'It's like a big traffic accident'; Nervous families worry how crash will affect them
The Province
October 7, 2008
By: Suzanne Fournier

Stock markets in Canada and around the world took another alarming dive yesterday, with economists warning that the U.S.-led financial crisis will hit Canada hard.

….At Eastside Family Place yesterday, many parents regarded the worsening economic weather with alarm.

"Poverty is a huge issue and this economic crisis is going to be even more devastating -- 80 per cent of our families are headed by single parents already reeling from the cutbacks to social assistance that force mothers to work, even though they can't afford decent child care," said executive director Mary Johnston.

Mary Macintyre, a cafe owner and mother of two small sons, noted she is facing higher costs for basics such as coffee, sugar and flour while her customers "might be cutting back on cafe visits with the economy getting worse."

Macintyre and her husband, Phi Ly, bought their eastside single-family home "before the boom and we had a large down payment, so I'm not as worried about our home as I am about our business."

Said Joe Fronzo, playing with 18-month-old son Giancarlo at Family Place: "You see these big banks admitting they invested in bad loans but their top guys are still raking in the millions, while those of us who just want to invest a bit and have a good family life pay the price."

Fronzo said he owns his own eastside home as well as two investment properties "with mortgages locked in until 2016, so we're OK there, and I don't plan to raise the rents because I want to keep the good tenants I have."….