Liberals pitch Canadians on renewed housing and affordability focus, drawing contrast to Conservatives

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau started his post-shuffle re-pitching of his government as affordability-focused to Canadians on Thursday, seeking to draw a sharp contrast between the Liberals and their Conservative rivals.

Before touting a boost to the Canada Workers' Benefit outside of a local business in Newfoundland and Labrador, the prime minister spoke for several minutes about how he's aware "times are tough" for many Canadians, and even with inflation coming down, the high cost of food and housing has caused struggles. 

Trudeau said the government's been challenged in how much financial aid it can offer, acknowledging that "government spending could contribute to inflation."

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"That's certainly something we've heard screaming about from the opposition over the past months, telling us we shouldn't be supporting families at this point because it'll drive up inflation," Trudeau said.

To make this point, the prime minister cited the grocery rebate, dental benefit, and workers' supports as examples of "money in your pockets that the Conservatives have already said they're going to take away."

"The fact of the matter is… we're driving down inflation faster than other countries… Even as we're stepping up and doing the things that Pierre Poilievre doesn't want us to be doing," Trudeau went on. "We need to do two things at the same time. That is step up for families and communities and help with the high costs of living, as we're building a stronger future."

On Wednesday, Trudeau promoted seven rookies to his front bench, dropped seven ministers, and reassigned the majority of cabinet roles, in a sizeable shakeup meant to refresh and reset the minority government's agenda.

The shuffle was in part to enhance the cabinet's economic policy team, seeing a few ministers reassigned to fiscal files including Anita Anand overseeing the Treasury Board, and rookie Rechie Valdez taking on the small business portfolio.

"We've strengthen our economic portfolios, we're focused on building the kind of economic support now and strong plan for the future that Canadians deserve," said Trudeau.

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“The choice Canadians are increasingly facing in politics is between a responsible, ambitious, forward-thinking government that is preparing for the opportunities of the future, and a party that is stoking anger and fear," Trudeau said, repeating a line of attack he's levelled against Poilievre, and his predecessors before.

"Throwing up its hands saying 'everything is broken, I’ll reflect the anxiety everyone's feeling into anger, won't provide any solutions, but we’ll all get mad as hell together.' That’s not how you build a country," Trudeau went on.

In a post-shuffle press conference Poilievre was quick to signal Trudeau’s cabinet overhaul was an admission that "his government is broken." The Conservative leader said the shakeup was little more than a sign that the Liberals are in electoral trouble, and title changes wouldn't be enough to turn around slipping Liberal polling numbers.

"I think what Trudeau is trying to do is more optics and political, and is trying to cover up the disastrous policies that are that are dragging his government down," said Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer in an interview on the Vassy Kapelos Show.

"We're going through a cost of living crisis, interest rates have risen faster… it's causing abject misery for Canadians who are now having to re-mortgage their house."

HOUSING TO BE 'COMPLETE PRIORITY'

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-immigration minister Sean Fraser chat with customers at The Barn Cafe and Social House in Bridgewater, N.S., Tuesday, March 14, 2023. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Riley Smith

Housing was another key change made as part of Wednesday's shuffle. Trudeau moved Nova Scotia MP and former immigration minister Sean Fraser into a reconstituted housing portfolio, pledging a refreshed approach.

Speaking with CTV News' Chief Political Correspondent Vassy Kapelos, the new minister of housing, infrastructure and communities said it's an "unequivocal yes" that addressing issues related to the housing sector is going to be a bigger priority for the federal government going forward.

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"Housing and infrastructure for that matter, are in need of attention because Canadians are facing very real challenges as a result of the pressures on the housing sector… We need to accelerate the work that we've been doing," said Fraser.

"I know that we've got the buy-in of the entire government to treat housing as a complete priority, in order to address one of the biggest bottlenecks to economic growth, which is making sure people can find a place to call home and work and live in the communities that they choose."

Combining the infrastructure and housing files at a time where there's a need for cross-jurisdictional collaboration on building more houses, was intentional, Fraser suggested.

"We want to put more resources into the system to build more quickly… We're going to work very closely with municipal governments and with communities across the country, to make sure that we're putting the tools in place that allow them to build as quickly as possible," said the minister. "I'm not interested in further delaying any measures that are going to put a roof over the homes of Canadians."

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Trudeau picking a minister that has been able to handle political and public pressure to make quick progress in the past, was likely also a factor at play in Fraser's new appointment.

The Conservatives have been focusing on housing as a central political issue, and—despite Poilievre recently having to apologize to a tenant for describing the place she calls home a "tiny little shack"—he's managed to gain traction his pledge to "fire gatekeepers" to "build homes fast," for young first-time homebuyers.

Asked what he made of Fraser's appointment, Scheer said he hopes he can do better than the backlogs he oversaw at immigration, but with "a heck of a lot of work to do," he "doesn't have any faith."

The former party leader was also asked what he thinks the Conservative homebuilding plan would accomplish. In contrast to the Liberal approach, Scheer didn't offer a target number of how many new houses they'd aim to build.

"The wonderful thing about the free market is that when you remove government barriers and you remove the gatekeepers and simplify processes, it's not up to the government itself to actually do it, because the free market does it for society," Scheer said.

"I can assure you that that with our plan to unleash the power of the free market, to get local government out of the way, make sure that they're there to assist new homes coming on the market, not act as gatekeepers, that will absolutely result in more supply."