I can't seem to find the long-winded post I wrote describing co-op subsidies in the other thread. Perhaps it got deleted? Anyway, the tl;dr is this:
The Federal Co-op program that the Chow/Layton Co-op was done with, like mine, provided zero money to the co-op itself. Through the CMHC, the program allowed 100% financing, and loan guarantees for the private lenders that were actually loaning the money, but the full amount of money was still due to those private lenders from the co-op. Unless the co-op defaulted in the mortgage, the money given by CMHC to the co-op ends up being exactly nothing. The subsidy comes in where the program also gives subsidies to some people (25% of residents) who were living in that co-op, so they could afford to live there, but that is a subsidy to those people, not the co-op.
In other words, if the subsidies were completely removed, or didn't exist to begin with, the only difference would be that the subsidized residents wouldn't be there. The housing charge (market rent) would not change for the people who lived there in non-subsidized places.
No, the market rent is not as much as what private residences charge, but that is because we don't spend as much. The decor is community-centre chic, and a lot of the work is done by volunteers.
I think the Star's original issue was that there is a limited number of Co-Op spaces, with waiting lists for residents, and rules or not, subsidies or not, affordable housing spaces like in the coops, even at 'market' rents are a limited resource that are needed by some people more than it was needed by J&O. On the other hand, they voluntarily gave extra money to the co-op while they were there, and within a couple years of being married, they moved out and into a house anyway, which all to me seems pretty reasonable.
All in all, this is a smear based on some pretty dang spurious assumptions. It's not quite swift-boat level disgusting, but it's on the same continuum.