The Carney government has once again convinced itself that the best way to solve Canada’s housing crisis is to shove private builders aside and turn the feds into a developer. That’s the wrong approach, and ICBA is pushing back hard.
This week we filed our submission on the federal Build Canada Homes – Market Sounding Guide. You can read it HERE.
Our message to Ottawa is simple: get out of the way.
Ninety-five percent of the homes in Canada have been built by the private sector. The system isn’t broken because builders can’t deliver — it’s broken because government keeps piling on costs, red tape, and delays. Now Ottawa wants to layer on yet another bureaucracy, take equity stakes in projects, and play landlord? That will drive up costs, choke off competition, and slow housing even more.
Here’s what the Carney Government should be doing instead:
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Fund enabling infrastructure, not housing schemes. Put money into sewer, water, stormwater, and transit so there’s actually serviced land to build on. Stop allowing cities to treat DCCs (development cost charges) as a municipal piggy bank.
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Quit crowding out the market. Government is not a builder. Focus on land assembly, concessional finance, and speeding up approvals — leave the actual building to people who know what they’re doing.
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Keep procurement fair and open. No more union-only sweetheart deals, no more politically conditioned procurement. Every qualified contractor should be able to bid.
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Enforce timelines. Tie federal dollars to hard permitting deadlines and claw money back from municipalities that drag their feet.
The solution to our housing mess is not more government control — it’s more freedom for builders to build. Every time the federal government inserts itself deeper into the development business, Canadians end up with fewer homes, built later, at higher cost.
If the Carney Government truly wants to help, it should act as a catalyst — funding infrastructure, cutting red tape, and then stepping back. The private and non-profit sectors will do the rest.
