The federal government published a consultation document yesterday which seeks input on how the future Build Canada Homes entity is going to be structured, and how to can support the industry to accelerate the number of homes being built, particularly while using more Canadian materials to do so (given as well that there is an impetus to use more softwood lumber domestically as the Americans keep increasing countervailing duties). Getting the structure and the implementation right is important, and that could include how much autonomy it’s given (as in, if it’s a standalone agency, that tends to be more arm’s-length and free of ministerial direction than if it’s a unit within the infrastructure department). But this being said, the government needs to start acting fast because housing starts are cratering, particularly in the biggest cities, and a whole lot of those job losses reported in the July data last week were from the construction sector.

Meanwhile, Ontario’s housing start data is getting worse, even after they added a whole bunch of new things into their calculations to make the numbers look better, such as student dorms and long-term care beds (which yes, the Ontario government counts as “housing.”) But this is the Ford government, who won’t do the things that are necessary to get houses built in this province, and instead keep signalling that they want other levels of government to do something before they do anything, when they are the ones who have the primary levers and can exercise them, like enforcing gentle density rules, changing building codes to allow for European-style apartments and elevators, and other obstacles to building the kind of housing we need. Ford has plenty of power to do something about housing (besides arranging sweetheart deals for developer friends of his), but he simply refuses to.

The ON government has added student beds, LTC beds, and "additional units" to their BFF housing start figures, although it's unclear where these numbers originate.This causes the #s to go WAY up, in some communities. But 1 student bed does not replace a single-family home.

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-08-11T11:18:11.000Z

Ukraine Dispatch

We’re already into ridiculous territory ahead of Friday’s talks between Trump and Putin, as Trump says Russia will have to cede some land too. Which land exactly?

Good reads:

• Mark Carney had a call with president Zelenskyy about the upcoming Trump-Putin talks, and affirmed that no decisions can be made without Ukraine at the table.
• Canada is calling for Azerbaijan to release Armenian detainees and prisoners of war.
• Here is a profile of Caroline Desrochers, the only civil servant who won a seat in the election out of 54 who ran.
• The Ontario Court of Appeal ruled unanimously that the current single-member-plurality voting system is not unconstitutional.
• The Saskatchewan Court of Appeal ruled 4-1 that anti-trans legislation can be litigated in the courts, just not struck down because of the Notwithstanding Clause.
• The BC government plans to appeal the Court ruling granting title to the Cowichan tribes over part of the Lower Mainland, citing “unintended consequences.”
• Kathryn May points out that the civil service programme review has an unclear starting point as cuts started under Trudeau, and there is inconsistent data.
• Vass Bednar muses about the focus on internal trade barriers rather than the hard things we need to confront about our economy in the current trade war.
• Marty Patriquin looks at the revival of the PQ’s fortunes in Quebec, and that they have a leader scapegoating everything on immigrants.

Odds and ends:

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