Around The Horn In 60 Seconds

Fatigue.

Not blogging fatigue, but real life fatigue from working overtime, parenting, and doing the little things that exist outside of this virtual realm of reality. So things have been a little slow lately, but it isn’t as though we’re in a particularly riveting moment in time [unlike a week ago]. Parliament is prorogued. The Liberals have appointed a new leader. And the Leafs are still in contention for last place in the Eastern conference.

So since I can’t muster up the energy for my usual long-winded reiterations of political gobbledegook, here’s my quick take of the news [a.k.a around the horn in 60 seconds]:

Stephen Harper continues with his plan to force democratic reform on the Senate through partisan hackery; Not a leader redux is coming at a terribly maintained website near you; Third time’s not a charm for this GST cut idea; From the last year’s fad news; Is it a servant for the public, or a public that serves the servant?; here’s a novel idea: get a job instead.

See you all tomorrow. In the meantime, the first result is up at the CBA’s.

Addendum: Olaf officially unendorses Stephen Harper.

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Mission Impossible: Gregor Robertson To Tackle Homelessness

Day one has ushered in a possible first for a politician: keeping his word. Gregor Robertson acted immediately on promises to end homelessness in Vancouver after he was sworn in as Mayor by announcing 150 new beds to shelter the homeless at night at First United Church located on Hastings Street in the downtown east side. He then announced the creation of a government task force that will assess municipal, provincial, non-profit and private sectors for solutions to homelessness in order to immediately provide help. The task force with the unfortunately corny acronym H.E.A.T. stands for Homeless Emergency Action Team:

“We are going to focus first on homelessness — a very urgent response to the winter that’s setting in here and all the people that are sleeping on the streets,” Robertson said after the ceremony.

“We are going to make an important announcement tomorrow regarding our first steps to address the homelessness crisis.”

[...]

“Ending street homelessness is this council’s top priority,” Robertson told his first official press conference. “For now, our focus is on getting as many people as possible off the streets as quickly as possible.”

It’s difficult to argue with the simplicity of the plan so far. The former NDP MLA is definitely a left-of-centre mayor, but even as a fiscal conservative I can understand the important necessity of a city having the essential infrastructure to deal with emergency response to desperate need. Providing beds and shelter is a bare minimum necessity that government is obliged, I feel morally, to provide citizens. This isn’t about throwing money at a problem, but a tangible and visible assistance at the front lines of homelessness.

Of course this is only the first step in addressing the need here, and it will require provincial and even federal funding to “solve” the homeless crisis here in British Columbia. That’s because beyond just shelter from the elements, the drug and mental addiction that fuels B.C.’s chronic homelessness problem will require help from all tiers of government. As a centrist who leans to the right, I support the ideas put forward by the young mayor so far, and I can think of few things more important than finding a way to improve the situation in the downtown east side.

With thanks to The Hook

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