(Quebec) The minister responsible for housing, France-Élaine Duranceau, was booed Friday during a speech she delivered during the Estates General on homelessness.
Posted at 2:28 p.m.
“It’s a disaster,” said an activist in the room, interrupting an intervention by Mme Duranceau. Others heckled and threw jeers.
Mme Duranceau was on hand to announce, with Federal Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, the “rapid” construction of 500 housing units reserved for people experiencing homelessness: 22 housing projects were selected.
During her speech, she argued that community groups were slow to respond to the call for projects. “It was not easy to deploy the 500 units. Historically, it wasn’t your job to build housing. I expected it to go faster,” said M.me Duranceau. The remark visibly displeased the audience.
Judge
She continued by asserting that the rent supplement program was not used enough. Representatives of the community then began to interrupt him. Then, she affirmed that the Legault government had put an end to evictions with a law, which once again provoked the ire of the room.
She concluded her speech to boos.
His parliamentary assistant, CAQ MP Chantale Jeannotte, then spoke. “This is the first time I have spoken in front of such a large crowd,” she said into the microphone. She then asserted that “you are right to be outraged, and we are all outraged” about the situation of homelessness.
“It illustrates the passion of the people here and their very high expectations. We’re going to try to keep it smooth,” said Boromir Vallée Dore, general director of the Quebec Itinerant Solidarity Network, trying to calm things down.
At a press briefing, Mme Duranceau claimed to have sensed “rage” within the audience. She indicated that she had been misunderstood: she instead wanted to make the criteria for obtaining income supplement subsidies more flexible. “It’s important that the rage that is expressed in the room comes across in a very concrete way, with very concrete examples on which we must work. I know it’s very frustrating to be told: well you’re not eligible, but a program has to have rules,” she said.
Pression
His counterpart, Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, affirmed for his part that “the community in the fight against homelessness is made up of passionate people who are there with their hearts, and who experience difficult situations on a daily basis.” “Just like elected officials of the Government of Quebec, it happens that elected officials of the Government of Canada also feel in a more tangible way the pressure that comes with this work, but it is a pressure that is normal,” he indicated. .
The member for Québec solidaire Guillaume Cliche-Rivard, who was also present, was not surprised by the welcome given to Mr.me Duranceau. “People talk to me about social housing, they tell me it doesn’t work,” he said.
Mr. Cliche-Rivard, however, still trusts Mr.me Duranceau. “I’m not here to ask for his departure. But there is a need for action, it is urgent. It has to move,” he said.
The PQ Joël Arseneau affirmed for his part that the minister had not “chosen the right words” to reestablish bridges with community organizations.
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