Wallowing

Yesterday this pathetic blog reminded us there are lots of affordable places to live in Canada. Major cities, actually. Places where a regular income and a modest downpayment can get a half-million-dollar house costing three grand a month.

Winnipeg, Edmonton, even Montreal – nicely affordable, yet all we do is complain about prices in the GTA and the LM. Weird.

Also mentioned yesterday was a sweet little city called London where the average SFH is around six large and the regional economy has been robust. It sits two hours by 401 west of Pearson airport. Not exactly remote.

And what did the steerage section reply?

London sucks because there are too many roads under construction. It’s a dead zone with a 9% jobless rate. It’s boring. Houses are cheaper because too many white supremacists live there.

Seriously. Canadians would rather complain than act. It’s easier to justify personal failure when you trash everything else. Being a victim is the new national identity. So if you happen to be in government these days – trying to stem the moaning – good luck. Folks don’t want solutions. They enjoy wallowing in anguish. They want outrage.

This brings us to the Parliamentary ethics committee. Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre wrote the chair asking for a probe into the plan by BC and Ottawa to turn 2,200 new, empty condos into affordable rent-to-own homes. His MPs jumped on it.

“What we were hoping for was to actually get answers to important questions that Canadians have about this billionaire condo bailout,” said Aaron Gunn. Added Jacob Mantle: “The plan that we have been presented with is to use taxpayer dollars to socialize those losses while developers avoid the full consequences of their actions.”

The committee voted against the probe. But rest assured this is not the last you’ll hear of the scheme. Poilievre has made it the centrepiece of current fund-raising activity while he fans the populist flames of ‘them’ (political elites, greedy bankers, billionaire developers) vs ‘us’ (hard-working and victimized Canadian families). It’s classic. And wrong.

The plan is to spend $1.45 billion to buy 2,200 units which have a current market value of about $1.1 million each. That would reprice them at $659,000 – a 40% haircut, or a little less than the cost of construction. The hit of $440,000 per unit would be taken by the seller, not the buyer. No socialization of losses. No gains – except for the two thousand families who get to move into spiffy new units in Richmond and Burnaby, paying rent which will go towards ownership.

Instead of waiting a couple of years for the asking prices of these units to fall (if that happened) so they become more affordable, governments would force that to occur at a stroke. Instead of waiting three years for new publicly-funded affordable housing to be built, these units would be available immediately. And by buying unsold units at a market-rattling discount, BC and the feds would be repricing the entire condo market downward. Instantly.

Is it a bailout for billionaires?

Yes, there are some dripping-rich conglomerates that have built condos in YVR. But the units contemplated for purchase are not in their luxury projects. Even if they were, selling empty condos at distressed prices benefits the buyer, not the vendor. That’s how liquidation works. And hoping developers go bankrupt because, well, you hate them is not a strategy for getting more housing onto the market.

By the way, it’s worth reminding Mr. Poilievre that the feds plan on providing just $145 million for this gig – or 10% of the cost. The rest of the downpayment is coming from BC, and a ton of financing will be involved – earning the government fees and interest.

For context the feds just announced $100 billion to buy us a new fleet of subs. That is almost 700 times the amount of money the BC condos will cost Ottawa. And what did the Conservatives say about this long-awaited move?

“A decade of Liberal mismanagement of our Canadian Armed Forces has left our warships rusted out, our fighter jets worn out and our army hollowed out. Conservatives will always fight to get our proud sailors, soldiers and aviators the equipment they need to be effective. Unfortunately, this was not what happened at today’s fake announcement.”

See what I mean? Anguish. Outrage. Everythign is bad, or worse.

The BC condo caper is probably good public policy. For Poilievre, it’s good politics. Let’s see if Carney has the stones to get it done.

About the picture: “Here is a picture of my Venezuelan Canadian friend’s dog Chica celebrating Canada Day on July 1st,” writes Randy. “They are happy and proud Canadians grateful for all this great country has given them. I have been your follower for years and am grateful for your sage financial advice. Hope and pray your recovery is  going well!”

To be in touch or send a picture of your beast, emailto ‘[email protected]’.

Source: https://www.greaterfool.ca/2026/07/09/wallowing-2/