Poilievre vows to fire senior bureaucrats who preside over sluggish housing programs

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tabled a bill Wednesday that would withhold federal cash from high-cost cities that fail to build more homes quickly.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre tabled a bill Wednesday that would withhold federal cash from high-cost cities that fail to build more homes quickly.

The legislation also would compel the head of the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation to fire senior bureaucrats responsible for underperforming federal housing programs.

It would withhold some federal infrastructure and transit funding from any municipality that sits on a housing building permit application for more than six months.

Federal transit funds would also be placed in a trust until a city ensures "high-density residential housing" is built around federally funded transit stations. Once those apartments and condos are "substantially occupied," the bill says, Ottawa would release the cash.

Canada is facing an acute shortage of affordable places to live. Poilievre wants municipalities to increase the number of homes built by 15 per cent each year and he's pitching penalties as the way to get it done.