Will new renter-focused measures bring in younger voters? | Power & Politics

The Prime Minister and the Finance Minister are trying a new strategy for rolling out the 2024 budget making announcements early Trudeau started today with a commitment aimed at Young renters today we’re announcing new protections for renters and new Pathways to home ownership as part of our upcoming budget we’re going to create a

Canadian renters Bill of Rights will this new strategy Help win over the Gen Zed and Millennial voters they talked about today the power panel is back on that Jordan likeness Tim power Amanda Alo and Emily Nicola so Amanda early specific announcements prior to the budget one today I think

Just Child Care stuff coming tomorrow and a bunch more over the next two weeks really aimed at people under the age of 45 let’s say what do we make of this I love this like slow clap for the Liberals hallelujah thank you for this decent communication

Strategy who ever thought of this one is doing absolutely the right thing and this is why we have been rolling out budgets the same way for decades right it’s all in a shroud of secrecy and then the news goes out on one day and you get

Your big one hit wonder and then you try to do something called Echo announcements where you try to keep these announcements for alive for weeks on end afterwards so challenging because the day of the budget announcement of course all of your opponents have equal air t time you know to voice all of

Their concerns about what you’ve just announced rolling out specific budget measures pre budget is a brilliant way of putting the spotlight on the things that you want to talk about but giving them their sort of discreet moment and I love this strategy I will I will guarantee you that other provinces other

Governments will follow suit this was a smart smart move and in the case of this first announcement getting you know probably more of its share than the other announc really signaling to Canadians and to Young Canadians about the issues that they’re going to hear about in the budget they talked about

Things like fairness obviously they went out with rent we know housing has been a big issue Paulie have helped to make it a huge issue so the fact that they’re going out with this right out of the gate and that they’re targeting young Canadians is a signal of the kinds of

Things to expect as we move closer to budget day Okay so Tim we’re goingon to put Amanda on as undecided on the strategy but you know not to make everything about new land but you’re here and I’m here uh Brian to Brian toin used to do this uh Danny Williams used

To do this like for the weeks leading up to the budget one or two specific things will come out we’re going to like this has been done by other governments it’s just taken a long time for it to be embraced dou was just doing this in onar right exactly like so but it’s

Interesting to see it and what did you make of what they they they picked and the way they did it and who they’re targetting well Emily was talking about some of the data earlier and and and she was right in the sense that two elections ago and perhaps in

The last election jenes and Millennials the first issue was environment that’s been leapfrogged as every as it has in every demographic by by affordability and the number one affordability issue for most genes and Millennials is housing so if you want to get back in

The game with pev uh and you got to say something more than ax tax because you’re sticking with the tax you got to come back with something that you can focus on and again Focus people’s thinking going into this particular long weekend I mean the liberal government

Has never been bad at taking out the fire hose and spraying money around or Promises of of Hope around they need to do it um they’ve had more ministerial announcements this week and than I’ve seen in a very long time you look at any local media Outlet across the country

Where there are still people working and you will find stories of of liberal ministers being in town dropping checks all over I mean this is old school but it it can work uh again will it move the dial that is the key thing to watch I

Mean I’m going to be watching our data for the next 2 weeks to see what happens in that 18 the two core hes of 18 to 40 the Z’s and the Millennials does it move does it penetrate because all of this going out in the mainstream is also good

But that isn’t necessarily where the people this announcement is Target to are consuming news so I would love to know what their social strategy is and all of that because that’s going to be vital if they’re going to have success here but Jordan it is interesting with

The focus on I I don’t know if it’s gen Z or gen Zed it depends you know Canadian America whatever right yeah I know uh CBC don’t get mad at me uh but and Millennials but like they are so underwater with male voters right it’s a generational play

And a gender play that they have available to them and we’re seeing the generational play here Child Care is coming tomorrow apparently that is the gender play probably yeah I mean I I think this is signs of life I think uh I I I share some of Amanda’s enthusiasm

For seeing a strategy I think it’s smart to get out this is the right topic uh they are able to set the table on the issue now I mean I think the questions that I would have is you know this announcement it’s it’s pretty small ball really in terms of what you’re like

We’re talking about negotiating with the provinces to eventually create some sort of Bill rights so it’s this is all kind of pretty pretty far off in the distance in terms of how it would actually impact people um and you know to Echo a bit what Tim

Said I I have my questions about whether those voters are actually consuming the media where this stuff is going to be reported they’re hard to reach without paid content right now and and we know that that’s something the Liberals have been struggling with so well I think

It’s it’s a it’s a smart strategy to use what they have better um I also think that the Prime Minister as a messenger is uh is pretty weak right now and and you know you’ve seen I think Sean Fraser been able he’s been able to get a bit of

A tow hold over time he was in Toronto today the echo announcement the big Market where all Lal exactly so I think you know he certainly had a bit of success getting through into regular mainstream media and uh but but in terms of how that actually translates into

Reaching those younger voters I have my doubts right uh you know but Emily uh to Amanda’s point that U you know uh $15 million to help people fight you know Ren evictions and and things like this talking about developing a renters Bill of Rights and and the interesting thing

Here is the idea that your rent payments get included into your credit scores you go to get a mortgage that if you’ve been reliably making rent that might be able to help you these are things that would be overshadowed on budget day but it gets carried live and gets you know a

Day of conversation today so going back to the signs of Life Point what what do you make of the the pulse we saw today from the Liberals well the first point I’d make is that those are budget announcements that aren’t really about budget in a sense that it’s about throwing money out

There uh of course there’s a cost to everything but it’s but those are very small cost announcement when it comes for example to controlling the price of Range one of the main issues is the lack of transparency lack of information in terms of the history of how is uh the

The unit that you’re looking at how was it priced uh beforehand and so foring more uh more more transparency on this is yes there is some cost to running any website but at the same time it’s very very low cost when you compare it to uh

The uh the impact that this could have and so it’s a budget announcement but at the same time it could have been an announcement on really anything it didn’t need to be something that’s taught to the budget so there is that that I think strikes me with the

Announcement today and the second thing is yes uh I don’t think it’s very uh conductive to uh a a very good learning inform information digesting environment to uh lock people up in a room for eight hours and um tell them that they have to digest 400 pages of

Information and and you know just communicate it to as the as possible to uh the masses for a day and have all those special um shows where we fill air times with speculation because the budget is not out yet I don’t think that’s an exercise that benefits the government doesn’t benefit the

Opposition doesn’t benefit the uh the interest parties uh that are trying to struggling to have their press release ready by four o’clock on that day while nobody’s going to actually look it up because there’s just so many other things going on and silly doesn’t serve you know journalists who are exhausted

By the end of the day uh and uh that’s not necess the best way to get uh quality of information either and so if we’re going to destruct deconstruct that piece by piece in terms of communication exercise I do think uh that it’s smart um it’s it serves the government but it

I also just think that it serves the public in general so that we have more time to analyze and figure out which the decisions our governments are are taking you know usually when you have an Omnibus Bill it’s because the government has something to hide um and so we’ve

Been having budgets as basically Omnibus bills uh for decades and uh if this communication strategy helps us pause and look at what is it that the government is can hide in a budget because there’s so many announcements in one day I think I think democracy is served by having information you know

Paced out in a way that people can actually digest it okay you’re speaking to my soul as the guy has to go into that budget lockup every year and try to understand 400 well sort of$ 400 billion dollars worth of spending and then race out sit next to Rosemary and and in

Three minutes explain The Narrative of the budget I mean you’re you’re dead right if it can be done in a way that is is more understandable and comprehensible I think that’s good for the citizens of the country Amanda uh good for the journalists of the country

And uh the Liberals I think would hope it’s good for the current government of the country because this is very clearly uh they’re kind of it it’s almost like a platform roll out you know what I mean they’re going to if they do what we’re being indicated they’re going to do it’s

Plank by plank by plank building up to budget day almost like you see during a campaign to match the campaign footing Pier po has been on for sure and that’s why this works right because we’re not losing there’s subtle things that they’ll want to talk about within the

Context of the budget or you know groups of individuals that they’ll want to talk to and those things get missed they get buried under the big numbers or or under frankly the agenda that some of the other parties have to drive the narrative after a budget has been set so

To really parcel out some of these nuggets especially some of these smaller announc give them the time to really share what it is the core of that story um and I agree with Tim you know it’s doesn’t just come down to mainstream news as important as mainstream news is but also

Finding ways to dig down into how are these individuals consuming their news and is it through podcasts and how are we reaching them through social media and that’s a really difficult challenge for political parties right as somebody who works with Brands all the time disproportionate amount of money is

Being spent on influencers and how we use influencers to disseminate messages on social that’s not possible in politics so how else can you reach uh those individuals through social channels that will be the next big leap and we’ll see a ton of that in the next

Election yeah and by the way you can get a curated version of this show on wherever you get your podcast if power on politics podcast uh but Tim a lot of this stuff just as a final point on rant and the things that they want to deal

With they need the provinces again right and look at where we started the day right uh now it’s in their Mutual self-interest to all deal with this but it’s always saving the planet You could argue uh I mean how quickly do you think they can get this done and what kind of

Like cooperation you think they’re going to well I think last time there was the the the federal government had a stick when it came to health care and daycare and that they were new government and they had cash uh what’s the cash component of all this particularly as it

Relates to builds and where’s that money going to come from because you have provison saying we have to provide infrastructure and services now uh in other areas if we’re going to do this around rent how are you going to pay us the thing I would say though before we

Crown this as the sublime Genius of a regenerated Trudeau regime let’s recognize a pattern here though too there is a little bit of a pattern here remember it’s like we’re back in the 1700s these guys love bills of Rights and codes of conduct how’s that grocery

Code of conduct going by the way grocery prices are still going up they’re down a little bit in terms of the pace that they’re going up but they’re still going up right so is this gimmick that will be seen for that or something that can be substantive and that’s again a

Credibility challenge that the Liberals still have to bear sounds good but what will it be some food prices are actually falling but has nothing to do with anything happening in Canada it’s all because of global factors Jordan you got a final thought yeah I mean I I think

That uh it’s for sure this is a better than we’ve seen in the past from the Liberals but the bar is incredibly low so I think that uh we’ll we’ll have to wait and see how it lands with people but I’m struck by you know on the question of qualifying for a mortgage

Like it’s great if you can use rent history but who it can actually afford a mortgage now of these young people so a lot of this is also down to what happens with interest rates as well yeah no the Bank of Canada is looming over uh

Canadian politics in a big way all right gang I appreciate it was a fun conversation thank you to the power panel Jordan likeness Tim Powers Amanda Alo and Emily Nicola thanks so much gang thank you the liberal government is starting to roll out some planks of this year’s budget today’s Focus rent the

Government wants to launch a new $15 million tenant protection fund that would help legal aid organizations Better protect tenants from unfair rent increases rent evictions or just bad landlords the Liberals also want to create a new Canadian renters Bill of Rights it would require in part for

Landlords to disclose a clear history of apartment pricing so renters can bargain fairly and finally the government wants to amend the Canadian mortgage Charter to ensure that renters receive credit for the money they pay for rent over the years Marcy I is the minister for women gender equality and youth she’s in

Toronto where she was part of one of the announcements today Minister welcome back to the show it’s good to be with you how are you I’m good um you’re you’re announcing these proposals they’re your ideas but they’re not entirely within your jurisdiction to implement a couple of them are going to

Need at least the cooperation or consultation of provinces Banks and maybe even some landlords how quickly can Canadians expect to see any of this in place well if the young people that I met with today are any indication uh sooner rather than later it really is

Tough right now and I have to start there I was just at Toronto metropolitan University just before coming and be with you and we heard from about 60 to 70 young people I was there with Sean fras and the Minister of Housing Arif veran the Minister of Justice and they

Were talking to us about the things that they’re facing they are trying to get into rental uh buildings that they can’t get into because they priced too high um they are trying to struggle some of them because when you look at youth you’re looking at 15 to 30 have young families

And they’re going to school there all these different things happening and the bottom line is that you know and I said this time and time again it isn’t about young people being window dressing they have to be part of the solution so we are listening to them and actually they

Are taking the lead on this and telling us what they need which is why you’re seeing what you’re seeing today right but times are tough right now but but bluntly times have been tough for a while uh especially when it comes to housing especially when it comes to

Housing Supply especially when it comes to to rental rates and and certainly now there’s a mortgage uh wave coming so like these policies won’t be in place for a while just like the housing accelerator announcements are going to take some time uh to hit the market and

Do things um so it’s a bit of a a lag in when the problem manifested to what we’re seeing I I wouldn’t I wouldn’t say that at all I have seen so much change when it comes to the rapid Housing Initiative in my own writing of Toronto Center there are apartment buildings

That I have been to structures there restaurants that were restaurants before and are now housing you know families that have three plus people in them the rapid Housing Initiative has done a lot and as you know this is going to take all levels of government to address this situation municipalities across the

Country partnered with the federal government have done so much and this is just another tier what you’re seeing today is just another tier and a focus though on young people who need a lot right now and I have to say it’s interesting David um there was a young

Man there today uh who was talking about child care and I looked at him I didn’t expect to hear about child care today but he said I’m actually saving my child our family is benefiting from $10 a day child care and now having you know tenants have rights uh making sure that

Organizations like Acorn who we also met with today can stand up for tenants who are being mistreated by landlords making sure that when people have a great rental history which is important that it matters and it means something when you’re applying for mortgage these are things that young people care about

These are things that we care about and as I said we are taking their lead this is just one of several things that are going to roll out as we lead up to the budget we we had two sets of numbers though today one from stats Canen shows

The population grew by over a million and one from Canada mortgage and housing corporation that shows that the number of Home starts are expected to go down this year and that’s two key numbers one flat I think is what we could say uh single homes family homes down by 20%

It’s offset by a surge in apartment construction which may increase the number of units available but it’s not keeping up with the pace right so there’s still this overarching challenge so I know this was about rent today yes are we going to see a lot more on

Housing between now and the budget and in the budget I am confidently saying yes on that we know that housing and affordability of top of mind for Canadians it’s what I hear every day in Toronto and across the country it’s what we all hear and that’s what we’re

Addressing I have to say though that you know we are we are dealing with what 30 years of inertia on housing where the federal government governments didn’t really wait in to this sphere and in 2015 uh we made a commitment to do more in 2017 and Beyond we most certainly did

With different housing programs and it takes time and I know that that’s not what people want to say but an affordability crisis a housing crisis is not going to be solved in a day but what I can tell you is with the young people that I’ve been with I’m just back from

Winnipeg and then today at tmu and that I’ve heard from you know for the past couple of years there is hope there really is Hope I’ve had people talk to me about the firsttime home uh savings account and the fact that they were able to buy a house because they were able to

Save it’s going to take a lot of hard work but we’re on a path and on a path that Federal governments before us haven’t been on and we’re happy to do this in concert with our provincial and Municipal colleagues and partners well there was a much greater role in in

Federal role in housing uh in the 1980s in particular but like uh under the cran government the Martin government the Harper government there was a pullback there was a huge pull back but your government’s been in power for eight years right and it’s really taken sort

Of uh an interest right crisis and this giant shift public opinion polls to sort of bring an urgency to this issue at least in terms of boosting housing Supply I I I disagree respectfully David this has been something that we’ve been working on for years but it’s it’s

Housing it’s um indigenous um uh issues and trying to rectify uh those things there’s so much work to be done it is putting women and gender equality at the Forefront and all that comes with that uh there is so many issues and we have been really uh dealing with all of them

Whether or not this is the issue that is top of Mind there would be you know no argument it is affordability make no mistake but we are we have been there and we continue to be there the the specific Focus today from the Deputy Prime Minister and the Prime Minister on

Genen Ed and Millennials Millennials were a big part of the government’s win in 2015 uh but uh a voting cohort that if you read the polls has been shifting away uh over the past year this seems like a pretty clear start of a play to specific generations of Voters to

Address their issues and try to try to pull them back as the minister of Youth I um I I talk to young people I’m with them all the time and we’ve been there for them and continue to be it’s about listening to what they need and acting governments aren’t about just listening

Uh they act and that’s what we’re doing I think about so many of the things I I mentioned I’m just back from Winnipeg and met with so many groups there some groups that um help unhoused kids some groups that help you know women with kids there is there’s so much in this

Realm David and we continue we continue to be there it’s just that we are in crisis mode now we’ve not seen crises like this in a very long time when it comes to housing when it comes to affordability but make no mistake it’s all hands on deck and I will say my

Youngest advisers are my best advisors the Prime Minister was the first minister of Youth there’s a prime minister’s youth Council which he leads and I’m the vice chair and young people have access to the halls of power and we make it so because we don’t only want to

Hear from them we want to act on what they’re telling us and this today is proof of that look I I know responsibility for the housing challenges in the country go beyond the federal government Municipal governments provincial governments they all play a big role in this but you just said an

Interesting phrase you said we’re in crisis mode now governments have to manage crisis but also avoid them I I I mean do you think all levels of government including your own have done a good job of seeing what was coming with the high population growth we’ve

Had over the last eight years and the low housing growth we’ve had over L and avoiding what is now a crisis compounded by the affordability challenges and the interest rate challenges it’s such a great question that you asked because as soon as I thought crisis mode I thought

About when I was elected and that was 2020 and we were in the middle of the pandemic so um you know governments prove themselves when they can handle situations that they don’t expect and I was you know a reporter as you know before and and covered a bit of the

Government’s handling of what was a huge crisis in in the covid crisis and you know Lessons Learned From that huge Lessons Learned From that but we served Canadians well and continue to serve them well so it’s not just about you know the crisises you deal with when

They come it’s how you handle the ones that you don’t know are coming and we are here now um we aren’t making you know any mistake uh or or um you know mincing words with regards to how bad this is it’s bad uh but this is what you do as a

Government you react and you call and pull in other governments and say this is all handson deck right and these issues many of them aren’t partisan issues you just get together you do the work and you serve Canadians and frankly that’s what they want to see and young

Canadians more than ever they want to see action from all levels of government and that’s what we’re doing and that’s what we’re prepared to do moving on so this is a budget announcement some 19 20 21 days ahead of the actual budget which is not said until April 16th I’ve got

News releases in my inbox telling me there’s going to be childcare announcements tomorrow connected to the budget how many of these are we going to see between now and budget day five six why don’t I just say lots lots how about I say David there’s there’s lots more to

Come and I do think that there’s something about bite-sized pieces about letting Canadians know what’s coming and understanding are they engaged is this is is this something Canadians care about what’s the reaction that’s what you know the town hall with young people was about today how do you feel about

This is are we on the right track with this you told us this and so we’re now moving ahead give us more because we need to hear from you so in these bite-sized pieces that you’re going to see Canadians will be able to understand what is ahead what will be in the budget

Uh come April 16th and we’ll be able to gauge but also let them know how we’re serving them in the days ahead Minister Mercy Ian thank you for joining us today thank you so much stay well

The federal government says it will introduce new rental measures, including a ‘renters’ bill of rights,’ in the upcoming budget. The Power Panel talk about whether these new measures will help get younger Canadians to the polls. And, Marci Ien, minister of women, gender equality and youth, discusses the struggles young Canadians are facing in the housing market.

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