Tag: news

Housing and Homelessness


February 4, 2024

My local city Councilor jolted me with the following statement in his late January 2024 newsletter: “The issue that I want to focus on for this newsletter is Housing & Homelessness. If ever there was a time in recent memory when this issue was front and centre in the minds of pretty much everyone, this is it. Whether you’re homeless yourself, whether you can’t afford to buy a home, refinance your home, or rent an apartment, or whether you’re worried about challenges that will be faced by the next generation, our current crisis is affecting a majority of Ottawa residents”. Sixty-four percent of Ottawa households own a home! So, how could these issues affect the majority of residents? This statement did not resonate with me on several levels!

On one level, it is not front and center in my mind or my friends’ or neighbors’ minds. It is in the newspapers, on TV channels, and on the radio, but people I know do not discuss and are not interested in those subjects. It is infrequent if they talk about it, and when they do, they mention parts of downtown where people experiencing homelessness congregate. But people I know avoid downtown for lack of parking or the cost, especially since we find all our needs met in the suburbs. In our neighborhood, I have yet to see homeless people. I go out daily, know my neighborhood well, and have not seen homeless people to date. I believe it is a non-issue in my community.

When I talk with my friends, subjects of our discussions relate to the amazingly mild climate this year, the current popularity of hybrid cars, how they function, and whether we should get one, a hip replacement facing a neighbor, a trip by a friend visiting the Abu Simbel Temple in Egypt, and when Trudeau may resign. When nine men met to form a book club, we discussed the need for a men’s book club, the schools we attended, and how we should run our new-fangled book club; for example, should we have lunch before discussing books? Homelessness was never mentioned.

On another level, if my local city Councilor were serious about doing something about homelessness, he should have had some statistics on how many homeless are in our community. All I hear today is “evidence-based” policymaking. So, how about some numbers to substantiate the homelessness issue in general terms and as it exists in our community?

The other subject the Councilor mentions is housing and its affordability. These are current political challenges to satisfying the massive demand for housing created by the influx of newcomers to Canada. The various levels of government blame each other for the housing shortage. One reads that local governments take too long to approve applications for development proposals and charge hefty development fees. Both are disincentives for speedy housing construction. Recent federal government policy let too many students, refugees, and immigrants into Canada, which combined to create a high demand for housing that the construction industry has been unable to cope with. Beyond general curiosity, my friends and I ignore this subject; we all have a house, mortgage-free.

Unless the Councilor can identify homelessness as an issue in our community, I would suggest he focus on our local problems, such as poor road conditions, through traffic, and traffic congestion on surrounding major roads. Many streets are in an abysmal state with potholes. People traversing our community to avoid traffic tie-ups at major intersections endanger our walkers on the streets. The construction of sidewalks and additional streetlights would enhance safety. I believe road maintenance, safety, and traffic control are the real issues in our community. The Councilor could survey residents on what they perceive to be the problems in setting his priorities.

My Rant for Today: Immigration Overload?


January 13, 2024

Driving to have coffee with my friend at Timmies, I listened to the daily talk show with a panel on immigration. One said the Canadian public is sympathetic to (and has an enviable record), welcoming immigrants. Based on that attitude and arguing that the economy needs immigrants for its continued growth, the government doubled immigration targets to the 500,000 range. In addition, another million people arrive in Canada annually as foreign students and temporary workers, many of these becoming permanent residents over time.

The combination of immigration and temporary workers and foreign students have coalesced into a momentous problem in Canada, resulting in an acute shortage of housing and a precipitous decline in healthcare (lack of nurses, doctors, unacceptable emergency department waiting times). Without question, the huge number of recent immigrants, foreign students and temporary workers are a major contributing factor to these problems. 

Up until a few years ago, with half the number of arrivals into Canada compared to the recent year, assimilation into Canadian society had occurred seamlessly without impacting housing and healthcare. Services provided paralleled demand. (In fact, it has just been revealed that the Canadian cabinet minister responsible for immigration was warned two years ago that we were facing a housing crunch, even before immigration levels were increased this past year!  This warning was ignored for political purposes!)

Now, Canadians are becoming aware of what the massively increased number of newcomers has wrought, and anecdotal evidence points to a shrinking welcome mat.

One panelist on the talk show said that we need immigrants for our economy to grow. OK. How many do we need? I’m not too fond of loose talk. Provide some metrics. Arguments with no evidence to back them up are useless. The bottom line is: how many immigrants, foreign students and temporary workers do we need for the economy?

People with skills required in Canada would be a great addition to the economy, but how many immigrants are skilled in occupations we need?  We are told that we need them for house construction; however, we are also told that only about 5% of immigrants work in the housing industry….

I’d like to know how many of the half million immigrants we allow to enter Canada qualify for the needed skilled categories. Equally importantly, how many of these needed people would be allowed to practice their trade in Canada without certification (medical licensing, trade licensing)? And how long would it take to get their licenses to be productive in Canada?

Without data to back up the justifications for even more immigrants, we, the Canadian public, are left with only anecdotal information and our own experiences of worsening health care access, inability to find family doctors, long wait times for emergency care and rapidly increasing housing and rents which all will translate into reversing Canadians’ goodwill towards immigration.