StatsCan Report Reveals Sharp Decline in Housing Permits Amid Federal Pledges

With residential permits down 14.6% year-over-year, questions mount over the Liberal government’s ability to meet its ambitious housing targets under Prime Minister Mark Carney.

For nearly a decade, the Liberal Party of Canada has issued the same grand promise: they’re going to fix the housing crisis. Build more homes. Make life affordable. Give the middle class a break. Justin Trudeau ran on it in 2015. He promised it again in 2019. In 2021, he vowed 1.4 million new homes by 2026. And just last year, in April 2024, he upped the ante: 3.9 million homes by 2031.

Today, Trudeau is gone. Replaced by Mark Carney, a former Bank of Canada and Bank of England governor, and a man whose real constituency has always been the global financial class, not Canadian voters. Carney has taken over as Prime Minister following Trudeau’s resignation and leads a weakened minority Liberal government with support from what’s left of the NDP. His new plan? “Build Canada Homes,” a Crown corporation backed by $35 billion in federal financing, promising to construct 500,000 homes a year.

But there’s a problem. It isn’t happening. Not even close.

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The Facts: Building Permits Collapse Across Canada

According to fresh data released this morning by Statistics Canada, building intentions across the country are not just slowing—they’re in free fall:

• Total residential construction permits fell 11.6% in April 2025 compared to the previous month, dropping to just $7.4 billion. That’s a stunning $967.7 million monthly decrease.

• The real carnage was in multi-family housing, where permits plummeted by $882.5 million, almost 20%.

• Even worse: British Columbia, the supposed model of urban growth, led the national decline, with residential permit values collapsing by 46.2%. The Vancouver metro area alone shed $1 billion in building intentions in just one month.

• Across Canada, the number of dwellings authorized dropped to 25,615 units, down 6.5% from March, and 5.4% year-over-year.

This isn’t some seasonal dip. April 2025’s numbers are down 14.6% from a year ago, while the value of multi-unit residential starts has cratered by over 20.5% year-over-year.

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Trudeau’s Empty Promises, Carney’s Empty Pockets

Let’s rewind. In 2021, Trudeau promised to “build, preserve, or revitalize” 1.4 million homes by 2026. CMHC data now shows that number was never close to materializing. Less than half of that figure is even underway.

In 2022, the Liberals pivoted to a broader promise to “double housing starts” over the next decade. At the time, starts hovered around 240,000 annually. The “doubling” implied a rise to nearly 500,000 annually. They never broke 280,000. In fact, the numbers began declining in late 2023, even as Trudeau and then-Housing Minister Sean Fraser toured the country announcing ribbon-cutting ceremonies for projects that never materialized.

By 2024, Trudeau was panicking. He delivered a “Gen Z Budget” promising 3.9 million homes by 2031 and waived GST on new rental developments to spur construction. That budget included an $8.5 billion housing package, a leasing plan for federal land, and more paperwork for developers. Nothing changed.

Now, in 2025, Carney is recycling the same playbook, complete with new federal bureaucracy and a promise to “cut red tape” from the very swamp he helped construct.

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Liberal Housing Targets vs. Reality: A Decade of Deceit

Liberal Housing Targets vs. Reality: A Decade of Deceit

• 2017:

  • Pledge: National Housing Strategy promises 100,000+ units

  • Outcome: Fewer than 60,000 delivered by 2022

• 2021:

  • Pledge: 1.4 million homes by 2026

  • Outcome: Vast majority remain unbuilt; CMHC behind on delivery

• 2022:

  • Pledge: Double housing starts to ~400,000–500,000 per year

  • Outcome: Starts stalled at ~240,000; no trajectory toward goal

• 2024:

  • Pledge: 3.9 million homes by 2031

  • Outcome: Building permits declined significantly after announcement

• 2025:

  • Pledge: 500,000 units per year under “Build Canada Homes”

  • Outcome: Residential permit values down 14.6% year-over-year; no signs of increased activity

No serious analyst believes 500,000 units a year is feasible under current conditions. TD Economics has already warned that reaching even 400,000 would be a stretch. The Liberals are missing by a mile.

Final Thoughts

This is the same government that spent over $60 million on a QR code app—ArriveCAN—that could have been built by a junior developer over a weekend. They called it “digital innovation.” Canadians called it what it was: a bloated, outsourced, unaccountable tech boondoggle.

Now that same government—under the leadership of Mark Carney and his housing minister Gregger Robinson—wants you to believe they can build 500,000 homes a year? Really?

They couldn't develop a functioning app without blowing tens of millions. They’ve never delivered a single major infrastructure promise on time or on budget. And we’re supposed to trust them to solve a nationwide housing crisis with federal bureaucrats, climate checklists, and glossy photo ops?

If you believe that, I’ve got an overpriced prefab condo in Vancouver to sell you.

The numbers don’t lie. The building permits are down. The promises are broken. The swamp is still running the show. And housing? It's just another Liberal campaign line, recycled again—expensive, dysfunctional, and ultimately empty.