July 21 2023- Crime From Homeless Camps Overwhelms Point Douglas
The Manitoba election race is being shaped by the political response to the increasing danger being faced by the public from crime and public disorder.
Episode 38 kicks off with Marty Gold noting it took over 6 weeks for the Free Press to catch up to TGCTS coverage about the shocking “number, severity of crimes committed by Winnipeg youth.”
In the article, community activist Mitch Bourbonniere pointed to a new underlying ‘root cause’ of the explosion in under-18 violence. What role did the Freep play in it? They don’t get off the hook so easily.
Mitch explains why “better intelligence gathering and information sharing” is needed among “stakeholders identifying who is at risk and who needs support”. There’s another factor the newspaper is reluctant to touch on that you’ll hear about as well.
Surprise story of the week gets a mention next: Muslim community seeks hate crime investigation into Olive Garden stabbingâ . In this case, the stabbing victim was a teenager. As we reported, the perp was an infamous arsonist with deep mental illness and should never have left custody.
Help us cover the costs of bringing local reporting to you: paypal.com/paypalme/MartyGoldMediaâ â â â
The media narrative continues to pump the “heartless” refusal of the PC government to cave into demands by grieving families of two homeless women. They want a $184M dig into a landfill to search for the remains. The media insists the government is overstating the dangers:
Justice Minister Kelvin Goertzen: âThe provincial government… has to consider what the risk is for the families and those who might be doing a search on an industrial landfill site.â
Premier Heather Stefanson: âAsbestos and other toxic chemicals and so on and so we made what was a very difficult decision… I have to protect all Manitobans throughout this including those that would be asked to go into those landfills.â
How valid is their position? An expert who is a loyal listener says, VERY.
They describe the serious dangers for searchers and explain the catastrophic long-lasting consequences that the media ignores.
23.50 Part 2 – The two women believed to be in the Prairie Green landfill were homeless. Would new government spending on housing prevent more deaths? Hear about PC promises to quickly repair public housing and pay $150,000 per new unit to developers. Landlords will also get rent topped up to market rates to take in the homeless.
The Tories want to get this rolling during the election campaign- but we review some rules in the fine print that may scare investors off.
But as Marty explains, there’s a limit to the effectiveness of the ‘housing first’ planning. Some of Winnipeg’s homeless are settled into riverbank encampments in North and South Point Douglas and aren’t inclined to move indoors with responsibilities or following rules.
Those camps are the source of serious crime occuring east of Main Street up to Portage Avenue.
As one headline read: âWe feel completely abandonedâ: downtown restaurateur fed up with repeated property crimes.”
He’s not the only one feeling abandoned. We got a statement from the frustrated longtime residents:
“We are at our safety and wit’s end and need something done to
clear out the encampments in our neighbourhood today”
Hear the details no one else will report about the crime and pollution they face from the camps. We challenge the refusal of elected officials and social service agencies to get rid of the Pt. Douglas encampments, leaving property and business owners to fend for themselves to deal with theft, violence- and murder.
The list of “Suggestions made by politicians” the residents provide will shock listeners. It illustrates how desperate area councilor Vivian Santos and NDP MLA Bernadette Smith are to favour the “rights” of offenders over protecting the public.
