"Can Canada Build Housing" with Gregor Robertson, Canada's Minister of Housing and Infrastructure

The Herle Burly was created by Air Quotes Media with support from our presenting sponsor TELUS, as well as CN Rail, PSAC, and the Ontario Real Estate Association.

Greetings, you curiouser and curiouser Herle Burly-ites! A topic today we’ve been exploring from a few different angles these last few months: can Canada build (baby build) housing anymore?

We convened a panel on it back in the early summer to talk policy and what’s happening in the real world – Meredith, Moffat and Butler. We had the Conservative housing critic on the pod, Scott Aitchison, who gave us his take on what needs to be done.

Today, we get the government’s view of things with the Honourable Gregor Robertson, Canada’s Minister of Housing and Infrastructure.

Mr. Robertson has a long and impressive CV, so please pardon my drastic précis here: He served as the Mayor of Vancouver for a decade, 2008 to 2018, where his focus was on transit and cycling infrastructure ... introducing modular housing to support unhoused residents ... leading on co-ops and supportive housing ... and starting the country's first successful empty homes tax. Prior to that, he was a Member of the B.C. Legislature for 3 years, 2005-2008. As well as the Co-Founder and CEO of “Happy Planet” Organic Foods.

So, we’re going to talk about this new government agency “Build Canada Homes” and how it plans to “supercharge housing construction across Canada”. How will the programs work? What’s the timeline for success in a crisis? And we’ll get Mr. Robertson’s view on why he thinks government is the solution to this problem when most people think government IS the problem.

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