FORSETH – NDP continues misleading claims about housing starts in B.C.

TODAY’S LATEST email from the BC NDP to members and supporters’, states:
“Times are still tough for people looking for affordable places to rent. We are in urgent need of more housing throughout B.C. That’s why in the new year, we’ll be focusing on building thousands more affordable homes for renters.”

In actual fact, this is what the media have been reporting for some time:

•    Business in B.C. (10/29/24): With starts per capita at their lowest level in a decade, industry looks for more reform

•    The Interior News (08/12/24): As B.C. housing starts decline, economic concerns grow

•    On-Site (12/16/24): Year-to-date (housing) starts in Vancouver are still down 14 percent

•    Western Investor (11/19/24): Housing starts per capita in B.C. are at the lowest level in at least a decade, not counting 2020 when the province was in the throes of the COVID-19 pandemic

•    B.C. Real Estate Association (09/17/24): According to a press release from the B.C. Real Estate Association, Canadian housing starts fell 22 per cent to 217,405 units in August at a seasonally adjusted annual rate (SAAR). Starts were down 12.1 per cent from the same month last year

Sadly lies, from David Eby’s BC NDP government, just roll off the tongue like a thing of beauty.  Are they deliberate, or by omission, that’s something you’ll have to decide for yourself.

Here’s what I think, however.  They misled the electorate, during October’s provincial election campaign, about the size of the provincial deficit.

And they continue to lie about the state of housing starts provincially.

They misled voters about the $1,000 bribe they planned to send out to the electorate by saying it would be immediate, and then in the same media release indicating it wouldn’t be out until the new year.

They stated the B.C. legislature would be in session this Fall.  Instead, they gave every single NDP a pay bump by giving them all a governmental title (CTV 11/19) … each of Eby’s 27 cabinet ministers will receive a raise, with just under $60,000 for ministers, and $41,000 for the four junior ministers, plus nearly $18,000 a year for the 14 parliamentary secretaries) and then said the legislature would not convene until this Spring.

But back to housing; the same email to members and supporters also erroneously claims:

When John Rustad was in government, he voted against measures to increase affordable housing in B.C. His BC Conservatives are going to fight every piece of legislation we put forward to try and fix the rental market.

I don’t know about you but, sadly, it seems from one and all (with the exception of the NDP) everything they do, only makes the housing market worse.

That being the case – it’s a good thing that the BC Conservatives will be fighting against their plans, and instead presenting better options to be considered.

In Kamloops, I’m Alan Forseth.  Now, what say you?

Alan Forseth is a Kamloops resident. For 40 years he has been active, in a number of capacities, in local, provincial and federal politics, including running as a candidate for the BC Reform Party in the 1996 provincial election. He is a member of the BC Conservative Party and was the campaign manager for the party in the Kamloops-North Thompson riding in this year’s provincial election.