FIRST READING: Just as predicted, immigration cuts keep yielding lower rents

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In other words, statisticians had missed a population of temporary residents equivalent to the population of London, Ont.

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This still means that population growth for 2025 was at a record low of 0.5 per cent, but in a Sept. 28 reaction to the new numbers, Rentals.ca analysts concluded that migration cuts weren’t affecting rental prices as much as it had previously suspected.

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“The elimination of population decline in the revisions indicates that new supply has been a more important factor than previously believed,” it read.

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And while the most dramatic rental price surges of the COVID-19 era may have been reversed, overall Canadian rents still remain far higher than they were just five years ago.

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In April 2021, Rentals.ca data show that average rents hit a low of $1,662 per month, nearly $400 lower than the current rate, even after 24 months of falling rental prices.

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The post-2021 surge in rental prices was noted in a Bank of Canada essay published last month, with author Benjamin Straus citing “strong population growth” as the main factor.

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“If the number of renter households increases faster than the supply of rental units, asking rents tend to rise,” he wrote.

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IN OTHER NEWS

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A new poll out of Prince Edward Island shows that if current trends continue, the province could wind up electing Canada’s first Green majority government in its next election. A survey by Narrative Research had the P.E.I. Greens polling at 46 per cent compared to just 20 per cent for the incumbent Progressive Conservatives. One reason for this is that P.E.I. Greens aren’t nearly as radical as their equivalents in the rest of Canada. In the current B.C. election, the B.C. Green Party has proposed to begin seizing the assets of any British Columbian with a net worth of more than $50 million. By contrast, the P.E.I. Greens were recently in the news to complain that the deficits being run by the Progressive Conservatives are too high. Photo by Narrative Research

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The first order of business of the new Parti Québécois government is to sideline the monarchy as much as possible. In a press conference, premier-designate Paul St-Pierre Plamondon (PSPP) called the institution “totally abnormal” and was examining options to purge it from Quebec life.

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The only problem is that any Quebec government has to have some monarchy in order to function properly.

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According to the 1867 British North America Act – which Quebec considers to be its official constitution – all power in the province is vested in the Lieutenant Governor, who is then supposed to act with “the Advice and Consent” of the provincial parliament.

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So if the Quebec government started sending out orders and legislation without having it signed by the Lieutenant Governor, the province’s own constitution states that none of it would be binding.

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However, none of this means that St-Pierre Plamondon can’t simply treat the Lieutenant Governor shabbily, even while maintaining the position for legal reasons.

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Although the Quebec Lieutenant Governor’s salary is paid by the federal government, the Government of Quebec typically budgets about $1 million per year for office and travel expenses.

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So, PSPP could slash that to zero, effectively forcing the Lieutenant Governor to never go anywhere, at least without paying the costs herself.

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The Parti Québécois could also be really petty by disinviting the LG from official events, such as the opening of the National Assembly, which PSPP has indeed proposed.  

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And there is some precedent for a provincial government deciding to make its Lieutenant Governor feel as unwelcome as possible.

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In the 1930s, the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta, John C. Bowen, took the unprecedented step of refusing to give royal assent to three radical pieces of legislation passed by the province’s Social Credit government, including one imposing draconian controls on the free press.   

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PSPP may also be banking on a precedent that was well-established under his CAQ predecessors: That Quebec just violates federal law whenever it wants, and Ottawa doesn’t do anything about it.