Everyone who takes public transit in Edmonton is used to seeing homeless people sleeping on the bus, camping out in train stations, smoking, injecting drugs, yelling incoherently, and asking passengers for money. The same scenes play out in every major city across Canada, from Vancouver to Halifax. In Edmonton, the number of homeless people doubled during the pandemic. The number of amputations for frostbite also doubled. People obviously don't live in train stations for fun. They have nowhere else to go. The days of blaming people for their own lack of housing are over. Between high housing prices, inflation, years of covid restrictions, and unemployment, it's no wonder so many Canadians have become homeless. The City of Edmonton tolerates (and sometimes endorses) the use of downtown stations as informal homeless shelters. City councilors and politicians of all stripes are okay with people living, sleeping, and freezing in transit facilities. Why? Because politicians don...
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