The Parliamentary Budget Officer released his report on the plans for Build Canada Homes yesterday, and the headline conclusion is that the $13 billion fund will only produce some 26,000 new housing units, which is not a lot. He also tracks the declining funding in other existing housing programmes, that BCH doesn’t really make up for, though the government’s response that has been that his report merely assumes that funding agreements coming to an end won’t be renewed, and that they could be three or four years down the road when they do expire, so fair enough.

New PBO report out today, that finds that in the first 5 years of the Build Canada Homes program, it's will have $7.3 billion of spending on an accrual basis ($13 billion on a cash basis) and lead to fewer than 26,000 homes being built.Read here: www.pbo-dpb.ca/en/pu…

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T15:11:25.000Z

The fed reaction to PBO's housing report makes clear what I said at a conference last week: The gov't has no long-term plan, no targets, no KPIs, no accountability metrics. 5 years from now we won't know if BCH worked, because there's no benchmarks.www.cbc.ca/news/poli…

— Dr. Mike P. Moffatt (@mikepmoffatt.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T20:12:57.000Z

That said, Mike Moffatt makes the point that the report highlights the lack of long-term planning, and metrics by which BCH can be held to account. Sure, it’s supposed to “catalyse” investment from the private sector, and do things like make federal lands available for development, but it’s fair to point out that the lack of planning makes it hard to tell just what they’re planning to do, and how that funding will be applied. Gregor Robertson insists that this is just the initial investment, that more will come in future years, and so on, but again, you would think they would have a better grasp on the plan and what it’s supposed to entail. I know it’s been a few months, but clear goals would really help set the direction they are supposed to be headed in. This government has thus-far relied on a lot of hand-waving regarding their plans, and this is very much an example of what that looks like and why it’s not very helpful for evaluating what they’re supposed to be doing.

— Effin' Birds (@effinbirds.com) 2025-12-02T22:22:02.159Z

Ukraine Dispatch

Ukraine continues to deny Russia’s claim that they control Pokrovsk. Ukrainian soldiers on the front lines don’t believe in the current “peace deal,” saying Russia will simply invade again in the future.

Russian propaganda in full force for the Witkoff visit: Putin is claiming to have captured Ukrainian cities that he doesn't control, and having himself photographed in military uniformkyivindependent.com/putin-claims…

— Anne Applebaum (@anneapplebaum.bsky.social) 2025-12-02T12:18:09.879Z

https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1995802755034734819

Good reads:

• Mark Carney addressed a special assembly of the AFN, promising a First Ministers meeting as well as to meet with Coastal First Nations in BC.
• The AFN denounced the MOU with Alberta and called for its withdrawal, while the Métis Settlements of Alberta are interested in an ownership stake of said pipeline.
• Marc Miller is defending the decision to remove the religious exemption for hate speech, as Conservatives clutch their pearls about the “chilling effect.”
• Miller says that consultations with First Nations on a potential pipeline to the Pacific should have already been underway.
• A military procurement for new fire support hardware and software appears to be tailored to a US bid, raising questions about the attempt to diversify sourcing.
• The RCMP are restricting use of Chinese-made drones in their operations…but those drones make up 80 percent of their fleet. Oops.
• Commissioner of Competition Matthew Boswell is leaving the job a few months early, citing “personal reasons.”
• An open letter from development organisations, women and LGBTQ+ organisations want answers on the demise of the “feminist foreign policy.”
• Climate groups say that Albera’s industrial carbon price alone won’t get its electricity sector to their 2050 Net Zero goal.
• ICE in the US plans to order twenty armoured vehicles from Canadian manufacturer Roshel, which is currently making these vehicles for Ukraine.
• Stellantis says that they didn’t request redactions from their contracts being released to committee, so the government is going to release unredacted versions.
• Don Davies says the government is being “politically dishonest” about the future of pharmacare (while he doesn’t seem bothered by provincial inaction).
• François Legault says that Marc Miller, born and raised in Montreal, is a “disgrace to all Quebeckers.” (Yeah, it’s not about ethnic nationalism at all).
• Ontario’s Auditor General found problems with Ontario’s doctor billing system, and that the government isn’t properly monitoring it.
• Alberta’s privacy commissioner says that the plan to put healthcare numbers on driver’s licenses will make fraud easier.
• Mike Moffatt expresses frustration at the back-patting over small housing projects by those who don’t understand the concept of housing as a human right.
• Ken Boessenkool defends the Carney-Alberta MOU as essentially being a continuation of the agreement between Trudeau and Notley.
• My column uses two metaphors—arson and face-eating leopards—to describe how separatists came to hold so much power in Alberta.

Odds and ends:

My Loonie Politics Quick Take wonders why Carney thinks that he can play both Alberta and BC for chumps with his MOU with Danielle Smith.

Hey BSers! Need a copy of my book, for yourself or for a holiday gift? @dundurnpress.bsky.social is having their holiday sale! Use code HOLIDAY25 to save 25% on this, or any Dundurn book. Check out my book #UnbrokenMachine, or the book I contributed a chapter to, #RoyalProgress.

— Dale Smith (@journodale.bsky.social) 2025-11-19T02:01:04.435Z

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