Greetings!
I've been having a laugh about a couple things lately, and getting tired of seeing another thing. I'm going to talk about them today..
First: The doom and gloom over 15 minute cities.
People seem to be absolutely convinced that trying to return to a 15 minute city, or lets be real... NEIGHBOURHOOD model is the first step towards limiting movement, tracking people, and whatever other whacked out idea they have thought of..
Before the big box stores became king and the suburbs weren't sprawling all over the place, we had neighbourhoods. The neighbourhood would have a shopping centre with a bank, a grocery store, a department store, and some other stuff.. You'd still have to go outside the neighbourhood for things.. But 80% of what you needed was right there.
Then box stores came into prominence and new residential developments were just that.. Residential with maybe a park.. Any retail was outside that 15 minute radius. Because this model has become so ingrained in the lives of the people, they forget, or weren't born/conscious enough to remember the neighbourhood model that was around really until the early 90s.
The other thing I'm having a laugh about is I was told that, because I would rather see the Criminal Code definition of Crimes Against Humanity be used and as a result, the proper channels for said, I'm complicit to crimes against humanity. All because I'm not blindly bleating to throw Justin Trudeau in jail without due process...Am I happy with his tenure as PM? There were good and bad, just like any. The power of hindsight shows us maybe the lockdowns were a little extreme, but at the time given the information we had, it was the right move. The "Freedom Convoy" people are taking that hindsight look and applying it like we had a crystal ball for the future.
The funny thing is they only blame Trudeau for the border being closed. They conveniently forget or are unwilling to accept that it was a mutual decision by Trudeau and Biden.
Now.. The thing I'm tired of seeing.. We're a little different up here when it comes to election campaigns. Officially, you can't start campaigning until an election has been called. Well, Pierre Poilievre has basically been campaigning for the last year or so.. Our election won't be until next year.. People are already annointing Pierre as our next PM. They think things will be different.. Better...
Nope.....
The country will be the same, just with a new coat of paint. Nothing changes because there's no incentive to change. At a Federal level, it's all a theatrical performance. Provincially, there's more impact on our day-to-day lives. (for example, people needing social assistance are still impacted by a guy who ran the province in the 90s.. Healthcare and schools also haven't rebounded.. And are just being made worse by the current regime)
Indeed, Pierre has some nice slogans.. But that's all he has.
Axe the Tax
Build the Homes
The Tax he's wanting to axe is the carbon tax implemented by the current government.
We've got a housing and affordability crisis in Canada.. Some areas it's almost $1000 for a room.. Other areas have no vacancies, and because of the market pressures, and houses for sale have a premium on the prices. Of course, that's unsustainable. But it's the Provincial governments' job to work with the municipalities to build homes. The Federal government basically makes the Crown Land available.. The Province of Ontario wanted to build homes on the Greenbelt, a protected area that is used for farming. After much outcry, they backed off, no Plan B in sight.
So I'm tired of seeing any level of government, but I'm also sick of the "Oh this person's going to make things so much better!!!" No he won't.. We'll follow the same path as before, people will get sick of the new leader, then vote the party they voted out previously, while two other Federal parties that could take a kick at the can stand on the sidelines.
(Our system, though having multiple parties, is essentially a revolving door of Liberal and Conservative. We also have the New Democrat Party, the Green Party, the People's Party of Canada, and Bloc Quebecois, which only is in Quebec)
So dear friends, that's what's been on my mind lately..
