“This has become probably the most important both economic and political problem facing the country right now,” said Tyler Meredith, a former head of economic strategy and planning for Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland.
“And especially given the significant emphasis the government has put on immigration and the relationship between immigration and the housing market, there is a need to do more.”
Trudeau, like every head of a party in Canada, is governed by the old guard who hide in the back rooms but control what happen.
That is the shit I’m more pissed about … that unelected rich white assholes tell the party leadership what they can do, and we pay for it.
That’s Neoliberalism for you. Which at this point is basically all the major parties. They all govern from the position that a free market is ideal, and regulation only happens when it “must”, which requires a lot of proof, Rather than a more sensible system that assumes a market needs regulation to function, and demands proof before deregulation.
But we function on a ratchet & brake system. The Cons ratchet things better for the rich, the Libs hold the line while making performative actions that don’t affect the fundamental power structure.
Shit sucks.
I’m really strongly against saying “both sides” or “all sides”. It’s not only factually incorrect but it breeds apathy. If you want things to change, you need to notice when the parties are trying to appeal to you.
In the last election, the NDP were the only ones to seriously bring up housing affordability. Singh said he thinks even current homeowners understand that people are suffering and are OK with lower prices, and the debate moderator grilled him for it. She “called him out” for supposedly hurting people who are relying on their home value as their retirement. I was shocked.
Meanwhile, the Liberals and Conservatives explicitly supported high home prices and “free market” solutions (except don’t mention zoning!). That makes sense given that they (especially the conservatives) get their voteshare from older homeowners.