I mean, it's the price of land that went up. The house will always cost the same to build. It still sucks that the person owning that land and the one making commission selling it is making bank, but changes in housing prices (especially the ones that are already built and just sitting there) won't usually translate into higher construction salaries.

I'm in Alberta, and we actually got a pair of 10% reductions to builders pay rates in 2018, meaning we're earning 20% less now. Add in the sporadic work the last few years, and I'm having trouble keeping the build paid. We need a general strike.

and fuck Doug Ford in particular

Goes without saying, but in fairness, this one is actually a federal issue.

Like you point out, it is the land values that have increased, not the structure cost. Why? Because dairy and poultry farmers, propped up by an old-timey socialist solution to supporting agriculture – which, in modern times, has pushed beyond just supporting agriculture and has transformed them into being the richest Canadians – are buying up all the farmland they can get their hands on at hyper-inflated prices. If you get away from the productive farmland, into the rocky expanses of Canada, housing has remained quite cheap.

Thing is, it used to be that cities could buy up farmland for practically nothing, thus allowing new housing to be cheap, but those days are over (arguably for the better, as farmland is important, but that comes with a cost). They have to now be able to outspend the diary/poultry producers for that land, which is no easy feat. Even if the urban sprawl ultimately wins, it has to pay more than it historically would have when farmers were poor and unable to drive prices up in competition. And that is cost that you, the homeowner, ultimately have to burden.

I'll note that only Mad Max is willing to do anything about it. Take from that what you will.