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.

Vancouver mayor: Andrew Scheer as prime minister would be ‘disaster for city’. “On housing, Stewart said he was worried the Conservatives would rely on the private market and not government investment to create more affordable housing programs attractive to developers.” Uh, this is literally the same solution Stewart proposes for housing in Vancouver.

Meanwhile, the number of Global News commenters who think Stewart is a leftist mayor who should mind his own business is pretty staggering. Stewart is a neoliberal at best who is rightly concerned that his Ottawa connections and funding for capital projects are going to disappear. This is literally what being a mayor in a Canadian city is all about. Calling out Scheer is low-hanging fruit; urban centres aren’t the Conservative leader’s base and he will win a minority government with rural ridings alone, but the fact that Trudeau got a pass when Stewart got arrested for protesting the TMX expansion is more telling. Neoliberals stick together.

Kind of like how the poster boy for white privilege, a guy who did blackface three times, gets an endorsement from Obama over the first racialized party leader in Canada: Barack Obama Just Endorsed Justin Trudeau. Meanwhile, Scheer is either hoping Trump doesn’t get any ideas or hoping he does. I really can’t tell anymore.

Returning to Vancouver, the guy who wants to know who Ryan Reynolds might be voting for also gives us this edgy take: OPINION: Vancouver’s partisan NDP Mayor is using City resources to tell you who not to vote for. Using resources to tell you who will take away our resources? Oooh, what a scandal.

93% of renters feel housing affordability is a major issue in Canada: survey. Wow, what a total non-article. It’s time to reverse deregulation, austerity and the commodification of housing. Otherwise we will continue to get these vague promises that focus on home ownership, which really just puts more Canadians in debt without getting the government back in the business of providing dedicated, affordable, non-market rental housing.

What I want to know, is where do the parties stand on this:

CRA combating underground economy with Home Depot purchase records. Ah yes, a crackdown on contractors getting paid under the table. Meanwhile Canadian $$ in Tax Havens Reach $199 Billion.

Strikes work: Unite Here Local 40 announces tentative contract to end strike at three Vancouver hotels.

An injury to one is an injury to all: Workers making £88 Lululemon leggings claim they are beaten. Why are we surprised? Nobody becomes a billionaire without exploitation.

More disaster predictions: Danger of liquefaction at False Creek Flats site of new St. Paul’s Hospital flagged by City of Vancouver. We’ve known about this for years.

Good journalism: We back-country paddled to the Tulsequah Chief, B.C.’s most infamous abandoned mine.

Honour Bound: Hope for Desiree. This is the woman who was hit on Hastings Street last week and dragged four blocks.

Bonus: Frazey Ford – “The Kids Are Having None Of It”.