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There has emerged in recent months a near consensus in Canada that more government intervention is required to ensure housing affordability.

Suggestions for government fixes for housing markets are coming even from the market-friendly Macdonald-Laurier Institute (which called for government support for down payments) and conservative economist Herbert Grubel (who argues for reducing immigration to relieve housing pressures).

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Recently, former Toronto chief planner Jennifer Keesmaat penned a Maclean’s commentary lauding the City of Vancouver’s housing strategy — 83 pages of central-planning initiatives intended to fix the city’s housing problems.

Keesmaat suggested a “myriad” of opportunities for government intervention, including “innovative taxation policies” and government loan financing.

And all this comes on the heels of the Trudeau government’s $40 billion National Housing Strategy, which justifies its spending on the basis that “housing rights are human rights.”