Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took advantage of his arrival in the Ontario city of London, where his caucus is meeting for a pre-sessional retreat, to call on mayors to shift into high gear on housing construction.
“We are calling on all mayors across the country to show ambition, to be there to accept federal investments, to accelerate densification, construction, acceleration of zoning and permits,” he said. he said Wednesday at a press briefing.
He had just announced a first financial agreement with a Canadian municipality – that of London – as part of the Fund to accelerate the construction of housing of $ 4 billion, the creation of which was announced for the first time in the 2022 budget.
Asked why so much time was needed for a first announcement to be made, Mr. Trudeau threw the ball back into the mayors’ court.
“We would have to ask the different mayors why it took so long,” he said, hastening to add that he was delighted to be able to present a first agreement.
The agreement with the City of London, which amounts to $74 million, should make it possible to accelerate the construction of 2,000 additional housing units over the next three years.
The Fund to Accelerate Housing Construction, which officially saw the light of day last March, aims to reduce administrative formalities and update local policies, particularly on zoning. Ottawa is also banking on the initiative so that more housing is built and more quickly.
The Minister of Housing, Sean Fraser, took no detours in his message to the mayors.
” If you want […] that the federal government is coming with financial investments that will directly support your ability to build more houses, give us a reason, he said. A new standard has been set and we have new expectations. »
“Concern” among liberals
Since the Liberals began their work meetings in London, they have insisted that they have heard Canadians’ concerns about access to housing and that they are ready to respond to them.
“We need to do more. This is why we are going to have conversations that are sometimes not always easy, sometimes difficult, but necessary because we are a government that has been in power for eight years now, a government that has faced several crises and each times, we were able to overcome them,” said Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly on Wednesday, before meeting her fellow deputies from Quebec.
The Liberals’ apparent refocusing occurs in a context where a series of recent polls place them far behind the Conservatives in voting intentions.
Several Liberal elected officials have turned to various media, such as the CBC network, to report on condition of anonymity that they believe the government’s message must change to better resonate with the electorate. Many have confided that they do not feel listened to by Mr. Trudeau.
The Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, affirmed in the press scrum that he considers that “there is indeed concern”.
“But the last thing you have to do, as the very famous book “The Hichhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy: Don’t panic” said so well. First thing to do: we must not panic,” he said, insisting on the fact that federal elections were not about to take place.
All the MPs who spoke to the media Tuesday morning defended the Prime Minister’s leadership and his ability to lead the way for the Liberals to turn the tide in voting intentions.
“We are capable of renewing ourselves […], to have new ideas. This is also why we are meeting here,” said the government’s Quebec lieutenant, Pablo Rodriguez.
“We must listen, of course, to the concerns of the population, but I, the wind of panic, do not subscribe to that,” added Mr. Guilbeault.
For his part, Mr. Trudeau said he was ready and determined to have “frank discussions,” but avoided confirming any feeling of discontent within his caucus.
Instead, he spoke about the concerns of Canadians. “People don’t want politicians to talk about themselves. [Ils] want politicians to focus on their challenges and that is exactly what we are going to do,” he offered as a response.
The elected representative for the Lac-Saint-Louis constituency, Francis Scarpallegia, argued that politics is made of “ups and downs” and that certain deputies nicknamed “the nervous nellies » worry “perhaps a little too much when we hit a bump”.
According to him, Canadians will rally more closely to the Liberals over time. “When people realize that there is a movement in the United States that risks spilling over into Canada, listen, they will change their minds, maybe [même] next week,” he said.