• Rezone Richmond_Lansdowne to fully Rental
    Richmond’s lack of dense, affordable housing has created a world where there aren’t enough homes for everyone who needs one (read: everyone), and the ones that do get housed are paying ludicrous prices for a basic human right. A tight, rigid housing market means people will be locked out of our society, quite literally. With a more compact, affordable, and greener land, we can begin to correct these wrongs. People will be able to have more of a financial cushion for when things go wrong, workers won’t have to spend hours of their lives traveling to and from their jobs, and our next generation won’t have to move across oceans to find a home they can afford.
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    Created by Jiangyi He
  • Premier Ford: Protect renters, put a stop to Bill 184
    With millions of Canadians out of work through no fault of their own, it's become impossible for many to keep up with rent, small business owners and residents alike. Premier Ford has stated that "greedy landlords" must work with their commercial tenants or face his wrath - and rightly so. [1] Yet when it comes to residential tenants, Ford calls a very different tune. Ford's government is in the process of ramming through Bill 184, a cruel measure that makes it easier for landlords to evict tenants and makes it harder - in some cases impossible - for tenants to defend themselves in eviction hearings. It also slashes protections against landlords raising rents without notice. Finally, it makes it so that renters can no longer raise persistent disrepair issues at Landlord and Tenant Board hearings. [3] Make no mistake - most landlords are not your friendly mom and pop operations. In fact, in Canada, "mom and pop" landlords make up just 3% of Canadian households. Many landlords are huge financial investment firms who pay a management company to deal with the logistics - the landlord is simply a faceless batch of investors. [4,5] And they're not struggling. According to the Toronto Star, "a top Canadian REIT earned $778 million in rental revenue last year. Its operating expenses (including property taxes and utilities) were about $270 million — leaving $508 million in net operating income, or profits." [6] Premier Ford, you should be ashamed of yourself. You ran on a platform of supporting the "little guy". Yet here we are in the midst of a pandemic, and you're handing power over to faceless and obscenely wealthy corporations to senselessly evict struggling people and take away their ability to defend themselves at the Landlord and Tenant Board. We deserve better, Premier. You named Bill 184 "Protecting Tenants and Strengthening Community Housing". Make it live up to its name - strike out the provisions that will turn more people out on the streets or force them to live in chronic disrepair in the name of investor profits. Citations: [1] https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/2020/05/20/premier-doug-ford-rails-against-greedy-landlords-for-not-being-fair-to-commercial-tenants.html [2] https://www.blogto.com/real-estate-toronto/2020/05/ontario-bill-184-evictions/ [3] https://www.nationalobserver.com/2020/05/27/news/ontario-pushing-through-changes-tenancy-law-crisis-looms [4] https://www.landlordsoftoronto.com/ [5] https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/n7jy8b/dont-worry-about-paying-your-landlord-rent-during-the-coronavirus-crisis [6] https://www.thestar.com/opinion/contributors/thebigdebate/2020/04/28/the-big-debate-can-landlords-afford-to-forgive-rent-during-the-pandemic.html Photo credit: "Crossways Projects, Toronto" by Justin L Walsh (licensed under CC BY 2.0)
    128 of 200 Signatures
    Created by Timothy Ellis Picture
  • Don't reduce social assistance payments due to CERB
    Due to price gauging and other expenses in Canada during COVID19 some people myself included couldn't get enough food we asked local food banks for help no one showed up we had 2 days of food left and 2 weeks before we got paid again we had no choice like many many Canadians out there why should we be consequed for needing to feed our families and pay our bills just like everyone else. Anyways got a letter in the mail today stating that next month i may get 200 for the whole month and this is going to be the reality of the 1.something million people who have applied for the Cerb that didnt qualify that just wanted to feed their families or buy new clothes for their kids and since second hand stores are closed people on assistance are being forced to spend money that they would normally save by buying used so in closing please help people on assistance not lose their whole income for months
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    Created by Jocelynn McNeill
  • City of Kingston - No Forced Evictions at Belle Park
    Everyone deserves to have a say in their future, dignity, and a safe place to live. These are homeless people whose housing needs remain unmet by the city’s current shelter arrangements, which present high barriers for many people, including those who use alcohol or drugs, suffer from mental illness, or cannot manage the required two-week lockdown. The city needs to work with them so that they can live safely - forced evictions will not provide a real solution, but more displacement, harm, and turmoil in our community.
    975 of 1,000 Signatures
    Created by Mutual Aid Katarokwi-Kingston
  • What?? Paramedics in BC are not considered essential service!?
    Paramedics in BC are not considered essential service. This is an outrage. Today PM Trudeau announced a wage increase. Please help our paramedics receive the support they deserve as they put their lives and loved ones on the line to perform daily an unrecognized essential service.
    6 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Maia Seven Picture
  • Rápido Proceso de Inmigración
    Es importante para el país porque se podría regularizar el tipo de vida de esas personas que no cuentan con un SIN y un seguro médico en este país, una vez las personas ya regularizadas podrían trabajar y pagar impuestos en este país ya que necesita mucho trabajo y necesita mucho apoyo cuando todo esto de COVID-19 acabe, por favor ayúdenos somos muchos y necesitamos estar estables en un país tan grande y de tantas oportunidades.
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    Created by Jose Manuel Martinez Acevedo
  • CEBA Make Available to Small Businesses Sole-Proprietorship/Partnership
    Small Businesses not able to pay rent, etc., then maybe the government should be looking into this and help them out. Most small businesses are not Corporations but are sole- proprietorship or partnership. Even a family farm are in the same position since we are a family farm and not real big. Since ourselves & a lot of other small businesses like hairdresser, massage, etc will also fall into this category we are missed completely with getting the Canadian Emergency Business Account. Plus the Government thinks a landlord can just go without their rent. Honestly, they need to think a bit better on things. Some of these landlords may be paying a mortgage on the building so are unable to go without their rent. If these small businesses and small farms could get this help than that $40,000 interest free loan could be used to HELP pay the rent, or some of the expenses they may have. UNFORTUNATELY the issue that has been bothering me is how the Government caters to the big guys and our small family owned and operated businesses are not looked at. We need to start getting more small farms & businesses going again in all areas. More competition as well is better for everyone. A lot of the small business people that are non-incorporated apparently do not qualify for the government Canadian Emergency Business Account since they are not Corporations & do not have a T4 and work off of net profit instead. These are the ones that are truly needing it but don’t get the help. I have spoken to some of the corporations that get it. They think it is just great & even admit they don’t need it but they are taking it. YOU can’t blame them for doing that if the Government is Blind in seeing this. IN the first place a lot of these big businesses (that are still classed as a small business anyway which I find should be looked at different as well) get a lot of their purchase products at a lot better pricing than a small business. I know a case where a Corporation got their propane for 30cents while the other small business that was not a corporation was paying 78cents. Yet they still got the same money for selling their goods since it was the same type of business. This is just one example of how much the big business saves compared to a small business. No wonder there are less small businesses, small farmers & including small stores etc able to keep going. We are allowing the Big Corporations to run our country & the Government allows this as well. What is wrong with a balance of both corporations & small business. All the Government needs to start doing is looking at helping the small business. For the Canadian Emergency Business Account they just need to allow it to be available for businesses that work off of Net profit instead of T4. This would help a lot including the rent issue for businesses. To a small business this is better than nothing. To the big guy this is a treat they really do not need buy will take. Why is the Government holding back on this & giving it to the Corporations. Even a banker, & not my banker or bank, told me that he was calling all his (Corporations) and telling them to take it rather they need it or not. Honestly 99% of these probably are not needing it. THIS NEEDS TO STOP!! This is to be there for the businesses that TRULY are in need of help. This for it is not good & a lot of money NOT getting into the right hands that need it.
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    Created by Elizabeth Vanloo
  • COVID Grant for new and unemployed Permanent Residents
    This vulnerable group moved from their foreign countries, most through the Federal Skilled Workers program, and have been surviving on finite savings to pay rent, buy food, afford transportation, medication, and other needs. Most were in the process of applying for jobs and attending job interviews when the pandemic occurred, and are now unable to find employment due to hiring freezes. They are unable to even return to their home countries consequent of border closures. The government to date has extended the CERB to include many, most recently 9Billion for students whose employment prospects have worsened.
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    Created by Jonathan Beharry
  • Direct financial aid for seniors living in poverty
    Many seniors are living in poverty and are unable to afford nutritional food and vitamins which is important during this pandemic. So many sectors of the population are receiving direct financial aid and seniors are being left behind.
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    Created by Lauri Nerman
  • Stop Banks from Profiteering from the Covid-19 Pandemic
    I would suggest this affects millions of Canadians. In a time where money is getting very tight for consumers and food is more important than making a loan payment the banks should be prevented from profiting from the disaster.
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    Created by Floyd Smith
  • Please provide financial relief for Canadian university students during the Covid-19 pandemic
    The financial needs of Canadian university students are unaddressed by the Federal Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Both current students and recent graduates are unable to work in an economy that has been almost completely suspended. This will result in an accumulation of cost-of-living debt: some will be forced to take on large debt-loads via credit card, while others will go yet further into their student loans. This is unacceptable. This pandemic is out of the control of Canadian students, who are in a uniquely precarious situation. Though the government has taken a first step in temporarily deferring interest and loan payments, this action only assists a fraction of Canadian students, and neither does it address the fact that all will incur debt that they would otherwise have been able to mitigate in some way. Most Canadian students do not currently qualify for CERB (Canada Emergency Response Benefit). This vulnerability should be addressed, especially since the economic repercussions of this pandemic will persist with unknown and potentially devastating consequences.
    10 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Jordan Friesen
  • Let PSW's Apply for EI or the CERB Program
    This is an important issue because these front line workers are putting their lives to take care of people with disabilities and seniors and deserve social and economic justice.
    5 of 100 Signatures
    Created by Sarah Bondy