Red Tent Visits Port Moody

Last Tuesday at noon the red tents made their scheduled appearance on the lawn in front of MP James Moore's office in Port Moody. In a lot of ways MP Moore's office was perfect for a visit, located on the corner of St. John's and Mary Street with a wide stretch of grass where we could set up 10 tents and unfurl our 'Homes for All' banners.

After a few minutes of making our presence known a few of us went inside to ask the MP why he chose to vote against Bill C-304 (a bill for a nationaly funded housing strategy) when it came up for its second reading in Parliament. Although we were told Mr. Moore wasn't currently in BC  (summer vacation?) his front desk staffer made sure to point out all the stimulus money that the Conservative Party of Canada recently gave to Port Moody as evidence that the CPP cared about Port Moody's problems. While I'm sure conservative members appreciate the support they have been showing to themselves, to me it feels like just another example of the CPP's unwillingness to address issues of national importance like homelessness that effect all of our ridings. We left Mr. Moore a few leaflets highlighting the fact that the 2008 Greater Vancouver Homeless Count found the tri-cities area to have the highest percentage increase in homelessness (140%!), and that 3.3 million Canadians live in what is considered 'substandard housing'. We will check back with him when he comes home to see whether or not his thoughts on Bill C-304 have changed, but in the meantime the Red Tent campaign will make our way tomorrow to West Vancouver and the office of MP John Weston..