Parry Sound-Muskoka MP Scott Aitchison has been named to newly minted Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre’s shadow cabinet.
He will serve as the Shadow Minister for Housing and Diversity and Inclusion.
“Under Pierre Poilievre’s leadership, I will work with Canadians all across the country to bring forward real reforms to make the dream of home ownership attainable again, while continuing to hold the Trudeau government to account for its failure,” Aitchison says in a tweet.
He wrote that Canada’s housing crisis needs “urgent and sustained action to fix this mess.”
Aitchison continued saying that first-time home buyers are being “shut out of the Canadian dream” by the Liberal government who isn’t taking the right action to fix the problem. “The housing crisis disproportionately affects marginalized communities and we need to offer a hand up to realize the equality of opportunity in Canada,” he said.
In a Twitter thread, the two-term MP pointed out how Canada has the fewest homes per capita among other G7 countries. “When the Trudeau Liberals took office in 2015, the average cost of a home in Canada was $413,000, and by the end of 2021, that price jumped to $811,700,” he wrote.
“As a former mayor, I understand the importance of building consensus to get new housing built,” the former Huntsville mayor said. “We need federal leadership to remove the roadblocks that stop development while incentivizing substantial increases of supply of all housing types.”
Aitchison previously served in former Conservative Party leader Erin O’Toole’s shadow cabinet as the Shadow Minister for Labour.