Ottawa, ON – Scott Aitchison, Conservative Shadow Minister for Housing, issued the following statement concerning the latest data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC):
“Prime Minister Mark Carney promised to double housing construction to 500,000 homes a year and move at speeds not seen since the Second World War. Instead, the CMHC reported today that housing starts fell by nearly 4 per cent over the first 8 months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025.
“That means 6,100 fewer homes have been started nationally over the first 8 months of this year than in the same period last year. Housing starts are down 30 per cent in Nova Scotia, 16 per cent in Alberta, 11 per cent in New Brunswick and 10 per cent in British Columbia. In centres with a population of 10,000 or more, housing starts in August 2026 were down 2.3 per cent compared to August 2025.
“Worse, new estimates show that Canada’s housing starts need to rise to between 417,000 and 469,000 per year to restore affordability to pre-2020 levels by 2036. Instead, housing starts under Mark Carney are projected to fall from over 250,000 to as low as 203,500 by 2028.
“As homebuilding falls further behind demand, the consequences are real. Young Canadians are being forced to delay major life decisions as the Liberals continue failing to get more homes built. Canada has become a nation of renters as rentals are dominating new housing supply across most major markets, with purpose-built rental housing now accounting for two-thirds of all apartment starts.
“Meanwhile, known cases of homelessness have grown by over 23 per cent in just three years to more than 76,000 in Canada’s most populated province. Chronic homelessness rose by more than 37 per cent in just two years, now accounting for nearly half of the known homeless in Ontario.
“Even the Financial Accountability Office (FAO) has confirmed that the lack of housing affordability played a major role in homelessness, with median market rents rising 19.3 per cent in Ontario between 2022-23 to 2025-26, while incomes for low- to middle-income households grew by just 14.1 per cent.
“Instead of removing the barriers that are stopping home building, Mark Carney is only creating more bureaucracy that traps builders in red tape and fails to speed up approvals or cut costs. He continues to pitch temporary tax gimmicks instead of real solutions that increase housing supply.
“Mark Carney also chose to leave Canadians on the hook for $1.45 billion for buying up vacant, overpriced condos instead of working with Conservatives to halve development charges and permanently cut the GST on new homes.
“Big speeches and new bureaucracies do not build homes. Mark Carney is all talk, no results.
“For a real solution, Mark Carney must eliminate taxes and bureaucracy so that builders can build and Canadians can own.
“That’s why the Liberals must adopt our Conservative plan to axe the GST on new homes up to $1.3 million. This would save homebuyers up to $65,000, while boosting housing construction by 36,000 homes annually.
“The Conservative plan would also speed up permitting and cut development charges to lower prices and help restore the promise of an affordable home for all Canadians.”