B.C. seeks ban on public drug use, dialing back decriminalization
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the country's housing sector moved from a moderate to high degree of vulnerability during the second quarter, with Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal among the markets shouldering the most risks.
The federal housing agency attributed the escalation in vulnerability to price acceleration and overvaluations across the country and said the shift was largely a reflection of intensified and persistent imbalances in several local housing markets across Ontario and Eastern Canada.
“Even though we've seen a little bit of a moderation in some of the housing market statistics in the third quarter, when looking at the second quarter results ... activity was still much stronger than even it is today,” said Bob Duggan, CMHC's chief economist.
“Housing market activity is very strong, price growth is still very strong and price levels are very high.”
Duggan and CMHC's quarterly assessment released Tuesday assigns low, moderate or high vulnerability ratings to the entire country and 15 major cities based on four factors - overheating, price acceleration, overvaluation and excess inventories.
If those factors become imbalanced or risks increase in several areas at once, the agency posits that markets could be more vulnerable to troubles and people could begin struggling with their mortgages.
CMHC's second-quarter assessment of the Canadian market found moderate degrees of vulnerability, when it examined the country's risks of overheating, price acceleration and overvaluation.
It found a low level of vulnerability linked to the country's excess inventories rate, but still gave the country a “high” vulnerability ranking overall.
In the two prior quarters, Canada's housing market landed a “moderate” degree of vulnerability, but Duggan warned of pressure from rural areas like Ontario's cottage country and the Niagara, Bancroft and North Bay regions, which don't receive vulnerability ratings but contribute to the national analysis.
“A lot of the movement of people has been from some of the major urban centres to outside the major urban centres and some of the strongest price growth earlier this year was really experienced in smaller ... and rural communities,” Duggan said Tuesday.
CMHC's individual market assessments for the second quarter showed Toronto, Hamilton, Ottawa, Montreal, Moncton and Halifax have high degrees of vulnerability.
All of those markets were ranked high in the prior quarter, except for Montreal, which was previously assessed as moderate and is seeing overvaluation becoming a more pressing issue.
CMHC kept Victoria, Edmonton and Calgary at the moderate level they were at before, while Vancouver, Saskatoon, Regina, Winnipeg and Quebec City were assessed as having low degrees of vulnerability.
The low ranking was new for Vancouver, which was previously said to have a moderate vulnerability level.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 28, 2021.
The B.C. NDP has asked the federal government to recriminalize public drug use, marking a major shift in the province's approach to addressing the deadly overdose crisis.
More than 115 people who viewed the solar eclipse in Ontario earlier this month experienced eye damage after the event, according to eye doctors in the province.
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Sophie Gregoire Trudeau says there is 'still so much love' between her and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, as they navigate their post-separation relationship co-parenting their three children.
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
An emergency slide fell off a Delta Air Lines jetliner shortly after takeoff Friday from New York, and pilots who felt a vibration in the plane circled back to land safely at JFK Airport.
An Ontario man who took out a loan to pay for auto repairs said his car was repossessed after he missed two payments.
A girl and a boy, both 14 years old, made their first appearance today in a Halifax courtroom, where they each face a second-degree murder charge in the stabbing death of a 16-year-old high school student.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
A property tax bill is perplexing a small townhouse community in Fergus, Ont.
When identical twin sisters Kim and Michelle Krezonoski were invited to compete against some of the world’s most elite female runners at last week’s Boston Marathon, they were in disbelief.
The giant stone statues guarding the Lions Gate Bridge have been dressed in custom Vancouver Canucks jerseys as the NHL playoffs get underway.
A local Oilers fan is hoping to see his team cut through the postseason, so he can cut his hair.
A family from Laval, Que. is looking for answers... and their father's body. He died on vacation in Cuba and authorities sent someone else's body back to Canada.
A former educational assistant is calling attention to the rising violence in Alberta's classrooms.
The federal government says its plan to increase taxes on capital gains is aimed at wealthy Canadians to achieve “tax fairness.”
At 6'8" and 350 pounds, there is nothing typical about UBC offensive lineman Giovanni Manu, who was born in Tonga and went to high school in Pitt Meadows.