Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has called on the House ethics committee to urgently investigate what he terms a “condo bailout” — a federal-provincial plan to purchase thousands of unsold British Columbia condominium units and convert them into affordable housing — alleging the program protects Liberal-connected developers at the expense of ordinary Canadians.
In a letter dated June 26 to ethics committee chair John Brassard, Poilievre argued Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government used public funds to absorb losses that developers should take on their own. “Taxpayers are being forced to intervene before developers lower prices,” he wrote, arguing the program prevents a natural market correction.
Carney and BC Premier David Eby announced the plan June 18, using financing through Build Canada Homes and BC Housing to convert more than 2,200 vacant units in priority growth areas into affordable rent-to-own homes. The federal share is approximately $145 million — about 10% of total financing.
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Read: Breaking down Carney and Eby’s condo-to-housing plan
The announcement came packaged with $3.2 billion over 10 years to cut municipal development charges by up to 50% for multi-unit housing. Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation data shows 4,376 completed condos sitting empty in Metro Vancouver as of May 2026, a 76% increase year over year.
Poilievre’s letter points to two Vancouver fundraisers — one during Carney’s leadership campaign and one in February 2026, where tickets ran as high as $1,750 — at which developers were reportedly in attendance. He argued the program’s origins warranted scrutiny after Carney acknowledged that “no developer asked for this from me directly,” saying the statement raised questions about which minister may have been lobbied to introduce it.
Carney rejected the “bailout” label outright, arguing the government plans to buy below construction cost and that loss-making developers would not be made whole by the program.
“Ultimately, we’ll be buying below the cost of construction,” Eby said. Carney and Eby both maintain the numbers work only in secondary markets — the Fraser Valley, Okanagan, and Vancouver Island — not in the City of Vancouver, where prices are too high for the program to function.
Related: Conservative pundit on Poilievre: “Right now, who he is will not be Prime Minister”
Brassard chairs the ethics committee but cannot call a meeting on his own — the Liberals control the majority of seats. Parliamentary committees rarely convene during the summer recess unless a matter is deemed urgent.
