“Homelessness & Affordability Crisis”

OTTAWA – In 2016, through a citizens’ lawsuit over a City of Vancouver land-swap deal with a private developer, records surfaced pointing to something stranger than fiction.

In Mayor Gregor Robertson’s City Hall, an independent review of the file — commissioned to answer the community’s victory in court — indicated that a Chinese state investment giant had an interest in the file. Reports on the controversial condo development could be provided to China Investment Corp, the sovereign fund managing Beijing’s foreign assets, under a formal clause written into the contract.

Canadians are increasingly financing daily expenses through instalment loans as food prices continue to strain household budgets, according to a new report.

Data from Toronto-based fintech Koho Financial Inc. released Tuesday showed that use of its buy now, pay later financing option surged 109 per cent over the past year, growing from 0.8 per cent of users in May, 2025, to 1.71 per cent in May of this year. For perspective, Koho has more than 2.5 million customers across Canada.

OTTAWA — In a contentious ethics committee, Conservative MP Aaron Gunn moved Tuesday to summon Vancouver condo marketer Bob Rennie, federal Housing Minister Gregor Robertson, and major developers connected to Rennie’s fundraiser for Mark Carney as witnesses in an urgent parliamentary investigation of the Prime Minister’s multibillion-dollar British Columbia condo bailout — before the Liberal majority ended debate on the motion in a five-to-four vote, shelving the probe without allowing it to be decided.

They’re not even trying to hide it.

https://t.co/ZraAp2JoaF

Well I’ll be… https://t.co/rXf6mkENeU pic.twitter.com/rAfO6iJsYF

— MBrant75 (@MBrant75) July 7, 2026

Real estate developers are pushing back against claims that a new federal-provincial program to buy up empty condos is something the industry asked for, with the Urban Development Institute and others saying that it isn’t a bailout and won’t help their sector.

Two weeks ago, Premier David Eby and Prime Minister Mark Carney said they are putting together a plan to buy more than 2,200 unsold local condos and provide them as affordable housing.

According to data collected by Ratehub, the average Toronto condo price in March 2022 was $831,351, requiring a household income of $156,320. As of May 2026, the average condo price has dropped by roughly 19 per cent, to $673,841, requiring a household income of $139,000.

BUT … The Star is omitting pertinent facts about income figures.

The average household income in the City of Toronto is approximately $121,200 to $129,000 before taxes, while the median household income is roughly $84,000 to $97,000. The higher average compared to the median is typically skewed by a larger share of upper-income households.

In Ontario, the average household total income is approximately $116,000 before taxes, and the average after-tax income is about $95,300. For median household income (the midpoint), the figure sits at roughly $81,000 before taxes and $79,500 after taxes

A growing gap is emerging between financially secure Canadians benefiting from rising asset values and those struggling to keep up with everyday expenses, according to a new Angus Reid Institute survey.

The poll found 70% of Canadians describe their household finances as either “good” or “very good,” but more than one-quarter (27%) say they are in poor or very poor financial condition.

VANCOUVER — A national plan to absorb Canada’s unsold condos is unfolding in two very different shapes — one already called a bailout by some analysts but drawing little of the outrage, the other announced last week by Mark Carney and instantly setting the public on fire. Two cities, more than 4,400 unsold condos held on the books of wealthy private companies, both outcomes hard to predict — but Vancouver’s is already being cast by critics as a handout to well-connected Liberal insiders.

This is, first, a national story.

This sounds like weasel words … Carney admits he did poor job rolling out $1.45 billion B.C. program panned as ‘condo bailout’

It’s been a year since Prime Minister Mark Carney said the cost of living was a key priority for his Liberal government — and every month since food prices have gone through the roof.

The Liberals will put the blame on Ukraine, or Donald Trump or tariffs or climate change or just about anything, but what they won’t do is accept responsibility for a crisis that they most certainly have control over.