Business
Housing completions not keeping pace with population
From the Fraser Institute
2018 to 2022, population growth averaged more than 550,000 per year compared to only 200,000 new homes
In Canada, the gap between the number of homes built and the number of additional people is the widest it’s been in 50 years, finds a new study released today by the Fraser Institute, an independent, non-partisan, Canadian public policy think-tank.
“Canada faces an historic gap between population growth and the number of homes built—and Canadians are paying the price,” said Josef Filipowicz, senior fellow at the Fraser Institute and author of Canada’s Growing Housing Gap: Comparing Population Growth and Housing Completions in Canada, 1972-2022.
From 2018 to 2022 (the latest year of available data), Canada’s population grew by 553,568 people (each year, on average) compared to an annual average of only 205,762 new homes built.
In other words, over the last five years housing completions equalled less than 40 per cent of population growth—a stark difference from the early 1970s when population growth almost equalled housing completions. Specifically, from 1972 to 1976, the population grew (on average) by 299,843 people per year compared to an average of 237,853 new homes built.
In the most populous province, we see similar trends. During the same five-year period (2018 to 2022), Ontario’s population grew by 239,915 people (each year, on average) compared to an annual average of only 70,828 new homes built.
“Until policymakers help close the gap between supply and demand, affordable housing will remain out of reach to an ever-greater share of Canada’s population,” Filipowicz said
Main Conclusions
- This research bulletin compares annual population growth in Canada with housing completions between 1972 and 2022.
- The growth of the population reached its highest point, nationally and in every province, in 2022.
- Meanwhile, housing completions have stabilized or declined. Nationally, Canada has yet to build more homes annually than it did during the 1970s. This is also the case in 9 out of 10 provinces.
- Throughout most of this period, Canada’s population grew by one to three people for every housing unit completed the previous year.
- In 2022, population grew by 4.7 people for every unit completed the previous year—higher than at any other time.
- Among the provinces, this ratio ranges from 2.8 people per home completed in Quebec to 11.3 people per completion in New Brunswick in 2022.
- Without closing the wide, growing gap between housing demand (population growth) and housing supply (housing completions), Canadians’ current struggles with high housing costs are likely to persist, if not worsen.
Business
EU Tightens Social Media Censorship Screw With Upcoming Mandatory “Disinformation” Rules
From Reclaim The Net
This refers not only to spreading “fact-checking” across the EU member-countries but also to making VLOPs finance these groups. This, is despite the fact many of the most prominent “fact-checkers” have been consistently accused of fostering censorship instead of checking content for accuracy in an unbiased manner.
What started out as the EU’s “voluntary code of practice” concerning “disinformation” – affecting tech/social media companies – is now set to turn into a mandatory code of conduct for the most influential and widely-used ones.
The news was revealed by the Irish media regulator, specifically an official of its digital services, Paul Gordon, who spoke to journalists in Brussels. The EU Commission has yet to confirm that January will be the date when the current code will be “formalized” in this way.
The legislation that would enable the “transition” is the controversial Digital Services Act (DSA), which critics often refer to as the “EU online censorship law,” the enforcement of which started in February of this year.
The “voluntary” code is at this time signed by 44 tech companies, and should it become mandatory in January 2025, it will apply to those the EU defines as Very Large Online Platforms (VLOPs) (with at least 45 million monthly active users in the 27-nation bloc).
Currently, the number of such platforms is said to be 25.
In its present form, the DSA’s provisions obligate online platforms to carry out “disinformation”-related risk assessments and reveal what measures they are taking to mitigate any risks revealed by these assessments.
But when the code switches from “voluntary” to mandatory, these obligations will also include other requirements: demonetizing the dissemination of “disinformation”; platforms, civil society groups, and fact-checkers “effectively cooperating” during elections, once again to address “disinformation” – and, “empowering” fact-checkers.
This refers not only to spreading “fact-checking” across the EU member-countries but also to making VLOPs finance these groups. This, is despite the fact many of the most prominent “fact-checkers” have been consistently accused of fostering censorship instead of checking content for accuracy in an unbiased manner.
The code was first introduced (in its “voluntary” form) in 2022, with Google, Meta, and TikTok among the prominent signatories – while these rules originate from a “strengthened” EU Code of Practice on Disinformation based on the Commission’s Guidance issued in May 2021.
“It is for the signatories to decide which commitments they sign up to and it is their responsibility to ensure the effectiveness of their commitments’ implementation,” the EU said at the time – that would have been the “voluntary” element, while the Commission said the time it had not “endorsed” the code.
It appears the EC is now about to “endorse” the code, and then some – there are active preparations to make it mandatory.
Alberta
Lesson for Ottawa—don’t bite the hand that feeds you
From the Fraser Institute
By Tegan Hill
The Alberta government has launched a campaign to inform Canadians about the negative impacts of the federal government’s cap on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the oil and gas sector, which exempts the other three-quarters of the economy that emit including transportation, buildings and heavy industry.
According to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, the cap will “kill jobs” and lead to “economic and societal decline” for all Canadians—and she’s right. Any policy that damages Alberta’s economy comes with consequences for all of Canada.
Of course, this isn’t the first Trudeau policy to damage the sector. The list includes Bill C-69 (which imposes complex, uncertain and onerous review requirements on major energy projects), Bill C-48, (which bans large oil tankers off British Columbia’s northern coast and limits access to Asian markets), “clean fuel standard” regulations, numerous “net-zero” targets, and so on.
Again, while these policies disproportionately impact Albertans, they have consequences for all Canadians from coast to coast because of Alberta’s role in the federation. In our current system, Ottawa collects various taxes from Canadians across the country and then redistributes the money for programs including equalization and employment insurance.
For perspective, from 2007 to 2022 (the latest period of available data), Albertans contributed $244.6 billion more in taxes and other payments to the federal government than they received in federal spending—more than five times as much as British Columbians or Ontarians. The remaining seven provinces received more federal spending than they contributed to federal revenues. In other words, Albertans are by far the largest net contributor to Ottawa’s coffers.
Albertans’ large net contribution reflects the province’s comparatively young population (fewer retirees), higher rates of employment, higher average incomes and relatively strong economy.
Alberta’s relative economic strength isn’t new. From 1981 to 2022, the province had the highest annual average economic growth rate in Canada. In 2022, Alberta accounted for 17.9 per cent of Canada’s total economic growth despite being home to just 11.6 per cent of the country’s population. That same year, Alberta contributed nearly one in every five private-sector jobs created in Canada. In fact, Alberta was one of only two provinces (alongside Nova Scotia) where private-sector employment growth (including self-employment) exceeded government-sector employment growth over the last five years (2019 to 2023).
Alberta’s prosperity, which helps finance other provinces, may help explain why 56,245 more Canadian residents moved to Alberta than left it in 2022—a much higher net inflow than in any other province. For decades, Alberta has provided economic opportunities for Canadians from other provinces willing to relocate.
Albertans continue to contribute more to the federation than Canadians in other provinces due to Alberta’s relatively strong and prosperous economy. And Canadians benefit from the economic opportunities Alberta provides. With this in mind, the Trudeau government should stop imposing economically damaging policies on the province—as it costs not just Albertans but all Canadians.
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