Something about a door hitting her on the way out: Christy Clark Resigns as Leader of the BC Liberal Party. I’m just totally shocked that she didn’t keep her word to stay and fight in opposition and didn’t actually want to represent the people of West Kelowna.
But as terrible as she was, let’s cool it with the misogynistic language: “If gender comes into your analysis of the ex-Premier you’re doing identity politics, report for reprogramming, the liberalism is taking hold, in a matter of hours you’ll be lost to cultural Marxism” – Nicholas Ellan.
Although far from a magnanimous act, she basically just cast every tie breaking vote for the next 6 months. In a Cersei Lannister-esque way she blew up the Rockpile, drained the swamp, left the Liberal brand hollow and bereft of any real ideas. I guess now it’s in the media’s hands to all of a sudden start doing their jobs. They will try and scrutinize the GreeNDP to death.
Unless of course the Visionistas can finish off the Liberals first: Watch the NDP government rely on Vision Vancouver tactics to destroy the B.C. Liberal brand. “Ok, great. But as much as the BC Liberals have earned blame, we need the NDP to be progressive and constructive”- Brady Cranfield
That is, if they can actually restore some of the things the Liberals destroyed. Dermod Travis: How B.C. Liberal outsourcing made government more opaque. At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if there were dead bodies in the cellar.
And it would be hypocritical of her detractors to point to her pension because all premiers get one: Christy Clark to walk-away with hefty pension: Canadian Taxpayers Federation.
Some notable tweets:
Christy Clark resigning is good but a party is not *a* person. Every rotten decision & its harmful legacy belongs to BC Lib Party #bcpoli
— sine nomine?? (@mssinenomine) July 28, 2017
Disagree that Christy Clark’s career was “public service.” It was ambition & greed in service of corporate & wealthy interests. #bcpoli
— Derrick O’Keefe (@derrickokeefe) July 28, 2017
What Christy Clark needs to be remembered for: in April 2016, for first time in history, overdoses became #1 cause of accidental death in BC.
— Nicholas Ellan (@njellan) July 28, 2017
Livable city: Metro Vancouver has Canada’s third-highest rate of income inequality: report. “Simpson said the new government has more work to “dig down” and understand the factors behind rising inequality, but that the government has ideas about some of the tools they can use to fill the gaps”. This is the kind of safe, Third Way language I’ve been wary of. We need a radical solution, not “filling the gaps”.
“Fong said part of it is a function of population growth — cities are where new citizens are landing and settling — but it is also due to the changing nature of jobs and employment”. Bit of a dog whistle there?
“Many middle-class jobs have been eliminated through automation and out-sourcing, particularly in manufacturing, and aren’t being replaced”. Anything that can be automated under capitalism will be automated under capitalism. And don’t let the techno-utopianists like Elon Musk convince you that this is a good thing.
Um…Mayor Gregor Robertson denies Vision Vancouver too closely tied to developers. To paraphrase: “We can’t help it if they write huge cheques to us and then we help them push through outsize rezonings that completely destroy affordability for generations. Total coincidence, obvs.”
Quinn for the win: Vancouver’s affordable housing ‘intentions’ nothing but empty words. I didn’t think Vision could top “affordable is something that you can afford”.
“The City of Vancouver announced its intention to enable 72,000 new homes in Vancouver over the next 10 years,” it says.
Seriously, who is writing this stuff?
“Intention to enable?”
Let’s be ultra-generous here and support the “enable” part of that. So that means putting up city-owned land, somehow getting senior levels of government on board, persuading developers to build rental housing and making drastic changes to zoning bylaws, right?
Oh wait, it’s an “intention.” I may be alone in this, and I’m certainly not proud of it, but I intend to do a lot of things that never amount to much.
Me too, Stephen. Me too.
Closet space: Gastown apartment on Craigslist is $1,450 — for 200 square feet. Gregor mentioned in the article preceding this one that “nothing was off the table”. So…how about rent control?
This is something: Feds take developers to court over presale flippers. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s something.
Meanwhile: Too few cooks in the kitchen: Victoria faces chef shortage. Expect to see a lot more of this.
To wit: Tomahawk Barbeque reduces opening hours because it can’t find cooks. “Chamberlain says he’s offering competitive wages, too”. Clearly not competitive enough.
This whole story is amazing. Guy gets fed up with government quote to make stairs at a park, build them himself for cheap, stairs are incredibly dangerous and have to be removed at even more cost to the city: Etobicoke “park stairs” story is a perfect example of the crass, reactionary, anti-regulatory nonsense that led to the Grenfell disaster.
Vancouver police now using machine learning to prevent property crime. “You know when the police have to deny something being ‘like Minority Report’ it’s exactly like Minority Report”. – Spencer Davis
Dude, where’s my grenade launcher: RCMP find missing grenade launcher after it fell out of police vehicle on Golden Ears Bridge.
Man killed wife on cruise ship for ‘laughing’ at him. “Men are afraid women will laugh at them. Women are afraid men will kill them” – Margaret Atwood
Bonus: The King of Strathcona: Ramon ‘Benny’ Benedetti retires from store — but not storytelling.