Advocates are calling on all levels of government to do more to address what they call a 'human rights disaster' as asylum seekers are stranded on the streets of Toronto and the municipal and federal governments argue over who should foot the bill to provide them with shelter.
I don’t understand what’s so complicated about “act first, sort out funding later.” It took years of court cases to sort it out for Indigenous health care and that was the conclusion. With that concept formalized in one area of jurisdictional conflict, it shouldn’t be rocket science to just go ahead and apply it in others.
With what funding? Taxes have been dropping around the country and governments are perpetually underfunded.
We should be lobbying for higher property tax rates so that municipalities actually have the flexibility to “act first, fund later”.
Higher property taxes for multi-home or corporate owners, higher corporate taxes, break up the oligopolies, etc.
I feel like a broken telephone. But if we say it enough maybe it will actually happen.
Higher taxes in general and specifically for non owner-occupied rental properties. It’ll drive down real estate demand and incentize actually filling rentals with tenants.
The phrase is “broken record” lol
Never heard of a telephone that repeats itself when it’s broken.
You are most definitely correct 🙃
It’s not rocket science, it’s bureaucracy!
“Do it perfectly the first time or we’ll sue like it’s America.”
I’m glad if indigenes are treated like proper Canadians in healthcare. All bodies are the same, right?
That is exactly what they did, and see what happened. They brought in a good number of refugees without assessing their ongoing needs and how much it would cost to meet them. We all suffer the consequences now, and the solution you propose is to repeat the same mistake again?
Before any further rash decisions are made we need to sit down, be rational, and see what we can afford to do. Chow has made a very good point: since the Federal government is responsible for bringing in refugees, they should be ultimately responsible for bearing the cost.
Yes, I see that I didn’t follow the chain of causality far enough back. I think you are correct in that it’s a federal funding issue.
So what happens now? Do we leave these people to rot in the streets while fighting for funding or find a way to shelter them while fighting for funding?