Parliament's landlord problem: Cabinet and MPs overwhelmingly own property
Analysis of federal MPs' financial disclosures reveals every cabinet minister is a homeowner—38% are landlords. Tenant advocates say it shapes housing policy.
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Every member of Prime Minister Mark Carney's 38-person cabinet is a homeowner, and 38 per cent are landlords earning rental income or investing in property management businesses and real estate investment trusts.
A Global News analysis of MPs' financial disclosures found that immigration minister Lena Metlege Diab owns or co-owns 14 rental units in Halifax. Finance minister François-Philippe Champagne owns or co-owns rental properties in London, England. Secretary of State for International Development Randeep Sarai owns rental units in Burnaby and Surrey. Carney's assets are in a blind trust, but his disclosed holdings include companies that extract rent from commercial and residential tenants.
Across the House of Commons, 103 MPs or their spouses have disclosed rental income or property management businesses. The landlord list includes Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre and 44 other Conservative MPs, 52 Liberal MPs (including cabinet members), six Bloc Québecois MPs, and one New Democrat. At least 295 MPs own their principal residence, while only a handful rent in their riding.
Tenant advocates say the imbalance shapes policy. During committee hearings this spring on the government's signature housing bill, C-20: The Build Canada Homes Act, several advocates for renters requested amendments including vacancy control, security of tenure, and a tenants' bill of rights. Not a single tenant-backed amendment was adopted.
"These stats cause us to pay attention to the simple political facts that tenants are underrepresented in city halls and in provincial legislatures, and in the Canadian Parliament," said Ricardo Trijan, who studies housing policy for the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Housing researcher Julieta Perucca, co-founder of the human rights group The Shift, called the lack of adopted tenant amendments "hugely disappointing."
