OTTAWA — Canada's new housing minister says he didn't have the tools he needed to address housing affordability issues when he was mayor of Vancouver — the country's most expensive housing market.
Gregor Robertson faced questions about his record on housing affordability from reporters ahead of his first cabinet meeting on Wednesday, a day after he was sworn in as Mark Carney's housing minister.
"I'm here to leverage my history as a mayor. I know what works on the ground," Robertson said.
Data from Greater Vancouver Realtors shows that the price of a benchmark home in the region more than doubled during Robertson's time as mayor from December 2008 to November 2018.
Robertson argued that many cities across Canada saw similar surges during that period.
Over the same period, the national benchmark home price rose by 78 per cent, data from the Canadian Real Estate Association shows.
Robertson also said he "wasn't getting the help" he needed from higher levels of government when he was mayor, but said the Liberals' housing accelerator fund — cash set aside for cities who lower barriers to home construction — is one program that he thinks will help to address affordability concerns.
The Canadian Press asked Robertson if he felt home prices needed to go down to restore affordability.
"No, I think that we need to deliver more supply, make sure the market is stable," he said.
Carney was asked the same question Tuesday, and said while there are some things Ottawa can do to help with affordability such as cutting the GST on new builds for first-time buyers, he also said the long-term solution was boosting supply.
He said that Robertson's experience will help the federal government understand better how to get municipalities to cut costs and regulation impeding construction.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre on Tuesday attacked Carney's decision to appoint Robertson to the housing file.
"If this is the new blood that Mr. Carney is bringing into the cabinet, then sadly for Canadians, nothing is going to change," he said.
Robertson said that there's a "huge shortage" of affordable housing in Canada with a lack of government efforts to-date in bringing those units to market.
During the campaign, the Liberals pledged to create a new agency to develop affordable housing and promised funding to streamline homebuilding through technologies such as prefabricated homes.
That would come alongside efforts to get cities to cut development charges in half and plans to restore immigration rates to "sustainable" levels.
Robertson said the federal government's goals to double the pace of home construction are "very ambitious" and will take years to "scale up," but struck an optimistic tone.
"We've got a lot of work to do on this and it doesn't happen overnight. Housing is a slow-moving creature and we've got to do everything we can to speed it up," he said.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 14, 2025.
Craig Lord, The Canadian Press
