pearce wrote to the provincial government earlier this year urging the province to close the shelter , which is run in a former church purchased by the saskatchewan party government.
that seems a strange goal for a man described on his church’s website as someone who has “a heart for the disenfranchised and discarded in our society.”
pearce’s opposition to the shelter appears to be legitimate; he believes, as do others, including departing ward 3 coun. david kirton , that the 106-bed facility is too large and has created public safety issues in fairhaven.
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city zoning allows the facility to operate in a residential neighbourhood , so presumably pearce wants to try to change that.
the chances seem very slim that five other council members will vote to do that while the city experiences a crisis of homelessness and addiction. it’s unthinkable and unconscionable.
in january, his facebook account replied to a post from the shadowy group a better yxe, which has since been revealed to be connected to former saskatchewan party operatives , by suggesting an audit of city operations “to determine if incompetence or corruption is at play.”
i must have missed the passage in the bible where christ counsels his followers to launch vicious public attacks. notably, the “ statement of faith ” of pearce’s church says satan “is the present ruler of this world.”
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and audits are already conducted periodically, such as one a couple of years ago on saskatoon transit maintenance issues.
pearce has appeared before council , where he’s asserted that police statistics fail to capture reality, even though they show an increase in crime since the shelter opened. he also said he’s called 911 so many times that the operator recognized his voice.
in a july post on x (formerly twitter), pearce’s account said the person who killed homicide victim harvey zoerb in a fairhaven park in june is “likely an addict that is volatile and violent.”
tomorrow marks the 1 month anniversary of the horrific murder of our community member, harvey zoerb. he was a harmless and friendly 66 year old man doing his routine walk through the park to go to the 711 for something cold to drink in the early morning.
— robert pearce - yxe ward 3 (@revrobyxe) july 9, 2024
this could have been…
that’s ridiculous. saskatoon’s population surpasses 300,000 people, and city hall represents a billion-dollar-plus corporation. that necessitates full-time attention from decision makers like councillors, who are paid $73,314 a year.
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