Minister Joly highlights budget investments to bolster housing in Canada

April 24, 2024 - Québec City, Québec - [Global Affairs Canada]

The federal government recently tabled Budget 2024: Fairness for Every Generation.

It is a plan to build a Canada that works better for everyone, where younger generations can get ahead, where their hard work pays off, and where they can buy a home—where everyone has a fair chance at a good middle-class life.

Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Foreign Affairs, met with stakeholders from the housing sector in Québec City, Québec to highlight Budget 2024’s Public Lands for Home Plan.

Minister Joly spoke about the federal government’s ambitious housing plan to unlock 250,000 new homes by 2031 on surplus, underused, and vacant public lands, such as Canada Post properties, National defence land or office buildings. This includes $1.1 billion over ten years to transform 50 per cent of the federal office portfolio into housing, enabling more office buildings in urban areas to be converted into homes for Canadians.

The new Public Lands for Home Plan aims to build homes on Canada Post properties by converting unused or underused office towers or parking lots into housing, without disrupting the mail service’s operations. This plan will allow Canada Post to prioritize leasing or divesting its properties and lands that have a high potential for housing.

The Government of Canada will also explore redeveloping National Defence properties that could be suitable for both military and civilian housing. Fourteen surplus properties will be converted into housing, and on-base housing for Canadian Armed Forces personnel will be updated.

Budget 2024 is a plan to deliver fairness for every generation.

First, the budget takes bold action to build more homes. Because the best way to make home prices more affordable is to increase supply—and quickly. It lays out a strategy to unlock 3.87 million new homes by 2031. Key measures include launching the new Public Lands for Homes Plan and Canada Rental Protection Fund, enhancing the Canadian Mortgage Charter, and creating a new Canadian Renters’ Bill of Rights.

Second, it will help make life cost less. The budget builds on the government’s transformative expansion of Canada’s social safety net—$10-a-day childcare; dental care for uninsured Canadians, the first phase of universal pharmacare—and advances the government’s work to lower everyday costs for Canadians. This includes helping to stabilizing the cost of groceries, cracking down on junk fees and lowering the costs of banking. Budget 2024 also makes transformative new investments, including a National School Food Program and the Canada Disability Benefit.

Third, this year’s budget will grow the economy in a way that’s shared by all. The government’s plan will increase investment, enhance productivity, and encourage innovation. It will create good-paying and meaningful jobs, keep Canada at the economic forefront, and deliver new support to empower more of our best entrepreneurs and innovators. This includes attracting more investment in the net-zero economy by expanding and delivering the major economic investment tax credits, securing Canada’s advantage as a leader in artificial intelligence, and investing in enhanced research grants that will provide younger generations with good jobs and new opportunities. And it means ensuring Indigenous Peoples share in this growth in a way that works for them.

Budget 2024 will also make Canada’s tax system fairer by asking the wealthiest to pay a bit more—so that the government can invest in prosperity for every generation, and because it would be irresponsible and unfair to pass on more debt to the next generations. Budget 2024 is a responsible economic plan that upholds the fiscal objectives outlined in the 2023 Fall Economic Statement, and sees Canada maintain the lowest deficit- and net debt-to-GDP ratios in the G7.