P.E.I. Greens ask province to put population action plan on hold while it deals with housing crisis

The Green Party of P.E.I. has asked government to put its population action plan on hold while it deals with the lowest vacancy rates in the country.

The Canadian Mortgage Housing Corporation reported a vacancy rate on the Island of just 0.3 per cent, down from 1.2 per cent in 2017 Wednesday morning.

During question period, MLA Hannah Bell brought up the report, which also said that Charlottetown has the lowest vacancy rate of any municipality in the country. 

"You know it's bad when you make Toronto and Vancouver look like healthy rental markets," Bell said.

Problem exacerbated by population action plan

She said P.E.I.'s recent economic growth has been "predicated by quick and explosive immigration and population growth."

"How is this economic growth in any way sustainable if we don't have anywhere for people to live?" asked Bell.

Minister for Workforce and Advanced Learning Sonny Gallant said his department does have concerns, but that the construction industry is doing its best to keep up with demand.

"We can't fix this over night. It's something that we've been working at in collaboration with my department and Economic Development and Tourism. We'll continue to work at it," he said. 

'We have a supply that is being met'

But Bell said that the province was exacerbating housing problems with its population action plan. 

"Government is trying to solve a problem of its own making," Bell said and asked Gallant if he would put the population action plan on hold until the housing crisis is dealt with. 

Premier Wade MacLauchlan responded and said he thought it unfortunate that Bell is blaming the population action plan for P.E.I.'s low vacancy rates.

"We have a demand for housing. We have a supply that is being met on the order of 1,000 new units being built this year and we have 7,000 new full-time jobs in two years. That's where the demand is coming from," MacLauchlan said.

"It's from prosperity. It's from an economy flourishing ... and we should all be proud of that."

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