Former mayor of Vancouver also defended his record, blaming previous provincial and federal governments. New federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson said the way out of the real estate crisis that has consumed housing markets in Canada is to increase supply, not reduce costs.
“I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable,” he said to journalists as he headed into his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday. “It’s a huge part of our economy, but we need to be able to deliver more affordable housing.”
Robertson was Vancouver’s mayor between 2008 and 2018. During that time, data from the Canada Mortgage Housing Corporation shows the average price of single-family and semi-detached homes rose 179 per cent across the broader Metro Vancouver area.
“We’ve seen increases like that across Canada over the past decade,” Robertson said, defending his record.
“I wasn’t getting the help I needed from the federal government when I was mayor, or the provincial government, of all stripes. We need, as a government in Ottawa, to be delivering and partnering with cities and provinces.” He noted that his experience as mayor gives him a unique perspective on what sort of assistance is needed federally to help those at the more grassroots level of this problem.
Source: cbc.ca/news
Friday, May 8, 2026
