Vote for Mayoral Candidate Who Will Build ‘Millions of Homes,’ Poilievre Urges Torontonians

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre speaks at a press conference at the Ottawa Children’s Treatment Centre wing of the Children's Hospital of Eastern Ontario in Ottawa on March 19, 2023. Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press

Just over two weeks before Torontonians head to the polls to elect a new mayor, Conservative Party Leader Pierre Poilievre is urging city residents to vote for a candidate who will “build millions of homes” in order to bring down sky-high real estate and rental costs.

The Tory leader didn’t name any candidates, but noted that he would allocate federal funding to municipalities if he is elected prime minister in the future.

“I’m not going to name a particular name, but I would say to Torontonians, vote for someone who will fire the City Hall gatekeepers so that we can speed up housing construction,” he said while speaking to reporters in Toronto on June 9.

“Vote for someone who will allow us to build millions and millions of homes so that Canadians can put a roof over their head.”

Poilievre also said he’s “making it very clear to all the mayoral candidates” that he will make housing construction volume a condition of receiving federal funds if he is elected prime minister.

“I’m going to require cities build more homes or they’re going to lose federal infrastructure money,” he said. “The more they build, the more money they will get.”

The Toronto mayoral byelection is set for June 26. Nearly all the candidates have voiced plans to increase affordable housing availability across the city.

Front-runner Olivia Chow, a former federal NDP MP, has promised to increase taxes on expensive real-estate purchases in Toronto and use the public revenue to build more affordable housing units if she is elected mayor.

Other candidates have proposed different plans. Former Toronto Police Service chief Mark Saunders said he will remove property taxes from affordable housing units in future developments.

On the other hand, longtime political commentator Anthony Furey has promised to eliminate the municipal land transfer tax for first-time Toronto homebuyers.

Poilievre told reporters on June 9 that he will “sell off 6,000 federal buildings” if he is elected prime minister in the future to bring down housing prices across Canada.

“Big, ugly, empty buildings will be sold off and turned into beautiful housing for our young people right across this country,” he said.

The federal government announced its $4 billion Housing Accelerator Fund in March, which is intended to provide municipal governments across the country with funding to “fast track the creation of 100,000 new homes.”