Kelowna, BC – Tracy Gray, Conservative Party Candidate for Kelowna, issued the following statement on new housing start data today: 

“After the Lost Liberal decade, housing costs have doubled. Rent has doubled. Down Payments have doubled. Mortgage payments have doubled. 

“The problem is a supply problem. Canada doesn’t build enough homes, and as a result our home prices are rising too quickly for Canadians’ paycheques to keep up.

“This problem is only getting worse. In British Columbia, homebuilding is down 30% from January to March of this year. In Vancouver, that number is down 37%. In Victoria, it is down 33%. In Kelowna, it is down 36%. And in Nanaimo, it is down 51%. That means increased home prices, increased homelessness, and families forced to cut costs elsewhere so they can pay for their home. 

“Mark Carney’s housing plan is Justin Trudeau’s failed strategy with a new slogan. More government programs. More gatekeepers. More of the same failed promises. Carney is even keeping Justin Trudeau’s photo-op fund and bragging about bringing back Justin Trudeau’s disastrous Housing Minister to double down on their failed Liberal approach. 

“The choice is clear. Liberals build bureaucracy, Conservatives will build homes. 

“Only Conservatives have a real plan to make housing affordable:

  • We will axe the sales tax on new homes, saving families up to $65,000 on the purchase of a home and $3,000 on yearly mortgage payments while spurring a massive new homebuilding boom.
  • We will sell off 6,000 federal buildings, thousands of acres of federal land to build new homes. 
  • We will incentivize municipalities to speed up permits, free up land, and cut housing taxes so homes can be built faster. 
  • We will bring more Boots, not Suits, backing 350,000 positions for trade schools and union halls to train red-seal apprentices to build homes, and we will bring back the $4,000 apprenticeship grant that the Liberals have eliminated. 
  • We will unlock billions of dollars in the private sector by allowing anyone who reinvests in Canada to defer tax on capital gains to invest more in home building. 

“Only a new Conservative government will axe the sales tax on new homes for everyone, remove the gatekeepers who block home building and build homes that Canadians can afford, for a change.”