Rent prices, addictions treatment and workers: the parties between ‘plans’ and promises

by Marzio Pelù

TORONTO – The federal election campaign continued over the weekend, with the parties and their leaders chasing each other, as always, on promises. 

The NDP announced a “plan” to protect tenants through national rent control: the party’s leader, Jagmeet Singh, speaking in Halifax, Nova Scotia, said that his party intends to tie federal housing funding for provinces and municipalities to tenant protection policies, such as rent control, the cost of which, the NDP points out, has doubled from 2015 to 2025, with the average asking rent reaching $2,109 a month in January.

Among the party’s proposals, there is also a ban on fixed-term leases, “renovation evictions” and other practices that, according to the NDP, aim to push people out of their homes, as well as increase rents. Finally, the party would also ban the use of artificial intelligence to coordinate rent increases. 

“We are who we are as Canadians because we take care of each other. And that’s the Canada New Democrats want to keep building. A Canada where people matter, where workers matter, where human rights matter, and where everyone can afford a good life” Singh wrote on Twitter X, posting a video too (here below).

Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, campaigning in British Columbia, said the Conservatives plan to fund life-saving treatment for 50,000 people with addictions “to get them home drug-free…”. In a video shared on social media (here below), Poilievre said a Conservative government would provide “performance-based funding” to treatment centers based on the number of people they help get off drugs, and would provide higher levels of funding for “harder” cases, such as those facing long-term homelessness or multiple overdoses.

“To kick-start new treatment programs, initial funding will go to treatment centers that have a track record of getting people off drugs” the Conservative leader said, explaining that his government would fund these efforts in two ways: “cutting taxpayer-funded programs that supply unsafe drugs” and “suing opioid manufacturers”. The party says it could set aside $250 million a year for four years to fight drug addiction.

Mark Carney made a big point over the weekend about jobs. “We’ve got a lot to build in this country, and we need a lot more builders. So we’ll cover training costs and make it easier to work anywhere in Canada. It’s going to be a great time to be in the skilled trades” he wrote on social media –  where he also published a video about this, see here below – , announcing that his government would cover the cost of apprenticeships, create more training opportunities, and make it easier and cheaper to work anywhere in Canada, “because it’s time to build.”

Carney is expected to attend an event in Victoria, British Columbia, tonight.

In the pic above, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre in Penticton, British Columbia (photo from his Twitter X page – @PierrePoilievre)