I understand that there are concerns about the jurisdictional nature of funding and how we make decisions, but the reality is that our Canadian values trump politics. They have to, because that's who we are as people. That is what we're known for internationally.
For me, my re-election does not matter when I have a mattress shop full of people sleeping next to each other on cots with no privacy and no dignity. For me, that has to be the paramount issue for why I'm here and what I use my voice for. Unfortunately, we do step into the jurisdictional issues when we make the decision.
We're told by the experts in the province, for example, that these people are so ill that they need to be in a congregant model of care, so we work together to try to deliver the congregant model of care. Then the public stands up and says they don't want the congregant model of care in their backyard, so the provincial government says there's no more congregant model of care.
How can that happen when we as Canadians have signed international human rights treaties to say that we will make sure our vulnerable people are housed and are not forcibly displaced, that we will take care of people with disabilities in this country? We have a very obvious example of how that is not happening right now. It shouldn't just be me as a Canadian who's concerned: this is the value system for all Canadians.
We had provincial experts telling us the things we need to do, so then why aren't we doing them? If we have experts tell us how we need to deal with cancer in this country, we don't have citizens stand up and say, “I'm sorry; I don't agree with that.” We have to take care of people who have mental health issues. The only way we can deal with stigma in this country around mental health and addiction is to say, as leaders, that we will support these people because as Canadians that's what we have to do.