Latest news with #Dinn
CBC
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
PCs call for more accessible public housing, NDP calls NLHC a 'slum landlord' in wake of Livingstone fire
Members of Newfoundland and Labrador's opposition parties say the province's housing corporation needs to do better after a fire destroyed six public housing units in St. John's last month. On March 27, a fire burned through a row of six Newfoundland and Labrador Housing Corporation (NLHC) — a provincial Crown corporation — units on Livingstone Street in downtown St. John's. One person was displaced and has been transferred elsewhere. The five other units were vacant. NLHC announced it will demolish the units "in the interest of public safety," according to interim Housing Minister Sarah Stoodley. "Those properties were not salvageable in terms of repair," Stoodley said in a recent interview with CBC Radio's The St. John's Morning Show. "From a public safety perspective, we thought it was important to demolish them as soon as possible." Since the units went up in flames, Stoodley says they've been subject to vandalism and break-ins. A metal fence now guards those six houses. Stoodley says NLHC currently has a vacancy rate of four per cent. She says most vacancies in public housing are because of renovations that need to take place before a new tenant can move in, and the NLHC does not yet have a plan for what will happen to the soon-to-be empty lot on Livingstone Street. Further, Stoodley says the the area is on a steep hill, and isn't "conducive to accessible units." WATCH | Fire department says the extensive fire spread to adjoining properties: 1 person displaced after fire destroys downtown homes 19 days ago Duration 0:56 Three fire stations responded to a call shortly before 1 a.m. NT Thursday after smoke was spotted coming from a vacant residence on Livingstone Street in downtown St. John's. Police say the unit was extensively damaged, along with adjoining units in the building. One resident has been offered support through the Canadian Red Cross. The cause of the fire is under investigation. Progressive Conservative housing critic Jodey Wall begs to differ. "I'm sure we have the ability to put in accessible housing in any area," he said. "[There's] a staggering number with respect to people waiting for housing." 'A state of disrepair' NDP Leader Jim Dinn wrote a letter to Stoodley. "The provincial government and NLHC seem to have written off the Tessier Park, Livingstone, centre city area neighbourhood, and the people who call the area home feel abandoned," Dinn wrote. He says the housing units in that area of St. John's have been "left in a state of disrepair," and wants a commitment from the government that the units will be repaired soon. "I want something within the next year," he said. "I also would like to see every other unit there brought up to standard." The cause of the fire is still unknown, but Dinn says he heard from nearby residents that unhoused people were staying in the vacant units to keep warm. "They knew that there was eventually going to be a fire here," said Dinn. "People were, I guess, squatting in the place because they had nowhere else to go." Walking through the downtown neighbourhood, Dinn says he's observed siding peeling off houses, smashed windows and exposed insulation. He says it's a sign of NLHC's neglect. "The NLHC has started to look like a slum landlord," Dinn wrote in his letter to Stoodley. He included an eight-point list of recommendations, including hiring staff to maintain public housing units, providing security to ensure fires don't break out in vacant units and to commit to a space for a community centre in the neighbourhood.
CBC
07-04-2025
- Health
- CBC
N.L. NDP leader slams personal care homes over hundreds of evictions
Auditor general found 91 residents refused re-admittance after hospitalization An eviscerating report into Newfoundland and Labrador's personal care homes found hundreds of incidents where residents were evicted, including some being refused re-admittance after needing emergency room visits. Newfoundland and Labrador's NDP Leader Jim Dinn called the auditor general's report on personal care homes"disturbing." The report also found sexual assault allegations, improperly administered medication and an accidental overdose death. "When we're talking about the care of seniors, it's important to remember that seniors are not commodities. They're not widgets, they're not some product we're churning out. They're people," Dinn told CBC News on Thursday. Denise Hanrahan's report found 91 residents who needed emergency room visits and weren't accepted back by their personal care home. "What a disrespectful, disrespectful, inhuman way to treat a senior," Dinn said. He said emergency rooms are notoriously full, but also wonders if some of those people needed to be there at all. "Are they just dropped off? Discarded? It's almost like setting them adrift," he said. The report noted that the practice was known by the Department of Health and Community Services and Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services, but not addressed. Interim Health Minister John Haggie said it's inaccurate to paint a picture of residents being dumped in a parking lot. "It's a nuanced issue because there are a variety of reasons why a person might go to the emergency department and not at that moment go back to the personal care home," Haggie told reporters on Friday. Hundreds of evictions According to Hanrahan, during the audit period — between April 2022 and September 2024 — the health authority reported 254 resident evictions. Five residents were evicted without consultation with the health authority. The provincial Residential Tenancies Act does not apply to personal care home residents. Dinn said that means there are no grounds for personal care home residents to appeal an eviction. But, he said, such evictions should not be happening and the government needs to take steps to prevent it. "It's a shameful practice," he said. He suggested personal care homes could be brought into the public health system. Complicated role On Friday, NLHS CEO Dr. Pat Parfrey said evictions are "definitely a problem." "The poor people who are evicted, it must be a massive problem," Parfrey told CBC News. If a personal care home refuses to take a resident back, he said they are then admitted to the health-care system, which leaves NLHS to determine where they should go for care. It's likely that some of the residents who were refused re-admittance were turned away because their medical needs surpassed what the personal care home was capable of providing, Parfrey added. "But making that decision in the middle of the night and not taking the patient back is the worst way we can deal with it," he said. Speaking to the number of evictions cited in Hanrahan's report, Parfrey said it's concerning, "but it's not the health authority doing that. That's the personal care home and you should speak to them about it." In Hanrahan's report, she said NLHS didn't provide the audit team with enough evidence so that they could test if PCH's were compliant with eviction regulations. "I'm sure she's right and I think that the NLHS will have to do a better job [at] being able to provide that evidence," Parfrey said. However, he said the NLHS is challenged by staffing issues at a time when Newfoundland and Labrador's aging population has grown. Parfrey said the NLHS and the health department are working together to respond to the auditor general's report to implement new standards, better monitoring, as well as address staffing.
CBC
10-03-2025
- Business
- CBC
NDP calls on N.L. government to eliminate HST on all home heating
Skyrocketing power bills from Newfoundland's only utility company has NDP Leader Jim Dinn looking to the past for a solution. Dinn says people are struggling with the sudden spike of their electricity bills, following reports of some Newfoundland Power bills more than doubling. "One constituent of mine, who heats their home and hot water with oil and only uses electricity for her fridge, stove and lights has seen her bill triple," Dinn said on Monday."Others are sitting in the dark, lighting candles, calling on blankets to keep warm and choosing between food, their mortgage or their electric bill." Taking a page from the PC government's 2012 playbook, Dinn is asking the current provincial government to re-enact the residential energy rebate, which introduced an eight per cent rebate on electricity and heating fuel — eliminating the harmonized sales tax. "Removing the provincial portion of the HST from all forms of home heating, something that has been done before, would go a long way to help people struggling to heat their homes," Dinn said. 'Not possible' But Finance Minister Siobhan Coady says removing HST from home heating is not possible. She says that's a federal responsibility. "The province of Newfoundland and Labrador doesn't have much control, if any control, on what is included in HST," Coady said. Dinn maintains that HST can be removed with a push from the province. "Not only is she not going to ask them, she's not interested in asking," he said. "It can be done if there's a political will to do so. But the minister has indicated that they have no political will to do so." Cold weather, high winds Glenda Power, spokesperson for Newfoundland Power, told CBC News cold temperatures and high winds contribute substantially to power usage, as heating systems have to work harder to maintain a steady temperature within the home. She says complaints about increased power usage are common during winter, and customers don't pay for power they don't use. "Increased usage doesn't mean you've turned your thermostat up," Power told CBC News on Monday. The Public Utilities Board has asked Newfoundland Power to file a report on how it ensures the accuracy of meter readings and investigate whether billing errors could have occurred given a high volume of complaints to the board. The PUB expects Newfoundland Power's findings to be reported to the board by March 21.
CBC
19-02-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Government didn't do their homework in proposing curriculum changes, NDP leader says
Newfoundland and Labrador's NDP leader says the province's decision to back off a plan to make some arts and other junior high school courses optional shows they didn't do the proper consultation in the first place. "They obviously didn't do their homework, and they didn't think it through," Jim Dinn told CBC News Tuesday. "It's sad that the department has such little regard for the curriculum, for the teachers and for the students that they bring in these — I would assume — hasty changes." On Monday, Education Minister Krista Lynn Howell said in a news release the province was backing away from proposed changes to the curricula at 14 schools for the 2025-26 school year. That decision came following criticism from students and parents. The changes would have allowed students at those schools to choose some of their classes by partially opting out of social studies and core French, and completely dropping art and music. Talking about the plans, Howell said they need to improve student engagement in schools. However, Dinn, a former junior high teacher, wants to know how the province decided that giving students the opportunity to opt out of classes like art and music would lead to stronger engagement. "I think unless they can show us the data, it's a bit misguided," he said. "If it's about student-based or student-centred learning, then simply giving them a choice in which ones they want to do as modules is a pretty superficial way of addressing that. Because student-centred learning is a lot more than that. It's about teachers having time to work with students and to guide them along the way and to have that interaction, but that does require classes that are significantly smaller," said Dinn. A spokesperson for Howell said the minister was travelling and not able to do an interview answering questions about the backtrack. Paul Dinn, the Progressive Conservative education critic, called the plan a knee-jerk reaction to address engagement without forward thinking. He cited other incidents where the province appeared to act before they finished consultations — like a plan to ban the use of cell phones in schools that was ultimately softened after student criticism, and proposed reconfigurations to Prince of Wales Collegiate that he says consultation had no effect on. WATCH | Social studies, French, music and art could remain mandatory: Opposition parties say consultations are a must before major curriculum changes are made 38 minutes ago Duration 2:14 It's back to the drawing board as the province presses pause on plans to revamp the junior high school curriculum. The pilot project was proposed for next year, and would have seen subjects like art and French become optional. Both opposition parties agree: the move would not have benefitted students. "Why is this being done? We don't know," Dinn said. "Show us the data that supports what you're doing, and what the target is. We don't have that here." Both Dinn brothers said they hope the province will use the additional consultation time to come up with a plan that truly addresses the concerns students and teachers have — like large class sizes and a lack of resources. Additionally, Jim Dinn called on the province to address external factors that can lead to a lack of student engagement, such as mental health and poverty. "I think in many ways government settled for the easy, what they perceived to be the easy fix, and realized that it wasn't so easy," he said.
