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

Vancouver council takes stand against B.C. NDP’s extra school tax on $3-million homes. Definitive evidence that the Vancouver Greens are not progressive. They clearly don’t see inequality as a problem or redistribution as a solution. Don’t fall for the red herring that this will hurt low income seniors who just happen to own a $3 million home because the tax can be deferred. Our cash-strapped schools desperately need the revenue from this tax.

While Pete Fry’s statement on Facebook aims to clarify his position, it doesn’t seem to add up: “Yesterday’s council motion doesn’t oblige the Province to do anything” and “I realize that in the social media world, the latter gets the eyeballs and is a lot easier, and I could have voted against the original motion over the optics that it is “pandering to rich people” — but I’d rather get results than play politics.” But that’s exactly what you’re doing, Pete. As Nicholas Ellan retorts, “The Province is dedicating the funds raised by the new property tax to affordable housing in the region, which it is best suited to deliver on. The funds are not leaving the municipality, though they are being managed by the province. In my view this is better than padding Vancouver’s revenue as they lack the jurisdiction to spend it effectively.”

Then there’s Colleen Hardwick with this incredible contradiction:

NPA Coun. Colleen Hardwick warned that the tax could bring property values down.

“(The mayor) should be enthusiastically defending the homeowners of Vancouver who are trying to stay here, because if you try to sell a house for $3 million, even with two professional salaries, who is going to buy it?” Hardwick said. “We’re watching the market go down.”

Meanwhile, this is the “grassroots, non-partisan movement” that is neither grassroots, non-partisan, nor a movement: Exclusive: Quartet behind anonymous anti-NDP campaign revealed.

The argument that the revenue from the tax goes into general revenue is moot. The government needs revenue. Period. If you’re stuck on the name ‘School Tax’, call it the fucking ‘We Could Finally Get Dental Coverage’ tax: Premier John Horgan opens door to including dental coverage within B.C.’s health care system.

Meanwhile: B.C. rental task force seeks end to renovictions but says no to stricter rent control. Derrick O’Keefe:

By failing to recommend real rent control tied to the unit not the tenant, the B.C. Rental Housing Task Force sides with the landlord lobby over the Vancouver Tenants Union, the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the B.C. Poverty Reduction Coalition and many others. Extremely disappointing.

Um, Derrick…I think you mean “rental housing providers”, not landlords:

Next thing we’re going to be calling billionaires ‘People of Wealth’: B.C.’s top billionaires’ average wealth dwarfs that of median Vancouverite by a factor of almost 6,000. If only there was some way to redistribute this wealth…like a fucking tax on their fucking mansions.

Because remember, folks: It’s Basically Just Immoral to be Rich.

Speaking of immoral, WTF is our Police Union Chief even thinking…

This seems like a super sketch thing to say, no? Like for lots of reasons. https://t.co/PHGYfW7flB

— Tire Fire in a person (@the_irrational) December 11, 2018

RIP cheap grams: Court orders closure of dozens of illegal Vancouver pot shops.

CBC puts Baby, It’s Cold Outside back on holiday playlists. I see the backlash to the backlash has won out, but is it too late for a backlash to the backlash to the backlash?

Bonus: The discreet sham of Justin Trudeau.