NORTHERN LIGHTS - Adding Teeth to the Renters’ Bill of Rights is Essential

Written by John Anderson

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney seems more pragmatic than ideological. When presented with ideas that go beyond a purely moral argument, there may be openings for gains, alongside the setbacks on social program spending and the environment that are likely to come under his government.

For example, the United Steelworkers were able to secure most of what they wanted from Carney in response to the Trump steel tariffs—namely, buy Canadian steel procurement policies they had been pushing for a long time. Reports from their dealings with Carney suggest he was a decent and straightforward person, and certainly brighter than his predecessor.

With chapters or groups in 45 of the 169 Liberal-held ridings across Canada, ACORN is well-positioned to push for stronger tenant protections as Carney turns his attention to housing. This organizational reach matters as Carney touts Build Canada Homes—a new federal housing entity designed to streamline home manufacturing and enable the largest expansion of housing construction since World War II. Part of the funding includes $10 billion in grants to build what the government calls “deeply affordable” housing.

ACORN Canada has long focused on municipal and provincial housing campaigns, working to tighten tenant protections so that existing housing remains affordable. This is where we hope Carney will again show pragmatism. From new rent control laws in Atlantic Canada, to groundbreaking municipal bylaws that stop renovictions and enforce apartment standards in Ontario, to closing rent control loopholes - such as landlord-use eviction - province-wide in British Columbia, ACORN campaigns have shown that much can be done to stop landlords from pushing existing affordable housing into unlivable and unaffordable conditions.

For over a decade, ACORN Canada has been shouting from the rooftops that the affordable housing crisis is self-inflicted—caused by governments allowing apartment buildings, often built through tax incentives to developers, to become unaffordable. Worse, in too many places, tenants face substandard housing with little or no security of tenure.

Take Nova Scotia, where the new rent cap is undermined by the rampant use of fixed-term leases, which give tenants no security of tenure. Landlords en masse are refusing to renew these leases so they can flip units to higher rents. Or Alberta and Saskatchewan, where few tenant protections exist, allowing landlords to evict tenants and raise rents essentially at will.

ACORN’s argument is straightforward: why should the federal government give $10 billion to provinces when there is no assurance the housing built will remain affordable? Why should Ottawa send money to jurisdictions that fail to treat affordable housing like the scarce resource it is?

While the federal government has no direct jurisdiction over housing, it does control the money. The same is true with healthcare and childcare, where federal acts attach conditions to funding to ensure provinces provide largely free healthcare and affordable childcare. The Canada Health Act enforces universality through clear standards that provinces must uphold to receive funding. The much newer Canada Early Learning and Child Care Act is less stringent and relies on agreements with each province, but uses the same principle: if you want money, you must meet specific conditions.

The same approach could—and should—be applied to housing. If provinces want large-scale funding, they must stop the destruction of affordable rental housing by enacting basic tenant protections. Otherwise, even new rental housing built under the Carney government will fail to remain affordable long-term, and more housing will constantly be needed as existing affordable stock disappears.

If housing is indeed a top priority for Carney, then adding teeth to the Renters’ Bill of Rights by attaching real conditions to federal housing dollars is essential—not only to protect tenants, but to safeguard the affordable housing they call home.