We asked the various parties for their position on homelessness and what they will do to ensure housing for all:

2019-Federal-Candidate-Questionnaire-Sept-2019Download

Here is the answer by the Green Party

Suzanne de Montigny

Candidate for the New Westminster – Burnaby Green Party

” Under a Green leadership, a home is a human right. It is only with a foundation, a place to go to that one may begin to heal, to shower, to save, to present oneself in public as an upstanding citizen who is worthy of a job. This is the beginning. Green Party has promised 400,000 new or renovated units over the next 10 years. We also are very forthright about the decriminalization of illicit drugs so that we can keep our citizens safe from the poisonous Fentanyl drug infection that the Black Market brings. It is only by decriminalizing illicit drugs that what goes in it will be controlled. We also intend to increase mental health services to help those who suffer addiction and recognize that there is an underlying cause to such an affliction. And furthermore, we intend to put in place a Guaranteed Livable Income so that no one has to live in poverty, or worse yet live on the streets. Everyone in Canada should be equal. We have lost 100,000 people to overdose of the past two years. It’s time to end this crisis. “

Here is the answer of the Liberal Party

Neelam Brar

Candidate for Burnaby South – Liberal Party

If elected: 

1) How will your party implement the Right To Housing and the National Housing Strategy Act? 

  • The Liberal government was the government who created and instituted the first-ever historic National Housing Strategy. Through which, we created more than 12,000 new housing units for seniors, including 5,000 new units through investments in Budget 2016, and 7,000 new units through the National Housing Strategy. 
  • We also provided more families with affordable housing through a new National Housing Strategy to reduce chronic homelessness by 50%, remove over 530,000 Canadians from housing need, create 100,000 new housing units, repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units, and, starting in 2020, offset rental costs by an average of $2,500 per year with the new Canada Housing Benefit. 

2) Recognizing that the Right To Housing is not a constitutional provision, how will your party prevent the right to housing legislation from being rescinded? 

  • As part of Budget 2019, we introduced legislation recognizing the right of Canadians to access adequate housing, while also requiring all future governments to maintain a national housing strategy. 

3) Given that the current federal homeless initiatives are not based on stable or ongoing funding, what would your party do to ensure stable, predictable ongoing funding to homeless initiatives that address current homelessness and prevent future homelessness?

  • In Budget 2019 we introduced legislation requiring all future governments to maintain a national housing strategy.
  • As of March 2019, our government helped more than 1 million Canadians find places to call home through new builds, repairs, renovations, and rental subsidies, as part of more than $7 billion in housing investments. 
  • Our Liberal government established a National Housing Council, who are responsible for providing advice to the Government on issues related to housing. The Council will include a Federal Housing Advocate, whose role will be to represent and consider the perspectives of the most vulnerable groups.
  • Our Liberal government over the last four years developed a National Poverty Reduction Strategy, which committed Canada to achieving a 20% reduction in poverty by 2020 and a 50% reduction by 2030, established an Official Poverty Line, and set up a National Advisory Council on Poverty. The Poverty Reduction Strategy brings together $22 billion in anti-poverty investments that have helped lift 650,000 Canadians out of poverty, including 57,000 seniors.

4) If elected, what resources would your party allocate to increase the supply of affordable housing in Burnaby for people who are living in core housing need as defined by CMHC? How would it be paid for? 

  • Our Liberal government introduced the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive to allow eligible first-time home buyers to apply to finance a portion of their home purchase through a shared equity mortgage with Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). Providing more families with affordable housing through a new National Housing Strategy to reduce chronic homelessness by 50%, remove over 530,000 Canadians from housing need, create 100,000 new housing units, repair and renew more than 300,000 housing units, and, starting in 2020, offset rental costs by an average of $2,500 per year with the new Canada Housing Benefit.
  • If re-elected our government will expand on this work by increasing the First-Time Home Buyer incentive. 
  • To limit the housing speculation that can drive up home prices, we will also put in place a consistent national tax on vacant residential properties owned by non-Canadians who don’t live in Canada.
  • To address veterans’ homelessness, we will move forward with building new, purpose-built accessible and affordable housing units, with a full range of health, social, and employment supports for veterans who need extra help. We will support this work with an additional investment of $15 million a year.

5) Given the growing needs of homeless women and children in Burnaby and the lack of gender responsive resources available, what is your plan to support this growing population? How would it be paid for? 

  • Building on the successful Canada Child Benefit (CCB) – which gives more money every month to nine out of 10 families and helped lift 300,000 children out of poverty – we will move forward with the next steps in helping families make ends meet.
    • We will: give up to $1,000 more to families to help when the costs of raising kids are highest, by boosting the CCB by 15 per cent for children under the age of one; make sure families get more money right away, by making maternity and parental benefits tax-free; and make paid leave fairer for families, by introducing a 15-week leave for adoptive parents – including LGBTQ2 families – so they get the same benefits to help care for their kids as everyone else.
    • With these changes, a family of two earning $90,000, who are just about to have a child and already qualify for Employment Insurance benefits, can expect to receive about $2,300 more tax-free, to help to make sure their child gets the best possible start in life.
  • We will also move forward with Guaranteed Paid Family Leave – an ambitious program that will make sure that parents who don’t qualify for paid leave through Employment Insurance, or who don’t get enough because they’re between jobs, earn little, or haven’t worked enough hours, will receive a guaranteed income during the first year of their child’s life. This will be especially helpful for women, who typically carry more family responsibilities, and will mean that every single Canadian parent will be able to afford to spend the first year at home with their child, when it matters most.
  • We will make before and after school child care more accessible and affordable for families – with up to 250,000 spaces of before and after school child care.

6) Recognizing that barrier-free access to health care and medications are a critical need for people who are homeless or at high risk of homelessness, and that many people experiencing homelessness live with two or more significant health conditions, how will your party ensure that a comprehensive evidence-based universal pharmacare program, based on need vs. ability to pay, is implemented across Canada so that people living in poverty, including the homeless, can access the medications they need to maintain and improve their health? How would it be paid for? 

  • We have committed to continue to work with the provinces and territories to  take the critical next steps to implement national universal pharmacare so that all Canadians have the drug coverage they need at an affordable price.
  • We will back up these commitments with an additional commitment of $6 billion over the next four years, tied to outcomes and negotiated with the provinces and territories.

7) What is your party position on decriminalizing all drugs across Canada and the provision of a safe drug supply program for people living with substance use disorders? 

  • Delivered on our promise to legalize, strictly regulate and restrict access to cannabis, in order to better keep it out of the hands of youth, and profits away from criminals. 
  • Introduced Bill C-93 to provide pardons for simple cannabis possession with no fee and no wait time, allowing them to remove the stigma of a criminal record.
  • Our Liberal government is providing $30 million over 5 years through the Harm Reduction Fund to support community programs aimed at reducing the harms associated with intravenous drug use.

8) What strategies and resources would your party commit to assist low income earners overcome barriers such as to improved employment, better health and resource access? 

  • We will make sure that people don’t pay federal taxes on the first $15,000 they earn. This will save the average family nearly $600 a year. It will also mean that about 700,000 more Canadians, including seniors and young people starting their careers, will pay no federal tax at all, lifting nearly 40,000 more people out of poverty.
  • We started the Connecting Families Initiative, which addresses accessibility and affordability issues by providing eligible low-income families with $10 home internet packages through the Connecting Families Initiative. Participating service providers volunteer their support at no cost to taxpayers or the federal government.
  • We are supporting low-income seniors who work by increasing the earnings exemption for the Guaranteed Income Supplement from $3,500 to $5,000. This will include seniors who are self-employed.
  • To address veterans’ homelessness, we will move forward with building new, purpose-built accessible and affordable housing units, with a full range of health, social, and employment supports for veterans who need extra help. We will support this work with an additional investment of $15 million a year. 
  • To help more visible minority newcomer women find and keep a good job, we will build on the research, support and employment projects announced earlier this year, and move forward with an additional $9 million investment over three years.
  • To ensure that racialized and Indigenous young people face fewer barriers at the beginning of their working lives, we will both enhance the Youth Employment Strategy and ensure that the upcoming State of Youth reports take an intersectional approach that includes race.
  • We will make sure that every Canadian has access to a family doctor or primary health care team, improving the quality of care for the nearly five million Canadians who today lack access

9) How do you see faith-based organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the government working together to help fight extreme poverty?

  • We hope to work collaboratively with all organizations helping to reduce poverty and homelessness.
  • Our government established a National Advisory Council on Poverty as part of the Poverty Reduction Act, with the responsibility of advising the Government on issues related to poverty.
  • We increased the Guaranteed Income Supplement top-up by up to $947, helping 900,000 vulnerable single seniors gain greater financial security. This has lifted 57,000 vulnerable seniors out of poverty.

Here is the answer of the NDP Team

Jagmeet Singh, MP
Federal NDP Leader


1) How will your party implement the Right To Housing and the National Housing Strategy Act?
New Democrats worked hard alongside housing advocates to fight to make housing a legislated right. As government, we will complete the job.
Justin Trudeau’s Liberals finally moved forward, but only after more than three years as a majority government, but their strategy still fell far short of the work that needs to be done to truly address Canada’s housing crisis. Worst of all, after four years, the Liberals failed to get over 90% of their promised new investments out the door. And even worse, investments in affordable housing actually went down under the Liberals versus the Conservatives, as a share of GDP.
Meanwhile, Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives don’t have any plan to help build affordable housing for people. The Scheer Conservatives are only promising more cuts.
Jagmeet Singh and New Democrats are different. We are in it for you.
The NDP’s New Deal for People commits to developing a National Housing Strategy, including building 500,000 new affordable housing units within 10 years, providing rent relief of up to $5,000 for almost 500,000 families in need, and removing the GST from the creation of new rental units.
Our new federal investments – in addition to already promised money – will begin with $5 billion in additional funding in the first year and a half to build new affordable homes –and $14 billion over four years to finally tackle the housing crisis so many of our communities are facing.

2) Recognizing that the Right To Housing is not a constitutional provision, how will your party prevent the right to housing legislation from being rescinded?
An NDP government will immediately enshrine in legislation the right to housing. While there is no way to stop a future government from undoing this if they really wanted to, New Democrats will always stand up for Canadians and fight to make sure that we do not go backwards when it comes to legislative protection on the right to housing.

3) Given that the current federal homeless initiatives are not based on stable or ongoing funding, what would your party do to ensure stable, predictable ongoing funding to homeless initiatives that address current homelessness and prevent future homelessness?
An NDP government commits to starting immediately on the work of ending homelessness in Canada within a decade. We will make sure that social housing and other affordable options are available as part of our National Housing Strategy.
We are committing $900 million over the next four years to ending homelessness, in addition to $14 billion to fund our affordable housing strategy and build 500,000 new affordable homes; $4.9 billion for a new Rental Benefit that will help half a million families in need afford their monthly rent; $500 million to remove the GST from the creation of new rental units and $80 million to fight the money laundering and speculators who have driven up housing prices in so many communities.
New Democrats also believe that health care, education, and housing are rights that must be reflected in federal government priorities with the goal of permanently lifting people out of poverty and help them live independent, healthy lives.
We will take a leadership position by offering federal funding and guidance in health care, childcare, employment insurance, sickness benefits, and minimum wage.
Our investments will be long-term and stable, and show provinces and territories that a New Democrat government will be a true partner with them, working collaboratively to reach poverty reduction targets and finally put an end to homelessness in Canada.

4) If elected, what resources would your party allocate to increase the supply of affordable housing in Burnaby for people who are living in core housing need as defined by CMHC? How would it be paid for?
An NDP government recognizes that the country’s housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges that Canadians face, especially in the Lower Mainland. Too many people are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on housing. No one should have to choose between paying for all their necessities, like housing and groceries, and out-of- pocket health-care expenses like medications or dental care.
We are investing $14 billion over the next four years to fund our affordable housing strategy and build 500,000 new affordable homes; $4.9 billion for a new Rental Benefit that will help half a million families in need with their monthly rent; $500 million to remove the GST from the creation of new rental units and $80 million to fight money laundering and the speculators who have driven up housing prices in so many communities.

This will help address the housing crisis in Burnaby and ensure that many families now in need finally have an affordable place to live in our community.

5) Given the growing needs of homeless women and children in Burnaby and the lack of gender responsive resources available, what is your plan to support this growing population? How would it be paid for?
We know that women and children are especially vulnerable to the risks of being homeless. An NDP government is committed to poverty reduction strategies and ending homelessness that goes beyond housing security and addresses other risk factors that can lead to homelessness.
Our New Deal for People is based on the principles of social determinants of health. This means that we are committing resources on education, health, housing, and good nutrition to help Canadians in need. Our government will also launch a basic income pilot that, while immediately helping people who are homeless, will gather information so that we can tackle to root causes of homelessness. An NDP government will work with the local provincial government and Burnaby housing advocates to direct resources to women and children who are in most need.
And we are committed to applying a gender lens on all decisions our government makes and taking steps to address the specific factors that affect women and family poverty – from large investments in childcare spaces across the country, to more flexible maternity leave, to an annual $10 million a year for period poverty.


6) How will your party ensure that a comprehensive evidence-based universal pharmacare program, based on need vs. ability to pay, is implemented across Canada so that people living in poverty, including the homeless, can access the medications they need to maintain and improve their health? How would it be paid for?
Decades of Conservative cuts and Liberal inaction have left too many Canadians digging deep to cover out-of-pocket health-care cuts. Justin Trudeau and the Liberals have been promising for 22 years to bring in Pharmacare, and for twenty-two years they have broken their promise. Now they are offering a plan that has no timelines – and no real commitments of federal funding.
Meanwhile, Andrew Scheer and the Conservatives have closed the door to universal pharmacare and are promising billions in more cuts.
New Democrats have heard loud and clear from Canadians that we need universal pharmacare, now.

We will work urgently with provinces and territories so that we can launch a universal pharmacare program by late 2020. New Democrats believe that this a realistic timeline because the institutional structures are already in place – but the political courage has been missing. Many provinces and territories already offer a patchwork of pharmacare programs that an NDP government will scale up to the national level.
A New Democrat government is committing to an annual investment of more than $10 billion a year that will show provinces and territories that Jagmeet Singh and the NDP will be at the table with a plan backed by real investments, to get the job done.
The NDP pharmacare plan will be available to all Canadians, at no cost to you, regardless of where you live or how much money you have.
Under our plan, all you will need to get the medication you are prescribed is your health card, not a credit card.


7) What is your party position on decriminalizing all drugs across Canada and the provision of a safe drug supply program for people living with substance use disorders?
Conservatives did nothing to deal with the opioid crisis when they were in government and while the Liberals said nice things about the need to take action while in government, but they didn’t act.
We will declare a public health emergency and back that up with $100 million a year in new investments to fight this epidemic. And we will work with experts and advocates to stop the criminalization and stigmatization of people dealing with addiction.
And our government will take tough new action to hold drug companies responsible for their role in creating the opioid crisis and seek meaningful compensation on behalf of Canadians.


8) What strategies and resources would your party commit to assist low income earners overcome barriers such as to improved employment, better health and resource access?
We will immediately establish a federal minimum wage of $15 an hour, which will cover over 900,000 Canadian workers, and increase it to a living wage over our four-year mandate.
We will also work with provinces to launch a national basic-income project. While Ontario’s Conservative government scrapped the basic income pilot in Ontario, a federal NDP government would re-launch and expand it.

We also have several measures to make life more affordable for Canadians, like our national pharmacare program and dental care program; our commitment to build 500 000 units of affordable housing; immediate help for half a million families in need who cannot afford their rent; and a national childcare program to create hundreds of thousands of new affordable childcare spaces.
We will also invest $900 million in ending homelessness and over a billion dollars in a Healthy Meal Program for Children. And we will invest $10 million a year in ending period poverty for women and girls in need.


9) How do you see faith-based organizations, nongovernmental organizations, and the government working together to help fight extreme poverty?
New Democrats welcome all partners who are committed to working on poverty reduction strategies that will lift Canadians out of poverty and make sure they have the tools they need to support long-term stability.
An NDP government will work with all provinces, territories, stakeholders, and advocates who share our vision to end homelessness within a decade and make Canada a fairer, more equitable place for everyone.

Response by the People’s Party of Canada

Al Rawdah, Candidate

People’s Party of Canada
Burnaby South HQ 

Thank you for your email as it is dear to my heart and this is why I am running for our community as this must end once and for all . If you refer to my website

 https://alforburnabysouth.com

You will see solutions and our platform . My plan is to put an all in one solution for buildings with a medical staff and an emergency room at the bottom of every building for the homeless, from the federal level where things WILL happen. Mental health, high cost of living and taxes all play a part in our struggle for a quality of life we all deserve, especially our most vulnerable.  I would be more than happy to help best way I can. As this is the election for true democracy as the people’s voice will be respected and as your humble servent it is my duty to put our community first. 
This campaign has kept me very busy as I fight for this matter and need your help as well to get the job done. I see no degree of difficulty as I know we can make it happen with the right team as I know these skills well . I commend your fight and am behind you 100% . I will try and get to the questions as soon as I can Karen. In the meantime I hope I can count on you for this election for it is a right of every Canadian to have a stable life without a big government taking everything from our least fortunate.