>doesn't Canada only have a population growth rate of around 1%/yr? It seems like you could easily build your way past that without giving up the advantages of immigration and a little population growth.

You would think that wouldn't be too hard, but housing construction in Canada has been seriously lagging even at a countrywide level[1] with housing units per capita continuing to trend downward. And then of course it doesn't help if major metros see population growth rates faster than this.

[1] https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/canada-new-housing-populatio...