For something completely different: a little good news

CHELSEA, QUE.—Before we slide back into the partisan ooze that marks contemporary political discourse, why not take a moment to revisit some of the good news that emerged across the country last year and into this one? (We’ll exempt the mild, mostly snowless early winter for the purpose of our thesis—but only for a minute.) First, we appear to be on the brink of an almost unprecedented burst of new housing construction. Yes, it should have happened decades ago; no, it will not happen overnight. In fact, it will still take years to reach the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s goal of 5.8 million new units by 2030, the number required to resolve the affordability crisis. But at least all levels of government are fully engaged. Several cities are embracing less restrictive zoning, under pressure from their own constituents and drawn by the promise of federal money to kick-start projects for cities that open established neighbourhoods to more density. The awkwardly named federal Housing Accelerator Fund promises municipalities $4-billion to help create diverse housing types, including for Indigenous and disadvantaged communities, and mayors are increasingly signing on—as are premiers, albeit some more avidly than others. Federal housing minister Sean Fraser offered a particularly eye-catching proposal just before Christmas: an updated version of an 80-year old federal housing program that offered small, simple, nearly-identical housing units to returning Second World War veterans. Fraser’s plan would provide a catalogue of pre-approved designs of everything from multi-plexes, to mid-rise apartments, to student housing, garden homes, laneway houses and small, to medium-sized, residential properties. The potentially game-changing premise is that builders will be provided these basic plans, once final versions are ready this fall, and can start to work almost at once. The plans will be designed to meet provincial, federal, and other code requirements, and hasten the often glacial municipal approval process. Some of the new units could be partly pre-built inside factories—already a trend in residential constriction. That further speeds production and delivery. Economist Mike Moffatt of the Smart Prosperity Institute, who has briefed the Liberal cabinet on the housing crisis, says the program could cut construction times by one year. The federal government has also eliminated the GST on rental developments, increased the amount of low-cost financing available to developers, and pledged $1-billion in direct funding for badly needed social housing. It isn’t enough, but it is a start. And none of this happened quickly enough; the housing accelerator, for instance, was announced in 2021, but the first deal, with London, Ont., was only announced in September last year. And, as we are sure to hear once Parliament resumes, it is all too little, too late, and, anyway, it was the Conservatives/NDP/Bloc who sounded the affordability alarm and forced a foot-dragging Liberal government to respond. Plus, it will never work. Not enough construction workers, sluggish execution at the top, premiers don’t want to be pushed around, and so on. But, hark! Is that hammers we are hearing down the street? Another overlooked—but potentially transformative—initiative came from Hydro-Quebec in November: a plan to spend $185-billion over the next decade on upgrading aging facilities, tripling wind power, installing 5,000 kilometres of new transmission lines, encouraging efficient use of existing power, and, eventually, adding new dams to the existing cluster in northern Quebec that have fuelled the province’s economic successes since the 1970s. In short, it is an ambitious play to electrify the province—from green steel and aluminium production, to electric commercial vehicles, to a partly subsidized heat pump in every home—and export surplus green energy to neighbours. It is consistent with Quebec Premier François Legault’s 2021 commitment to move Quebec beyond fossil fuels by rejecting a proposed LNG project, and banning new oil and gas exploration. Fossil fuels still make up 50 per cent of energy used in Quebec (mostly in cars and heating buildings) but, with an assist from Hydro-Quebec and the province’s abundant rivers, the province appears to have a better chance of reaching zero emissions by 2050 than the rest of the country. And the Quebec initiative provides a welcome, under-reported, counterpart to Alberta, which has suspended renewable energy projects and recently announced a huge increase in fossil-fuel powered electricity plants, and an uncritical embrace of a future powered by oil and gas. Other unremarked positives: the seven-year-old Canada Child Benefit has lifted thousands of families out of poverty and, with this summer’s cost-of-living adjustment, modest, and low-income parents receive $7,437 per year for every child under the age of six, and $6,275 for kids aged six to 17 years. The new child dental care plan will provide help to the same families—people who don’t tend to dominate the headlines. As for the middle class, inflation is back to 3.1 per cent, and is expected to return to the two per cent level preferred by the Bank of Canada next year. Interest rates are also predicted to decline from 7.1 per cent to 4.5 per cent by year’s end, as some 2.5 million mortgage holders renegotiate terms. This still represents hardship for some, but at least numbers are heading in a hopeful direction. Finally, we start 2024 with a vibrant new professional women’s hockey league—and, if the first few games are an indication, a new source of national excitement and pride. Indeed, while too many denizens of official Ottawa were fretting over the under-resourced military, or foreign interference in elections, or the angry lies of the newly-bellicose right, Canadian athletes won a combined 12 medals at world athletics and aquatics championships over summer, including six golds. CBC sports reporter Devin Heroux assiduously records these and other wins for Canada—including in curling, ski-jumping, speed-skating—in his frequent X postings. He, and the young athletes he follows, are doing a great service to a glum country in a fretful moment. Along with the threat of a sharp reversal of our halting progress on climate, reconciliation and social equity under a future Pierre Poilievre government, continuing worry about the escalating cost of almost everything—and the deeply upsetting prospect of an end to snow (inescapable, after all)—there are sprigs of hope. And still things to celebrate, if we keep our eyes wide open. Susan Riley is a veteran political columnist who write regularly for The Hill Times. The Hill Times