There is no justification for the continuation of this dynamic. There is no free market justification (because the market is the least free in Canada already). There is no long-term economic growth rationale (nothing outside of real estate is growing and when you lose your future tax base and essential skills, you’re are not thriving). There is no moral reasoning (because you can’t justify eating your young).

I don’t deny that fixing this will hurt. Hangovers hurt. But trying to drink them away only makes them bigger – and it’s what we’ve been doing for years. Every little measure the government does to “help buyers” now is the same as trying to drink away a hangover. And every year we delay righting this policy imbalance exacerbates the problem for a growing number of Canadians.