Category Archives: The Issues

Issues, Provincial

Criminalizing Homelessness.

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The hypocrisy, cynicism, imperiousness and ignorance in the BC Liberal governments announced new homeless policy demonstrates the Liberals apparent lack of either the leadership or ability to deal with the challenges facing the Province of BC.

Minister of Housing and Social Development Rich Coleman acknowledged the punitive nature of this new policy in his statement “…more punitive things were being contemplated…”

I would like Minister Coleman to explain why the Liberal government feels the need to inflict punishment on the homeless. One would have thought the homeless faced enough challenges in simply surviving without the need of punitive government policy.

Coleman said “The question for me is, can we find a piece of legislation where I can save a few more lives?”

Mr. Coleman is the Minister in charge of Housing and Social Development and he needs a piece of punitive new legislation to save lives?

Might I suggest that he build more affordable housing and open more shelter beds? Exactly how is dragging the homeless off to shelters going to work when there are not enough shelter beds for all the homeless on the streets; what is accomplished dragging someone to a full shelter?

Or perhaps the government plans to build “emergency” emergency shelters out in the boondocks to which the police can haul any homeless found on the streets off to? I am sure Mr Coleman and the Liberals can find, or have found, copies of the plans for the Japanese Internment camps from WWII.

Might I further suggest that making the necessary changes within Social Development, to inject an element of reality (safe, healthy housing for $375 a month? In what alternate reality?) into their policies and to focus on helping, not hindering, those in need of assistance, would be a far better use of Mr. Coleman’s time and save far more lives that enacting punitive legislation

I would also point out to Mr. Coleman that his ministry does not exist in a vacuum when it comes to the homeless and those in need of assistance from his ministry.

His colleague the Minister of Health has a significant effect on the homeless through Mental Health and Addictions. Currently Mental Health is significantly underfunded and lacks programs designed to provide services to the homeless community. Compounding these problems is that Mental Health had Addictions added to its responsibilities without any additional funding to provide the array of services needed to stop recycling the addicted and provide the support and services to permit the addicted to find recovery and wellness.

Mr. Coleman would save far more lives by prevailing upon the health minister to provide the funding needed to Mental Health and Addictions, to permit them to meet the Mental Health and Addictions service needs of the homeless and all British Columbians.

Speaking of saving lives, it was the failure by the Liberal government to provide needed services that left the woman who burned to death last winter lacking the services and support to get off the streets. In the final analysis the woman died from government neglect.

“… that there is a safe place for them to spend the night …” (Attorney General Mike) de Jong said, emphasizing the Liberal government’s lack of comprehension of the realities of life for the homeless.

If the ministers and the government had a modicum of understanding they would know that shelters do not equate to safety. There are those on the street who, if forced to a shelter, would make the shelter unsafe for everyone else there. For some a shelter is the most unsafe or unhealthiest place to force them to be.

This proposed law has the potential to cost far more homeless lives than it saves.

Are the police going to return the homeless to the original spot they shanghaied them from? The homeless know their territory and the places within that territory to best survive cold weather. If the police abandon them at a shelter – when the homeless decline to be coerced and walk away from the shelter they will be in an area they do not know significantly reducing their ability to survive.

This piece of punitive legislation will also drive some homeless into hiding, where they run a greater risk of freezing to death. My homeless acquaintances are perfectly capable of surviving the cold – unless disturbed by the police.

Indeed, several homeless friends wanted me to point out to Minister Coleman that in this climate the wet is far more of a threat to their lives than cold is.

During our last provincial election I told a local Liberal candidate that if the province was ever serious about addressing the issues involved with homelessness to give me a call. The fact I have never received that phone call is no great surprise. The ideology of this government and their actions on this issue demonstrate the Liberals are not about actual solutions but about political posturing and the need to be seen doing something.

This proposed policy is about hiding the problem or giving the appearance of addressing homelessness issues; it is not about solutions.

Our current crop of politicians are about playing it safe and giving the impression of addressing issues in order to get re-elected. Which is why politicians are not about solving difficult issues since that would require innovation, change, accepting the need for mistakes to learn and progress and a willingness to risk not getting re-elected in order to pursue solutions.

Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy.

And no, it is not a matter of having an overblown sense of myself to tell our local MLA to call me if the Liberals ever want to actually address homelessness and its travelling companions mental health, addictions and poverty.

There are proven best practices to address homelessness, addiction and mental illness and it has been demonstrated that these approaches and practices work. I do not have to be brilliant to be able to know what actions our government needs to take; all I need is an open mind, some research, a willingness and ability to ask questions – and listen to the answers even if they are not what I want to hear, integrity, ethics and honour.

Despite government claims of lack of funds it is not about a lack of money to fund the needed Mental Health and Addictions programs, housing or needed homeless initiatives. It is about priorities.

The Liberals manage to find the funds to pay for Olympic venues, roads, bridges, etc then claim a lack of funding for mental health, addictions and homelessness?

Clearly it is not a matter of funds but of priorities, with the Liberal government’s priority being their ideology and material things over people, ethics, integrity and honour.

Speaking about money matters, homelessness is one of the issues that expose the reality that the belief that the Liberals are good money managers or financially responsible is false.

Study after study has found that it is cheaper to find solutions to homelessness; that governments currently spend more on homelessness (on a per person basis) than it would require be spent to implement solutions that reduce homelessness and help the homeless reclaim their lives.

While BC housing has done a reasonable job of increasing the stock of affordable housing it has failed to address the numbers involved and the need for increased funding.

On the other hand BC housing has wasted and continues wasting funds on programs that do little more than recycle the homeless through the system, generate pretty numbers that give the impression something is being accomplished and contribute substantially to the profitability of those in the poverty industry.

It is not the homeless who need punitive measures taken to punish them for living in a province where the high cost of living makes housing unaffordable for too many – it is the politicians.

ALL the politicians deserve punitive measures for putting ideology, political posturing, re-election, and political power ahead of the wellbeing of people.

The proposed legislation is just more of the same old same old and the bottom line is that doing more of the same proven ineffectual behaviours and actions will only produce more ineffectual results.

As Will Rogers stated “When you find yourself in a hole, stop digging.”

It is time we stopped digging.

Municipal, Snafu

Abbotsford financial woes solved?

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It was a great relief to read the news that the City of Abbotsford’s financial crisis was resolved and that there would be no need to impose the 2 cents a litre gas tax or to impose more than modest property tax increases.

Obviously the financial problems and capital needs (road repairs and maintenance, the new water source, sewer and waste treatment, etc) have been solved … right? If these money issues had not been resolved Abbotsford would not have been spending money badly needed elsewhere on an unneeded play structure … would it?

After all, anyone with a single functional brain cell and the smallest iota of responsibility would have enough common sense not to fritter away money needed to keep Abbotsford operating on a frivolous toy.

This leaves the only conclusion as, in some mysterious way, all the financial and capital challenges that were facing the City of Abbotsford have been resolved and that the city no longer needs a large injection of cash.

I suppose alternatively … if the financial and capital challenges facing the City of Abbotsford have NOT been resolved, one must conclude from this purchase that Abbotsford city council and city staff are completely irresponsible, do not care about Abbotsford or its taxpayers, incompetent and/or brain dead and have no contact with financial reality or reality period.

If the financial and capital challenges have been successfully resolved then the mayor, council and staff deserve our appreciation, thanks and support.

If the financial and capital challenges have NOT been resolved then the mayor, council and staff deserve to be removed from the city’s payroll. Taxpayers deserve the resignations of mayor and council and the firing of staff responsible for this unnecessary and thoughtless expenditure.

Since such a course of action would require a sense of responsibility and caring for Abbotsford and its taxpayers that Abbotsford’s elected politicos have repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of, I won’t be holding my breath.

I will however, be writing to Gordon Campbell, Mike de Jong, John Van Dongen and the Minister of Community and Rural Development (Bill Bennett) to point out this further evidence of Abbotsford’s civic government’s lack of financial planning, discipline and responsibility.

I will be asking that, in light of Abbotsford city hall’s and city council’s demonstrated irresponsibility and lack of financial ability, for the future of the City of Abbotsford and its citizens they refuse to enable council’s spendthrift behaviours and spending addiction by just saying no to the 2 cent a litre gas tax. I would suggest others contact provincial officials with this request as well.

City council and staff must be compelled to start acting responsibly and thoughtfully on financial matters – or replaced. Otherwise someone will be buying the Safari Kid Zone from the trustee handling the bankruptcy of the City of Abbotsford.

Issues, Municipal, Snafu

An Abbotsford Fable

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Once upon a time there was a poor troll who lived under a village bridge. The sheriff’s men and village workers were going to move the troll along “for his own good” but being wonderful human beings they were concerned about the poor troll and took along some people to reach out and find the troll a more acceptable place to live. And the troll lived happily ever after in a castle on the mountain.

The preceding tale bears as much correlation to reality as the fairy tale in the September 11th Abbotsford News. As do any of the previous same spin, different bridge tales.

It would appear that whoever is responsible for this ongoing PR campaign featuring this series of same story, different bridge “news” (and I use the term news very loosely) articles are operating under the assumption that Lenin was correct and “A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

No matter how often the local papers repeat this everything is wonderful mantra, that a homeless person “was put in contact with resources, and will have a more acceptable place to live”, it will not cause the suitable housing or the supportive services to help the homeless stay housed and get their lives back together to appear. In real life, no fairy godmothers will appear with their magic wands.

Unfortunately there is also a complete lack of leadership and willpower to take the actions necessary to do more than recycle the homeless through the system.

Depressingly, the knowledge and best practices exist to reduce homelessness and bring about recovery and wellness for those dealing with mental illness and/or addiction. But until we have the will to subvert the dominant paradigm (put an end to the status quo) and drive change forward homelessness, mental illness and addiction will continue to be a bane of our communities and society.

It won’t be easy, it will take effort and require change but it can be done. We start by hanging a question mark on the things we know or have long taken for granted.

What happened to the prior gentleman who, for his own wellbeing, was removed from under the Peardonville overpass and put into contact with resources? Not as easy as a photo op and recycling an old story, but much more informative.

Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change – this is the rhythm of living. Change: clearer vision, fresh hope – and out of hope, progress.

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Finding a better place to live

By Rochelle Baker – Abbotsford News

Abbotsford Police officers crawled into the debris-strewn crawl space under the bridge deck of the Clearbrook overpass on Thursday morning.

Gravel trucks on Highway 1 thundered past just feet below, blasting dust up and onto the narrow ledge packed tight with the carcasses of wrecked bikes, bags of garbage and broken bottles.

Officers were there to help the city workers clean up the site and try to convince the man who called the bunker his home to seek alternative shelter.

Two Salvation Army workers were also on scene to liaise with the man.

Const. Ian MacDonald said such camps are safety hazards that have resulted in tragedy before.

In February a homeless man perished in a fire underneath the Peardonville highway overpass after heating his shelter with open fuel sources.

The city, police, and outreach workers try to make contact with people living in homeless camps and find them more suitable housing prior to cleaning them up, said MacDonald.

“My understanding is we encountered one individual [Thursday] morning and he was put into contact with resources, and will have a more acceptable place to live.”

Municipal, Provincial

Mike de Jong’s Gas Tax

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Mike de Jong is right when he speaks of Abbotsford being in a “unique position.”

Unfortunately the “unique position” Abbotsford is in is that City Council has clearly demonstrated it is incapable of acting in a financially responsible manner, proper budgeting or planning for the City’s future.

All good reasons not to give them a new avenue to plunder citizens wallets or a new source to raise even more funds they can fritter away wastefully.

If City Council wants more money let it go about it the proper way – through a proper, honest and accurate budget process as they should have been doing all along.

Until such time as Abbotsford’s City Council demonstrates financial responsibility and proper budgeting the provincial government should be protecting the citizens of Abbotsford from Council’s spendthrift ways NOT encouraging Abbotsford Council to seek additional ways to fund their reckless squandering of taxpayer’s hard-earned dollars.

Federal

Come On!!

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The first though I had on reading Ed Fast’s attack on Mr. Ignatieff was:

If the federal Conservatives put even a tiny fraction of the effort they put into whining defensively “there is no need for an election” into collaborating with the other federal parties, Canadians would not be facing the possibility of another federal election.

The difference between Mr. Harper’s true colours, his actual thoughts and attitudes towards the other parties versus his statements to the Canadian public is clearly shown by the video on the CBC news of September 9, 2009.

By the way Mr. Fast (and perhaps you could pass this bit of reality along to Mr. Harper), Canadians did not give the Conservatives a strengthened mandate: they denied the Conservatives a majority having judged Mr. Harper unworthy of being entrusted with a majority government.

As to the negative effect on the dollar and stock market, both the dollar and the stock market have bounced back. Following Mr. Fast’s logic that would mean that, upon reflection, it was felt that election of Mr. Ignatieff as PM was considered a positive for Canada.

“Why are they insisting on a pointless exercise which will cost taxpayers another $350 million?” That was exactly the question Canadians were asking themselves in 2008 when Mr. Harper ignored the law he and the Conservatives had enacted setting the next vote for October 19, 2009.

Perhaps the answer will emerge from the current court action where Democracy Watch is suing Mr. Harper for violating his own fixed election date law, as well as the Canadian Charter of Rights.

Let’s be accurate: the reason Canada has fared better than most countries is that our banking system was not able to engage in any of the financial mismanagement that banks in the USA and around the world engaged in and that necessitated governments in many countries being forced to bail banks out.

Why did the Canadian banks not engage in this mismanagement? Because the Conservatives could not pursue their deregulation of Canadian banks with a minority government; since it was the Canadian people who refused to give the Conservatives a majority government, it is the Canadian people who deserve credit for Canada  faring better than most counties.

Speaking of the economy Mr. Fast, just how will the Conservatives wild spending spree and the massive deficit they created protect the economy and lead to prosperity?

The Conservative government took over a surplus that was being applied to paying down the federal government’s debt, providing more economic manoeuvrability.

Claiming a surplus that existed only by holding billions of dollars in military spending off the books, the Conservative government proceeded to make tax cuts. Not only had the Conservative government stopped paying down Canada’s debt but, when the cost of their military adventurism in Afghanistan was properly accounted for, begun increasing Canada’s debt again.

The Conservatives, through their demonstrated lack of fiscal responsibility or ability, are creating a level of debt that not only will our grandchildren be paying it off (to their economic detriment), but that our great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren will be burdened with.

“Home Renovation Tax Credit …leaving thousands of Canadians betrayed.” That would be as opposed to the betrayal of hundreds of thousands of unemployed Canadians, the record level of Canadians currently on EI and facing the end of EI eligibility and joining the hundreds of thousands whose EI benefits have run out, the thousands of Canadians who find themselves living in poverty or homelessness or hopelessness?

I am sorry Mr. Fast I am not nearly as concerned with homeowners who have money to spend on home improvements as I am with homeowners losing their homes, those who have lost their homes, those without money for food to eat, food banks (the need for food banks in Canada period) lacking sufficient food to distribute to hungry families and especially hungry children – all abandoned, indeed betrayed, by the current Conservative government.

The recession may be over for those earning immoderate government salaries with gold plated pensions (that even corporate executives with their million dollar bonuses wouldn’t dare give themselves), but for millions of poor Canadians, Canadians living in poverty or homelessness, those who have lost their homes and all else – the pain and effects will be felt for years and many will never recover from these reversals.

Talk about being out of touch with Canadians ….

Mr. Fast – these Canadians are not concerned with prosperity, they are concerned with survival.

Mr. Fast’s Letter

Michael Ignatieff just doesn’t get it. Canadians have made it very clear that they don’t want another election less than a year after the last one. More importantly, a federal election will stall our economic recovery which has just begun. In fact, the stock markets and Canadian dollar dropped immediately after Mr. Ignatieff announced that he was bringing down our Conservative Government and forcing Canadians into their fourth election in five years.

Mr. Ignatieff’s ill-considered action is already creating uncertainty and instability within our economy. If an election actually took place, most federal legislative and economic business would come to a virtual halt for three months. That’s bad for our economy, it’s bad for hard-working Canadians. What’s more, programs such as our recently announced Home Renovation Tax Credit would be at risk of cancellation by the Liberals, leaving thousands of Canadians betrayed.

So why are the Ignatieff Liberals pushing for an election that nobody wants? Why are they insisting on a pointless exercise which will cost taxpayers another $350 million?

First, it’s become very clear that our Conservative Government’s Economic Action Plan is working! Last month, the Bank of Canada’s governor Mark Carney announced that Canada’s economy was the first of the G-7 countries to turn the corner on the recession. And it’s no coincidence that the day before Mr. Ignatieff demanded an election, Statistics Canada released figures showing that Canada’s economy actually grew in June! Thanks to the prudent economic stewardship of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Canada has fared much better than most other countries around the world.

However, what’s good news for the nation is not good news for Mr. Ignatieff’s thirst for power. He fears that more positive news about our Conservative government’s economic stewardship will derail his plan to become prime minister after being away from Canada for 34 long years.

Mr. Ignatieff also wants to trigger an election now so he can hang on to his majority in the Senate. He has used his unelected and unaccountable Liberal senators to block important criminal justice reforms passed by the duly-elected Members of Parliament. The Liberals have also used the Senate to block our government’s efforts to create senate elections and limit Senate terms to 8 years. As more Liberal senators retire and are replaced by democratic-minded candidates, Mr. Ignatieff would lose his power to block the will of Canadians.

Finally, if the Liberal leader waits until 2010, Canadians may have even more reason to feel good about themselves and their great country. Mr. Ignatieff is afraid that voters will be less likely to vote for change when feeling patriotic – and the 2010 Vancouver-Whistler Olympics in February will undoubtedly inflame a greater sense of patriotism and excitement across our country.

Our Conservative Government proved that it was able to govern responsibly and became the longest-serving minority parliament in Canadian history. Canadians returned us to power last October with a strengthened mandate. Surely Mr. Ignatieff and his Liberals can’t believe that Abbotsford residents want another election campaign today?
 While the federal Liberals continue to threaten Canadians with an election, our Conservative government remains focussed on our number one priority: protecting Canada’s economy and continuing to invest in stimulus measures that will secure hope and prosperity for Canadians.

Courtesy of Ed Fast, M.P.