Liberal Supply is Not Meeting Canadians’ Demand

August 18, 2026

August 18, 2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ottawa, ON – Scott Aitchison, Conservative Shadow Minister for Housing, issued the following statement on concerning housing data released today:

“After Prime Minister Carney promised to unleash the ‘most ambitious housing plan since the Second World War,’ Canada is building fewer homes than when he took office and less than half what he promised to get built. CMHC reported today that the annual rate of housing starts fell another 5 per cent in July 2026. 

“The situation is especially troubling in provinces like Nova Scotia, with housing starts plunging 33 percent so far this year compared to last, while British Columbia’s starts dropped 10 per cent. In communities with over 10,000 people, actual monthly housing starts collapsed 19 per cent, year-over-year. Year-to-date housing starts also fell off, declining 4 per cent across Canada compared to the same period last year.

“Fewer homes mean higher prices, with the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) releasing new data that shows that housing supply fell to just 4.7 months of supply, the lowest level of 2026, leading to housing prices rising for the first time since November 2024.

“No wonder 55 per cent of those who have been kept out of homeownership now say they have no interest in buying a home over the next year, as another 35 per cent say they want to buy, but will likely have to continue renting or living with family. 88 per cent of respondents said that housing is still too expensive to buy, as 35 per cent of those 18-34 say they can’t afford the down payment.

“While Canadians have been trapped dreaming about owning a place to call home, the newly appointed chair of Prime Minister Carney’s housing bureaucracy said, ‘our “dream of homeownership” is static and regressive,’ and that ‘we have our work cut out for us’ in convincing Canadians that never becoming a homeowner is a good thing. In fact, he went so far as to say that owning a home ‘is a promise we can’t keep, not with our appetite for immigrants, foreign students and urbanization.’

“Canadians should not have to accept a worse quality of life and the deliberate hopelessness that masks Liberal failures. They need homes. Conservatives have a plan to get builders building again by cutting the GST on all new homes under $1.3 million, reducing development charges and rewarding those who build new housing to restore the promise of Canada.”