Thank you, Mr. Speaker. The issue I wanted to raise today on behalf of my riding is the concern about the lack of public washrooms. People need to be people, and people need personal dignity, and they need to be normal just like you and I.
In the morning when the homeless are nudged out of the door — that is, if they’re the lucky ones — they are faced with the same issue, just like everyone here. Businesses have locked their doors and refused to give out keys for various reasons, some justified and some less justified. Having someone deal with bodily functions behind cars in the downtown parking lots, behind buildings, behind dumpsters, and even sometimes in dumpsters is not a symbol of our finer society achieving its better moments in history. Has all been lost, I wonder. Has society given up on them? I start to wonder about that too.
Mr. Speaker, the issue really is: has this become normalized? I certainly hope it hasn’t. We have to ask ourselves what we are elevating this issue with. Are we dealing with this, or are we ignoring it? The homeless, as well as some of the other street
people who spend time at the Salvation Army and other places, need a place to be able to turn to. Businesses are not sharing this opportunity.
Our government needs to stand up to the pressure and all the silly little jokes of not realizing that this is a real issue. Those people should be ashamed of themselves. I believe this public government has a responsibility to develop an approach that will help people. Mr. Speaker, if we are truly the society we promise to be, we should start showing it.