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.

Candice Malcolm: Trudeau’s immigration approach brings us to a breaking point. I’m never surprised when The Province stoops to dogwhistle politics and straight up lies, but wow. Never mind that this is non-binding, or that all immigrants are subject to due process, or that illegal immigrants are unable to leach off social programs, or that helping our homeless and our seniors isn’t mutually exclusive, or that the net benefits of immigration has always been crucial to our economy and identity — the author of this alarmist propaganda piece doesn’t actually demonstrate any negative consequences from Trudeau’s immigration policies. I’m sorry, Candice, but a single negative public opinion poll just isn’t capable of “tearing our country apart”. The media, however…

Because it’s tough to use facts when you’re full of shit: Canada doesn’t have a refugee crisis, it has a crisis of confidence.

According to Public Safety Canada, approximately 318 migrants a month cross our border. While this is certainly a strain on already-scarce resources, it is not a crisis.

Compared to other counties, these numbers are minute. This past year, Bangladesh has welcomed 700,000 Rohingya from Myanmar. Uganda has welcomed one million refugees from South Sudan, and Colombia currently has 5,000 asylum-seekers each day crossing its border from Venezuela.

For us to proclaim that Canada has a refugee crisis is to ignore realities around the world, where developing countries are welcoming migrants by the millions. To suggest that Canada has a refugee crisis is panic-inducing, misleading, and/or uninformed.

The numbers don’t signal a crisis, and neither do the manner of entry or character of the asylum applicants.

And yet when you try and point out what is really straining the system, like corporate tax cuts and subsidies, or the rich not paying their fair share of taxes — these so-called ‘anti-globalists’ start to look a lot like the neoliberals they claim to be fighting against: Neoliberalism’s Populist Bastards. “A closer look at these standard-bearers of the Right raises doubts about whether ‘pitchfork against penthouse’ captures the current political moment fully”.

Here’s what Canadian taxpayers are on the hook for in oil and gas industry subsidies. This hypocrisy would be laughable if ecological catastrophe wasn’t imminent.

Or, it would be laughable if it wasn’t scary as fuck: Sask. man guilty of uttering threats against Justin Trudeau on Facebook. My friend Al:

These people are not worth defending or fighting for. In the end they will trade every aspect of the rule of law and our civilization for a chance to watch someone burn at the stake or hear their sobs as their lives become just slightly more horrible than their own. It always was a shaky confederation, and that was just a dodge and mask for the reality that Canada has always been a murderous company town with some decent PR born out of the fact that we were just a shade less demonic than our southern cousins.”

And now, back to why landlords are parasites… This couple has lived in the same apartment since 1979. Now, they may be forced out before Christmas. Since 1979? Jesus Christ they paid this guy’s fucking mortgage! You’re a mean one, Mr. Grinch.

BC Ferries crew rescues boater from sinking vessel. Remember this the next time someone says that BC Ferries workers are overpaid.

A Bold Proposal to Make Surrey’s Mayor a Transit Hero. This passage brings me particular joy, growing up in the weird shadow of a Skytrain pointing directly towards a forest:

I know you said during the election that you could build SkyTrain all the way to Langley City Centre down the Fraser Highway for the same money as the light rail plan, but sadly TransLink and the Mayors’ Council do not agree. They say that since SkyTrain costs twice as much per kilometre as surface light rail, the $1.65 billion already allocated will only get you through Green Timbers Park (not a lot of riders there!) to Fleetwood (I bet the owners of the Fleetwood Park strip mall are overjoyed!).

Bonus: Best of 2018 – Top 25 Local Vancouver Releases.