Despite significant public concern, last year, the federal and provincial Liberal governments approved the sale of Retirement Concepts – the largest private provider of residential-care and assisted-living services in B.C. – to Chinese investment firm Anbang Insurance. Alarmingly, on February 23, 2018, a Chinese government regulator took control of Anbang’s assets (including Retirement Concepts' facilities) due to fraud and embezzlement. There is substantial concern that, in order to deal with the debt, Retirement Concepts’ facilities will face operational cuts, layoffs and contracting out, and the sale of facility assets. This has created an environment of fear and uncertainty for frontline care and support workers, the seniors they care for, and their families.

In North America, safe roads and licensed drivers are something that we take for granted. Pedestrian deaths are not a daily norm, and if they are to ever occur, we can be sure that the drivers will be held accountable. This is not the case for citizens of Bangladesh, where unregulated driving and lack of road safety lead to hundreds of deaths on a regular basis. Ambulances cannot even travel to patients on time due to no rules regarding the safe passage of medical vehicles. Last week, the deaths of two teenagers in a senseless truck hit and run sparked massive protests across the nation. Teenagers, young adults, teachers and more took to the streets halting civilian drivers, and government officials, demanding proof of licensing. Protesters have a simple demand: Safer roads. This demand was not met. What they were met with was violence. Multiple students and teens have been severely injured, raped and even murdered for daring to speak out about the lack of consequences that government officials and the wealthy face for reckless driving which results in the deaths of hundreds. More than a hundred students were injured on August 4th when police opened fired with rubber bullets. Students shared stories, pleas and proof of the violence via facebook. The government's response was to halt mobile internet access for 24 hours. This is a violation of human rights, children are being attacked and losing their lives for demanding safer living conditions, and it is our responsibility to foster change.

The people of Ontario are deeply concerned by Premier Ford's stated intention to divert mental health funding towards policing, in light of a mass shooting carried out by a mentally troubled person. From the beginning of Ford's premiership, his promised investment of $1.9 billion in mental health investments over 10 years already represented a $335 million annual cut in proposed funding to mental health. [1] From this already small proposed investment, Ford proposed shifting some of this mental health funding to policing. [2] This shift in policy perpetuates the long-standing problem of using reactionary measures like criminalization to address mental health issues, when instead, proactive measures like mental health support are needed. [3] The proposed shift in funding will harm the people of Ontario who depend on already scarce mental health resources, while signalling to the public that state force is an appropriate substitute for accessible care. [1] https://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2018/07/26/tories-blasted-for-335m-cut-in-planned-spending-on-mental-health.html [2] https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ford-to-use-mental-health-money-for-policing-1.4759578 [3] https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J_Wormith/publication/19251180_The_Criminalization_of_Psychiatrically_Ill_People_A_Review_with_a_Canadian_Perspective/links/55b946f108ae092e965b313a/The-Criminalization-of-Psychiatrically-Ill-People-A-Review-with-a-Canadian-Perspective.pdf ---------- Public Advocates in support of strengthening mental health funding: Bhutila Karpoche, MPP for Parkdale-High Park Community Organizations in support of strengthening mental health funding: Warrior Women of Quinte

For many years, our neighbourhood, centred around the parallel 600 blocks of Constance Ave. and Nelson St. has contained one of the highest concentrations of low income rentals in the Greater Victoria area. While a few of us are home owners with Fairfield-perfect families, most of us are tenants, many of whom are on disability. (The shelter portion of a monthly disability cheque is under $400 for a single person.) Some of us are single parents. Some of us are seniors. Some of us have addictions. And some of us lack the social graces. So much so, in fact, that some of you wouldn't want some of us to move into your neighbourhood. We'd rather we stay here too. But we can't: our neighbourhood is being gentrified. Over the last couple of years, developers have descended upon our neighbourhood, buying up buildings and houses in order to demolish them and then put up more expensive housing.The remaining landlords have started the predictable follow up: renovations on vacated suites that price rentals out of the reach of low-income people. The overall effect is a depletion in the stock of low-income housing, in an area where renters already struggle with a 0.7 vacancy rate, one of the lowest in Canada. Unless the Esquimalt Council wants to end up being compared to Vancouver's Council under Mayor Gordon Campbell, it needs to stop treating our neighbourhood the way Campbell treated East Van. The Council needs to push pause on the developments and rent-increasing renos in this neighbourhood and to use the resultant time to come up with a policy requiring developers and renovating landlords to assist displaced tenants to find housing and to ensure that the stock of low-income housing is not further depleted. Vancouver has such a policy now and Victoria is implementing one in September. We can't save our community. We know that we don't have that kind of power. But please sign our petition so that we can at least try to get Esquimalt to help ensure that some of our displaced neighbours don't end up living on the street.

20% of Canadians are reported to have a disability, including 200,000 Canadian children; This is predicted to rise to 25% by 2031; People of all ages have disabilities of many types; There is no building code in Canada mandating that housing be made accessible to people with disabilities; Universal design will accommodate anyone of any age or ability, going beyond mere accessibility, and demonstrating an underlying commitment to including as wide a range of users as possible; and The Canadian Human Rights Code and Charter of Rights and Freedoms forbid discrimination on the basis of disability.

Translink’s lack of affordability measures means that right now thousands of people cannot access the basic service of public transit they need to live, work and thrive. Children, youth and adults who lack access to any other form of transport remain locked out of our transit system. With free transit for children and youth 0-18 and a sliding scale pass based on income, those who are homeless can get to the shelters they need to survive, families will no longer have to make hard choices, folks can get to work without losing the bulk of their hard-earned wages, those seeking jobs can get to interviews and to work, and everyone can access the health care they need, when they need it. In the words of one dad, "I had to choose between transit to get myself to the doctor or buying my daughter milk." We can and must do better. The time is now.

This pilot project is extremely important to all Ontarians, regardless of disability or any other individual or family life circumstance. There is still far too much poverty in this province as it is, and I applaud Miss Wynne for her efforts regarding this invaluable financial plan, one of very few good ideas she proposed during her party's long leadership tenure. As prices continue to rise on everything in our daily lives, this file's urgency is key.

Let's make sure that the Clean Energy Act only lets BC Hydro burn clean wood, which is not creosote-soaked rail ties.

Manitoba is on the brink of a transportation crisis. Yesterday, Greyhound announced that they are completely shutting down all bus service in the province. [1] The end of this vital bus service will leave many people without transportation options -- particularly those living in more rural communities where public transportation is inadequate or non-existent, and those who don’t have access to their own vehicle to get around. We need to make sure that there’s a plan in place before the Greyhound service ends, so that the people who rely on their services aren’t left stranded. A massive public outcry will force our governments to take action, and ensure that communities impacted by Greyhound’s cuts continue to have access to transportation. Sign the petition now, and call on Manitoba's Minister of Infrastructure Ron R. Schuler and the federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to replace the Greyhound service in Manitoba. [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-cancellations-alberta-manitoba-saskatchewan-british-columbia-1.4739459

Saskatchewan is on the brink of a transportation crisis. Yesterday, Greyhound announced that they are completely shutting down all bus service in the province. [1] The end of this vital bus service will leave many people without transportation options -- particularly those living in more rural communities where public transportation is inadequate or non-existent, and those who don’t have access to their own vehicle to get around. We need to make sure that there’s a plan in place before the Greyhound service ends, so that the people who rely on their services aren’t left stranded. A massive public outcry will force our governments to take action, and ensure that communities impacted by Greyhound’s cuts continue to have access to transportation. Sign the petition now, and call Saskatchewan's Minister of Highways and Infrastructure David Marit and the federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to replace the Greyhound service in Saskatchewan. [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-cancellations-alberta-manitoba-saskatchewan-british-columbia-1.4739459

British Columbia is on the brink of a transportation crisis. Yesterday, Greyhound announced that they are cancelling all but one of their bus routes in the province. [1] The end of this vital bus service will leave many people without transportation options -- particularly those living in more rural communities where public transportation is inadequate or non-existent, and those who don’t have access to their own vehicle to get around. We need to make sure that there’s a plan in place before the Greyhound service ends, so that the people who rely on their services aren’t left stranded. The BC government has already taken some steps to replace Greyhound services that were cut earlier this year, including introducing a pilot project to replace the long distance bus service along the Highway of Tears. Bus service along Highway 16 was a key recommendation of the Highway of Tears Symposium in 2006 -- and Indigenous groups and communities along the highway have been advocating for improved transportation on the route for years. Now, dozens more Greyhound bus routes across the province are in jeopardy. We need to turn up the pressure on our governments to take action, and ensure that communities impacted by Greyhound’s cuts continue to have access to transportation. Sign the petition now, and call on BC's Minister of Transportation Claire Trevena and the federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to replace the Greyhound service in British Columbia. [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-cancellations-alberta-manitoba-saskatchewan-british-columbia-1.4739459

Alberta is on the brink of a transportation crisis. Yesterday, Greyhound announced that they are completely shutting down all bus service in the province. [1] The end of this vital bus service will leave many people without transportation options -- particularly those living in more rural communities where public transportation is inadequate or non-existent, and those who don’t have access to their own vehicle to get around. We need to make sure that there’s a plan in place before the Greyhound service ends, so that the people who rely on their services aren’t left stranded. A massive public outcry will force our governments to take action, and ensure that communities impacted by Greyhound’s cuts continue to have access to transportation. Sign the petition now, and call on Alberta's Minister of Transportation Brian Mason and the federal Minister of Transport Marc Garneau to replace the Greyhound service in Alberta. [1] https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/greyhound-cancellations-alberta-manitoba-saskatchewan-british-columbia-1.4739459