nicely said and nicely done. Thanks.

Think I messed up with that last thing I tried to post, so let me try again. Charity hurts those to whom its given. Charity holds back from people making progress. For instance, the out of the cold programs enable governments to avoid their responsibility for homelessness, for creating new supportive housing.it makes the church volunteers feel good, and thats nice, but it doesn't feel so good taking a thin cot and placing it on a hard floor and breathing in the exhalations of a strangers a few inches from your face. It doesn't help find you a job, or a home where there is one bed just for you that doesn't need to be rolled up at dawn, it doesn't make you feel good about yourself or your potential. Charity burns, opportunity beacons to a better place. Churches need to move away from out of the cold and into supporting locally run social enterprises where the victims of poverty can work and start to feel the good that the church goers feel, and work in partnership to create real opportunities and not overnight flophouses.

Thomas, its an old and tired and unwise belief you're putting forward. Immigrants are not responsible for labor surpluses, and neither are they to blame for poverty. Toronto owes a great deal to all the newcomers in its midst, the city's vibrancy, its 'world class status', its exciting future have all been substantially added to by people choosing to make Canada their new country. Our mistake is to block their progress by refusing to properly recognize their credentials, something they are not warned could be an issue during their application processes. The last thing we need is to replicate the foolish and standard fallback position of blaming the immigrants when times are tough. I do like your idea of increasing minimum wage, and at the same time Toronto could increase opportunities for the unemployed by concentrating its efforts on job creation.

the best way to get people healthy and moving is to help them find good paying jobs, and for the long time poor, those jobs should be made available in social service agencies where they can inspire others, be role models, demonstrate that there is a way out of poverty. 100 dollars added to a welfare check today can be taken away tomorrow, we've seen how successive governments slash and burn.. Giving a man a fish vs. teaching him to fish: its all there, we need to get off the "charitable" approach and move to a teaching, enabling, embracing effort to help those in need earn a decent salary. There is nothing healthier than feeling as though you are living up to your full potential, and that you are allowed to contribute your skills and abilities.