Sadly the Canadian Economy has grown dependent on inflating home prices driven by property speculation.

Sadly the Canadian Economy has grown dependent on inflating home prices driven by property speculation. And it is a DEPT SINK HOLE sucking money out of the economy away from productive investments that create jobs through providing products and services.

Increasing home cost are increasing the cost of living and the cost of working. Creating inflation while reducing consumers disposable income available to stimulate the economy. The increased cost of living is forcing people further from jobs and services. This increased cost is about $5 / hr. The effect is about the same as increasing the minimum wage from $10 / hr to $15 / hr and would attract business rather than driving it away.
"affordability crisis in Toronto and Vancouver is a “drag” on the national economy."

-- Provide redevelopment supply and enable people to buy a home without speculating in the home / property market.

1) At the City level remove individually approve redevelopments creating cronyism and replace it city wide redevelopment regulations.

2) At the provincial level subdivided home lots are too small for redevelopment into mid / high rise buildings and provide no opportunity for community parks to replace peoples back yards.

City / suburb blocks owned by the home / property owners will eliminate the need for speculators inflating home prices to gather connected property required for redevelopment. This should be extended further such that city / suburb block COMMUNITY RETAINS some MONEY from sales which it can use for improvement. The cultural effect of using joint money to improve the community will lead the home / property owners into realizing that they can benefit from being share holders of city block redevelopment.

A land value tax has been suggested to encourage redevelopment, by making empty houses an expensive tax liabilities. But that is NOT the problem. The problem is neighbourhoods blocking redevelopment that they see no benefit from. This is why I have provided the above solution.

3) At the all levels of government require a significant number of coop shared ownership developments. These will enable people to buy a home without speculating in the home / property market.

This required speculation in the home / property market is the reason why collapsing home / property prices will collapse the entire economy.

Removing the forces driving speculation will enable holding prices; and property speculation will no longer be the most profitable investment and no longer suck money out of the economy.

We are in a very dangerous place, where the solution must be chosen careful not to cause an economic crisis initiated by house prices collapse.
http://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/vancouver-housing-market-source-of-worry-says-bank-of-canada http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/statistics-canada-debt-income-financial-1.3634166