Must-Read: "The Highest Bidder"

Goddamn those corrupt politicians we elected!
You get what you voted for.

Some people complain about all the products coming from Asia. Some of the Asians are now bringing back that money Canadians sent over for all that cheap stuff and they are buying up crummy old houses just for little bits of land. They are handing back huge wads of cash after selling cheap stuff to the whole of North America, Europe and other places too.
Where does the massive amount of money really originate? It comes from British Columbia and everywhere else Asia sells products to. Most places would be very happy to see their money return, in exchange for shacks that are decades past their best-before dates.
Papa Trudeau was the first Canadian PM to visit China, Trudeau the younger plans a major trip there this year. He will almost certainly go to other countries in Asia too, further encouraging stronger ties, including, of course, investments in Canada.
Gregor Robertson has been to China on Trade Missions, etc., three times since in office. In 2013 Robertson pointed out that; “I provide access to Chinese officials in government that are responsible for the majority of economic activity in China,”. Port Coquitlam Mayor Greg Moore joined a Stephen Harper delegation to China too.
This old song that young people cannot buy property close to the city centre is nothing at all new for just about all the decent sized cities in Europe. It’s been like that for many decades, in Paris, London, Rome, etc., etc. This is kinda new to Vancouver because, frankly, Vancouver has been a somewhat sleepy little town until quite recently.

I don’t see the government non-intervention on this file as inaction, corruption, or particularly malicious. Rather, I think they are doing their best to support the constituency that matters most to them: older Canadians who have traditionally done well in real estate and would be wounded if their house prices were to decline before they had the chance to pass their inflated asset off to a greater (younger) fool.
I think Clark has been quite clear that she will take no intentional action that would decrease the value of British Columbian homes. Honestly, I can’t really see that as a bad path from her perspective. In every previous instance of an asset bubble, governments haven’t shown an ability to finely control the shape and course of a bubble. Were Clark to intervene, I would say she is more likely to pop this situation rather than mitigate it in a controlled fashion.
Sadly, I think the time for thoughtful policy to control this issue was several years ago, maybe even a decade or two. Much like Albertans who neglected to fill their SWF with the proceeds of the oil industry, British Columbians have made their choice through repeated elections and the shouldering of massive personal debts to juice the housing market.
A majority of British Columbians are severely invested in the notion of a housing market that will never go down. As such, any policy that seeks to push affordable housing beyond tokenism and edge work will fail. Sadly, this just further ratchets up the risk that the entire system will fail.
Personally, I think our current state of things still has more to do with interest rates than with greedy foreigners. When all is said and done, we have no one to materially blame aside from ourselves.