Category: Politics

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There is no war on cars

The war on cars people know they’re completely ridiculous, right? Like there is no way they truly believe that there’s a campaign or a conspiracy to completely get rid of all the cars on the road. If they do, I feel sorry for them for having such a narrow perspective on society. They should travel more.

Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of being in some truly world class cities. These are places even Conservatives would have to admit are amazing. It’s an objective fact.

Vancouver. Geneva. Paris. Toronto. Montreal. Amsterdam. Hong Kong. To name some of them.

What I’ve experienced is no matter how great the pedestrian and cycling infrastructure is, or how incredibly developed the transit system is, there are still lots of cars. In a city where just about everyone was born on two wheels, I was in a traffic jam while taking a taxi from Amsterdam’s airport to my hotel. Hong Kong has incredibly aggressive drivers and pedestrians do not have the right of way. To be fair, there are so many pedestrians, drivers would probably never get to go if they had to wait for them to cross the street.

It’s sad how so many people have bought into this lie that gets pedalled around by some of our elected leaders that the building of bike lanes and bus routes means we’re replacing cars forever. I was thoroughly amused by a lady’s comments on an Instagram post by Councillor Nathaniel Schmidt where she is adamant that a family needs to have a car, maybe two, because how else can they go to Costco? Where does she even get the idea that every family needs to shop at Costco? Lady, you can have your car. 

I wish your cars were smaller but that’s a whole other point.

But you can have your cars, and I can have my bike lanes and transit. Yes, there is, and should be, room for all of it. You get to drive safely, and I get to bike safely. You get to sit in a car and drive, and I get to sit on a bus or train and not think about driving.

This is the goal. It’s not you get to drive safely and I have to risk my life to ride a bike. It’s not you get to drive and I’m SOL if I don’t want to drive. Everyone gets to move around in whichever way is best for them in whatever given situation.

This is how they do it in the best cities in the world and that’s what we should strive for.

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Everyone needs to take a Canadian law class, especially Danielle Smith

An introduction to Canadian law should be a compulsory high school credit in every province. In the past, I would have said it’s important for kids growing up to understand their basic rights, especially if they’re ever confronted by police.

But now it seems like we need to make sure someone who aspires to be the head of government has taken some Law 101 before they assume such a position. Like Alberta’s Danielle Smith, who recently suggested her provincial government would not provide supplemental administrative funding for Alberta’s justice system unless Prime Minister Mark Carney and the federal government gives Alberta more of a say in who will be appointed as judges.

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You are probably not a fiscal conservative

Very few people want a government that’s fiscally conservative. Most people actually want a government that’s fiscally responsible. Yes, even in Alberta! Those two things aren’t the same.

Screenshot of Alberta’s budget webpage

It took me a while to figure out how to best articulate this but a conversation with a new acquaintance sparked these thoughts. He described himself as “socially progressive and fiscally conservative.” By that he means he believes our elected officials should more or less pay their own way. They shouldn’t be expensing office supplies, coffees, meals, travel costs or basically anything a politician might spend their publicly funded constituency budget to do their work on a day to day basis. He called this nickel and diming the taxpayer, reimbursing little things that someone should be willing to pay out of their pocket with the salary they earn.

He had a point and I agree with him to an extent. But I wouldn’t call that being fiscally conservative. That’s being fiscally responsible. Or even simpler, just being a good steward of the budget you’re given.

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Calgary Needs Ranked Ballots for Better Elections

We’re one week from election day, various polls are showing a very close race for mayor and people are freaking out about the low turnout so far after advance voting week. 

About the only outcome you can predict at this point is that almost every candidate will win without picking up a clear majority of the votes cast.

This will happen because of a known bug in the Canadian electoral system. It’s the person who gets the most votes who wins, not the person who crosses the majority-has-spoken threshold.

This is why a candidate – whether for mayor or council – should include election reform on their platform and set themselves apart from their opponents.

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Reject the municipal political parties and send them packing

If I was running in the municipal election as a candidate in a party, here’s what I’d say in my defence:

“I joined a party because I believed this was the new reality we would be living in after it was imposed on us by the provincial government. This gives me the best shot at winning a council seat to do work that I’m passionate about. At the same time, I am with a group of candidates who all believe in the same vision for Calgary. I’m glad there are still a large number of people running independently. At the end of the day, I will work hard to earn the respect and support of voters and I believe I will be elected based on my personal character, not because of the party I belong to.”

I thought about this because there were a couple of articles in the past month (CBC, Livewire) that interviewed several candidates about the addition of political parties in this year’s municipal elections in Calgary and Edmonton. It was so interesting to see the candidates who are running with a party dance around trying to defend the decision. 

They’re in the party because they think it makes sense to work with like-minded people but they don’t like that they’re in the party or how it was imposed on them by the provincial government. Or they’re in a party now but they won’t necessarily vote alongside fellow party members once they’re sitting on the horseshoe in council chambers.

What? Seriously, that’s all bullshit.

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Lament for the Eau Claire Y

I recently came across a TikTok video where a local influencer giddily took us on a tour of the revamped Eau Claire YMCA. Now a private luxury spa, I quickly became depressed by what it’s turned into and thought wow, here we go again with neoliberalism taking over and ruining our community.

The Y was once a publicly accessible space where everyday citizens could exercise and connect. Becoming a private members-only playground for the wealthy highlights everything wrong with our society and how our governments just don’t care to invest in our community.

Also the ED of the Calgary Downtown Association praising this is just wrong on so many levels. This isn’t something to celebrate. It’s a tragedy!

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