Ottawa – Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland talked about on building more homes, faster. She said:
Before we dive into today’s announcement, I would just like to take a moment to highlight Friday’s strong job numbers. Thanks to the hard work of Canadians and Canadian businesses, Canada gained 37,000 new jobs in January. That was double market expectations.
Unemployment fell to 5.7 per cent, and wages have now outpaced inflation for the past 12 months. Among women, wages increased by 6.2 per cent in January. Today, 1.1 million more Canadians are working compared to before the pandemic. Our government’s economic plan is about building a brighter future for everyone—and that absolutely includes Canadians who live in small towns and rural communities. Today, we’re going to be talking about specific action our government is taking to make life more affordable for Canadians in rural communities—including by building more houses and improving access to health care by attracting health care workers to those communities.
Minister Fraser is going to talk about new measures to increase housing supply in small and rural communities. Then we’ll turn it over to Minister Boissonnault, who is going to talk about the work our government is doing to ensure rural Canadians have better access to doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners. And then we’re going to hear from our colleague, Minister Hutchings.
Housing is at the heart of our government’s economic plan. And we know that supply is at the heart of Canada’s housing challenge. That’s why our government is focused on taking real, concrete action, day after day, and week after week, to build more homes across the country, faster.
We are unlocking billions of dollars in new financing for housing, including $40 billion in additional low-cost financing through the Housing Accelerator Fund, which will help build more than 101,000 additional rental homes for Canadians. We are lifting the GST on new rental construction to remove barriers to building more homes.
We are cracking down on foreign ownership of Canadian housing. We are also cracking down on short-term rentals, which have been keeping tens of thousands of homes off the market, particularly in cities like Toronto, Vancouver, and Montreal, where the housing challenge is most acute. We’ve already signed a number of agreements with municipalities across the country through the Housing Accelerator Fund. These agreements will help cut red tape and increase Canada’s housing supply.
We have been making tremendous progress with our Housing Accelerator Fund agreements with many of Canada’s big cities—but we know that Canada’s housing supply challenge extends beyond our major urban centres. That’s why we’ve developed a plan to fast-track new housing construction in Canada’s small towns and rural communities—and that’s what Minister Fraser is going to talk about in a minute.
Another major part of our plan is improving access to health care. Far too many Canadians in rural communities don’t have access to the primary health care they need. And we know provinces and territories need help attracting more doctors and nurses and nurse practitioners to the communities that need them most. That is what Minister Boissonnault is going to talk about.
Our government is working every day to deliver for Canadians across the country—from our big cities to our smallest towns. And the actions we’re announcing today will help to ensure that Canada’s small towns remain a great place to call home—today and for years to come.
Thank you very much.