Prime Minister Mark Carney told mayors and councillors gathered in Ottawa on Friday that he’ll be moving to enact Liberal campaign promises on housing.DARRYL DYCK/The Canadian Press
Prime Minister Mark Carney said he and the premiers will be discussing ways to fast-track the construction of housing and major infrastructure projects when they meet on Monday.
Mr. Carney made the comments on Friday during an address to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, where local mayors and councillors from across the country were gathered for a convention in Ottawa.
In a speech and then a question-and-answer session on stage, Mr. Carney said he’ll be moving to implement Liberal campaign promises on housing. They include a promise to work with provinces to cut municipal development charges for multi-unit residential housing in half for five years; creating a federal entity called Build Canada Homes that will directly build and acquire housing and cut the GST on homes under $1-million for first-time homebuyers.
“We’re all working through the weekend. I’ll be going to Saskatoon for the first ministers meeting on Sunday and Monday, and this will be part of what we’ll be discussing,” he said.
The Prime Minister is also planning to discuss how to accelerate what he has called nation building projects and has asked premiers to propose short lists of projects for consideration.
Mr. Carney, at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference, says he has asked premiers to propose what he has called nation building projects.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
Some premiers have already made their list public.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford submitted a list that includes infrastructure to access minerals in the province’s northern Ring of Fire region; more nuclear energy generation; a new James Bay deep-sea port; a tunnel under the 401 highway through Toronto and expanded GO passenger train service.
Other examples include Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston promoting a “west wind” project to move the province’s wind energy westward and Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew’s call for expanding trade through the Port of Churchill on Hudson Bay’s west shore.
Carney to brief premiers on plan to fast-track major nation-building projects
In his remarks Friday, Mr. Carney listed ports and passenger rail as priorities.
“There will be some major new ports that are built, and trade and energy corridors will be built. I mean, again, it’s subject to the agreements,” he said.
He also referenced federal plans for a high-speed passenger rail line, which is under review by a private sector consortium selected by Ottawa earlier this year.
The consortium was selected to plan a high-speed rail route between Quebec City and Toronto, but Mr. Carney referenced a line running further west to Windsor on Friday.
“A core priority of this government is to build projects of national significance, projects that reinforce our country’s resilience,” he said, adding that such projects should help diversify trade, be environmentally sustainable and built in co-operation with Indigenous peoples.
“Projects like high speed rail from Windsor to Quebec City,” he said.
That one project alone is estimated to cost between $60-billion and $90-billion.
Mr. Ford on Friday said his top priority is development in the Ring of Fire, followed by nuclear energy. Mr. Ford’s government is embroiled in a controversy around Bill 5, which pledges to create “special economic zones” where any provincial law could be suspended to speed up mining or other development. But the government says it’s necessary to accelerate Ontario’s sluggish mining approvals, and vowed to properly consult with First Nations.
The Premier said he expects Mr. Carney to select a few nation-building projects that will have a significant economic impact across the country.
“One has to be the pipelines. We can’t be reliant on the U.S. any longer. We have to start building pipelines, west, north and east,” Mr. Ford told reporters at Queen’s Park.
He also repeated his call for Ottawa to scrap Bill C-69, an environmental review law that opponents have dubbed the No More Pipelines Act.
Mr. Ford said the Prime Minister wants to work collaboratively with premiers and bring the country together. “The previous government, the previous prime minister, didn’t show enough love in my opinion to Alberta and Saskatchewan,” he said.
Mr. Ford added that housing is a top priority for his province, but said having the government build homes would be “the worst thing to do.”
He also suggested he was open to the idea of cutting the provincial portion of the HST on new homes.
While in Saskatoon, Mr. Ford said he would be signing memorandums of understanding with Saskatchewan, Alberta and Prince Edward Island on removing internal trade barriers with Ontario. The province has already signed MOUs with Manitoba, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
Vancouver Councillor Rebecca Bligh, who is also the municipalities federation president, met privately Friday with the Prime Minister following his speech.
She said she was pleased to hear Mr. Carney is prioritizing housing issues and that he wants to move quickly.
“What I took away from this is that nation building projects are going to be a priority,” she said in an interview. “There’s obviously a sense of urgency.”
Editor’s note: This article has been corrected to state that Wab Kinew is premier of Manitoba.