First-term MP takes housing file amid generational affordability crisis
Former Vancouver mayor Gregor Robertson is stepping into the role of housing and infrastructure minister in prime minister Mark Carney’s new cabinet, tasked with implementing what Carney has described as the most ambitious federal housing plan since World War II.
Robertson arrived in Ottawa Tuesday morning as part of the new Liberal ministerial team, taking the housing file amid a generational affordability and supply crisis across the national housing and mortgage markets.
The first-term MP, who spent a decade as Vancouver mayor between 2008 and 2018, also served as a New Democratic Party (NDP) member of British Columbia’s legislative assembly for Vancouver-Fairview for three years.
Robertson’s predecessor as housing minister, Nate Erskine-Smith, has been cut from cabinet, while Sean Fraser – who served in the role between July 2023 and last December – is set to take the justice portfolio after making a dramatic about-turn in his decision to leave federal politics.
François-Philippe Champagne will remain finance minister in Carney’s cabinet, which consists of 28 ministers and 10 secretaries of state. Mélanie Joly has been named industry minister and Anita Anand, another MP who reversed her decision not to run in this year’s election, takes Joly’s former role of foreign affairs minister.
Robertson faces huge task to ease Canada’s housing crisis
Liberal housing proposals during April’s election campaign included a pledge to turbocharge the pace of construction and build half a million new homes each year.
About $25 billion has been earmarked for private developers to build new housing units through the government’s “Build Canada Homes” plan, while Carney’s administration also intends to cut the GST on new homes priced between $1 million and $1.5 million.
Carney also announced new caps last week on the number of international students and temporary foreign workers entering Canada, describing that measure as “help[ing] ease strains on housing, on public infrastructure and social services.”
The total number of temporary workers and international students will be capped at 5% of Canada’s population by the end of 2027, he said – a “sharp drop” from current levels.
While the Liberals fell short of winning a majority in the April 28 election, they clinched 170 seats – a “virtual majority,” former prime minister Jean Chrétien told reporters on Tuesday morning.
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