Party leaders talk affordability in B.C., Ontario
OTTAWA — Canada’s main political parties say they are putting your pocketbook at the top of their agendas, with varying promises to help make everything from housing to food to mobile phone bills more affordable. Affordability was already a concern for many Canadians before the pandemic hit, but
COVID-19 lockdowns and supply-chain constraints exacerbated many of the existing problems. That is particularly the case for a housing market made even hotter by a pandemic that drove more Canadians to want bigger homes and bigger yards, which expanded housing demand issues from most big cities to suburbs and even many parts of rural Canada, too. Inflation in July hit 3.7 per cent, the highest annual increase in more than a decade, driven in part by hikes in the prices of gas and food. Those costs are in part being driven by the reopening of economies driving up demand and ongoing supply-chain constraints.
But Statistics Canada’s housing replacement cost index, which is tied to the cost of building a new home, was one of the biggest drivers. It rose almost 14 per cent, the highest increase since 1987.
Sunday, May 10, 2026
