The head of Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) told MPs Thursday it is not her agency’s job to solve Canada’s housing crisis, even as nearly every CMHC employee cashed a bonus last year.Coleen Volk, CMHC’s $551,000-a-year CEO, told the Commons public accounts committee the agency lacks the “resources or mandate” to fix the crisis, despite past promises that “everyone in Canada has a home they can afford” by 2030.“There is a housing crisis and it is very sad, what is happening in the country, and that people can’t afford the homes they need,” said Volk. “I don’t agree that it is CMHC’s responsibility to solve that on our own. We have a mandate to deliver programs on behalf of the government, which we do.”Blacklock's Reporter said her testimony came as MPs scrutinized $30.6 million in CMHC bonuses for 2024-25. According to figures tabled in the Commons, 99% of executives received payouts averaging $43,982, while 87% of all employees took home bonuses averaging $11,908.Conservative MP Gérard Deltell blasted the payouts, noting 70% of Canadians who cannot buy a home have abandoned the dream of ownership. “How can you pay bonuses to 99% of your officers when 70% of people who don’t have access to home ownership have given up on their dream?” he asked.Volk defended the payments, claiming they were part of performance-based compensation. “I think the fact most of our employees do obtain their objectives is something I would be proud of,” she said.Pressed by Deltell if such payouts were acceptable during the worst housing crisis since the Second World War, Volk repeated that CMHC “does not have the tools to solve that on their own.”Volk’s testimony omitted CMHC’s 2019 pledge under former CEO Evan Siddall that all Canadians would have affordable housing by 2030. That promise was tied to the Trudeau government’s $1.25 billion First Time Homebuyer Incentive, which auditors later deemed a failure. The program aimed to help 100,000 buyers but reached just 18,291 before winding down..Due to a high level of spam content being posted, all comments undergo manual approval by a staff member during regular business hours (Monday - Friday). Your patience is appreciated.
