As the housing crisis intensifies across Canada, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal government announced on Tuesday that it will immediately increase the maximum limit of the Canadian Mortgage Bond program by $20 billion, to $60 billion.

This measure, which targets the construction of rental buildings of five units or more, comes in addition to the elimination of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) for building rental housing that was announced last week.

Freeland also confirmed that this investment will allow for the construction of an additional 30,000 homes annually.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) estimates the need for 500,000 new housing units annually in the country over the next seven years.

However, about 271,000 housing units were built in Canada last year, according to Desjardins estimates.

Reducing risks...

Federal Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced that with this new measure, it will be possible to start some projects that had been put on hold.

He stated that he believes today's announcement reduces risks for lenders who will then be able to lend at lower interest rates.

These could be residential construction projects, student housing, or housing for seniors.

Mr. Fraser also noted that the existing program not only supports affordable housing to avoid penalizing projects that promote social diversity.

At a press conference, Freeland reiterated her call for provinces to follow suit and thus eliminate the provincial tax on multi-residential construction.

So far, Ontario, Newfoundland and Labrador, and Nova Scotia have followed suit.

Action plans to stabilize the grocery basket...

Experts say that the shortage is particularly acute in the rental housing sector and is eroding access to housing across the country.

During the same press conference, Federal Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry François-Philippe Champagne assessed the measures taken to stabilize grocery basket prices.

The minister also said that the solution lies not only in large grocery stores but also in large multinational corporations that are part of the supply chain, as well as major Canadian producers like McCain and Cavendish.

He added that he expects them to put detailed action plans in place by Thanksgiving, which is in two weeks.