Canadian politics thread

[Traum]

The OD crisis has definitely gotten a lot worse, with one of the reasons being the current street drugs are more potent + harmful.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

How is the crime in Vancouver and smaller cities like Nanaimo? My sister is in her 50's now and is constantly talking about the crime, and now she's sending me right wing videos about how bad it is. She never ever leaned right until now, and has even hinted about anti vax stuff although she did get the vaccine. I told her she needs to stop paying so much attention to these scary videos and do something else with her time online. I think covid and social media has broken her.

The crime was always pretty bad, and is part of why I left Canada 15 years ago. But that's home and auto crime, she's talking about random stabbings and shit. Is it significantly worse now?

Edit: Looking at the statistics, some places have gone up quite a bit, while others haven't. Nanaimo was always a shithole but it looks practically unlivable now

It's gotten pretty bad. I head out to Nanaimo for work occasionally but usually I'm passing through so I don't tend to notice much.

Last summer we were on a boating trip up to Comox/Powell River and we were moored for the evening in Nanaimo at the main marina there (beside Maffeo Sutton Park).

God damn I was shocked at how bad it had gotten just walking from the marina to the nearby liquor store, it was sketchy as fuck. We sat on the boat in the evening watching the addicts in the park and the general craziness of it all. I honestly had never seen anything like it in Nanaimo before, but it's much the same in places all over BC right now.

Penticton this year was also the worst I've ever seen it, so it's not just Nanaimo specifically.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by 68style

Do you honestly think crime has actually gone up tho? Or do you just feed off media campaigns?

Cuz I will tell you from my experience in the past working FOR the police, the ebb and flow of things was "What's the hot topic right now for me as a politician... crime? Property crime? Murder? Car theft? Drugs?" and then the politician turns around and applies pressure on the RCMP/City Police (depending which one) and asks them to allocate more officers and monies to that particular issue so they can show a result. Rinse and repeat with another hot button issue a few months later. This is literally the entire reason Dougie Doug wants his own police force in Surrey -- it's all about control, he can't press the mounties as much as he can his own force.

So I get that visibly people might think crime is going up, there's a hell of a lot more media coverage now on multiple platforms than there ever was before, but it's just the way it's being presented. I think it's been a steady stream of the same shit and %ages if you look at the data itself for decades... if anything it may have gone down.

Keep in mind seeing more homeless people =/= higher crime... it just means there's more homeless people.

You're partly right and wrong at the same time. The VPD came out recently and said something similar. While it's true with the internet and the media, we hear more about crimes and drug use, so anecdotally it "feels" like there's more crime. There's a mix of that, but violent crimes have gone up, so there are stats to back that part up.

It's that combined with the more in-your-face levels of poverty which I think it's making people truly feel things have been digressing as of late.

[underscore]

East Hastings has definitely gotten several times worse since the last time I drove down there about a decade ago.

[Great68]

Whoops, this meant to be in the other thread.

[whitev70r]

From article, COVID may be contributing to increase in ‘random assaults’ in Vancouver: experts

https://globalnews.ca/news/8328392/v...ndom-assaults/

Police said in a series of posts on social media last week that there were 1,555 “unprovoked, stranger assaults” involving 1,705 victims reported between Sept. 1, 2020, and Aug. 31 this year.

Here is another article Alarming’: Vancouver police say city averaging 4 random assaults per day

https://globalnews.ca/news/8285570/v...ndom-assaults/

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

It's gotten pretty bad. I head out to Nanaimo for work occasionally but usually I'm passing through so I don't tend to notice much.

Last summer we were on a boating trip up to Comox/Powell River and we were moored for the evening in Nanaimo at the main marina there (beside Maffeo Sutton Park).

God damn I was shocked at how bad it had gotten just walking from the marina to the nearby liquor store, it was sketchy as fuck. We sat on the boat in the evening watching the addicts in the park and the general craziness of it all. I honestly had never seen anything like it in Nanaimo before, but it's much the same in places all over BC right now.

Penticton this year was also the worst I've ever seen it, so it's not just Nanaimo specifically.

My wife has 2 cousins that mowed to nanaimo from the LML, one kinda forced to for work the other is kind of a hillbilly and had this cash out and “move to the country” type mentality lol

He bought a peice of land and started building a new house, dragged all his toys and RV to the new property and before the new house was even complete a crack head came and smashed every window in the new house, RV, a rental bobcat, etc.

They had video up close of the guy doing it, after talking to the community they chalked it up to an “episode” and the guy never even got a fine etc. lol same story as here dozens and dozens of convictions for this guy, caused 50k+ in damage, no penalty.

Nanaimo was a shit hole before any of this lol now it’s just crazy I’m sure

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

My wife has 2 cousins that mowed to nanaimo from the LML, one kinda forced to for work the other is kind of a hillbilly and had this cash out and “move to the country” type mentality lol

He bought a peice of land and started building a new house, dragged all his toys and RV to the new property and before the new house was even complete a crack head came and smashed every window in the new house, RV, a rental bobcat, etc.

They had video up close of the guy doing it, after talking to the community they chalked it up to an “episode” and the guy never even got a fine etc. lol same story as here dozens and dozens of convictions for this guy, caused 50k+ in damage, no penalty.

Nanaimo was a shit hole before any of this lol now it’s just crazy I’m sure

Holly shit!!! I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about. I have known him since elementary. Insurance covered everything.

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Holly shit!!! I am pretty sure I know who you are talking about. I have known him since elementary. Insurance covered everything.

You know my brother?

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by SkinnyPupp

You know my brother?

Did your brother go to Wellington high school and usnhis wife RCMP?

[SkinnyPupp]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Did your brother go to Wellington high school and usnhis wife RCMP?

I was jk lol

Just sounds like something he would have done.. Maybe he's clean now, I have no idea

[Hondaracer]

A man who seriously injured two people in an unprovoked, random “machete attack” is missing after being released shortly after the attack? WEIRD!!!

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/1...spect-missing/

Legit like feel like we should all just be commiting crimes right now because why not?

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Legit like feel like we should all just be commiting crimes right now because why not?

Because you have something to loose. These people don't.

[danned]

[Manic!]

Nanaimo has gotten worse because of all the crackheads coming down from places like the lower mainland. If you guys would just take care of your own it would not be a problem.

My buddy Honda's cousin bought a old house with a large detached shop on 3.2 acres for $650K about 6 years back. His plan was to reno the house down the road. Because the cost of the reno was so high he decided to build a new house on the property. He finished the house this summer. The house cost 450K to build. So for just over a million dollars he has 2 house a shop that can fit 4 cars easy and 3.2 acres of land. Who on RS would not want a detached shop that can hold 4 cars? What are you going to get for a mill in the lower mainland? a 800 sqft condo maybe?

Nanaimo has problems but is still a great place to live. If you are into cars it's way better than the lower mainland.

[Gumby]

Are you sure you can build a house for $450k nowadays, with all the rising construction costs? Or was it done slowly over the 6-year period?

[mikemhg]

^"I can't believe he went bungee jumping for his kid's birthday!!! I'm outraged!!!"

I chuckled because I saw a National Post headline saying something along the lines of "Trudeau bungee jumps while Iranian women are being killed", cause of course the average NP reader cares so much about muslim chicks, maybe we should bring em here then?

Complete and total nihilism in these people.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Gumby

Are you sure you can build a house for $450k nowadays, with all the rising construction costs? Or was it done slowly over the 6-year period?

Talked to another buddy and it was 480K for 2600 sqft.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Nanaimo has gotten worse because of all the crackheads coming down from places like the lower mainland. If you guys would just take care of your own it would not be a problem.

Most of them originally came from Alberta. Which is why I really believe homelessness should be handled federally.

[Rallydrv]

Vancouver election is right around the corner.

I want to focus on shit /crime happening in Vancouver (and its vicinity), to the point that i rather have a shitty mayor (who might focus less on transit/development/bike lanes) but who will (have the highest possibility) clean up the city. This is not a homes issue. It's addiction drugs issue
not going to vote Kennedy S. . wheres everybody at on this?

[westopher]

As underscore said, this is a federal problem. All of the homeless drug addicts in the country end up here, Victoria and Nanaimo, because it’s the only place in the country you can do it and not freeze to death. The mayor hardly has the ability to do anything about it.

[Traum]

According to the Vancouver Sun:

https://vancouversun.com/news/local-...onsored-debate

Recent polling conducted by Research Co. for the Vancouver and District Labour Council is predicting an extremely close election. Among decided voters, the poll predicts Stewart ahead with 36 per cent of the vote, followed by Sims with 34 per cent, Hardwick with 14 per cent, Marissen with eight per cent and Harding five per cent. The VDLC is backing Stewart.

Progress Vancouver shared results Monday of recent polling commissioned by the party and conducted by Pollara, showing that among decided voters, 33 per cent planned to support Sim, Stewart was in second place with 29 per cent, Marissen in third with 17 per cent, followed by Hardwick at 11 per cent, and Harding at five per cent. Close to half of respondents were still undecided.

By all indications, it is gonna be close race down the final stretch between the two KS (and that is what I believe as well). Die hard fans of Colleen Hardwick believe (and citing its own sources) it is either a 3-way dead heat between Stewart, Sim, and Hardwick, or Sim and Hardwick neck-in-neck, with Stewart having a slight lead. But IMO, the Hardwick supporters are suffering from confirmation bias.

IMO, both KS are shxtty choices. But since I know how delusional, incompetent, and absolutely disastrous Kennedy Stewart is and how much I want to get rid of him, I am willing to put my ballot behind the other KS devil.

You should also bear in mind that Kennedy Stewart has a major fallout with the VPD, and things are so bad between them that for the first time in a long time (or possibly first time ever), the police union is backing Ken Sim as their candidate of choice. Sim's platform claims to hire 100 additional officers and 100 mental health nurses, and while I think he sounds every bit like a sleazy used car salesman, I'd expect him to at least partially make good of his promise to the VPD / mental health workers. In that regard, the VPD should have some additional resources to tackle crime and mental health issues.

(FWIW, I also think VPD is very poorly managed under Chief Palmer, and much of their financial woes is their own fault.)

Another really important bit to keep in mind is -- the mayor is but 1 vote among the CoV City Council. At the municipal level, city councilors carry a lot of weight too, which is why picking out all 10 councilors on your ballot is important.

As a last bit of spreading my own municipal propaganda, I am going to put 1 of my parks board commissioner vote to Tricia Barker (TEAM). She is campaigning on a platform to restore Stanley Park to pre-Covid status and access, and that is exactly what I want because I think the current setup with 1 lane permanently given to cyclists + blocking off the exit to Beach Ave is absolutely ludicrous. Last year I was stuck in gridlock for something like 1.5 hrs between Prospect Point until I got out of the Park at W.Georgia with a hungry and very cranky young child in the back of my car, and this insanity just needs to end.

Originally Posted by Rallydrv

Vancouver election is right around the corner.

I want to focus on shit /crime happening in Vancouver (and its vicinity), to the point that i rather have a shitty mayor (who might focus less on transit/development/bike lanes) but who will (have the highest possibility) clean up the city. This is not a homes issue. It's addiction drugs issue
not going to vote Kennedy S. . wheres everybody at on this?

[underscore]

Originally Posted by westopher

As underscore said, this is a federal problem. All of the homeless drug addicts in the country end up here, Victoria and Nanaimo, because it’s the only place in the country you can do it and not freeze to death. The mayor hardly has the ability to do anything about it.

The local government doesn't have much motivation to do something either. If they go and put more resources into it than every other city is doing they'll just end up with an influx from other cities.

[whitev70r]

In regard to municipal election ... Ken Sim lost out last time by 900 votes or something like that so it was close even last time. I think it will come down to: do you want a change or not? The sitting mayor always has s bit of an advantage but I see Sims working quite hard campaigning and I think there might be enough desire for a change. My prediction, YVR gets their 1st Asian mayor.

All politicians say what you want to hear but when they get into office, they either figure out that it isn't as easy as he/she thought it was to bring about change ... or, they get swayed by developers. Then next election, they get voted out, rinse & repeat. Except in Richmond ... Brodie has been their mayor forever.

[whitev70r]

Not sure if this is Canadian Politics ... it is a bit. Finally the board of Hockey Canada stepped down.

Why are hockey associations such crappy places ... I recall Richmond and Seafair as such a friggin political place.