This op-ed, by ICBA President and CEO Chris Gardner, first appeared in Northern Beat on June 29, 2026.
During an announcement last week, Prime Minister Mark Carney joined Premier David Eby to announce a partnership to buy more than 2,200 unsold condos in British Columbia and convert them into “affordable” homes. A few days later, Carney said this is a “rent-to-own” program under a right-to-own framework. Eby added that no units would be purchased in the city of Vancouver.
The condemnation from all sides has been swift. Critics called it a developer bailout. Developers said they never asked for it. One national newspaper called the plan “ridiculous” and “myopic.”
The so-called “condo bailout” was, in the Prime Minister’s words, “initiated” by the B.C. government. So while we may not know much about what this program is, at least we know who is driving it: David Eby.
Let’s be clear: not one homebuilder, contractor, or developer I know asked government to buy their unsold condos. In fact, Carney himself concedes no developer lobbied him “directly.” This isn’t an industry rescue plan. It’s an expansion of something David Eby has been doing for months: using BC Housing to buy up completed units. In February, for example, the Province bought more than 150 units in two newly built apartment buildings in Vancouver and Langley and engaged non-profits to run them.
There are two very different things bundled into this announcement, and they deserve very different verdicts.
The first, while not perfect, is sensible. Ottawa and Victoria are putting $3.2 billion over ten years into housing-enabling infrastructure and lowering the development charges municipalities pile onto new homes, some by up to 50 per cent, or as much as $40,000 a unit. Municipalities own roughly 60 per cent of Canada’s public infrastructure but collect just 8 cents of every tax dollar. This is a long-overdue step in the right direction – do more of this.
In Ontario, cities are already responding to a similar program: Windsor offered to slash building fees by up to 70 per cent in exchange for federal and provincial dollars.
But buying 2,200 vacant condos, is a gross misuse of tax dollars. As of May, Metro Vancouver had 4,376 completed, unsold condos, the highest level since records began in 1990. That sounds like a problem and, for sellers, it is. But for buyers and renters, it’s the best news in years. When sellers have to compete, prices fall. That’s what’s happening now: prices of homes and condos, as well as rents, have been declining sharply over the past 18 months. The market is correcting. Now the NDP government wants to step in. But to what end?
Here’s the problem. Carney now says he’ll target “distressed” condos and buy them “at a discount.” Forgive the skepticism: a buyer with 2,200 cheques to write, unlimited borrowing, and a political deadline, is not one likely to drive a hard bargain. And even if every unit is bought below asking, scooping up that much supply props up prices across the entire market, not just the units purchased. Why would any government want to do that in the least affordable market in Canada?
The basic questions still have no real answers. Whose units get bought? At what price per unit? Through what process? The governments now say the details won’t come until the fall – after the money is committed. Eby complaining that the “plot has been lost” over the past week is laughable. This is his plan and his announcement. If there are no details, that’s his doing, no one else’s. It’s typical of his government: billions doled out on little more than a plan sketched on the back of a napkin.
Then there’s the principle. Developers take a risk on every project. Some projects are successful, others not so much. Shielding a select few from losses with public money isn’t the job of government. The track record of governments picking winners and losers in the economy is littered with boondoggles that have cost taxpayers dearly.
Look no further than the recent foray into EV battery plants in Ontario and Quebec. The federal and provincial governments pledged billions in subsidies. Soon after, Stellantis sold its stake in one project, Honda shelved its project, and Northvolt went bankrupt. To no one’s surprise, taxpayers have been left holding the bag.
What stings most is that for more than a decade, builders have been offering solutions that government has chosen to ignore. The easiest one would cost government nothing: stop changing building codes, harmonize codes across jurisdictions, and make them simpler. Codes change far too frequently, and with every change comes another layer of complexity and cost.
Partner with cities to help shoulder the cost of municipal infrastructure and link it to commitments by cities to reduce development cost charges and fees.
It’s pretty simple: governments shouldn’t be borrowing money to buy condos.
Chris Gardner is President and CEO of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association.