Carney's Liberals should relax housing money rules, Windsor mayor says

CBC

01-05-2025

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Windsor's mayor says he's penning a letter to Prime Minister Mark Carney about housing now that his Liberal party has won the election.
Drew Dilkens wants to see the Liberals' existing housing accelerator fund reworked to allow his southwestern Ontario border city more flexibility to secure federal dollars to build more homes — and at a faster pace.
Amidst a nationwide housing crunch, Windsor was shut out of millions in federal funding last year because it refused to give into Ottawa's demands of allowing fourplex developments throughout the city.
"We've got a plan that the last government [...] just refused to consider any other pathway," he told CBC Radio's Windsor Morning host Amy Dodge on Thursday.
"It was four units as-of-right or nothing at all."
Dilkens said the city has a much better sense of how to deliver housing "and what's appropriate for our community than the federal government does."
Carney campaigned on a promise to double the pace of home building by creating a standalone agency called Build Canada Homes. It's estimated that it would cost about $3 billion each year over the next four years.
Representatives for the Liberals did not respond to requests for comment on whether they would consider changes to the housing funding requirements.
But Carney has previously sought to differentiate himself from former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, and a local architect says he believes Carney's government might be open to relaxing some of the criteria.
"They probably will want to make their own mark on this once they take a look at the pace of construction and the pace of approval," said Dorian Moore, a professional adviser to the Centre for Cities at the University of Windsor and vice president at Archive Design Studio in Detroit. "So they may be willing to make some modifications."
But those changes "would have to be balanced against" previous decisions the government has made in giving funding to other cities that committed to building under the existing guidelines, he said. "That's where I see the potential shortfall coming in."
Dilkens, who endorsed Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre during the election, said he has "zero relationship" with Carney, in part because he only became prime minister recently — but also because Carney didn't reach out during the campaign.
"Pierre Poilievre was the only person, the only leader when we're faced with this economic threat from the U.S., to pick up the phone," Dilkens said.
But Dilkens said he's confident Windsor can still work with the federal government now that the region will no longer have any Liberal representation.
"We will govern just fine together," he said. "And I look forward to meeting him and creating a relationship that's good for Canada and good for Windsor."
Once the government's new cabinet is sworn in and new faces are identified, Dilkens says he'll be reaching out to "try and create relationships with new folks that allow us to put forward the goals that we have here in the City of Windsor that align with the federal government's goals.