Governments created this situation with controls which restrict the supply of new building developments and meanwhile they have increased the demand for housing by increasing the number of immigrants, most of whom want to come to Canada's few large cities.  But in this weird, bureaucratic world, rent controls are a solution to another problem - Toronto's traffic congestion.   Rent controls will restrict the supply of new rental units, so there will be fewer people able to live in the Toronto area - and the end result will be less traffic congestion.