Housing minister says he ignored immigration warnings

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OTTAWA – Housing Minister Sean Fraser says as immigration minister he will ignore warnings that the number of new Canadians is outstripping the number of homes being built in the country.

The Canadian Press reported last month that an internal report two years ago warned that the number of new immigrants would outpace Canada's home building industry, straining supply and driving up prices.

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The Liberals' immigration targets are 500,000 permanent residents next year, more than double the target set when they took office in 2015.

Fraser appeared before the House of Commons finance committee, where Conservative MP Jasraj Singh Hallan demanded to know why he did not follow through on the warning in his last cabinet post as immigration minister.

“Then there was a housing crisis, now it's even more difficult. Who made the decision to ignore this warning? Were you, or were you told to ignore it?'

Fraser said he didn't ignore the warning about the housing issue, but instead looked at other aspects of the immigration problem, including areas where people are missing out if new Canadians don't come.

“No one ignored any warnings,” he said. “The part of the story that you're not familiar with is the warnings about what's happening to our health care system when you talk to people in the industry. A warning to house builders, if they don't have talents, we can't build houses. A warning from the business community about mass closures.

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Hallan said it was clear the government had ignored a clear warning.

“Mr. Minister, you and your government had a report submitted by your department. You guys really threw it away and ignored the warning that caused our housing crisis today.”

Fraser accused the Conservatives of assuming immigration is the cause of the housing crisis.

“This is the first time I've heard the Conservative Party openly say that immigration is the cause of the housing crisis,” he said.

Hallan retorted that that was not what he said, which led to a lengthy cross-talk in the committee.

Conservative leader Pierre Poilevre did not say what his party's immigration goals would be, but said they should be linked to housing and health care for immigrants.

Hallan said the government had broken both systems.

“Liberals have done a great job of destroying immigration and housing at the same time.”

Fraser also announced Tuesday that the government is signing agreements with more than 60 small and rural communities as part of the Housing Acceleration Fund to encourage those communities to build more homes.

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The government has signed 36 agreements with major municipalities to speed up housing approvals, change zoning regulations and make other changes to build more housing.

Conservative MP Philip Lawrence said the program would not make a real difference.

“Today, you cannot show one key to one door, one new bedroom, one new house built as a direct result of the Housing Acceleration Fund,” he said.

Fraser said the government expects up to 500,000 homes to be built thanks to the program, but said the program was not designed to directly build homes, but to change how municipalities operate and cut red tape so that more homes can eventually be built.

He said that all government programs expect to build more houses in the long run.

“Despite the serious challenges we face, I am full of hope that things will improve over the next few years as I see the work being done to improve them.”

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