Garneau steps up for society's most vulnerable

Along with fellow MP Gerard Kennedy, the Liberals' Infrastructure and Communities Critic, Garneau visited residents and organizers of Le Sac à Dos — a Montreal organization that provides essential services to the local homeless community — as part of the Liberals' nation-wide advocacy campaign for sustained homelessness funding. “The Harper government has so far refused to provide stability to programs that are supposed to bring stability to society’s most vulnerable,” said Kennedy. “Canadians will agree that there is enough uncertainty in the lives of homeless people without having it made worse by the federal government.”

Kennedy and Garneau — the Liberal Leader's representative in Quebec — want the Harper government to extend its funding commitment for the federal Homelessness Partnering Strategy (HPS) until 2014 and increase the funds to match the growth in need. Otherwise, they said, the program currently stands to expire after the next fiscal year. “Sustainable funding is crucial to the continued operation of organizations in Montreal like Le Sac à Dos and the demand is consistently increasing,” said Garneau. “Groups working on the front lines to deal with homelessness are quick to note that food bank use has increased, and that shelter lineups keep growing longer and longer.”

Garneau added that the Liberals are concerned that the $18-million envelope for HPS in Quebec has frozen the creation of any new projects to build on successes in all regions. “Homelessness is a solvable problem, but the creativity and hard work of civil society groups needs to be matched by federal leadership working in partnership with our provinces, territories and cities,” said Kennedy.

According to statistics released by Kennedy's office, estimated 150,000 to 300,000 Canadians are currently homeless; 40,000 are housed in overnight shelters,

Of the 61 designated communities in Canada that currently receive funding under the program, based on an identified need, there are seven in Quebec: Drummondville, Gatineau, Montreal, Quebec City, Saguenay, Sherbrooke, and Trois-Rivières.