Carney, Poilievre want to turn back the clock on housing — but 2025 is not your parents’ market. Here’s what their plans could mean for you
As Canada’s prime ministerial hopefuls look to the future, they’re promising voters a rewind to the past — striding onto the campaign trail this spring with vintage visions of what this country’s housing market should offer its citizens.
In an election that has turned into a race between the Liberals’ Mark Carney and the Conservatives’ Pierre Poilievre, both leaders have promised to strive for the housing advantages of past generations. The Conservatives say policies like tax incentives would help young families crack into the market “just like their parents did,” as the Liberals borrow programs from the ‘70s and vow to emulate a postwar building boom.
These campaigns of nostalgia strike at the heart of one of the most ubiquitous frustrations among younger Canadians: that the housing market they’re facing isn’t the same as their parents, or their grandparents before them. They can’t get a starter home like a bungalow and make their way up — those homes, ripe for teardowns, can cost more than a million dollars in urban areas like Toronto.
