Canada needs more housing. That part is not exactly controversial.
The harder question is why, when demand is so obvious, it can still take years to get a real estate development from an idea to an actual building.
I recently sat down with Bruce Firestone to talk about exactly that.
Bruce is an entrepreneur and real estate developer, and many Canadians will also know him as the founder of the Ottawa Senators. He has been involved in the kinds of projects where you learn very quickly that getting something built is rarely as simple as having a good idea, finding some land and hiring a contractor.
One of the stories Bruce shared says a lot about Canada’s housing crisis and the realities developers face.
Five and a half years of planning, 28 months of building
When Bruce was working on what was originally known as the Palladium, now the Canadian Tire Centre, the project took about five and a half years to get through the approval process.
The actual building?
About 28 months.
Think about that for a moment.
It took roughly twice as long to get through planning as it did to physically construct the building.
Now, an NHL arena is obviously different from an apartment building or a subdivision. The point is not that every housing project experiences exactly the same timeline.
The point is what the story tells us about development.
Before a shovel goes into the ground, an enormous amount of work may already have happened.
There are plans, studies, zoning requirements, approvals, professional fees and discussions with different levels of government.
And all of that takes time and money.
The housing crisis is also a process problem
When we talk about the housing crisis, we naturally focus on the number of homes available.
That makes sense.
If demand exceeds supply, we need to think seriously about how to create more supply.
But you cannot separate housing supply from the process required to produce it.
If a developer has to spend years moving a project through approvals, that affects the project long before construction begins.
Bruce talked about fees and studies potentially costing millions of dollars before groundbreaking on major developments.
Those are real costs.
Developers have to carry them.
Investors have to consider them.
And every additional hurdle can make a project more difficult to complete.
That is why I believe solving the housing crisis requires us to look beyond the finished building.
We have to look at the journey required to get there.
Developers need persistence
Bruce described real estate development in pretty colourful terms.
His point was that developers need moxie. They have to be willing to push through roadblocks.
I understand exactly what he means.
Development rarely unfolds according to the neat timeline you create at the beginning.
Something changes.
A requirement appears.
A deadline moves.
A financing issue comes up.
A person who was supposed to provide an answer does not provide it.
You can spend your time complaining that things should be easier, or you can start looking for another way forward.
Bruce jokingly described me as a magician who keeps pulling rabbits out of a hat.
I appreciated the compliment, but I told him it isn’t magic.
It’s persistence.
There’s almost always another option if you’re willing to keep looking for it.
Sometimes you have to create another option
During our conversation, I brought up an old Star Trek example that captures the idea perfectly.
Captain Kirk is presented with a test where all the available scenarios lead to failure.
His solution?
He doesn’t accept the available options.
He creates another one.
That is an entrepreneurial way of thinking.
Bruce made a similar point. When entrepreneurs get backed into a corner, they often become more creative.
That creativity matters in real estate because the obstacles are not always predictable.
A development can look straightforward on paper and become anything but straightforward once the process begins.
The ability to adapt is part of the job.
We need practical solutions to Canada’s housing crisis
This is where the conversation becomes bigger than developers.
Canada’s housing crisis is not going to improve simply because we agree that more homes would be nice.
We need to make it easier for good projects to move.
That does not mean eliminating thoughtful planning or sensible standards.
It means asking whether every part of the process is helping us achieve the result we say we want.
Can approvals happen more efficiently?
Can zoning better reflect the kinds of communities people need?
Can developers create more housing options on the land we already have?
Can governments and the development industry work together rather than constantly approaching each other from opposite sides?
Those are useful questions.
Michael Ruge believes there is always another way
After decades around real estate development, one thing I have learned is that very few difficult projects are solved by sitting around waiting for the perfect conditions.
You keep moving.
You ask questions.
You find another route.
You work with people who understand that getting housing built requires both discipline and creativity.
The housing crisis is serious, but I do not believe that means we should become pessimistic about it.
Quite the opposite.
We know people need housing.
We know there are developers willing to build it.
And we know there are practical ideas that can help us use land more effectively and move projects forward.
The challenge now is making the system work.
If it can take longer to approve a project than to build it, that is something worth examining.
Because ultimately, Canadians do not live in approval processes.
They live in homes.
Michael Ruge’s new book “Building Hope in the Housing – How to Solve the Rental Affordability Crisis” will be realeased this fall (2026).
Links to Michael Ruge, Affordable Apartments and his Initiatives:
Why Location Matters in Funding Real Estate Projects with Michael Ruge
Michael Ruge: The Visionary Entrepreneur and Consultant Helping Businesses Thrive
Michael Ruge and Affordable Apartments: Transforming the Cowichan Valley’s Housing Market
The Do Less, Build More Model: Michael Ruge’s JV Strategy for Solving Housing Crises
