some very thoughtful remarks, and then a very insightful conversation led by Mike Van Soelen. So, thank you very much for being here today, and for engaging with us in what we know is almost the number one topic—if not the number one topic—for everyone here, and in fact, for most Canadians.
The Canadian Federation of Apartment Associations is the national voice of Canada’s purpose-built rental housing industry. We represent owners and managers of almost a million residential rental homes right across Canada, with many of our members in this room here today sitting up front—nice to see you all. Since being appointed Minister of Housing, Infrastructure, and Communities, we’ve all watched with enthusiasm—and, dare I say, exhaustion—as we watched Minister Fraser work tirelessly with municipalities and provincial governments to provide housing for Canadians.
There are several obstacles to getting more housing built quickly. We are all aware of the current economic headwinds, and the negative impact on performance. Hopefully, interest rate relief is coming soon. The elimination of GST from new purpose-built rental construction, as has been talked about today, is a great help for many projects. And red tape, and delays in the development approval process, will be improved with funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund—and we thank the Minister for that, and municipal counsellors who have been supportive.
It’s also clear that innovation and collaboration are critical to building the housing we need, right across Canada. It’s something that our members are doing, and are prepared to do much more of. Modular housing, for one, is getting a lot of attention, and that’s something—that, and many other innovative techniques and practices, need to be discussed and need to be supported, to get the housing built that we need.
Purpose-built rental housing plays a critical role in Canada’s housing continuum, with more than 10 million Canadians living in private market rental homes. CFAA was pleased to play a role in developing the National Housing Strategy, including billions of dollars of investments in housing benefits for low-income residents, low-cost lending for rental construction, retrofitting private market and community housing, and investments in new rental construction.
Before Christmas, I was in Ottawa meeting with Members of Parliament, Minister Fraser and Freeland’s offices, Deputy Minister Gillis—who’s here today, nice to see you—and federal officials. In all of my discussions, there was a clear understanding that the current housing affordability challenge is fundamentally a supply problem, and the critical role rental purpose-built housing providers must play in working together with all levels of government to bridge the gap.
Recently, CFAA Member Association, the Federation of Rental Housing Providers of Ontario—which I also lead—launched a new campaign simply called, “Say Yes.” The campaign is all about saying yes to more housing in Ontario, yes to more rental options, more affordability, and more vibrant communities. Because everyone deserves a home that’s affordable, accessible, and part of a thriving community—that’s, of course, in Ontario, and straight across Canada. We believe the right policy approach is to tackle this challenge, and should focus on encouraging more public and private investments of new rental projects across the country.
Supplying homes for Canadians is not a need; it is a must. And as Minister Fraser pointed out, there is no single solution to fixing either the housing affordability or availability crisis that is impacting millions of Canadians. As a sponsor of this event, and advocate for strong and stable rental housing, CFAA is committed to working hand-in-hand with the Government of Canada, to make sure everyone has a place to call home.
I would like to, in closing, again thank Minister Fraser for your time, and your attention, and your hard work in trying to solve what is, indeed, a national housing crisis. Mike Van Solen as well, and all of our trusted annual sponsors AWS, Bruce Power, and Hydro One, as well as our sponsors for today’s event TD, OREA, CUREA [?], LiUNA, and of course, Dream Unlimited. And we look forward to continuing to work with all of you as we move forward to solve this national housing crisis. So, with that, I’ll say thank you very much. Back to you, Sal. Thank you.
Concluding Remarks by Sal Rabbani
Thank you, Tony, thank you to The Honourable Sean Fraser for being here today. Thanks again to all our sponsors, and everyone joining us in person or online. As a club of record, all Empire Club of Canada events are available to watch and listen to on demand on our website. The recording of this event will be available shortly, and everyone registered will receive an email with the link.
I actually, before I go on to the next event—just very quickly, I was handed a piece of paper—and so, in a matter of protocol, I wanted to just acknowledge some of the other elected officials in the room: Deputy Mayor Jennifer McKelvie, Mayor Foster from Clarington, Mayor Nuttall from Barrie, Mayor Meed Ward of Burlington, and Councillor Tedjo and Councillor Brad Bradford. I thank you for being here today.
A very topical event, join us on Thursday, March 7th, as we extend today’s dialogue with the Honourable Paul Calandra, Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing. His focus will be on the initiative constructing homes for an expanding Ontario. Thank you all for your participation and support. This meeting is now adjourned.
