NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling on the federal government to take "real action" to help women struggling to find affordable housing, shelter space, and child care across the country.
Singh outlined three actions the Trudeau government could take immediately to help lift women out of poverty while on a visit to My Sisters' Place in London on Friday.
"We've got a prime minister who says some pretty things, he says some pretty words. He hasn't backed up those words with real action and when it comes to real action he moves quickly for the wealthiest corporations... but when women and children are being turned away from shelters he tells them to wait and I think that is wrong," said Singh.
In order to assist Canadian women who are struggling, Singh is demanding the federal government invest $14 billion over four years to create half a million new affordable housing units, fund the creation of 500,000 child care spaces over the next five years, and put additional dollars into shelters that provide programming and services to women.
"These are three specific steps the government could take to meaningfully change the lives of women and uplift women and allow our sisters, our mothers to live the dignified, respectful, full potential lives that they can and should live," said Singh, who was joined by London Fanshawe NDP MP Lindsay Mathyssen.
According to the NDP leader, an average of 620 women and children trying to escape domestic violence are turned away from shelters across Canada each day. He went on to note women are disproportionately affected by the housing crisis due to lower pay and more employment discrimination than men.
"That is something that cries out for urgency. What could be more urgent than a woman and her children not being able to have a place to go to when they are fleeing violence," Singh said. "This should be something that really shames the federal government into action."
Singh's visit to My Sisters' Place, a Dundas Street drop-in centre for women, came just two days before International Women’s Day. While there he met with some of the non-profit's clients and toured its mico-enterprise, where women can earn money by creating and selling re-purposed jewellery. My Sisters' Place offers shelter, counselling, hot meals, showers, laundry, and health-care services to roughly 150 women each day, seven days a week.
Prior to his stop at the shelter, Singh attended the sold-out International Woman's Day Breakfast at RBC Place London. He also had planned to visit the veterans care program at the Parkwood Institute on Wellington Road Friday afternoon.
