NDP says immigration minister more interested in making headlines than working to help Ukrainians
One year after Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion of their country started arriving in Newfoundland and Labrador, the leader of the NDP says the provincial immigration minister was more interested in making headlines than helping newcomers get settled.
On Tuesday afternoon in question period in the House of Assembly — and following a CBC News report detailing the struggles of Ukrainian newcomers looking for housing and employment — NDP Leader Jim Dinn suggested the province was already in the midst of a housing crisis when the first planeload of Ukrainians arrived.
"Knowing this, why did this government not plan ahead and build public housing to help alleviate the crisis for all residents of the province, knowing that we had a growing shortage?" Dinn asked.
In response, Immigration Minister Gerry Byrne said Dinn "may not be aware that when it comes to responding to a crisis, to an emergency, you do not necessarily get advance notice and planning to be able to do that," adding that the government had a responsibility to act immediately.
Of the approximately 2,700 Ukrainians now in the province, Byrne said, 1,600 of them are now in market housing, and none are in social housing.
"We will put all in market housing in very short order," said Byrne.
Dinn, noting Byrne has suggested Ukrainians' employers should be helping with the housing situation, said, "It would seem that the minister is more interested in grabbing headlines and leaving the hard work to everyone else."
Byrne said it's "infinitely reasonable and responsible" for employers to be "engaged in the overall well-being and balance of their employees," but that doesn't mean employers have been left alone to look after the Ukrainian newcomers.
Dinn also asked Byrne what he meant during the same committee meeting when he said the government needs to find employers prepared to pay a fair full-time rate.
"Would he clarify or define what he means by a fair rate?" said Dinn. "Is it the legislated poverty wage we now have? The barely better $15-an-hour wage that we're hoping to get? Or is it an actual livable wage which we calculate to be around $21 an hour, that a person can actually live on?"
Newfoundland and Labrador's minimum wage is $14.50, and will rise to $15 in October.
The minister didn't provide a figure, responding, "I mean the wage that over 600 Ukrainians are now earning by 245 employers in this province."