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

On Dogs That Know Drugs and the Invincibility of Vancouver’s Landlord Aristocracy


Via the CBC: Q&A: Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says harm reduction doesn’t break addiction cycle. NO, you fucking fossil. It’s only one of four pillars in a comprehensive approach that includes policing, education, and treatment. I’d say do some god damned research, but it’s clear you are just pandering to your base while thousands are dying. Without harm reduction the number of dead would be exponentially higher, you stupid shit-brained nobody.

You can’t arrest your way out of this. If anything we should be increasing harm reduction and looking for radical solutions like the Portugal model. I’m looking at you, NDP Leadership hopefuls…

And then you have academics like Rick Chiarelli:

He compared the activists’ planned tent to an unlicensed plastic-surgery joint that the health unit closed in his ward. “We shut that down, but only after residents had been permanently disfigured. When dealing with opioids the consequences can be even worse than disfigurement. What happens if someone dies? Who is liable?” Chiarelli wrote.

You are comparing a botched face to a saved life? ‘What happens if someone dies’? People are fucking dying you dolt.

“The locals like paint, not plain fuckface”: DTES Graffiti artist Smokey D. earns permission to paint opioid crisis memorial. Graffiti is one thing but I’ve always thought that giant blue raindrop at the Convention Centre could just be a huge syringe.

Won’t someone think of the children: Olympic Village residents worry about increase in discarded syringes.

“While Vancouver Coastal Health understands that it can be upsetting to come across discarded needles, the risk to the public is extremely low. No one has ever acquired HIV, or any other pathogen, from a needle-stick injury from a discarded needle in a park or any other public place in Vancouver,” said a VCH spokesperson in an emailed statement.

Meanwhile, Drug-sniffing dogs are being used by Vancouver landlords to keep buildings free of narcotics. Hold my beer, renovictions. I present you…sniffovictions! We totally care about tenant rights, but the police are totally on board so…

Speaking of tenants’ rights: B.C. tenants are about to get hit with the largest rent increases allowed in five years. I can’t blame Gordon Campbell anymore, can I?

Answer: B.C. housing minister ‘looking at’ reducing maximum allowable rent increases. Looking at? With what, a rusty old monocle while you doff your hat and say “M’lady” at a well-to-do dowager who also happens to be a landlord and party member so you have to tread carefully so as not to ruddy the delicate waters of the aristocracy? Yeah, that’s what I thought.

This ‘2-person’ Vancouver apartment for $1250 sums up our city right now. No, what sums up our city is that Vancity Buzz is now one of the leading critics of the “housing crisis”.

Squatter being evicted from Widgeon Marsh critical of B.C. movie industry. You need a permit to live.

Related: Evict the rich.

Canadian police tracked a Black Lives Matter vigil in Vancouver. Thereby legitimizing all their concerns.

Not with her: Hillary Clinton book tour stopping in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver. We’re not going to let her waltz in here with her revisionist fairy tale unabated right? Somehow I doubt this war monger will be met with the same verve as Dick Cheney was.

Bonus: Vancouver man dinged with 15 percent tip at Quebec restaurant because he looks Asian.

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.