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Wednesday, August 23, 2006

dome challenged.

1. Seriously. SERIOUSLY.

The legislature begins a rare summer session tomorrow, but Premier Ralph Klein says what MLAs do under the Dome doesn't count for much.

The departing premier says that during his summer travels around the province - a combination farewell tour and fact-finding mission - he's been reminded that what happens at the legislature doesn't mean all that much to the average Albertan.

"I have always said what we see and do here bears no relationship with what is happening in the real world," Klein told the Sun. ...

2. CalgaryGrit has a found a ridiculous video of Florida Congress Republican candidate Tramm Hudson. Here's another ridiculous video.

3. According to the Globe & Mail:
The number of homeless people also seems to be on the rise. In 1992, when Calgary began its biennial count of the number of homeless in the city, there were 447 people without permanent shelter; this spring, the number reached 3,436. In Edmonton, the homeless population hovers at about 2,200.

Even smaller urban centres are now struggling with the issue. Grande Prairie in northern Alberta recently estimated that about 1,159 people -- the majority being men between the ages of 18 and 24 -- didn't have a roof over their heads.
According to the City of Grande Prairie, their estimated population in 2005 was 44, 631. If these numbers are correct, that means that 2.5% of people in Grande Prairie are homeless - that's about one in fourty citizens. We have a problem.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'd wager the vast majority of those "homeless" people in Grande Prairie is holding down a job with a better than average wage than most people in Canada. How many are seasonal or temporary workers?

Anonymous said...

"I'd wager the vast majority of those "homeless" people in Grande Prairie is holding down a job with a better than average wage than most people in Canada. How many are seasonal or temporary workers?"

Yeah, that $80,000 a year really means a lot when you don't have a roof above your head.

Anonymous said...

Yeah, that $80,000 a year really means a lot when you don't have a roof above your head.

Actually it does since most of those people have no intention of settling in Grande Prairie as they are seasonal or temporary workers.

I spent 8 months in 2001 living in either an Atco trailer or a tent working on the rigs around Fort St. John. I made $70k and happily returned to my native Saskatoon none the worse. I suppose by their definition I was homeless.

There's a vast difference between the typical homeless person often (or usually) suffering from an addiction problem or mental illness than someone working as a temp in a high paying job.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but this should cause some major concern to municipal and provincial leaders are the situation that Hinton Dave is presenting shows how unstable and predictible the local economies are. You have a population, which is sustaining the local economy, that is only interested in their salary and will pick up and leave when the boom goes bust. And Grande Prairie will suck thereafter.