by Sean Orr | More western angst: Patronizing Globe and Mail headline ignores reality in Western Canada. Fuck you, Dad! I’m 18 now I can make my own decisions! If I want to work in the most depressing place on earth, that’s my prerogative. “Central Canadians have hung onto the unfair stereotype of Alberta being a bastion of rednecks and pickup trucks. It helps them feel superior and enlightened”. Now that’s just unfair. We here in Vancouver also think that.

Meanwhile, The Western Standard Province gloats: Canada’s post-secondary strength shifting west. Oh, and also our team is better than yours.

Just don’t call us The Best Place On Earth anymore. Because clearly we’re the second best place on earth. It just doesn’t look as catchy on official letterheads.

And so as the Majority of Metro Vancouver mayors are set to boost gas tax to pay for more transit (and the petty bickering begins), we are reminded by The Economist that now is actually the best time to raise gas taxes. Germany $5.16 tax/gallon; U.K. $5.02 tax/gallon; Canada $1.19 tax/gallon.

Which leads us to the Tweet Of The Day: “We all paid for SkyTrain to Burnaby and Richmond. Now both cities refuse to fund expanded transit elsewhere.”

Meanwhile, the Red Gate saga continues. The collective arts centre in old Trocadero Building at 152-156 West Hastings – which has been “an ad-hoc, unofficial, community driven cultural space for more than 30 years” –  meets the ‘new owner’. #OccupyRedGate

images via RedGate