'Going behind his back': Tory MPs support federal housing program that Poilievre vowed to cancel

OTTAWA -

A number of Conservative MPs have written letters to the Liberal housing minister asking him to grant their communities funding from a program that Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre this week called disastrous and promised to cancel.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser made the revelation in the House of Commons Tuesday while responding to a question from Poilievre.

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"What (Poilievre) doesn't know is his caucus colleagues have been going behind his back, writing me letters advocating for their communities to receive funding through the housing accelerator fund because they believe it will get more homes built," Fraser said.

"My question for the Conservative members of his caucus, will they have the courage to stand up and tell him he is wrong?"

Fraser said on Wednesday that at least a dozen Conservative MPs have written to his office.

The Canadian Press has reviewed five letters sent between September 2023 and February 2024 by Dan Albas, Michael Cooper, Adam Chambers, Lianne Rood and Rob Moore. The MPs represent ridings in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and New Brunswick.

The letters asked Fraser to approve their communities' applications to access the housing accelerator fund, a program that invited municipalities to compete for a pool of money based on the ambitiousness of their plans to build more housing.

Poilievre announced on Monday that he would abolish the program and instead use the money to fund his plan to scrap the federal sales tax on new homes sold for less than $1 million.

He attacked the housing accelerator fund during a news conference, calling it a "disastrous program that has led to less homebuilding and more local bureaucracies."

However, Conservative MPs who sent letters to Fraser suggested the program would help their communities build more housing.

Cooper asked the minister to approve an application from St. Albert, Alta., to build a mixed affordability housing project.

"The requested federal funding is critical to making this needed development a reality — a development that will help address the significant shortage of affordable housing options in the community," Cooper wrote in his letter, sent in February.

In a letter sent in January, Moore vouched for the application of Butternut Valley, N.B., which he said "will provide much needed housing in this area."

Chambers wrote in November 2023 to support an application from Midland, Ont., which "has proposed a plan to increase housing within the municipality."

He said the town is "prepared to consider any recommendations or conditions the government may encourage to improve their chances of a successful application."

Poilievre has criticized the housing accelerator fund since the federal government began signing agreements with municipalities, saying it adds more bureaucracy without building any homes.

In a statement to The Canadian Press, Poilievre's spokesman Sebastian Skamski said the Conservative plan to eliminate the GST on new homes under $1 million would "spark 30,000 extra homes per year," reduce purchase prices by up to $50,000 and cut mortgage payments by almost $3,000 a year.

"Unlike their multi-billion dollar so-called 'housing accelerator' photo op fund, this common sense policy benefits all Canadians without bureaucratic applications and costly photo ops designed for Liberal political gain," the statement reads.

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Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Sean Fraser rises during question period in Ottawa on Oct. 29, 2024. (Adrian Wyld / The Canadian Press)

Skamski did not address the letters sent by Conservative MPs.

The Liberal government first announced the $4-billion housing accelerator in the spring 2022 federal budget and topped it up with an additional $400 million in the most recent budget.

Poilievre has relentlessly attacked the Liberal government over the state of housing affordability, blaming Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the rapid rise of housing prices and rents since 2015.

That message appears to have resonated with Canadians, as the Conservatives enjoy a substantial lead over the Liberals in public opinion polls.

The palpable anger over housing affordability in the country prompted the Liberals to promise during their 2023 caucus retreat to do more to address the issue.

In the spring, the government presented a 28-page plan to get more homes built. Trudeau said it would build almost 3.9 million homes by 2031. The housing accelerator fund is one tenet of that plan.

The Liberal government says it has struck 177 agreements with municipalities through the housing accelerator fund, and a separate deal with the Quebec government.

Fraser's office says the applications from municipalities that were supported by the five Conservative MPs have not yet received funding, but that the program still has $400 million available.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 30, 2024.