The Editor,
A number of social issues are clouding the future of people in West Quebec. Besides the need for a new hospital and better accessibility to medical care, housing prices and lack of accessibility are a dead weight on the aspirations of young people.
It is no coincidence that the cost of affordable housing has skyrocketed and has evaporated the ability of people to find decent, affordable housing. Successive Liberal and Conservative governments have reneged on their responsibility to ensure that housing as a human right is kept as part of the social contract with citizens in Canada. Instead, they have enacted policies that passed the torch of housing to market forces.
Market forces have one overarching goal in mind: making profits. The needs of first-time home buyers, senior citizens and their special needs, and families with children, are not the focus of people who see housing as an investment tool for profit making.
The Pontiac NDP is hosting a round table on Jan. 14, at 2 pm on housing, at UQO, on Tache Blvd in Hull. The session promises to be a much-needed and interesting event open to the public.
Carl Hager
Gatineau, QC