A Facebook video released Dec. 21 about P.E.I.’s lack of housing was a joint effort from two men on opposite sides of the Island’s political arena.
NDP Leader Joe Byrne and Dennis King, candidate for the Progressive Conservative leadership, speak for 25 minutes about their approaches to solving housing in the video shared on King’s Facebook page. It had gotten 2,400 views and as many shares by Boxing Day.
In the video, King and Byrne acknowledge the differing emphasis the two parties put on leadership responsibility in the housing field. The PCs prefer private development, where the New Democrats look to use government funding. But the men found common ground in a need to tap the strength of all three sectors — public, private and community not-for-profit.
They also talk about the need for longer-term thinking, noting that the housing issue has a decades-long history and requires planning over a decades-long future, instead of the short term of a political mandate.
“People don’t have three- or four-year mortgages,” said Byrne.
As well, there was a joint recognition that housing is an integral part of the broader matter of income justice for all.
