Face-to-face meeting with housing minister helps Kamloops councillors explain impact of no federal funding

OTTAWA — Two days after Kamloops city councillors were informed they had been rejected from receiving federal dollars through the Housing Accelerator Fund, a brief meeting was secured with Minister Gregor Robertson in Ottawa.

Attending the Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference in the nation’s capital, several councillors were able to sequester the minister for a quick chat about the challenges in Kamloops and the lack of federal support to build more homes.

“Our needs are, of course, no different than the other communities. We need the money to deal with the growth that we are experiencing. [Our need] is probably a little higher than some others,” said Deputy Mayor Stephen Karpuk, speaking to CFJC from Ottawa. “But we did explain, also, that we have some challenges being on the provincial housing target list, and we are the only one in the Interior that made that top 10 list. To not get any funds was really a slap in the face for us when we are dealing with the pressures that we are to meet those targets.”

While Karpuk doesn’t expect the meeting to pay immediate dividends, and no dollars are now on their way to the Tournament Capital, he called the meeting ‘a needed step’ to building a healthy relationship with Liberal government.

“It’s a pathway forward. We literally started a relationship in that case, but we started a relationship at the top, and so we don’t have to work our way up on the ladder and rungs. I think that is the key point. Our council plan had advocacy and that is becoming more and more apparent to all of us that that is so important to getting the money that so many other communities have been getting that we haven’t,” said Karpuk.

The FCM conference is set to conclude on Sunday (June 1).