(Quebec) Quebec, like Finland, can completely eliminate homelessness, according to the Parti Québécois (PQ), but this is an “extreme” example, responds the minister responsible, Lionel Carmant.
The PQ opposition wanted to challenge Minister Lionel Carmant on Wednesday, who rejects this objective even though it is being pursued by the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand.
“One step at a time. If we want to take too big steps, it doesn’t work,” the Minister for Health and Social Services explained in a press scrum on Wednesday.
At the National Assembly on Wednesday morning, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon criticized Minister Carmant for lacking ambition and being insensitive to current reality.
Last week, Mr. Carmant declared that people choose homelessness as a “way of life” and that he therefore ruled out the objective of zero homelessness.
“How can the minister justify his insensitivity by saying: ‘I, from the outset, accept homelessness and I take it for granted, I’m not that interested in eradicating a social crisis and a human drama,” lamented the PQ leader.
“How does he accept homelessness as a normal phenomenon in a well-off society like Quebec? »
According to him, if societies with the same level of wealth as Quebec manage to provide a permanent roof for all the homeless, Quebec can and must therefore also achieve this.
“If other countries in the world are doing it, why wouldn’t it be possible? », asked Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon.
“There are societies at the same level of wealth as Quebec which succeed in not leaving part of their population on the street,” he argued.
Inspired by countries like Finland, the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand, set himself the goal when he was elected to achieve “zero homelessness” in his city.
But the government, which is the main project manager and funder in the fight against homelessness, has already made it known that it will not follow it.
The minister admitted that he had spoken of an “extreme” when speaking of those who choose to live on the streets, but judges that Finland constitutes an “extreme” in itself.
“We talk about Finland having zero homelessness, but in fact there are 1700 (homeless people in Finland). »
Thus, the Nordic country, for a population of 5.5 million inhabitants, has 1,700 homeless people, according to the minister’s data, while Quebec, for a population of more than 8 million inhabitants, counted nearly 5,800 people experiencing visible homelessness in 2018.
“We have to work for that (the eradication of homelessness), said Mr. Carmant. We are increasing (in the number of homeless people). We must stabilize and come back down before talking about eradicating. »
The mayors are waiting for the minister firmly. Friday, they will be gathered as part of a municipal summit on homelessness in Quebec, organized by the Union of Municipalities of Quebec (UMQ).
Last week, during another meeting of municipal elected officials, the mayor of Gatineau, France Bélisle, deplored having to do Mr. Carmant’s work and reported that a young itinerant woman had had to give birth alone in the woods in Outaouais. .
Mr. Carmant hopes that this summit will be constructive. “We are reasonable, we want to move forward. »
Remember that Mayor Marchand visited Finland to draw inspiration from its practices and solutions. A city like Helsinki has virtually eradicated homelessness. The Finnish capital managed to reduce the number of places in shelters from 1,800 to 170 by offering better support to homeless people who were thus able to find accommodation.
