In a sharp rebuke of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s lack of investment in housing, the Conservatives say the decrease in residential construction is a failure of the prime minister.
The statement follows a report from Statistics Canada highlighting the investment in building construction in the country in January.
The report shows that investment in building construction declined by 0.9% between December 2023 and January 2024. This followed decreases every single month since September 2023. Investment in residential sector construction decreased by 1.4%, while investment in non-residential sector construction increased by 0.2%.
True North previously reported that investment in housing saw a 17.9% decrease in December, the lowest monthly decrease since October 2020.
“Since Trudeau was elected, the cost of rent and a downpayment has doubled, taking more and more money out of Canadians’ paycheques. Despite this, his Liberal government is still failing to build the homes that Canadians desperately need,” said the Conservative party.
The party further emphasized that the figures reveal a significant downturn in residential construction investment, which it claims plummeted by 23.93% when comparing the last 12 months to the same 12-month period two years ago.
From a dollar perspective, Ontario led the decline with a $228 million decrease in investment in residential construction, going down by 4.1%. However, some provinces and territories decreased by an even larger percentage, such as New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, and Yukon, which decreased by 6.4%, 7.3%, and 21.3%, respectively.
The Conservatives highlighted that in Canada’s two most unaffordable provinces, British Columbia and Ontario, the residential construction investment decrease was even more pronounced.
In Ontario, this investment declined by 12.09% between January 2023 and 2024, while British Columbia declined by 17% in the same period, based on the data showing investment value that is seasonally adjusted and constant.
True North previously reported a concern echoed by the Conservative party, that rent rose 10.5% in Canada last year.
“This means rent increases are significantly outpacing Canadians’ paycheques. No wonder that an additional one million people will have to access a foodbank this year on top of last year’s record high,” said the Conservatives.
While Canada and many provinces and territories saw decreased investment in residential building construction, some saw increases. Quebec, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nunavut all had increased residential building construction, in order from least to most.
For investment in non-residential sector investments, increases in the institutional and industrial industries were offset by declines in commercial investment.
Investment in the commercial industry decreased for the seventh consecutive month, with seven provinces contributing to the decline.