Ottawa, ON – Under the Liberals, Canadians have been forced to sacrifice their futures just to cover the cost of necessities like rent and food. Food prices have risen almost 40 per cent, and since Mark Carney took office, they have only continued to go up, rising 1.55 per cent.
Meanwhile, rents have continued to increase over the last year, with costs increasing 5.1 per cent from July 2024 to 2025. As Canadians get squeezed on the basics, the dream of homeownership has been pushed out of reach. Home ownership now costs 55.1 per cent of the median pre-tax income; 92.7 percent in Vancouver and 68.3 per cent in Toronto.
The benchmark price of a home in Canada has soared 54 per cent from $446,600 in October 2015 to $688,700 in July 2025. In Vancouver, the price of an average home is now 13.5 times the median income, while in Toronto it’s 10.4 times. The minimum income needed to buy an average home is now $235,700 in Vancouver and $200,800 in Toronto.
Gregor Robertson – who hiked homebuilding taxes by 141 per cent as Vancouver mayor, while home prices soared by 149 per cent – said the Liberals “are building at a pace and scale that has not been seen in generations.”
Yet we’re now building less as Canadians are paying more. Since 2024, housing construction in the Greater Toronto Area has fallen 49 per cent. Just in the City of Toronto, it’s decreased 65 per cent. Across the country, housing starts are projected to collapse an additional 13 per cent by 2027 to just 212,500 new homes per year.
It’s also less than half of the 500,000 homes Mark Carney promised to build each year, and it’s only projected to get worse. Preconstruction sales of new homes in the GTA are down 48 per cent year-over-year in July and 82 per cent below the 10-year average.
Meanwhile, the builders we need are being laid off. The Canadian Homebuilders Association reports 35 per cent of builders surveyed have already begun layoffs, and the CEO of the Residential Construction Council of Ontario said, “we’re in the process of laying off thousands of people right now.”
It’s all driven by Liberal policies. As much as 50 per cent of housing prices can be attributed to land use regulations – municipal red tape – that the Liberals rewarded with handouts. Taxes account for a further third of the cost of a home, while IRCC found that immigration accounted for 21 per cent of the increase in house prices.
Canadians have been paying the price of the Liberals’ disastrous housing policies and inflationary spending with exorbitant rents and unaffordable groceries. Conservatives will fight to restore the promise we had in this country: with stronger take-home pay, affordable food and homes that families can finally call their own.