I will give this government one thing, and one thing only. They make the most harebrained ass backwards decisions in the world when it comes to policy. But they do respond to public criticism, sometimes. I still am no fan, that's for sure. But when they are being extra gross, sometimes even these freaks know when to back off, whereas a lot of other administrations would double down and bear the criticism. So bravo for seeing right from wrong, but maybe don't make stupid ass decisions like this in the first place. Maybe focus a little less on rule by Facebook and corporate supporters, and focus more on the people who got you there, and what their actual needs are.
Man, I wouldn't "give" them that point at all. The backtracking IS the scheme. They implement whatever completely shit ideological policy that's their flavour of the day, and UNLESS the populace reacts strongly, they say "welp, everyone must be in favour because no one screamed loud enough".
It's a fucking horseshit dirty way of implementing public policy and it's absolutely exhausting because they are doing it EVERYWHERE.
Of course it's cruel. Smith's entire political existence revolves around (a) hurting anyone who isn't wealthy, white, and straight; and (b) gathering authoritarian power to herself.
That's it. Everything she does is for power and cruelty.
Hey, Premiere Smith and the UCP need that $6.2 million to do important stuff! It's much better spent to tell struggling kids that gender dysphoria isn't real. Or to remove wind turbines blocking pristine views of oil derricks. Or to go around kicking homeless people or something.
This province just seems full of cruel people, that are cruel for no reason. I mean yeah, the UCP, low hanging fruit. But other non-political people even, Albertans need to fucking relax and realize that most of them got it pretty god damn good. They need to be speaking up against this, and telling their elected officials that this isn't ok. You know, protecting their more vulnerable neighbours. But they won't, because I've never met so many self centered people as I have here.
Obviously not saying we can blanket apply this to everyone, like I've met some awesome Albertans too. But the selfish, cruel ones outnumber them like 10 to 1. Maybe it's the fact that there's historically been a higher standard of living here, which is also something these people should be ashamed of as well, that they've let this evaporate with horseshit like this.
But the selfish, cruel ones outnumber them like 10 to 1.
I think a vocal minority causes that perception, but it's probably not reflective of the whole.
Provincial NDP enjoyed 44% of the popular vote in the last AB provincial election. BC NDP for reference was 47%.
Ontarians are 50% more likely than an Albertan to hold the belief that abortions should never be legal.
BC's hate crime rate is the highest in the country.
I guess my point is that anecdotes are anecdotes, stats are stats. There are fucks in every province. I think people would be surprised to see how little variation there is between the statistical attitudes between their glorious home province and the backwards savages in AB.
Oh absolutely there are fuckheads in every province. Statistics will definitely show you that. It's the vitrol that the opinions come with, at least in my super non scientific, totally anecdotal observations, that always takes me by surprise a bit. Albertas are really really passionate with their ugliness, in my observations, and that's absolutely unique to this province. I think even people just observing can agree with that. You are right too, that it's very likely the vocal minority skewing the perception, but the perception is still the perception. I've met some really great Albertans, and some really shitty Ontarians and BC'ers. But the ugliness casts a shadow here.
While Kenney was in power they also removed the ability to claim transit fares on your taxes. And changed the rules for overtime and stat holidays in favour of the employer.
They really hate the working class. (That means you too, rig pigs)
I think that was actually a federal elimination first, so it kind of made sense that the province followed. I don't necessarily blame them for that, if anything I'd blame the liberals on that one.
The overtime and stat holiday rules have also always been shit in Alberta. That goes way way back, long before the United Dunce Party formed.
I was just stating a fact, and not my opinions whether it's right or wrong as a whole. If I remember correctly, it was taken away as part of the changes that preceded the Carbon Tax Rebate, which in turn actually likely nets you more money in the long run.
As for the labor laws, they are shit in this country as a whole, and no I'm not OK with that. What do you want me to do about it though? I vote accordingly, it's everyone else that's fucking idiots.
"The fact is if you have a big bag of cash, you can use that for essentially whatever you want," said Farkas. "I think at the end of the day, they're going to have to justify why this money has to go straight into the pockets of a privately owned sports team rather than to other needed priorities."
I actually agree with Farkas on this one. What a waste of money.
Farkas went on a spirit quest of sorts (hiked the Pacific Crest Trail to raise money for Big Brothers and Sisters), and came back a much more understanding and thoughtful guy.
He's still a conservative, but he's closer to a Clark con, rather than a Harper con now. Seems mostly like a changed man, but I'm still suspicious of the Harper-brain taking over if he gets into power again.
I read something about that but haven't really taken the time yet to see where he is politically. It sounds like he's still farther right than I'd go, but from what I read he was able to admit some things he was wrong about, and that's something I can seriously respect!
I don't know much about the guy's track record in council. But I did tune into the debate before the mayoral election, and two things stood out. First, was that he sounded incredibly reasonable, which was a surprise to me as my leftist echo chamber had me thinking he was an extremist. Second, the whole debate was respectful, sane, and that all the candidates seemed to want the best for the city.
Municipal political partisanship will destroy what seems to me to be the last bastion of cooperative politics in the country, which is a real shame.
Cops need to start being held accountable, both personally and as a gan... group. We need to drop the "Whoever pays their bills pays their problems" and make them responsible for their own issues. When you sue the police you sue the city/province/country, the individual perpetrator, the force, and the union need to start footing the bill. If my mayor can't tell the cops to "Enforce the Law" and figuratively hand them the legal code, then we shouldn't be paying for their harmful actions as we cannot tell them to not do 'thing'. Let's see how fast the union drops problem cops when their dues and pension funds are hit
Agreed - start using the pension as collateral and all of a sudden I bet the cops get a LOT better, and a hell of a lot more vocal about getting rid of the shitty ones.
I read a story the other day about several murder charges that fell apart in BC because the cops (willfully) refused to obey evidence handling laws. (I think they managed to still get conviction on lesser charges though, which is something I guess).
The cops have such disdain for the law, it's infuriating.
I mean I can count on one hand how many times I've ridden the c train since 2019, but as a former daily rider I never saw one once the Metro paper folded. >99.9% of the papers on the train I saw, were Metro papers.
These things don't really work, that is without a redesign of the actual street to promote traffic calming.
We have a bunch of these around Toronto for example, they have the speed posted on them. After a few months they work pretty much the same as speed limit signs you regularly see. Drivers just ignore them and drive the speed the road or street is designed to drive.
That's Toronto, plus we have photo radar here in the school zones, and they are heavily radared. Speed in school zones isn't the real issue.
We also have privatized licensing here, and that's the real problem. This isn't going to do shit. People fucking suck at driving here, and if anything else, these signs are just going to cause more confusion for the folks that probably can't understand them, and got their license at the local kwickymart license bureau. I know this isn't exactly a PC stance or comment, but I'm sick of tip toeing around this issue, like it's not an issue. It's an issue, and a big one.
I also live around the corner from a school, and all these school zones and signs and drop off zones do, is push all the traffic to the alleyways and any nearby parking lots. Just about got creamed by an Audi that came flying through our alley the other day, me having the audacity to think I had a free moment to back into my garage, not expecting a car to fly around a blind corner at highway speeds. Plus the guy flipped me off.
I agree with you, I almost get hit at every intersection or crossway I cross at in Toronto and around the GTA as well.
Most if not all crosswalks at intersection without signaled lights and crossways in-between intersection have a pedestrian right of way, though most cars speed past them without a thought in mind.
I find the issue is in north america we don't really design our streets and roads all that well. If we prioritized our streets design with children safety in mind everything else may just fall into place naturally in terms of pedestrian safety.
Drivers just ignore them and drive the speed the road or street is designed to drive.
That's what drivers usually do. I thought the purpose of in-street signs is to reduce the speed at which drivers feel safe driving because there is a bloody sign in the middle of the road that will scratch their paint. It may work better combined with a chicane.
Though the sign is only one part (the cheapest) that should be implemented with a redesign of the high-speed road as a whole into a low speed street.
Here is a link that shows all these individual traffic calming techniques, if implemented together they make low speed streets. These are both plesent to walk near or drive on even in busy areas.
Go to McKenzie Towne, that roundabout is anything but calming. Roundabouts don't calm traffic. Maybe if people knew how to drive and how to use them properly, they would. Or if the city knew how to properly design and properly sign/lane them (again, looking at McKenzie Towne), maybe then they would calm people. Instead they enrage and cause hella traffic backups.
Probably China, like all other batteries. China has a huge fleet of electric busses already and has been running them for years. The logistical problems have already been solved, so it will largely be a matter of getting charging infrastructure built out at the transit sheds.
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