Trudeau's budget eyes young voters with affordable housing push
BNN Bloomberg
Housing will be the focus of Canada’s upcoming budget, with Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland emphasizing measures to speed up construction and boost the supply of affordable homes — possibly using government land to do it.
The budget, which is still being drafted ahead of its April 16 release, is likely to include a strategy for building homes on government-owned property, according to housing experts who spoke with Bloomberg. Freeland’s options include a program that would offer long-term, cheap leases to developers of affordable housing projects and setting up a fund to buy provincial and municipal land for the same purpose.
Another idea that’s being floated in Ottawa policy circles involves the use of temporary tax incentives to nudge real estate investors to sell buildings to non-profit housing organizations, with the goal of creating a larger number of cheaper homes to rent out of Canada’s existing supply. The government may also consider tax credits to investors who provide capital for affordable housing projects, similar to a longstanding U.S. program.
“They’ve got to find a way to unlock private capital,” said Tim Richter, president of the Canadian Alliance to End Homelessness, who has given presentations on housing policy to members of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s cabinet twice in the past year. “This is a multitrillion-dollar problem. The federal government and provinces together can’t solve it on their own.”
The United Arab Emirates briefly closed and then reopened its airspace Tuesday, temporarily halting flights in a crucial travel hub, as the country’s military said it was facing incoming attacks from Iran.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Monday, and while both remarked the world has become a more challenging place since their first meeting a year ago, neither named a specific issue in their public remarks.
Japan plans to start releasing oil from its stockpiles on Monday to soften the shock from the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, a stark reminder of the oil crisis half a century ago that prompted Tokyo to create reserves.
Warner Bros emerged as the biggest winner at the Academy Awards on Sunday, though the mood was clouded by its pending US$110 billion sale to Paramount Skydance, a deal reshaping Hollywood’s studio landscape.
Every day more than $4 billion worth of goods cross the United States’ borders with Canada and Mexico – U.S. auto parts headed for car factories in northern Mexico, cartons of Mexican avocados bound for California supermarkets, Canadian aluminum destined to become cans of Campbell Soup.
Prime Minister Mark Carney met Monday with Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London, and while both remarked the world has become a more challenging place since their first meeting a year ago, neither named a specific issue.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has unveiled a new auto plan that aims to secure tariff-free access to the U.S. market.
Prime Minister Mark Carney says that countries like Canada do not need to have oil reserves as a net exporter, after the energy minister announced Canada will contribute 23.6 million barrels to help stabilize international energy markets.
The U.S. military said all six airmen aboard a KC-135 refuelling aircraft that went down in Iraq are dead. Meanwhile, the American defence secretary says Iran's new supreme leader is "likely disfigured" and a large explosion rocked an area of Iran's capital.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is promising to release a new auto pact that he says will remove the GST on all Canadian-made automobiles and eliminate tariffs for the sale of Canadian vehicles to the United States.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement on the war on Thursday, saying Iran should close the Strait of Hormuz and keep attacking its Gulf Arab neighbors as leverage. Khamenei also called on people in Gulf countries to “shut down” U.S. bases, saying promised U.S. protection is “nothing more than a lie.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement on the war on Thursday, saying Iran should close the Strait of Hormuz and keep attacking its Gulf Arab neighbors as leverage. Khamenei also called on people in Gulf countries to “shut down” U.S. bases, saying promised U.S. protection is “nothing more than a lie.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei issued his first statement on the war on Thursday, saying that the leverage of closing the Strait of Hormuz should be used and that Iran will keep attacking its Gulf Arab neighbors. Khamenei also called on Gulf countries to “shut down” U.S. bases, saying promised U.S. protection is “nothing more than a lie.”