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Libby takes on the 2010 hunger strike relay to end homelessness

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Posted on 2010.01.10

Libby takes on the 2010 hunger strike relay to end homelessness

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 10, 2009

MP LIBBY DAVIES TO START HUNGER STRIKE IN RELAY TO END HOMELESSNESS

Vancouver – Vancouver East MP Libby Davies will start a week long hunger strike today, as part of the 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay, with the main goal of getting Canada to implement a National Housing Program.

“Canada is the only G8 country without a national housing strategy and we see the deteriorating housing situation as a result of this political apathy,” said Davies. “We have such a severe crisis in Vancouver, with an almost zero vacancy rate, people are now crying out for every level of government to see this as a key priority.”

The Hunger Strike, now in its 13th month, coincides with the 2010 Olympic Games to raise the international profile of the problem of homelessness in Canada.

“With billions of dollars being poured into the Olympics, the 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay is raising awareness about what is really happening at the community level. The federal government has been absent from this debate for far too long,” said Am Johal, a hunger strike coordinator and member of Impact on Communities Coalition.

Davies, whose Bill for a national housing strategy (C-304) has passed through committee, says events like the Olympics can actually push up housing costs, leaving low-income people and families out in the cold.

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Hunger Strike for Homelessness – Day 1

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Posted on 2010.01.10

Hunger Strike for Homelessness – Day 1

cross posted on rabble.ca

Today was the first day of my participation in the 2010 Homelessness Hunger Strike Relay to end homelessness in Canada. The Relay is now in week 55! At noon today I proudly accepted the relay torch (a big wooden spoon) from Emily Walker who did week 54. We did this in front of the Olympic Countdown clock on Georgia Street and I was happy to see a fair number of media show up for the event. A big thankyou to Am Johal, the hunger strike co-ordinator from Imapact on Communities Coalition who has organized the hunger strike.

With the Olympics just about a month away – we need to expose the terrible reality that a Billion dollars is being spent on security, (in addition to all the other costs for the 2010 Olympics) but housing commitments have not been kept.

From the Olympic clock, I headed down to Main and Hastings and set up shop in front of the Carnegie Center, with my flip chart and paper, pens, petitions, and cards and chair.

For the next couple hours it was a total blast. This is a VERY busy corner that I am intimately familiar with for close to 40 years. You meet the most interesting people, all milling about, from drug dealers, to grandmas, veterans, homeless people, drug users, aboriginal elders, young folks, people selling, buying, people standing in a food line up, and even an avowed antichrist or two. I love this corner – because you really learn about what’s happening for people. Luckily it wasn’t raining and people were eager to write on the flip chart the most amazing comments and support. My favourite was, ” To shun poor people is to mock the Creator”. Many people wrote why they see housing as so important and what it means to not have housing. Some folks stood for a while and said they didn’t know what to write – then came back and wrote lots.

I will keep the flip chart sheets and make sure the information recorded is used to strengthen the demand for housing.

Kim checked in on me every once in awhile, and I was always deep in conversation, sitting right at the corner on my chair. Quite a few people asked me about Bill C304, my Housing Bill in Parliament that would ensure that the federal government develops a national housing program. I was happy to report that the Bill is alive and well, and once parliament resumes (well, that’s another story), will go on to 3rd reading. The Bill has had tremendous support across the country and continues to gather more. One of the main reasons for being part of the Hunger Strike relay is draw attention to this critical need for federal participation via Bill C304. It’s been a long time coming and there is no doubt we are seeing the consequences of that fateful decision by the federal government in 1995 to withdraw from housing. It’s a disaster and homelessness and poverty have gotten worse in the past 2 decades.

So this is what I’ll be doing for the next 7 days. And I’ll be in front of Carnegie each day from noon to 3pm.

If you’re in Vancouver and have time – please drop by and show your support for housing. It’s a human right.

Libby

Who should pay the cost of visiting dignitaries?

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Who should pay the cost of visiting dignitaries?

Keeping George W. Bush safe on the Canadian speaking circuit is on track to cost the RCMP more than half-a-million dollars this year, as taxpayers foot the bill regardless of whether they buy a ticket to any of the former U.S. president's exclusive events. Mr. Bush is following the lucrative path of his predecessor, Bill Clinton, making big money as a speaker-for-hire with regular stops in Canada. But as Mr. Bush prepares for three Canadian speeches next month, new figures show there's a big difference between a Bush speech and a Clinton speech when it comes to the public purse.

The original article, Tab for Mounties to protect Bush was published on September 25, 2009 in Globe and Mail. Author(s): Bill Curry

Libby speaking out for female ski jumpers – Libby Davies

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Libby speaking out for female ski jumpers

Two Lower Mainland MPs are calling on Prime Minister Stephen Harper to personally intervene to resolve a dispute over the exclusion of female ski jumpers at next month’s Winter Olympics. Liberal Joyce Murray (Vancouver Quadra) and New Democrat Libby Davies (Vancouver East) want the PM to contact International Olympic Committee president Jacques Rogge and find a solution enabling Olympic organizers to host a female competition next month.

The original article, 2 opposition MPs urge PM to insist that Olympics include female ski jumpers was published on January 5, 2010 in The Vancouver Sun. Author(s): Barbara Yaffe

Libby holding Harper to account – Libby Davies

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Libby holding Harper to account

As the NDP House leader, lesbian MP Libby Davies is in charge of her party’s day-to-day business in the Commons. The trouble is, it’s difficult to do that job when you’re effectively shut out of work for two months. On Dec 30, Prime Minister Stephen Harper phoned the Governor General to request prorogation — ending the current session of Parliament — with an eye to a new throne speech on Mar 3 and a budget speech the following day.

The original article, Libby Davies on prorogation: “We’re not going to let Stephen Harper off the hook” was published on January 4, 2010 in Xtra.ca. Author(s): Dale Smith

K’naan presses MPs to help world’s poor as generic-drug vote looms

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K’naan presses MPs to help world’s poor as generic-drug vote looms

OTTAWA – K’naan, the Juno Award-winning musician whose song Wavin’ Flag was Coca Cola’s anthem for the 2010 World Cup, will be on Parliament Hill on Wednesday to urge MPs to pass Bill C-393. He will be joined by Stephen Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, and James Orbinski, the founder of Dignitas International, a medical humanitarian organization…Bill C-393 was introduced by now-retired MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis but was essentially orphaned when she left federal politics to take a run at the Winnipeg mayor’s job. All bills need sponsors as they move through the various stages of debate and, if the Conservatives – who oppose the legislation – had refused to let it change hands, it eventually would have died. NDP House Leader Libby Davies persuaded the other parties earlier this year to allow her NDP colleague Paul Dewar to be recognized as the bill’s new sponsor, a move that kept it alive.

The original article, K’naan presses MPs to help world’s poor as generic-drug vote looms was published on March 8, 2011 in The Globe and Mail. Author(s): Gloria Galloway

Libby asks the Conservative government why they broke their health care promises

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Posted on 2012.03.29

Libby asks the Conservative government why they broke their health care promises

House of Commons

HANSARD

March 28, 2012

 

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, the Conservatives promised more jobs. Instead, they are slashing vital services like medicare. Five million Canadians do not even have access to a family doctor.

The Prime Minister made a single health care promise in the last election: to protect federal transfers. Yet, it took him just eight months to break that promise. Why should Canadians trust a Prime Minister who cannot even keep such a basic promise?

Why is he turning his back on Canada’s most cherished institution? Why is he abandoning medicare?

 

Hon. Leona Aglukkaq (Minister of Health and Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency, CPC):

Mr. Speaker, we have announced a long-term stable funding arrangement with the provinces and the territories. The transfers will reach an historic level of $40 billion by the end of the decade. My goal is to ensure that Canada’s health system is more sustainable and accountable to Canadians. Let me just list a few things that the NDP voted against in the last budget: significant funding to assist the homeless, mental health program funding that would increase health infrastructure for first nations, funding to help treat and prevent those with drug addictions–

 

Ms. Libby Davies (Vancouver East, NDP):

Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister promised Canadians that he would protect health care, but now he is ready to slash it. The Conservative plan short-changes provinces by a whopping $31 billion.

It forces cash-strapped provinces to gut front-line health care services.

Who pays the price? Seniors who will not be able to live with dignity and comfort and anxious parents who will not be able to find a doctor to see their sick children.

Why is the Prime Minister turning his back on his promise to protect health care services?

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