The price tag on housing-enabling infrastructure is prolonging our housing crisis

The cost of infrastructure expansion is typically covered through development charges paid by developers when they build new housing, which exacerbates Canada’s significant affordability crisis.

Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne. Without meaningful reductions in development charges, the financial strain will persist and affordability will remain out of reach, writes Olha Sotska. The Hill Times photograph by Sam Garcia

Opinion

BY OLHA SOTSKA

October 8, 2025

With the fall parliamentary sitting now underway, all eyes are on Nov. 4—Budget 2025 is the long-awaited first fiscal update under Prime Minister Mark Carney. Although details remain under wraps, the government has signalled a focus on "once-in-a-generation" investments in...

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