Thank you very much for being here. I heard on a number of occasions this morning the term “poverty” used very powerfully. You would think, living in the east and hearing all of the good news coming out of the west, that there would be no poverty out here.
I was at a forum last night where the room was packed--standing room only--with people very concerned about the emerging and worsening reality of poverty in Calgary. Any of us who have been close to it know that nobody chooses to live in poverty. It's just a myth out there that some people choose to live in poverty, enjoy living in poverty, or that living in poverty at a subsistence level of income is somehow this wonderful life.
I also discovered last night, hearing stories from people, and this morning listening to you, that often poverty is exacerbated by bad public policy. We don't seem to be able to get it together to help people who are struggling. Most people want to work and would love to work, but there are roadblocks they can't seem to get over.
I was a member of the NDP government in the early nineties when Ontario brought in the Employment Equity Act. It was an amazingly comprehensive and progressive piece of legislation, but did it ever get hammered out in the public, particularly by the Conservatives. They don't seem to understand the importance and the need for employment equity and creating opportunities, particularly for people with disabilities and mental health issues, to actually get into the workplace and work and stay there. We all know they have something to offer.
I spent a couple of hours after the poverty forum going to the shelter, walking the streets, and seeing what was going on in downtown Calgary. As this committee travels, we hear the Conservative members particularly--I'm disappointed that none of the Calgary members are here this morning to hear you--say that if there's an unemployment problem in other parts of the country, we should simply tell people to move to Calgary, move out west. There are jobs here and wealth to be had. There's money growing on trees, I guess.
I'm finding that there are problems for the people already here, and they can't get the jobs. In fact, moving hordes of people out here is just exacerbating the problem. I was in Victoria and we saw the same problem. There was a stock of affordable housing, but it's now being taken up by these new people who are coming in. They're pushing the poor out into the shelters and on the street.
What message would you want to send to government around that kind of reality? What is the real story?