Leave It To The French

Ever since George Bush took it into his mind that he was going to conquer Iraq, the French have been fair game. They didn't go along with George, in fact they were openly critical of his war lust and that was enough for the administration and the American people who were as keen to kick ass as was their appointed president. Remember Freedom Fries?

Let's face it, we've all taken a few swipes at the French from time to time. Not as many or as angry as what happened in the states but enough in any case. That's why it feels good when, every now and then, we can give the French a thumbs up.

Today the French deserve a nod for accepting the challenge of solving a problem most of us pretend not to even see - the homeless. What's more, all parties save the two on the far-right have signed on to this effort described in today's The Independent:

"In the past few days, political parties from the centre-right to the far left have signed up for the six-point "Canal Saint-Martin" charter, calling for "an end to the [homelessness] scandal which shames a country like ours".

"The only parties to refuse to sign are the far-right Front National and the ultra-Catholic conservative Mouvement pour la France. Both blame the crisis on illegal immigration.

"In his televised new year address to the nation, President Chirac ordered his government to prepare snap legislation to make the right to a home legally enforceable in France. This was one of the six points in the charter drawn up by M. Legrand and his organisation, Les Enfants de Don Quichotte (The children of Don Quixote)."

The French are right, homelessness does shame a country, at least the prosperous nations of the West. If we dismiss the homeless as "bums" and "drunks" we conveniently ignore the reality that many of them are simply unfortunates who have fallen through the cracks in society, while others have been made destitute by mental or physical health problems.

Canada is a wealthy country. There's more than enough to go around that we don't have any good excuse not to follow the French lead. Damn those Frenchies!