The federal government added 56 properties to the new public land bank for sites suitable for long-term rentals so that developers can build affordable housing.

Housing Minister Sean Fraser announced this today in Halifax, three days before the cabinet retreat dedicated to preparing for the upcoming fall session of Parliament.

Former military bases, Canada Post locations, and federal office buildings are among the properties currently listed in the public land bank, many of which were previously earmarked for sale as they are no longer in use.

The new plan is to offer most of these properties for long-term rental rather than one-time sales in order to keep the land in public hands and ensure that the housing built on it remains affordable.

The current list includes properties in 28 municipalities across seven provinces, but it will grow over time through ongoing reviews of unused or vacant federal lands and buildings.

Five properties, first identified in the April budget, are now moving into the development phase, where the government is asking developers to express interest or submit bids.

Four of them are located on former military bases in Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Ottawa, while the fifth is the site of a former building for the National Film Board in Montreal.

The new land bank and an expedited plan to convert federal properties into housing are part of the extensive housing strategy announced by the Liberals in April, with some details released in the spring budget.

Housing will be a major issue at the cabinet meeting as Canadians continue to grapple with high costs and limited availability.

The annual cabinet session comes at the end of summer, three weeks before Parliament returns for its fall session, and is likely to be the last summer cabinet meeting before the upcoming election.

This may be the government’s real last opportunity to reset itself with voters before asking them for another mandate.

The meeting may be overshadowed by the ongoing tension with the country's railroads following a work stoppage that began Thursday and is set to end Monday. Labor Minister Stephen McKinnon directed the Canadian Industrial Relations Council to initiate a binding arbitration process with the railways and the truckers' union representing 9,300 workers at Canadian National Railway (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City (CPKC).

The truckers’ union has vowed to fight the decision in court, with President Paul Boucher stating on Sunday that he is heading to Halifax with other union leaders "to protest this decision at the Liberal caucus retreat."

He is urging members in the area to join the protest.

This dispute is the latest in a series of supply chain and labor issues facing the Liberals or that they continue to confront, including at ports, railroads, and airlines.

Disruptions in the supply chain following COVID-19 have significantly contributed to rising inflation, which has also led to an affordability crisis in Canada and many places around the world.

The housing crisis in Canada—driven by high-interest rates and rapid immigration outpacing housing supply growth—is another major factor fueling widespread discontent with the Liberal government.

A year ago, a ministerial meeting in Charlottetown focused heavily on housing as rapid immigration and lackluster housing starts led to decreased availability and rising prices.

However, the Liberals left that meeting without anything tangible to announce, and their poll numbers continued to suffer as they failed to convince Canadians that they had the recipe to fix a problem that had become critical under their watch.

This time, they intend to put a lot on display for Canadians, including the housing announcement on Sunday.

Former Liberal Chief of Staff Marcy Schuler, now Chief Strategy Officer at government relations firm Compass Rose, said housing will be central to this meeting and the Liberal agenda moving forward.

She added, "Frankly, the government has certainly taken political steps and made significant investments since last year, some of which are beginning to bear fruit, but the reality is that the focus on supply must remain," and added, "There has been no real easing yet."

The government intends to stimulate the construction of 3.87 million new housing units over the next seven years.

It is estimated that between 3.1 million and 3.5 million new units are needed by 2031 to address the housing crisis that has left Canada with some of the least affordable housing among developed countries.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation warned earlier this year that the affordability crisis is likely to persist until 2026, although housing starts may begin to improve in the coming months due to lower interest rates.

Demand for housing in Canada surged in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic. Between March 2020 and March 2022, the average home price in Canada rose by over 50 percent to $835,000. This has since declined, as high interest rates have increased borrowing costs and reduced the number of people in the market to buy a home.

The average rent has increased by about 25 percent over the past five years.

The OECD notes that the ratio of housing prices to income in Canada has declined since peaking in early 2022, but overall, the cost of housing has increased by 40 percent more than Canadian incomes since 2015.

The government’s overall plan includes new protections for renters, loans to build more apartments, and a range of programs to significantly increase the number of affordably priced units available.

This retreat is also expected to see the government discuss immigration and temporary foreign workers, industrial strategies including the electric vehicle market, childcare, and Canada-U.S. relations.

The meetings begin Sunday evening with a working dinner, followed by two full days of discussions. Monday will see the cabinet hearing from housing, immigration, and middle-class economy experts and advisors. These will include Kevin Lee, CEO of the Canadian Home Builders' Association, Senator Hassan Yussuff, former president of the Canadian Labour Congress, and Maya Roy, former CEO of the YWCA Canada.

On Tuesday, discussions will shift to Canada-U.S. relations, where the upcoming presidential election is of great importance to Canada, which relies heavily on U.S. trade for economic stability. Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman will address the cabinet on Tuesday, along with former ambassadors Frank McKenna and David McNaughton.