Tea & Two Slices is a long-running local news round-up by NEEDS frontman and veteran dishwasher Sean Orr, who lives and works in Gastown, deeply aware of his privilege.

Remember four days ago when I asked you to remember two days before that when I said the BC Liberals were out of touch with the common voter? BC Liberal MLA Rich Coleman calls abortion ‘totally wrong’ at pro-life rally.

A summary of the BC Liberals terrible, no good, very bad year: Renting is fun and wacky; the speculation tax is bad because maybe you can’t afford a second yacht; students can get carried away with loans; Horgan’s to blame for the taxes they introduced; Horgan’s to blame because one guy got an $8,000 insurance bill after they spent years gutting ICBC; preventing people from building mansions on farm land is the holocaust; child labour laws prevent kids from buying new bikes; we already have universal child care because women should stay at home; and now this.

Gross: Homemakers buying multiple homes, layers of shady mortgages and other signs of dirty money in B.C. real estate. Sick reference, David. “In the report, German highlights some of the unique occupations listed by titleholders in the land title registry, including “superdad,” funemployed,” “wannabe ski bum” and “trophy wife. We have assumed that the four B.C. titleholders who list “launderer” as their occupation are referring to clothing,” wrote German. Wow. They are fucking laughing at us. We are an international joke.

Derrick O’Keefe:

We finally know more about just how much money laundering has been distorting the housing market in B.C. This is what happens when a right-wing government like the BC Liberals turns a blind eye to anything that might impede profiteering from the hyper-commodification of housing.

Now we need to find out who knew what and when they knew it. We need a full public inquiry.

Hey look! We made the BBC! How gangs used Vancouver’s real estate market to launder $5bn.

Meanwhile, the ghost of Vision just won’t go away: Why is a former Vancouver councillor bringing developers to meet the mayor?. Jumping straight to lobbying on behalf of developers? Just a totally normal thing that happens all the time. Pay no mind.

Oh, I see! He just want to get to know the people that destroyed our city. No biggie: “I never really knew any of these developers before the election,” Stewart said in response to the purpose of the meetings. “But yet I’m in a situation where our housing crisis — the key issue in the city — depends on them changing their behaviour”.

Appealing to the market has done jack shit. Even the notorious neo-liberal urbanist and proto-YIMBY Richard Florida has come to his senses: ‘Build More Housing’ Is No Match for Inequality “A new analysis finds that liberalizing zoning rules and building more won’t solve the urban affordability crisis, and could exacerbate it”.

…Because we have so much supply we are desperate to actually fill it: First month free: Landlords offering pretty perks to attract renters.

“Immigrants come here and leech off the system” of the day: International student arrested, facing deportation for working too many hours. Scary precedent: “I’ve never seen a case where an OPP officer takes it upon themselves to do their own immigration investigation into whether someone is working the allotted hours under a student permit”.

I’ll have a 20 piece nugget meal and some civil liberties on the side: B.C. Mountie’s warning to not talk on phone to driver at drive-thru sparks online rage. Oh sure, it’s a friendly reminder now but what happens when it’s a BIPOC?

Whoever green-lit this poll should be blacklisted from journalism for life: POLL: Do you support SOGI 123 resources in local schools? – Peace Arch News. Edit: Looks like someone realized this was no different from asking “do you support resources for Black or Jewish children in local schools” and took it down.