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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is watching his popularity plummet.
The country is two years away from an election unless his coalition partners in the NDP want to pull the plug but waiting isn’t likely to do him any good. The nation has completely soured on his plans to add 1 million immigrants a year that can’t house the people already there.
Liberal support has fallen particularly quickly among Millenials who are trying to start families but simply can’t afford it.
In any case, it’s a desperate situation for Trudeau, who is certainly facing pressure from his own caucus to resign in favor of a new party leader. To try to stop the death spiral, the Globe & Mail reports he will unveil a series of measures to curb the cost of living today and boost housing construction.
One of the measures will be removing the GST (Canada’s VAT tax) on new rental apartment buildings, effective immediately.
The source said the measures the Prime Minister will announce will go beyond housing and address other elements of the rising cost of living.
Look out for headlines later today. On net, the moves should be bullish CAD as they stoke economic activity but that’s swimming against the current right now as economic activity is slowing rapidly.