Money for homelessness: “It takes an adult in the room in Quebec,” says André Fortin

The impatience of local elected officials is increasingly felt while $50 million is lying dormant at the federal level to help Quebec cities experiencing homelessness. The Legault government is slow to accept the amount, saying it wants the best conditions for Quebecers.

After the Outaouais organizations, it is the turn of local elected officials to press the Quebec government to act.

The Liberal MP for Pontiac, André Fortin, invites the Legault government to think about what could happen if we don’t accept that money quickly.

Honestly, I think it takes an adult in the room in Quebeche protests. We cannot afford to be sitting on money from the federal government because we are not able to agree on terms, because we have a little federal-provincial dispute.

Why is it blocking?

As the investment encroaches on a field of provincial jurisdiction, Quebec wants to establish its conditions, explains the provincial deputy for Hull, Suzanne Tremblay.

What we are doing is discussing with the federal government to be [certain] that the money we have to spend can be spent where the real needs areexplains the CAQ MP.

Suzanne Tremblay wants the cities of Montreal, Quebec and Gatineau to have their fair share.

These three cities come together to demand short-term funding to resolve the homelessness crisis in an open letter published Friday.

This dispute between Quebec and Ottawa is unacceptablejudges the mayor of Gatineau, Maude Marquis-Bissonnette, in this letter that she co-signed with the mayor of Montreal, Valérie Plante, and the mayor of Quebec, Bruno Marchand.

Needs immediate et important

Time is running out, insists Gatineau city councilor Steve Moran, especially as winter approaches.

The needs are immediate and are importantsays the man who is also the City’s homelessness commissioner. He asks that both parties come to an agreement quickly.

The situation is getting worse day by day.

He adds that the City of Gatineau is going out of its jurisdiction by acting on homelessness, even though this is a provincial jurisdiction. I would ask the same thing of other levels of governmenthe said.

His colleague, municipal councilor Denis Girouard, supports the public outing of the three mayors. I think it’s completely realistic to say that the mayors have had enough, the situation must be at the provincial levelhe explains.

A roaming camp was created in his district this summer, in Lac-Beauchamp park.

Faced with these negotiations between government levels and the demands of cities, Denis Girouard does not have hope of seeing a short-term solution.

We can send 92 letters, but if we don’t talk to anyone at the provincial level, no one will move.

For his part, the federal member for Gatineau, Steven McKinnon, deplores that the City of Gatineau must provide amounts records to respond to the homelessness crisis.

According to the Minister responsible for Social Services in Quebec, Lionel Carmant, agreements should be announced soon.

With information from Charlotte Tremblay and Véronique Prince