Prime Minister Mark Carney says his plan to end Canada’s seemingly endless housing crisis is to “Build Baby Build.” It’s a catchy slogan, but slogans don’t put roofs over people’s heads. So far, what we’ve seen is a patchwork of ideas—modular homes, targeted tax breaks, a new federal building authority, and billions in subsidies and loans. It’s not a bold vision; it’s bureaucratic déjà vu.
Canada doesn’t need more pilot projects or bureaucratic tinkering. We need big, ambitious thinking. It’s time to rediscover a forgotten tool that worked before and is working again elsewhere: New Towns.
Also known as Garden Cities or Satellite Cities, New Towns are deliberately planned communities of 10,000 people or more, designed from scratch and set apart from major urban centres. They’re not just cookie-cutter suburbs with long commutes and no soul. When done right, they are self-contained cities offering a blend of single-family homes, rental apartments, schools, community centres, shopping, and even jobs. They represent the rare mix of idealism and practicality—a place to live, work, and raise a family.
This isn’t a wild new idea. Canada had a New Town boom in the post-war era. Places like Don Mills, Bramalea, and Erin Mills in Ontario were built to ease the population pressure on Toronto. Out west, Thompson, Manitoba and Kitimat, B.C. emerged to support resource industries. These towns weren’t perfect, but they served a purpose—one we need again.
Other countries have taken the lead. In the U.K., Labour Party Leader Keir Starmer has launched a New Towns Taskforce to develop 12 new cities by 2029. In the U.S., Donald Trump—on the opposite side of the political spectrum—is proposing 10 new cities on federal land. Billionaires in Silicon Valley are backing Solano, a planned city east of San Francisco that aims to house 400,000 people by 2040. Elon Musk is even building a company town in Texas for his SpaceX workforce.
Canada? We’re still stuck in policy nostalgia.
There are, of course, cautionary tales. Townsend, Ontario, was once meant to be a city of 100,000 but failed due to poor planning and missing infrastructure. Today, fewer than 1,000 people live there. But failure isn’t a reason to stop building—it’s a reason to build smarter.
Carney should make New Towns a core part of his housing strategy, and here’s why:
- New Towns sidestep NIMBY roadblocks.
Existing cities are locked in a trench war between developers and local residents. Proposals for even modest infill projects are met with resistance. New Towns, built from the ground up, skip this drama entirely. No entrenched interests, no angry town hall meetings—just space to build. - They give young Canadians what they actually want.
Many young families dream of owning a home with a backyard, not cramming into micro-condos in already-dense cities. A new generation wants the affordability and quality of life that only ground-level homes in new communities can offer. - They can unite and energize the country.
New Towns could be built near the Ring of Fire in Ontario, where critical minerals await development. They could rise in regions of the Canadian Shield—areas unsuitable for farming but ripe for building. With vision, these towns can become engines of national growth, not just real estate speculation.
Some signs of this thinking are already emerging. The Seaton Community in Pickering is set to grow into six neighbourhoods with 70,000 residents. And Central Elgin is planning a new community for 9,000 people. These are promising starts, but they are too few and too far between.
What we need is a national push. Carney could start by creating a New Town Taskforce—just like the U.K.—to scout locations and lay the groundwork. Or, if he truly believes in the power of the private sector, he could simply endorse the idea and let developers take the lead. Either way, we need action, not just ambition.
If we are serious about solving the housing crisis—and not just managing it—we must think bigger. The answer isn’t to endlessly stack condos higher in our already strained cities. It’s to start fresh. To build new.
To truly “Build Baby Build,” Mr. Prime Minister, you’ll need to build New Towns.
