Our Jordan Bateman gives you the heads-up on CMHC’s latest housing analysis, Alberta’s latest skirmish with the Trudeau Government, and innovation concerns.
🏠 Got a spare trillion dollars laying around? That’s what CMHC says it will take to restore housing affordability nationally, as 3.5 million more units than planned are needed by 2030. Ridiculously, the CMHC says homebuilders need to “up their game” to meet this challenge – okay, but the big holdup is government overregulation, glacially slow permitting, and ridiculously high interest rates.
🛢 Edmonton Journal columnist David Staples looks at how federal Environment Minister Stephen Guilbeault is overstepping his legislated abilities by trying to force Alberta to accept his no-emissions energy grid. “Ottawa has no legal right to put a chokehold on how Alberta manages its electrical grid, but that’s exactly what Guilbeault is doing with his plan to force a net-zero grid on Alberta and other provinces by 2035. He wants to spell out the rules, the Constitution be damned.” Staples says Premier Danielle Smith should use her Alberta Sovereignty Within a United Canada Act to shove back.
💰 Desjardins looks at Canadian innovation and finds, er, there isn’t much. “Canada lags the G7 and much of the OECD in innovation and productivity and has for some time. This has been the leading cause of stagnation in real GDP per capita over the past decade and is putting Canada’s high standard of living at risk. Canada’s patchwork of innovation policies has proven ineffective at closing the innovation gap with other countries. And even though the federal government has focused on innovation since 2015, it has failed to close or even maintain the gap with Canada’s international peers. At best, it has merely slowed the decline.” They say it’s dire and government must show real leadership: “The living standards of all Canadians today and in the future depend on it.”
