FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 28, 2025
Statement from Karla Bernard on the PC Government’s Failure to Support Vulnerable Islanders
Charlottetown, PE – The Community Outreach Centre has become a game of political football between the provincial government and the City of Charlottetown, with those accessing these necessary services at the centre and the people living in the surrounding area caught in the middle. The situation we find ourselves in today lies squarely on the shoulders of the PC government for its inaction on housing and mental health and addictions.
This government has had six years to meaningfully tackle the housing crisis and invest in transitional housing and public housing – and it has failed. PEI has the lowest vacancy rate in the country, the gap between wages and housing costs has grown faster than ever in Island history, and for those experiencing housing insecurity, things have never been worse. The most recent Point In Time count on PEI revealed that in the last three years, homelessness has increased dramatically – in fact it has more than doubled.
A Housing First approach is what we desperately need in our city and our province – where people are treated with dignity, and supported with a complete suite of services. The shelter on Park Street, where folks who go there at 8 pm each day must surrender all their belongings and must leave at 8 am the next morning, cannot be our solution to housing. It is a band-aid over a bullet hole.
This government and previous governments have been consistently unwilling to invest in mental health and addiction services. This government has failed to increase the number of detox beds or transitional unit spaces. This government has failed to get shovels in the ground for the new mental health hospital.
The Housing Minister Steven Myers may say that he has come in and fixed the problem, but the truth is, the growing challenges these vulnerable Islanders are facing will not be fixed with the Community Outreach Centre alone. Their challenges have been created by this government over years and will not be fixed without hard work, collaboration and a real commitment to treating all Islanders with the dignity and respect they deserve.
Karla Bernard
MLA Charlottetown-Victoria Park
Leader of the Third Party
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For media inquiries, please contact:
Katie Rankin
Chief of Staff
Office of the Third Party
Tel: (902) 213-6378
Email: kerankin@assembly.pe.ca