The federal decision to boycott today’s national housing summit in St Johns, NL (the second time in two years that the federal housing minister has refused to meet with provincial and territorial counterparts) left the remaining summiteers without much to say or do. There is an urgent need for housing ministers to complete the process they launched in September of 2005 to create a new national affordable housing framework, but it’s hard to conclude an agreement when a key party won’t even come to the table. Click here for background info from the Wellesley Institute on today’s summit. All eyes have now shifted to Alberta to see whether the Tory government there can convince its federal cousins to join in the long overdue discussions to finalize a new housing plan for Canada. The official communiqué is here.