Trudeau’s cabinet to tackle housing, economy in 1st retreat since shuffle

With Parliament set to resume next month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is convening his newly minted cabinet for a retreat in Prince Edward Island next week that will focus on affordability, housing and the economy.

Trudeau shuffled his cabinet late last month, with the prime minister stressing he was doing so to tackle ongoing inflation and work on economic priorities.

Among the changes was appointing Sean Fraser to the role of housing and infrastructure as one amalgamated file — hinting that the government was going to prioritize housing, with the MP being seen as one of the stronger communicators.

Fraser has said he hopes to help return the housing market to one similar to what he grew up with in small-town Nova Scotia, where having a job was enough to buy a home.

The focus on housing and affordability comes as the Conservatives continue to hammer the Liberals over the current state of the market, highlighting the dramatic increases home prices, rent and interest rates have seen over recent years.

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According to the Canadian Real Estate Association, the national average price of a home sold was $709,000 in June 2023, up from $455,000 in October 2015, when the Liberals first came to power.

In addition to housing, the Prime Minister’s Office says health care and climate change would also be among the topics discussed at the retreat — both pressing issues for the Trudeau government and increasingly for Canadians facing long wait times.

The Liberals are also dealing with Canada’s worst wildfire season in history, while also trying to roll out new regulations designed to clean Canada’s electricity grid, billing the move as key to Canada’s economic competitiveness, transitioning the energy economy and combating climate change.

The retreat is to run from Aug. 21 to 23, with the House of Commons expected to resume mid-September.

— with files from The Canadian Press and Global News’ David Baxter