Housing Minister Fred Hutton says protesters at Colonial Building are having an impact on people accepting offers to avail of other services.
Hutton says staff are at the site daily offering other options for people living in tents.
However, he says there are now two aspects to the situation: Those living in the tents, and protesters who he believes are using it as a political platform.
Hutton says he’s getting feedback from the community groups they work with indicating that they are finding it difficult for some people to accept offers because the protesters want to keep the protest going.
He says the protest needs to be separated from the people looking for housing and then, Hutton believes, they will be able to find solutions more quickly.
Hutton’s assertion that protestors are impeding some of the work being done isn’t sitting well with Opposition leaders Tony Wakeham and Jim Dinn.
Wakeham accuses Hutton of pointing blame at others for the challenges that the province is facing in relation to homelessness, and says the Liberals don’t have a plan in place.
Dinn, meanwhile, says if there is a political agenda for the protesters, it is about getting people into homes.
“If that’s a political agenda, that’s a good political agenda.”
Otherwise, Dinn says that is a line being used to “tar the reputation” of the people who live at the tent encampment, and the people who are trying to help them.