A no messing around guide to the coolest things to eat, drink and do in Vancouver and beyond. Community. Not clickbait.

On Manufacturing Terror Threats And More Yarns From The Condo King

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by Sean Orr | Bombshell: Police need not manufacture new terror threats. That’s kind of a misleading headline because, well, they do. To get money. Which is terrible.

Apparently this was the first time entrapment has been successfully used as a defense in a terrorism prosecution in North America. But why blame the RCMP when you can blame Rambo?

B.C. ministers kept in dark about foreign-buyer tax, politicians say. This government acts like a co-dependant boyfriend who is too scared to tell his bae that he wants to go out drinking with the lads. Two things:

The first tranche of foreign-buyer statistics surprised the government by showing pockets of investment – such as double-digit percentages in Burnaby and Richmond – that were much higher than previous estimates of 3 to 5 per cent, which were provided by the realtors’ provincial trade association and relied on by the government up until now.

So were they surprised that the numbers were low or that the realtors lied? Were they were surprised that – after rejecting and even mocking the idea for more than a year – the NDP and the electorate were right?

Second:

Mr. Rennie said he knew an additional property transfer tax for foreigners was coming about three weeks ago, but he figured it would be about 5 to 8 per cent.

Bob Rennie, the chair of Clark’s fundraising committee (not to mention a major Liberal donor and BC Housing Board member), knew about this but the minsters didn’t?

Please let this man – who only a year ago said everything is fine and that we should “ignore the nattering nabobs of negativism” (whatever the fuck that means) – go down with the sinking Liberal ship: ‘Condo King’ denies being tipped off about B.C.’s foreign buyer tax.

Maybe we can ask him directly. Road trip! Panel Discussion: The Art of Philanthropy, Collecting and Museum Building. Unfortunately, someone tipped him off that we were coming…

Then there’s this: B.C. just violated NAFTA with its foreign property tax — and we could all pay for it.

The dragon in the room: “We know the Canadians don’t like everyone buying houses.” Oh god, if it was only that fucking simple. “We think of ourselves as environmental refugees and political refugees”. Now we’re getting somewhere. “Mr. Li, who is 50, said if he had been younger, he might have gone to the United States, which is riskier for immigrant investors like him. He would have had to put up $500,000, while in Canada, he had to pay just $120,000”. That’s a bingo. “The silence – that is the story here”. Yup. Great article by Frances Bula. TLDR: Blame the government.

Meanwhile, Metro Vancouver home sales dropped 75% after foreign buyer tax announced: realtor. I bet you anything this is a false flag by real estate agents to protest the tax.

Literally nobody happy with rental market: Poll. Not even the landlords? What about Morgma the Mauler, lord of local apartment rentals?

Your tears amuse me. Do not dwell on your friend Tara who inexplicably landed a rent-controlled corner unit. Only a lucky handful can slip by Morgma. Now your soul belongs to me. For I am Morgma the Mauler, and you are my lessee!

But back to Clark: B.C. premier misses transgender rights vote to attend party fundraiser. Not an accident.

Billion dollar blunder at BC Hydro means families will pay the price. As I said last week, this government is on the same neoliberal ideological spectrum as Trump and the Brexiteers. Here’s Yanis Varoufakis:

What we are experiencing today is the natural repercussion of the implosion of centrist politics, owing to a crisis of global capitalism in which a financial crash led to a Great Recession and then to today’s Great Deflation. The right is simply repeating its old trick of drawing upon the righteous anger and frustrated aspirations of the victims to advance its own repugnant agenda.

Why else would it keep investing in broken technology to appease their donors? $50M repair job needed on Expo Line after internal report finds 557 defects. Hey, I know! Let’s build a tunnel to UBC!

Weird, the BC government looks like it’s doing something that looks likes it’s helping the little guy but actually helps the big guys…who woulda thunk it? Noise Floor Recording Studio Criticizes BC Music Fund over Grant Criteria.

Oh, and don’t you think for a moment I’m letting Trudeau of the hook: Federal approval for Site C sparks outrage from First Nations, advocacy groups.

Multiplied by: Ottawa rewrites mandate for screening arms exports. Now imagine the outrage if Harper had done this.

What will it fucking take for these people to see that it’s all inter-related short of God himself writing it in the sky? Fort McMurray flooding a ‘bad dream’ after wildfire. “It’s a bad dream . . . I think I’m in a bit of a denial state. How can this happen? How can so much happen within the span of three months?” It’s like the scene in Zoolander when the hand model explains why male models are the perfect assassins and he asks “but, why male models?

Related: For sale, lightly used: 1,200-person northern Alberta work camp

Bonus: Who says vancouver isn’t fun starter pack.

On Ken Sim’s So-Called “Swagger” and ABC’S Class War

Sean Orr is back from his hiatus with a rundown of the local headlines that have been running on a ticker tape through his mind over the past six months...

On Post-Election Recuperation, Platform Paradoxes and Refund Communities

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds irony in "safety, affordability, and sustainability", and shouts out a bunch of amazing local organizations working on the frontlines.

On Running for City Council, Playing Whack-a-Mole with Homelessness, and the Public Washroom Deficit

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr finds a park ranger with a grudge, a gross misuse of air quotes and Tripadvisor slander.

On Living in a City Preoccupied with Street Cleaning, Chandeliers, and Campaigns Against the Homeless

In his latest read of the local news headlines, Sean Orr hones in on the recent Langley shootings, and the ongoing criminalizing and dehumanizing of the homeless population.