as canada's new housing minister, vancouver ex-mayor gregor robertson faces daunting challenge
with gregor robertson named canada's new minister of housing, many in his home province hope ottawa will change how funding flows west
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with gregor robertson sworn in as canada’s new minister for housing and infrastructure, many in his home province hope ottawa will overhaul funding rules so that more dollars flow west.
during this year’s federal election, the conservatives blasted robertson for what they called his “failed record as mayor of vancouver” from 2008 to 2018, a period of increases in home prices, rents, and housing taxes.
prime minister carney, who recruited robertson to run federally, said tuesday the former mayor brings “the type of experience” needed to help tackle canada’s housing crisis. carney said robertson was part of the team that developed the liberal housing policy, which aims to reduce municipal costs and get “regulation out of the way” to help build more homes.
municipal and regional charges on housing have been a major source of friction between levels of government. former federal housing minister sean fraser inserted himself into the debate in 2023 when he urged metro vancouver directors to reconsider large fee hikes for residential construction, warning they could jeopardize badly needed new housing. metro directors — locally elected mayors and councillors — argued they had no other way to fund billions of dollars in infrastructure needs.
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b.c. housing minister ravi kahlon encouraged the metro directors to consider fraser’s request, but also said that if fraser was worried about increased development fees, ottawa should pony up more infrastructure funding.
on tuesday, kahlon said he will make a similar pitch to robertson.
b.c.’s first ask for the new federal government, kahlon said, will be to ensure the province receives a fair share of funding for housing and infrastructure, commensurate with the amount of population growth coming from immigration, another federal responsibility.
“it’s not a complaint that we’ve had about not getting funding. it’s a reality. when we see the dollars that have flown to ontario and quebec, compared to what has come to british columbia, it’s significant. we’re hoping that will change,” kahlon said tuesday in victoria.
“we need to ensure there’s fair infrastructure dollars. … we need to be sure there’s investments in affordable housing, indigenous housing, replacing sros. the list is long, and i’m looking forward to meeting with him (robertson) and getting to work.”
gregor robertson, minister of housing and infrastructure and minister responsible for pacific economic development canada, takes part in the cabinet swearing-in ceremony at rideau hall in ottawa on tuesday, may 13, 2025
christinne muschi
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the canadian press
many developers agree about the need to rethink the way ottawa supports infrastructure in fast-growing urban centres.
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“the growth challenges in the major markets have outgrown the tools that municipalities have to solve them,” said brad jones, chief development officer at wesgroup properties, a major residential developer in b.c. “they have a fairly limited tool kit from a financing perspective, and we need new tools, clearly.”
“we have to have a funding-growth conversation in canada,” jones said, adding that robertson’s appointment to the housing and infrastructure portfolio, and his past experience as mayor of vancouver, could provide a “really good opportunity” to tackle that problem.
in 2008 when robertson was elected mayor and his vision vancouver party swept to the first of three council majorities, very little purpose-built rental housing was being built in vancouver. in 2010 and 2011, a total of zero rental units were built.
over the ensuing years, vision implemented policies intended to encourage develops to build more rental homes, ultimately having some success. in recent years, vancouver’s construction industry has shifted toward producing far more rental homes.
“i don’t think he gets enough credit for how successful those programs were in getting rental housing construction going,” jones said. “it was incredibly creative and really impactful. … and there was no provincial or federal funding whatsoever, that was municipal creativity.”
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not everyone in b.c. was impressed with robertson’s appointment.
b.c. conservative leader john rustad said while he was happy to see b.c. representation in cabinet, he had questions about robertson taking the housing portfolio.
“i’m not quite sure that he would be the person i would’ve put in to a position like that, given his record in vancouver,” rustad said.
mike magee, who served as robertson’s chief of staff from 2008 to 2016, said that while vancouver faced significant housing challenges in those years, many other cities around the globe also experienced major cost rises at the same time.
magee, who supported robertson’s federal run this year, said that robertson and vision deserve credit for doing what they could with limited municipal powers and an unhelpful conservative federal government. during the vision years, vancouver introduced several measures that were emulated by other governments, including zoning reforms, programs to boost rental housing, and canada’s first empty homes tax, magee said.
nicole brassard, vice-chair of the liberal party of canada in b.c., said: “having a strong advocate for b.c. in ottawa is more important than ever, and we couldn’t have asked for a better choice for this role.”
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robertson, who also becomes minister responsible for pacific economic development, joins one other british columbian in the new cabinet. delta mp jill mcknight will be minister of veterans affairs and associate minister of national defence.
shafqat ali, left to right, randeep sarai, patty hajdu, melanie joly and wayne long arrive for a cabinet swearing-in at rideau hall in ottawa on tuesday
spencer colby
/
the canadian press
three b.c. mps were named junior cabinet ministers: surrey centre mp randeep sarai is secretary of state for international development, esquimalt-saanich-sooke mp stephanie mclean is secretary of state for seniors, and kelowna’s stephen fuhr is secretary of state for defence procurement.
re-elected north vancouver-capilano mp jonathan wilkinson, who held cabinet positions in justin trudeau’s government and was considered a likely candidate for cabinet again, was left out.
robertson is also remembered in vancouver for announcing, while running for mayor in 2008, a target of ending street homelessness by 2015. although the number of people sleeping outdoors declined in robertson’s early years in office as new social housing and shelter capacity were added, by the time he left office in 2018 the homeless population had grown significantly.
kahlon, the b.c. housing minister, was asked tuesday about robertson’s stated goal of ending street homelessness. “i’ll never criticize any elected official who puts their hand up to say: ‘i’m going to try to address homelessness,'” he said. “we know how challenging it is, and that’s why elected officials have hid from the idea of wanting to take responsibility and step up. we need more leadership. we need people to step up.”
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“i have faith in what the prime minister has laid out around key investments they’re going to make in housing,” kahlon said. “now the question is: do they deliver on those commitments?”
with files from alec lazenby and the canadian press
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