Guelph Politicast

Although housing and homelessness has been THE issue for the last few years, it feels like they didn’t make a dent in the recently completed provincial election. As the news obsessively tracks the tariff war and Doug Ford’s response to Donald Trump’s latest drama, the struggles of growing unaffordability and homelessness seems to have taken a back seat., So now that the election is over, does anyone in authority still care about these issues? Back in December, Premier Ford held a media event at Queen’s Park. In the company of several mayors he announced the Ontario Restoring Safety to Parks and Public Spaces Act, a bill that expanded police powers in dealing with encampments and offered stiffer penalties for people who repeatedly break trespass laws and use illegal drugs in public. But just before the election call there was a turnaround, the Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing said that maybe it wasn't needed after all. Not wanting to take chances, the Ontario Coalition for the Rights of Homeless Peopl