Even if these homes get built, the majority of Canadians will still rely on the market, which this initiative does not improve

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The new federal budget makes it clear that Prime Minister Mark Carney is unprepared to tackle the national housing crisis. His proposed measures are half-hearted at best and fail to adequately address the overregulation throttling construction of new supply.

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Canada has chronically built too little housing to meet burgeoning demand, which, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), has led to a national shortage of approximately 2.6 million units. This is the primary reason why the inflation-adjusted price of an average Canadian home has doubled since the early 2000s — there are simply too many people bidding on scarce inventory.

This problem could be resolved by both decreasing demand — which functionally means slashing immigration — and significantly boosting housing construction.

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Late last year, the Trudeau government cut its permanent immigration targets by over 20 per cent — from 500,000 per annum to fewer than 395,000 — and temporary immigration targets from 6.2 to 5 per cent of the population. Carney’s 2025 budget builds upon that momentum by