So, Vancouver City Council member, Andrea Reimer fires off the following tweet in reaction to BC Housing Minister, Rich Coleman's "force the homeless into shelters regardless of their feelings on the matter" bill:

(screen cap shamelessly stolen from citycaucus)

She acquiesced to demands for an apology (I'm too lazy to do my own screen cap):



Here's the thing. In this instance, I don't think she was out of line at all. While making pot-shots at someone's weight is very uncool, Coleman's war on the homeless is equally uncool.

Coleman being fat isn't really much different to people being homeless. In both instances one could either argue that they are victims of circumstance and have no control over their situations, or conversely, one could argue that they are responsible for their situations through their own choices.

Both are unsightly - better hide them away before the world comes to our city.
Both put additional strain on our health system.
The homeless have the right (or at least they once did) to refuse to go to a homeless shelter just as Rich Coleman has the right to refuse to go to Jenny Craig.