As the affordable housing crisis rages across Alberta, Tory Minister Ray Danyluk is traveling to New York to "investigate innovative programs to address homelessness and housing."
Now I wouldn't have had a problem with Danyluk traveling to New York had he not appointed an Affordable Housing Task Force to study and hold hearings on this issue across Alberta (which they did quite sucessfully).
The Affordable Housing Task Force, which delivered its final report to Danyluk in March 2007, contains many innovative ideas that have since been largely ignored by the Stelmach Tories.
And even if the Tories didn't like the Task Force's Final Report, there's no shortage of innovative ideas floating around Alberta to look at.
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I'm not sure innovative is the right word to describe the Liberal policy. Advocating a one time cap of 10% on rental increases is probably better described as simplistic... or maybe naive.
I wonder if any less thought could have gone into this particular policy. Why 10%... what makes 10% the magical number?
Why not take a smarter and more real world approach and link any rental increase caps to some fluctuating real world value like the CPI, which is used to measure inflation? That's what the Alberta NDP are advocating for.
Whether you prefer Unsteady Eddy, Dr. Taft or Mr. Mason, at least the NDP's policy on this issue makes real world sense.
Back in the day . . . the NDP in BC brought in rent controls . . . nobody built any rental accomodations . . . converted existing buildings to condos . . . now that's your govt at work . . . nuts!!!
that have since been largely ignored by the Stelmach Tories.M
I wonder how one reaches that conclusion. Surely you would have to wait for the fall legislature to judge how much the government has taken the report into account.
Besides which, the problems of unaffordable housing (the topic of the report) and homelessness (the topic of the trip), although closely related, are not quite the same thing.
If anything, we should be criticizing Danyluk for wanting to turn Alberta into a big government backwater like the kafka-esque bureaucratic nightmare that is NYC. Why pander to the welfare queen vote? People are prosperous.
Here's your made in Alberta solution: anyone without a home needs to pull themselves up by their bootstraps in an oil-rich province like this.
"I wonder how one reaches that conclusion. Surely you would have to wait for the fall legislature to judge how much the government has taken the report into account."
They don't seem to have a problem dealing with other issues through Orders in Council and unbudgeted spending.
Oh... snap!
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