by Sean Orr | City Clark vs Country Clark: Christy Clark shrugs off urban roots for rural crowds. Because she can. Because our system allows it to happen. Because democracy is a spectacle of turbulence and contention. “Let’s not forget where the money comes for the cancer centre, the world leading cancer treatment that we provide in Vancouver. Let’s not forget that social housing is not built from socialism…” Actually, it probably comes from BC’s number one industry; the service sector. Out of 2,287,000 jobs, only 47,000 are in natural resources. 1,827,000 are from the service industry.

But hey, who cares about boring old facts and statistics when the government keeps you constantly worried about your own job? Christy Clark isn’t worried – and she doesn’t think you are, either.

Ms. Clark is certain the broader public doesn’t care about this imbroglio. People worry about whether they are going to have a job tomorrow; whether they are going to have a job a month from now. Stories about party fundraising are something the elites get riled up about in Victoria and in the coffee shops of downtown Vancouver; they are not something that captures the imagination of people outside those areas, she would argue.

Or, as Chris Hedges writes, (again, about America, but it’s applicable here): “A desperate population, fearing change, clamours for greater and greater illusion. The forces that ensure collective death—including corporate capitalism, the fossil fuel industry and the animal agriculture industry—are blotted out of consciousness…”

So what does a Christy Clark donor look like anyway? Ah yes, afro-wearing bear killers who dictate wildlife policy in BC.

Lotos eaters of the day: Living the dream: Real estate refugees thrive in rural B.C.. A perversion of the heartland versus hinterland mythos, the modern isolationist says “I always tell people, it’s like a commune, but with no ideology”.

Expo 86: A troubled legacy. Oh, and by the way, I went to the anti-Expo86 event at Malkin Bowl but I also loved going to Expo – it’s an internal contradiction that I embrace to this day.

And now for your daily dose of Kerry Gold: “I see Expo as one of our neediest, most insecure moments as a city. Economically, we were in dire straits, and Expo was when we asked the world to bail us out. We specifically turned to Asia for an injection of global money that turned out to be our first fix… I think we all see the price we’re paying, not just in terms of Vancouver’s unaffordability, but as a community, too”.

The best place on earth: Canada’s Worst Place To Live Is Port Alberni. Think about that for a second. That means that Fort McMurray is a better place to live. That means that Windsor, Onterrible is a better place to live. That means Attawapiskat is a better place to live. Jesus, Port Alberni…what did you do?

Open letter of the day: ReUp BBQ responds to the Earls controversy and the state of our food system.

Interactive map tracks Vancouver crow attacks. Now if only we could get an interactive map of aggressive bro attacks.

Foreign bonus: Larry Wilmore’s harshest burns in his White House correspondents’ dinner speech.