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TDRC Media Releases |
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE November 12th, 2003
HEY PAUL MARTIN: WHERE ARE THOSE ROOMS?
RALLY & MARCH FOR HOUSING:
(Toronto) “Finding Room: Housing Solutions for the Future” was the title of the National Liberal Caucus Task Force on Housing, co-authored in 1990 by Paul Martin, MP. “The housing crisis is growing at an alarming rate and the government sits there and does nothing,” said Martin in 1990. “The federal government’s role [should] be that of a partner working with other levels of government, and private and public housing groups. But leadership must come from one source; and a national vision requires some national direction.” But more than 13 years later (including a decade with Paul Martin as federal finance minister), the nation-wide homelessness disaster and affordable housing crisis has grown worse. “The shortage of affording housing [is] one of the nation’s most pressing public policy issues,” reported TD Economics in June of 2003. “What is troubling is that ten years of economic expansion have barely put a dent in the problem, and in many urban markets – which is where inadequate volumes of reasonably priced dwellings tend to be most acute – it has only been getting worse.” The Toronto Disaster Relief Committee (TDRC), the Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU), the Homelessness Action Group (HAG) and the National Housing and Homelessness Network (NHHN) are co-sponsoring a rally and march for housing on Friday, Nov. 14, starting at 11 a.m. at Grange Park (Beverley Street, north of Queen). The group will march to the Liberal Leadership Convention at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre (Front and John Streets), arriving shortly after 11:30am. Once at the Convention Centre, the group will build a symbolic house to remind Paul Martin of his 13-year-old commitment for a comprehensive and fully-funded national housing program. For more information, contact TDRC at tdrc@tdrc.net -30- |