SoVote

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Jun/22/22 3:18:55 p.m.
Watch

Mr. Speaker, here we are again. Last June, the government introduced a bill to implement the Canada disability benefit days before Parliament rose and then called an election. This June, the government introduced the exact same bill. It has been 20 days and we have yet to debate it once. Nine other bills have been prioritized since. Canadians with disabilities continue to disproportionately live in poverty across the country. They want to see emergency supports. They want to see action. Does the current government understand that simply introducing a bill does nothing to help Canadians with disabilities today?

98 words

Context: House Hansard - 94 - Jun/22/22

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Jun/22/22 9:00:41 p.m.
Watch
Re: Bill C-28

Madam Speaker, I appreciate that the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth and the governing party have moved quickly. I wonder if she could offer her insights in response to comments recently reported in the media by Kerri Froc, chair of the National Association of Women and the Law, who shared concerns that Bill C-28, as written, may be too difficult for prosecutors to prove. What are the minister's comments on that?

76 words

All Topics

Context: House Hansard - 94 - Jun/22/22

Mr. Mike Morrice (Kitchener Centre, GP)

Jun/22/22 10:24:20 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I appreciate the chance to come back to my question to the Minister of Housing from a couple of weeks ago on the housing crisis in this country, and specifically those who are experiencing homelessness and living unsheltered. I had asked the question because decades of underinvestment in both housing and mental health and addiction support are hitting my community hard. As one example of what this looks like, over the past several months an encampment has grown in downtown Kitchener to now upwards of 50 people living in tents in the downtown. My community is reeling. At the time, I was told the solution was the reaching home program. It is part of Canada's homelessness strategy. It supports the goals of the national housing strategy, and the aim is to reduce chronic homelessness by 50% by 2027-28. Just last summer, the Parliamentary Budget Officer reviewed that plan, and here is what he had to say about it. I quote: ...we project that in the absence of additional spending the number of households in housing need would have increased to approximately 1.8 million households with a $9.3-billion aggregate affordability gap by 2025-26. Turning back to my community, this seems like an example of the increase that the PBO was expecting. In 2018, there were 333 people experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region. Going fast-forward to our most recent point-in-time count study last fall, we see that it tripled. There are now over a thousand people experiencing homelessness in Waterloo Region, 412 of whom are living unsheltered, for example in tents downtown. The rest are in emergency shelters or in transitional housing. There might be the hidden homeless, or people in institutions such as a hospital or a domestic violence shelter. It is clear in my community, and from the PBO's report in other communities across the country, that these plans are not working. We also need to be clear that the encampment downtown is not only the result of insufficient federal funds for housing. It is the result of mental health as well. Despite using the right words, for example, we can all agree that mental health is health, the reality is that the funding is not there. In the last election campaign, the governing party promised billions in a new Canada mental health transfer to the provinces. When it came time for the 2022 budget, though, there was not a cent budgeted for this transfer; instead, it got a three-line mention to stay tuned for more. The fact is that we cannot expect municipalities to take on the housing and mental health crises on their own. They need support from the provinces and, yes, the federal government as well. I appreciate that the parliamentary secretary is with us this evening. She is a person I respect. I wonder if she would be willing to join me to meet people at the encampment in downtown Kitchener. Most importantly, will she share this: Will the federal government step up? If so, what would that look like?

517 words

Context: House Hansard - 94 - Jun/22/22

Mr. Mike Morrice

Jun/22/22 10:31:50 p.m.
Watch

Madam Speaker, I think it is important to note that it is true that the federal government is not doing nothing, and organizations like oneROOF are doing incredible work. The projects she mentioned are important projects that are benefiting people in my community every day, but what I think is also really critical for her to understand is that the trend is going the wrong direction. It is insufficient. It is not nothing, but it is insufficient. Specifically, as I mentioned, we tripled the number of unhoused individuals in my community in the last three years alone. This is a time when the governing party has had the opportunity to do more, and it has not. I am sure this is not only in Kitchener this is happening, but certainly, if the parliamentary secretary wants to, she can come downtown and see people who are living in tents as a result. My question is the same. While I appreciate what has already been done, and the rapid housing initiative is important, I would like to see her do far more.

180 words