The massive generational divide in Canada’s housing market

04/01/21 • 25 min

Elamin has turned to a simultaneously fun and frustrating way to pass the time during the pandemic: scrolling through real estate listings. He’s just one of an endless number of millennials hoping to somehow grab onto the real estate ladder and buy their first home — but when? And how? The national average home price in February was up 25 per cent from the year before (jumping from just under $542,500 to just over $678,000, if you’re curious) and there’s research out there that suggests a young Canadian would have to log more than two decades of full-time work just to afford a decent down payment in certain markets. Rosie points out the grim reality that her cohort of first-time buyers who got in the door some 15 or 20 years ago simply had luck on their side; but it’s going to take a whole lot more than luck to cool Canada’s hot housing market in 2021. The two examine how the government could step in to help, as the federal budget is set to land in just a few weeks’ time; they also take a close look this week at the third wave of COVID-19 hitting several provinces where variants of concern are driving an increase in daily case counts.

Previous Episode

Party in the U.S.A: State of the union

It’s our last episode! And what a wild ride it has been. Party in the U.S.A. was originally meant to cover the 2020 U.S. election, but then EVERYTHING happened. Ruth Bader Ginsburg died, Trump got COVID-19, Biden won, and a deadly riot on Capitol Hill led to Trump’s second impeachment. In this episode, we take stock of the last few months and what’s next for the U.S. But first, a deep dive into what’s happening in Bessemer, Alabama where a group of Amazon workers are trying to make history by becoming the company’s first U.S. union. Elamin is joined by Barry Eidlin, a professor at McGill University who looks at U.S. labour relations, as well as journalist and author Sarah Kendzior.

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Returning to restrictions and what’s ‘left’ for the NDP

Ontario Premier Doug Ford confirmed on Wednesday that Canada’s most populous province would be heading into its second stay-at-home order and third state of emergency as COVID-19 variants of concern continue to spread. Catherine Cullen, senior reporter for CBC News, sits in for Rosie this week and joins Elamin in examining how efforts in several provinces still tend to be reactive versus proactive, and may not reach the “middle ground” that premiers like Alberta’s Jason Kenney often strive to find. The two also turn their attention to the NDP as the party prepares for its policy convention this weekend. After a year in which the Liberals served up some big policy responses to the pandemic, which would normally be considered the territory of the left — take the CERB, for example — where can the NDP stake their claim as an election looms on the horizon?