Tea & Two Slices is a snarky, long-running news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran restaurant dishwasher Sean Orr. Mr. Orr lives and works in Gastown and is very aware of his privilege, so there’s no need to remind him of it.

Profit before people: Lower Mainland developer axes plans for rental units, cites proposed rent hike rate change. What a bunch of fucking babies, holding rentals hostage because their profit margin might not be as massive as expected…it’s also straight up deceit, as though rent control somehow prevents them from setting rent as high as they want when they build new units.

A rose by any other name: Landlords want a rebrand: Why a Hamilton group wants to be called ‘rental housing providers’. “I’d call them parasites but even leeches need their hosts to be alive.” – Vincent Tao

How is this legal, Part One: Vision’s Louie, PoCo’s Moore Openly Court Jobs with Developers. Lindsay Brown:

That these guys are being so open about wanting to jump straight from positions at City Hall to 6-figure positions working for developers is a pretty good indication they’re either inured to corruption, or don’t even see that what they’re doing is corruption, or are just purely amoral. This jumping immediately to the very private sector that you’ve just been regulating is illegal in California and many other places, by the way. That BCers aren’t clamouring for standard anti-corruption legislation is completely confusing to me.

How is this legal, Part Two: Unionized Canada Line janitors lose jobs as new company gets cleaning contract. Good thing we have a union friendly government, right?

And it’s a good thing we have an indigenous- and environmentally-friendly government: Ottawa gives pipeline regulator 22 weeks to review Trans Mountain expansion project. Dock Currie:

Sunny ways: when you’ve already decided you’re going to do something come hell or high water, but you’re going to ‘meaningfully consult’ and have your unreformed industry-captured regulator who got laughed out of court earnestly consider downstream effects on vulnerable marine in environments in less than 6 months.

Remember, Growth Can’t Be Green. No matter what Trudeau tries to tell you.

But liberalism can be populist. Just ask Trudeau: Why can’t liberalism be populist, too? “But what if populism actually presents an opportunity for liberalism? What if liberalism could succeed in exploiting many of the same concerns that animate its rival?” Because populists aren’t fucking stupid. They also know exploitation when they see it. They see right through Trudeau and other liberal centrists. Because at their core, centrists are the most hostile to democracy, not extremists.

That being said, right wing populism is a joke: Doug Ford Caught Posing for Photo With White Supremacist Sympathizer Faith Goldy. This is no mistake.

Satirical headline of the year: Outdated sex-ed curriculum already has Ontario students pulling out.

Settler colonialist of the day: Alberta education minister apologizes after test asks students about ‘positive effect’ of residential schools.

Speaking of settler colonialism, the cities in the following list interestingly mirror its westward expansion and resource theft: Canada’s Most Dangerous Places 2018.

And I’ll just leave you with this: A new sex doll brothel could be opening in Vancouver soon.