Trudeau sweeps Aurora’s ridings in final heat of campaign

September 23, 2021 · 0 Comments

Three days into the campaign and three days left to go – how it almost began for Liberal leader Justin Trudeau on the 2021 Election Campaign almost ended the same way: in Aurora.

On the final weekend of the Federal campaign, the now-returning Prime Minister began Saturday, September 17, with a visit to the south Aurora home of Stephanie Beakbane and Brent deBow, alongside candidate Leah Taylor Roy to discuss the issue of affordability, before heading off to Newmarket to join candidate Tony Van Bynen at the Newmarket Farmers’ Market.

“I am proud our party has worked hard to protect Canadians through COVID and we will continue to do that,” said Ms. Taylor Roy after being introduced by fellow Liberal candidate Bill Blair. “We have a leader, and a team, and a platform that is going to move Canada forward. Here in Aurora-Oak Ridges-Richmond Hill, like many places across the country, affordability is a major issue. Home ownership is difficult for so many people and the Liberal party has a platform to help people achieve that dream of owning their first home. I am very proud to be part of this team and to work with our area on issues like affordability.”

After speaking to the couple, and Stephanie’s mother Jane, inside, Mr. Trudeau underscored the “challenge of homeownership, about the hopes and dreams that so many young families starting out have,” and how challenging it is to break into the housing market.

“That is why over the last number of years we have put forward a National Housing Strategy that has made significant investments across the country, including the first-time home buyers’ initiative that have helped many, many young families purchase their new homes,” he said. “But we also know we had to go even further. That’s why we put a strong housing plan in this platform that recognizes there is no one solution on housing. We need to support many different types of housing with many different challenges and many different parts of the country.

“So, we focused on three main things: Helping young families like Brent and Stephanie save more money quicker for a down payment with up to $30,000 in support from the Federal government to help them buy their first home and also things like tax-free savings account towards homeownership that is going to make a huge difference in getting people to start building that equity for their families, for their future, earlier. We also know we have to increase supply, which is why we are putting $4 billion for municipalities to encourage them and support them as they ensure that there is more housing created and built, to have 1.4 million homes available in the coming years for Canadians. Finally, we also know that the housing market is a very difficult place to be in right now. You shouldn’t have to lose ten bidding wars in a row on the home that you want.

“We’re bringing in a home buyer’s bill of rights that removes predatory practices like blind bidding, cracks down on house flipping, make sure we’re keeping out foreign investors from looking at a home as an investment and not as a place to live. These are the things we know we need to do to keep Canada moving forward and we have the right plan for exactly that. We looked at the housing crisis and said, what kind of measures can we apply to the housing crisis with the same intensity and urgency we did on the pandemic.”

By Brock Weir
Editor
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter