More than a dozen Conservatives wrote to the federal government on behalf of communities in their ridings calling for them to receive funding through the Housing Accelerator Fund — a program Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre has promised to cut.
Poilievre’s office released the names of the 17 Conservative MPs on Tuesday after Housing Minister Sean Fraser said about a dozen of them wrote to him in recent months.
Poilievre’s office also says Conservative MPs will no longer support municipalities seeking money through the fund.
The Housing Accelerator Fund is a $4.4 billion program that gives money to towns and cities that commit to reducing red tape in order to build more homes.
A spokesperson for Fraser’s office said 177 deals have been struck between the federal government and municipalities, and more than $1 billion has been dispersed to communities through the fund.
Poilievre had said he would cut this program — which he calls bureaucratic — to partially fund eliminating the GST from sales of newly-built homes costing less than $1 million.
His office pointed to a federal document showing the Housing Accelerator Fund has cost $80.9 million to administer since 2017 — slightly more than what the City of Halifax recently received in funding.
The Conservative MPs who, according to Poilievre’s office, wrote letters calling for local funding are:
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Dan Albas (Central Okanagan—Similkameen—Nicola)
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John Barlow (Foothills)
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Michael Barrett (Leeds—Grenville—Thousand Islands and Rideau Lakes)
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Kelly Block (Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek)
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Frank Caputo (Kamloops—Thompson—Cariboo)
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Adam Chambers (Simcoe North)
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Michael Cooper (St. Albert—Edmonton)
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Branden Leslie (Portage—Lisgar)
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Rob Moore (Fundy Royal)
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John Nater (Perth Wellington)
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Rick Perkins (South Shore—St. Margarets)
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Blake Richards (Banff-Airdrie)
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Lianne Rood (Lambton—Kent—Middlesex)
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Gerald Soroka (Yellowhead)
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Karen Vecchio (Elgin—Middlesex—London)
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Ryan Williams (Bay of Quinte)
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John Williamson (New Brunswick Southwest)
A spokesperson for Fraser said other Conservative MPs requested the funding, including Newfoundland MP Clifford Small. He did not release the names of any other MPs.
Mayor calls Conservatives’ decision ‘irresponsible’
A small-town mayor in New Brunswick said he’s disappointed that his local Conservative MP will no longer advocate on his community’s behalf as it seeks money through the Housing Accelerator Fund.
Alan Brown is the first mayor of Butternut Valley, N.B., a rural municipality about 100 kilometres east of Fredericton.
Brown said Butternut Valley applied for the second round of funding through the fund, hoping to receive between $1 million and $2 million to build a sewer system and a municipal water supply.
Having a new sewer system would allow the town to build multiplex homes, Brown said. The population stands at around 5,600 and the municipality was only incorporated in 2023.
“We’re new,” Brown said. “There’s nothing. There’s no infrastructure at all. To take on that kind of debt to begin with would be untenable”
The local MP, Conservative Rob Moore, wrote in January to offer support for the municipality’s application.
Brown said he’s disappointed to hear that Conservative MPs will be pulling their support.
“I think it’s irresponsible,” he said. “The responsibility, both ethically, and by having the job, is to advocate for the constituents in their riding. Whether the program available is put in place by your party or another party is irrelevant.
“It really is frustrating.”
Brown said that if the government changes, he would just as willingly apply for a federal Conservative program.
National Defence Minister Bill Blair says Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre’s promise to end two key Liberal programs, the housing accelerator fund and housing infrastructure fund, could put municipalities in legal and fiscal jeopardy.
Fraser’s office confirms that since Poilievre announced he would eliminate the fund last week, the federal government has written to warn more than 100 municipalities that already have made deals to secure funding.
On Tuesday, some Liberal MPs and ministers told reporters that the Housing Accelerator Fund will lead to the construction of more than 250,000 homes in the Greater Toronto and Hamilton Area.
Minister of Defence Bill Blair, who represents a Toronto-area riding, warned that if Poilievre cuts the program, municipalities with ongoing financial agreements could be left in the lurch.
“He has promised to cancel the agreements that we have made with municipalities. That could put them in significant legal jeopardy in the future,” he told reporters.