Brampton was devastated by COVID-19. Community advocates are skeptical that federal elections will deliver what the city needs

At Chinguacousy Park in Brampton, residents try to enjoy the last days of summer on a sunny Thursday afternoon. Dozens of children are here, their parents watch. Older people sit on benches enjoying lunch.

Voting day is it’s fast approaching, but many are trying to get it out of their heads. His focus has been on surviving this year, at a time that has proven difficult for many in the community, park goers told the Star.

“We are all looking forward to getting back to normal,” said Joyce Temple-Smith, a retired Brampton resident who has lived in the area for 30 years. She considers herself lucky to have been able to stay home, knowing how many city workers were getting sick.

Brampton was Ontario’s epicenter for COVID-19 infections during the third wave. The area has a high percentage of temporary essential workers, often employed in the city’s manufacturing corridor, which includes two Amazon fulfillment centers. Many workers have few sick days available, sometimes none.

And there is a sense at the local level that the lack of social services and health care exacerbated the pandemic. There is a hospital in this city of roughly 600,000 residents, a city that ranks second in growth in the GTA, behind Milton, according to Statistics Canada.

Today, community members and service providers doubt that the election outcome will provide the funds and investments the city needs.

“We are essential workers. There’s a reason we’re seeing transmission … a lot of the kinds of systemic issues and chronic underinvestments in this community are really showing, ”said Jaskaran Sandhu, Brampton-based political strategist at the recently released State Strategy.

“Having an election called within the pandemic has left a bad taste in the mouth of many people here,” he added.

Among the problems that arise is childcare, but the $ 10-a-day daycare programs, such as those proposed by the NDP and liberals, do not suit everyone’s lifestyle, especially temporary workers, Sandhu said.

“I grew up in a family where my father was driving an airport limousine, and one day you’re at work all day and free the next day. There are 12 hour shifts, night shifts. A universal child care plan doesn’t necessarily help families in a community like Brampton. “

While most Local candidates in the Brampton region (home to five federal districts) speak out about housing affordability, there remains a lack of affordable housing, Sandhu said, adding that building a few additional units will also not address core issues.

“Brampton is incredibly young and incredibly diverse, and is home to many new Canadians who need a lot more services and support. So accessibility to your deputy is really important here, ”he said.

Lack of affordability is blamed for undermining residents’ ability to live well in cities like Brampton. Significant high-level investments and profound policy changes are needed to change that environment, said Kwame McKenzie, executive director of the Wellesley Institute, a Toronto-based research policy think tank.

“When you calculate it, it’s pretty clear that most GTA families don’t have enough resources to lead healthy lives,” he said.

The Institute published a report in September showing that for a family to thrive in the GTA, the family income would have to be between $ 103,032 and $ 136,428 after taxes. The report found that about half of the four households with children in the GTA do not earn enough to meet this threshold. According to the 2016 census, the median household income in Brampton was $ 85,038 after taxes.

To be considered affordable, the home must cost 30 percent or less of the family’s income before taxes, according to the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation. In 2016, 33 percent of Brampton residents, and 43.5 percent of renters, were spending more than that share to keep a roof over their heads.

The affordable housing shortage has worsened in recent years, and dilapidated buildings are priced higher than ever, said Ted Brown, CEO of Regeneration Outreach Brampton, a nonprofit that addresses food insecurity, community health and housing. In July, the federal government announced that it would spend $ 120 million on affordable housing in Brampton; That money is being used to build a 26-story building with 302 units.

But building some affordable units is not a solution that addresses the root causes of unaffordability, McKenzie said, naming rent fixing and rent controls as other possibilities. He notes that not only is Brampton expensive to live, but the lack of social support means residents often pay for mental health services out of their own pockets to avoid waiting or running out.

Currently, in Ontario, access to mental health services often depends on employer benefits, which temporary workers do not have. David Smith, executive director of the Canadian Peel Dufferin Mental Health Association, said mental health concerns related to the pandemic and the need for services are only exacerbated in regions, like Brampton, that lack substantial social supports.

Access to mental health is an issue that several local candidates have addressed. Liberal candidates have noted that the party is pledging $ 6.5 billion nationwide for mental health services along with creating a crisis line; Conservative Brampton candidates have targeted the party’s platform, which includes a “push” in funding, a national hotline and incentives for employers to provide coverage. The NDP has also made mental health a priority of the platform, promising that it will provide coverage to all Canadians. (The Greens only have one local candidate, at Brampton Center, but the party has also promised to boost mental health services.)

Smith’s CMHA has been inundated with calls related to mental health, and its calls have risen to 60,000 from 45,000 calls annually. Smith points to a 2017 study Researchers from the Center on Addiction and Mental Health and the nonprofit group ICES who indicated that the Central West Local Health Integration Network, which covers most of Brampton, had the lowest number of psychiatrists (4.2) per capita in the province; Toronto was 61.

An increase in mental health concerns, exacerbated by the lack of affordable housing, also leads to an increase in emergency room visits, as there are few other places that community members can go, Smith said. . The large-scale investments the city needs at the federal level are too many to count due to underfunding over the years, he added: “In Brampton, that’s it. We are below the provincial averages in everything. “

With the upcoming elections, many residents feel that no political party will really work to meet the very clear needs of the community, said Gagandeep Kaur, organizer of the Warehouse Workers Center, an advocacy group based in Peel.

He noted that the economic importance of the region, which relies on an often exploited temporary workforce, should be front and center in this choice.

“Because one thing this pandemic has shown is that if we don’t have a fair distribution of resources, not only will Brampton suffer, but the entire nation may suffer,” Kaur said.

Rather than holding elections, time and resources should have been used to prepare communities like Brampton for the fourth wave, he said.

“But here we are in this election and talking to the workers, I think they are concerned. No matter which party comes to power, they don’t want to be treated the same way they have been all along.

“They hope to take into account what we all go through … and the regions that need that support receive that support.”