OTTAWA — Advocates for the homeless took to the streets of Ottawa yesterday to demand that the Conservative government extend the funding to services such as shelters and soup kitchens that is set to expire in March.
Social Development Minister Diane Finley met their protest with a promise that, whatever her government does to help the growing number of Canadians who have no place to live, the response will be as good as the existing program and perhaps even better.
At a news conference announced just before two opposition party leaders and a representative of the third prepared to tell the media that the government had been silent on the issue, Ms. Finley said the Conservatives understood the plight of the homeless.
Her government, she said, extended $135 million to the Supportive Community Partnership Initiative introduced several years ago by the Liberals, to take the program to March of next year. In the meantime, said Ms. Finley, “we wanted a chance to evaluate it in action so we could see how well it was working while we took the opportunity to look at other alternatives that might be even better in helping the homeless.”
After seven years of this program, there may be better ways to help the people in need she said.
“We are very aware of the March 31 deadline. Because homelessness is an important issue to us, we're going to take the time we need to get a good decision but also make sure that any programs that are ongoing at this point in time don't suffer because of the delayed decision,” said Ms. Finley.
“There will be a homelessness program. It may be SCPI. It may be something even better,” she said adding that she would not expect the funding to decline because the government realizes the problem is growing.
But Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe urged action sooner rather than later.
“The time required for planning is quite lengthy so these organizations (funded through SCPI) need to know now what they can plan,” said Mr. Duceppe.
He said there is agreement among all three opposition parties on this matter and therefore there is a majority of support in the House for extending the funding.
NDP Leader Jack Layton called the Conservative government's attitude towards the homeless “nothing short of reprehensible.”
The non-profit organization that provide services to the homeless have to make plans as they head into winter, said Mr. Layton.
“They have absolutely no certainty that the funds they need to provide the services will be available,” he said, “and the result is that some of them will be closing their doors at he end of December or in January just when the services are needed the most.”
