Posted on 08/13/2003 9:53:55 PM PDT by Pikamax
Nunziata assailed for ban on homeless Wants people taken to shelters, medical facilities Other candidates wonder how plan would be done
BRUCE DEMARA CITY HALL BUREAU
Mayoral candidates clashed yesterday over former MP John Nunziata's "tough love" plan to forcibly remove homeless people from city streets.
"I will put forward my plan to deal with those who sleep on the streets of Toronto. I don't believe that they're homeless. I believe people that sleep in minus 25-degree temperatures are people that are sick, addicted to drugs or alcohol. They have a mental incapacity, they're unable to make decisions on their own," Nunziata said during a mayoral forum hosted by three real-estate organizations at the Design Exchange.
"I would declare those individuals to be adults in need of protection and they would be brought to hospitals or medical facilities ... in order to receive the treatment that they need," he said, adding he would also ban panhandling if elected mayor on Nov. 10.
But Nunziata's plan drew the ire of fellow contenders, who wondered whose task it would be to remove homeless people from the street and where they would go.
"Anybody who thinks you can take people off the street and either put them in the Don Jail or in the shelters that are already full is the one living in the dream world," said Councillor David Miller (Ward 13, Parkdale-High Park).
"We cannot have police paddy wagons going down the street, that's just not acceptable to our society," added former budget chief Tom Jakobek.
Jakobek said homelessness costs the city more than $100 million annually. But he said part of the solution is to ensure that physicians, along with addiction counsellors and nurses, staff the city's shelters.
Nunziata insisted that homeless people would not be "arrested" by police.
"I think it's inappropriate ... to suggest I intend to send police officers out to arrest people. I've made it clear they will not be arrested, they will be brought to public facilities," he said.
"What are those facilities? Tell us the facilities," demanded former mayor Barbara Hall.
Nunziata named existing shelters or the rotunda at Toronto City Hall as likely places to get the homeless out of the cold.
He also accused Hall and Miller and the "politics of the left" for contributing to the problem.
"People have been afraid to take the measures that are necessary in order to deal with the situation in a compassionate way. My approach is compassionate, it's not sending paddy wagons around. It's making sleeping in the streets of Toronto unlawful but sending in paramedics or others that will bring these individuals to a safe environment," Nunziata said.
Candidate John Tory, a former Rogers Cable president, said Nunziata's plan lacked specifics. He pointed to a report by former federal finance minister Michael Wilson, commissioned by the provincial government, calling for 14,000 new units of housing for people with mental-health issues as a more realistic approach to the homeless crisis.
Nunziata also had a testy exchange with Tory, linking the adviser to former Tory premier Bill Davis to his government's deinstitutionalization policy of the 1970s, in which large mental-health facilities were closed.
"The reality is ... that it was your government, the government that you were a major player in, that contributed to the problem," Nunziata said.
When he also tried to connect Jakobek to the Progressive Conservatives, Tory shot back: "You've belonged to every political party over the years, ... you've belonged to every single one."
Tory was alluding to Nunziata's sympathies with the New Democrats during his days as a councillor in the former city of York before becoming a Liberal MP, and his subsequent flirtation with the Alliance Party and the provincial Progressive Conservatives.
Following the debate, real-estate broker Lena Malone said she was "not impressed" with Nunziata's performance.
"Just overall, criticizing others and all that stuff doesn't get you anywhere," Malone said.
Lynn Kennedy, with Sun Life Financial, said she was impressed by all the candidates.
"I think they all share a passion for the city. I think they are very diverse in their experience," Kennedy said. "It'll be a very difficult decision in November."
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