This is Vanese Ferguson with Coffee Talk. I know I often lament that unfortunately common sense isn’t so common anymore but surely, surely the powers that be could try harder. The talk right now is about the price of gas, the tax on gas, and overall lack of affordability for many Canadians. I’m fortunate to be part of a generation that was able to buy a house before everything went bananas in Canada’s housing market, no matter where you live. My cousin’s son on Vancouver Island, 36 years old now, divorced, moved away from his career job to be closer to his kids and took a job at the pulp mill which disappeared due to downsizing, and has no idea what he’s going to do. My cousin and her husband are converting two sea cans on their property into a home for he and his children so that he can have a roof over his head. Meanwhile, his ex is paying $2500 a month for a basement suite and no – not even in Victoria but in Duncan. We have young people on our staff who are paying anywhere from 12 to 16 hundred dollars a month for a basement suite. And this a legal suite built during this recent era of incentivizing homeowners to add suites or granny suites to their properties to increase affordable housing but these suites – and this is where the common sense comes in – aren’t hard wired with natural gas. They are heated of all things, in Saskatchewan, with our cold winter, with electric heat to the tune of more than $350 a month at times. That’s the furthest thing from affordable housing that I can think of.
I don’t think affordability is in reach at least not anytime soon
By Vanese M. Ferguson
Aug 17, 2026 | 9:08 AM

























