Douglas Todd: Federal Liberals are directly inflating house prices

Canadian polls show young adults are drifting away from the federal Liberal party. It seems they’re slowly figuring out that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, despite his sympathetic rhetoric, is working against their dream of buying a first home.

While it’s taken a while for young and old to realize it, top bankers, retired civil servants, housing analysts, former property developers and housing activists are now  declaring the Liberals are directly causing house-price inflation.

And, oh yes, the NDP premier of British Columbia is saying the same thing.

The Bank of Canada began more than a year ago to raise trendsetting interest rates to slow down the inflation caused by unprecedented Liberal spending during the pandemic: A key aim was to reduce skyrocketing housing unaffordability.

But the federal Liberals are doing everything they can to make prices “rip” higher, according to Derek Holt of Scotiabank. The economist is far from alone.