the federal government should be pressuring municipalities to get housing built.

That's not their job. The fed doesn't pressure munis. The Fed doles out money TO PROVINCES as per an agreement.

But we don’t need housing starts, we need housing completions.

True. And density. Because sprawling out these matchstick shitbox firetrap hasty-built bungalows and eating farmland and greenspace wasn't the answer 20 years ago; less now.