NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is greeted at a campaign stop in Halifax on Saturday, April 5, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Christinne Muschi Christinne Muschi

By Canadian Press

Day 15

Party leaders focus policy pitches on rent control, addictions treatment

Apr 6, 2025 | 8:15 AM

The NDP promised to protect tenants through national rent control while the Conservatives focused their campaign trail message on addictions treatment Sunday.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said in Halifax in the morning that his party would tie federal housing funding for provinces and municipalities to tenant protection policies like rent control.

The NDP says housing and rent prices in Canada have doubled since 2015 and the average asking rent hit $2,109 per month in January.

The party also wants to ban fixed-term leases, “renovictions” and other practices it says are aimed at pushing people out of their homes and driving up rents. The NDP says it would also prohibit the use of artificial intelligence to co-ordinate rent increases.

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre, campaigning in British Columbia, is expected to hold a press conference in New Westminster on Sunday and make an announcement related to addictions treatment.

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In the caption for a video posted to social media Sunday morning, Poilievre said Conservatives would fund lifesaving treatment for 50,000 people facing addiction “to bring them home drug-free …”

In the video, Poilievre said a Conservative government would provide “results-based funding” to treatment centres based on the number of people they help to get sober. He said higher levels of funding would be provided for the “most difficult” cases, such as those facing long-term homelessness or multiple overdoses. He said funds would be paid out gradually and that third-party validators would confirm the results.

“To get new treatment programs off the ground, upfront dollars will go to recovery centres who can attest to prior successes of getting people off drugs,” Poilievre said.

Poilievre said his government would fund recovery by “cutting taxpayer funded unsafe supply drug programs” and suing opioid manufacturers.

The Conservatives say they would set aside $250 million a year for four years to tackle drug addiction.

Later Sunday, Singh will attend the Elbows Up, Canada! rally in Dartmouth, N.S. Singh is also expected in Montreal Sunday evening to appear on Tout le monde en parle, a popular talk show often used by federal politicians to reach out to voters in Quebec.

Liberal Leader Mark Carney is expected to attend an event in Victoria Sunday night.

With three weeks remaining until Canadians choose a new government and prime minister, polls indicate the Liberals are leading the Conservatives in voting intentions.

— With files from Maura Forrest in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 6, 2025.

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