by Sean Orr | Fake news: Clark compares self to Trump, focuses on jobs in speech. No…wait! That’s my job! I’m the one who gets to compare you to Trump, not you, damn it!

“Everybody in the room knows that MSP premiums don’t go to pay for healthcare, right? Anything more than school taxes go to pay for education or your income taxes go to pay for roads,” Clark said. “It all ends up in one big pot of money and we just happened to give it that name.” Yeah we know, it’s the same pot of money your party dipped into to top up salaries for 16 years.

But hey, we have it so much better than the “third world”, right? Rich Coleman reveals true face of a government that has failed to help the poor.

The latest session of the legislature may be short, but there have been some memorable moments. During a debate on Feb. 16, to take one example, Liberal MLA Rich Coleman defended his government’s record on poverty: “We have to remember that a person on social assistance, a single person on social assistance in British Columbia, gets double the annual income of a person in the Third World.”

Make no mistake, this statement, combined with Clark’s admiration of Trump above, is no error. When the author of this article put out a call on Facebook about what stories we would like to see “independent media focus on during the upcoming B.C. election campaign” I said “low information voters and the corporate media’s role in perpetuating them”. Because this is how Clark and Coleman will win the election.

For example, Horgan can hammer on MSP premiums but then get gamed by Clark in the budget. “We know this budget won’t fool people,” James said in the legislature. “It doesn’t work for people to starve our schools and hospitals for years, then pretend you care at election time.” Wrong. It does fool people, and it continue to do so.

And it will – as always – be at the expense of young people. Huge surprise there. Paul Kershaw: B.C. budget is built on a fantasy for younger British Columbians. Forget everything.

Full-time earnings have fallen more in B.C. than any other province since 1976-80. It’s particularly bad for residents age 25-44, who annually earn $8,000 to $10,000 less (after inflation). Young residents have lost $1,200 since Premier Christy Clark took office. Today’s budget does little to change course.

Related satire of the day: 35-Year-Old Downloads The Sims to Play Out Home Ownership Fantasy. Ha ha ha ha ha ha, sigh…

Californication: Climate change predicted to transform Vancouver into San Diego, but at a heavy cost. Maybe the jobs Clark should be talking about are irrigation jobs, invasive plant removal jobs, and general sandbagging.

Speaking of sandbagging, it’s almost like this government doesn’t know what it’s doing: Port Mann’s mounting losses put pressure on B.C. policy of tolling new bridges. I say almost because, while taxpayers are on the hook, BC Liberal donors are raking it in.

But hey, let’s all be outraged about a fucking logo: City of Vancouver’s disastrous new logo. No, I mean this is actually an outrage. As much as I loathe the “my 8 year-old could do that” argument, it shows the continued contempt this municipal government has to the application of due process. If branding is everything, this speaks volumes.

Sorry to make you wait for the most important news: Why don’t kids climb trees these days?

So CCAP has published a list of gentrifying business and zones of exclusion, many of which have been covered on Scout. And once again I find myself on a precipice. Displacement is real. Slumlords are real. Welfare rates are still frozen. But while an ice cream place called Fluffy Kittens might be gauche, I still can’t place it in the systemic conditions that late capital precipitates without including all of capitalism. Maybe that’s the point. But to call a space like, say, Selectors Records – which acts as a community space – a “zone of exclusion” just smacks of cultural relativism; of mixing macro-economics with micro-economics.

Not to mention that places like Bestie actively fund senior housing vis a vis their Benevolent Society landlords…

The fact that they list 84 places as vacant just makes me think they want that number to go up, or for young people to open up big box stores in the suburbs. I’m probably on the wrong side of this again, but can’t there be at least some nuance? Can’t I agree with the statement that: “the city needs to push for commercial and residential rent control, and use zoning laws to hinder speculation, increasing land values and new condo developments in our neighbourhood” while also enjoying an $11 dollar juice? FML.

Art of the day: Vancouver artist separates art from politics to attend Trump Tower opening. So simple! You just separate things! Wish away the context! Like, ta da!

Sports funny of the day: Canucks fire team doctor Jenny McCarthy after 5 players contract mumps.

“We became concerned after Dr. McCarthy insisted putting Gwyneth Paltrow’s muscle toning cream on Alexander Edler’s fractured fibula as treatment,” explained Canucks Coach Willie Desjardins. “And the only prescription she gave out was for her book, ‘Louder than Words.’”

Bonus: Everyday Life of Vancouver Youth in the 1970s through an Amateur Photographer’s Lens (sample image at top). Just look at how non-gentrifying they are!