Bill C-26 Consolidated Revenue Fund

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C-26 An Act To Authorize Certain Payments To Be Made Out Of The Consolidated Revenue Fund For The Purpose Of Improving Housing Supply

Bill Type: House Government Bill

Bill Sponsor: Minister of Finance and National Revenue

What Government Says This Bill Does

"This enactment authorizes payments to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund to the provinces and territories for the purpose of improving housing supply." — Official Summary, Bill C-26

What This Bill Does

Authorizes the Minister of Finance to transfer $1.713 billion from the federal treasury to provinces and territories for housing. The Minister alone decides how much each province and territory receives, when they receive it and how it is paid. No conditions, no accountability framework, no reporting requirements and no equality or per-capita formula are written into the Bill.

Ontario and BC could receive the bulk of the funding. PEI and the territories could receive nothing. Parliament would never know either way.

This is the carrot and the stick. Government is offering $1.713 billion for housing — but the Minister decides who gets it. Provinces that align with federal housing priorities may be funded first. Provinces that don't may wait — or receive less. Nothing in the Bill prevents that.

The Three Numbers That Matter

$1,713,000,000 — total authorized payment to provinces and territories

$0 — minimum any single province or territory is guaranteed to receive

0 — number of conditions, reporting requirements or accountability measures in the Bill

One minister. One number. No strings attached.

WHO GAINS POWER

  • Minister of Finance — sole authority to determine how $1.713 billion is divided among provinces and territories, on what timeline and in what manner, with no Parliamentary oversight of individual allocations

WHO LOSES POWER

  • Parliament — authorized the total but has no visibility into or control over how individual allocations are determined
  • Provinces and territories — receive whatever the Minister decides, with no guaranteed floor and no appeal mechanism
  • Canadians — no reporting requirement means no public accounting of where the money went or what housing it produced

WHO GAINS MONEY

  • Provinces and territories — share of $1.713 billion at the Minister's discretion
  • Amount per jurisdiction: unspecified in the Bill

WHO LOSES MONEY

  • Taxpayers — $1.713 billion from the Consolidated Revenue Fund with no conditions attached and no required outcomes

THE CATCH

  • The entire allocation framework — who gets what, when and how — is left entirely to Ministerial discretion with no criteria written into the legislation
  • No equality or per-capita formula — larger or politically favoured provinces could receive a disproportionate share
  • No conditions means provinces can receive the money without any obligation to build a single unit of housing
  • No reporting requirement means Parliament and the public have no mechanism to verify outcomes
  • Provinces that align with federal housing priorities may be funded first — provinces that don't may wait or receive less — and nothing in the Bill prevents that
  • "For the purpose of improving housing supply" is the only constraint — and it is not defined or enforceable in the Bill

Source: Bill C-26 — Consolidated Revenue Fund (Housing Supply) First Reading: March 26, 2026