Canadian politics thread

[CivicBlues]

I think I can speak with some authority here as I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on this site who lives Downtown and walks EVERYWHERE still. Also regularly drive to and fro Burnaby along Hastings, Pender, 1st Ave, Terminal, Broadway, etc.

Are things *in general* worse than 2019? Yes.

Are things now an apocalyptic hellscape that's reached all time-depraved status caused singlehandedly by Trudeau's term in office (2015-present). - No I'm old enough to know things were shitty back in the 90s along a greater geographic area. So much of East Van was a shitty and rundown you can't imagine how much is gentrified now. Basically we've concentrated our problem now, homelessness and open drug use are a bigger issue today but violence was a much bigger problem before.

[westopher]

Worth considering the impact that the pandemic had on homelessness in a lot more places than here as well.

[Traum]

Local news has definitely been reporting the significantly increased Food Bank usage a lot this year, and it is happening across the country. Every time the news does a story with the food bank operators, the operators themselves always quote some massively increased usage numbers over a 5 - 10 year period. In terms of the amount of food they give out, more than a few of the bigger operators are saying their food budget increased from under $500k/yr to over $2M/yr. I was actually really surprised to hear that they are able to fund raise that much money to give out in food.

Demographics of the food bank users have also changed -- again, according to the food bank operators. Nowadays, they pretty much get users from the working class and down. People with full time jobs. Students -- domestic and international. Personally, I was surprised to learn that the bigger universities (like UBC and UCalgary) have food banks for their student populations now, and they seem to be well used (and reasonably well-stocked).

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Fix the court system and bail reform and he gets my stamp of approval.

Turd has actually taken some baby steps to tighten bail requirements -- something about reverse onus where the accused needs to prove they should be released for bail instead of the prosecuting side proving bail should not be granted. On the other hand, the Libs and its Justice Minister are solely responsible for the shortage of federal judges and inadequate federal court staff. Apparently the Justice Minister needs to approve applications for federal judges, and there is no shortage of qualified people waiting to be approved. But somehow, the Justice Minister is taking his sweeta$$ time to process those approvals.

But the judicial system problems aren't exclusive to the federal level. Provincial govs are also guilty of not having enough judges and staff at the provincial courts. I remember reading/watching the news about how there were at least 2 cases of intimite partner violence / rape in Ontario where one woman did all the right things -- collected and submitted all the evidence that according to the police, would definitely put the husband/bf to behind bars. But the cases got thrown out because there was too long a delay for the accused to get their hearings in court, and they can't be sued anymore. It was pretty ridiculous.

Oh and let'ts not forget that our penal institutions across the country are at capacity, and apparently it is pretty difficult to hire correctional officers, although I have forgotten why it was difficult to do so.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by CivicBlues

I think I can speak with some authority here as I'm pretty sure I'm the only one on this site who lives Downtown and walks EVERYWHERE still. Also regularly drive to and fro Burnaby along Hastings, Pender, 1st Ave, Terminal, Broadway, etc.

Are things *in general* worse than 2019? Yes.

Are things now an apocalyptic hellscape that's reached all time-depraved status caused singlehandedly by Trudeau's term in office (2015-present). - No I'm old enough to know things were shitty back in the 90s along a greater geographic area. So much of East Van was a shitty and rundown you can't imagine how much is gentrified now. Basically we've concentrated our problem now, homelessness and open drug use are a bigger issue today but violence was a much bigger problem before.

I know you’re speaking in relation to the DTES specifically

However, both violent crime and gun crime have gone up significantly under the liberals

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...nt-crime-rate/

The bar graph there essentially tracks the liberals in power.

And yes, it’s not all on the fed, but felony violent crime and gun crime both are.

My wife grew up in east van so she’s lived 30+ years of her life here. She remembers times when, as you said, the entirety of east van was a grungy place with crime etc. however, I think there is something to be said about petty crime and disorder VS violent and drug crime

[Traum]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

Actually, if we want to talk naked eye test, I've found east side Vancouver has cleaned up significantly. You used to see way more BS along Kingsway spanning from Knight all the way up to Joyce. That's cleaned up significantly in the last 10 years.

I'm pretty sure I've mentinoed it on RS before, but I've had some on-going personal business to attend to in Chinatown this year, and I noticed that compared to the previous years, Chinatown has cleaned up a lot. At one point -- likely around 2022 - 2023 -- the streets were really filthy, and you can see a lot of homeless people everywhere. But this year, there was significantly less feces and urine smell across the area. I see cleaning crew out power washing the streets, and people from the underprivileged class working as garbage pickup persons -- I suspect it was some sort of social assistance program helping these people get back on their feet.

With the area between Knight to Joyce though -- I'd have to say at least part of the clean up is due to gentrification.

[CivicBlues]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I know you’re speaking in relation to the DTES specifically

However, both violent crime and gun crime have gone up significantly under the liberals

https://www.statista.com/statistics/...nt-crime-rate/

The bar graph there essentially tracks the liberals in power.

And yes, it’s not all on the fed, but felony violent crime and gun crime both are.

My wife grew up in east van so she’s lived 30+ years of her life here. She remembers times when, as you said, the entirety of east van was a grungy place with crime etc. however, I think there is something to be said about petty crime and disorder VS violent and drug crime

Yeah I was referring to all of East Van. Like I said it's just more concentrated now so it feels like more of a shithole in certain neighbourhoods.

Not surprised DTES is more dangerous. More drug induced psychoses driving people to do unpredictable crazy shit . I used to say walking down E Hastings was unpleasant but for the most part safe and the people were harmless. Not so much today

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

My wife grew up in east van so she’s lived 30+ years of her life here. She remembers times when, as you said, the entirety of east van was a grungy place with crime etc. however, I think there is something to be said about petty crime and disorder VS violent and drug crime

ya i was fortunate enough to move back to the area i grew up in... back then even in elementary school i'd be pretty OK walking home from the drug store at night...

these days as an adult my head is up and eyes open like i'm a point guard scanning my surroundings etc. the vibe def has changed like you said.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

When you can’t afford housing, you are then homeless.

Or when you choose drugs over a place to live.

This guy I knew from high school. he was 3 grades higher than me turned into a complete junkie. His family tried everything but nothing worked. His sister is a nurse and she could even help him. Dude comes to our store sometimes and he can't even stand up straight. totally cracked out.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Or when you choose drugs over a place to live.

This guy I knew from high school. he was 3 grades higher than me turned into a complete junkie. His family tried everything but nothing worked. His sister is a nurse and she could even help him. Dude comes to our store sometimes and he can't even stand up straight. totally cracked out.

Yea sweet life, I’m sure he’s loving it. There were no factors that contributed to his addiction other than the love of hard drugs.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Yea sweet life, I’m sure he’s loving it. There were no factors that contributed to his addiction other than the love of hard drugs.

He chose drugs over his family. At one point he would get his mom to buy him smokes. He would come back in after she left to get a refund so he could buy drugs. Had to put a stop to that.

[Hondaracer]

Yea.. that isn’t a “choice” at that point.

[68style]

Honda in Trump thread: you guys are all whiners it’s not going to be that bad anyone who says otherwise doesn’t know what they’re talking about

Honda in Canada thread: you’re lucky if you don’t die walking 5 minutes in downtown Vancouver you have to be blind not to see it

[Hondaracer]

Well as I’ve said before, you walk within a 6-8 block radius of the DTES that’s as bad of an area I’ve -ever- been to anywhere.

I’ve been to 27 countries over the last 11-12 years. Spent almost 9 months in Europe in the last decade. I’ve never been a single place as bad. That’s not hyperbole. And yea yea, “those are only the tourist areas!!!” Well yea, so is much of the DTES.

I’ve never been to Asia so I can speak to torsos crawling along the sidewalk begging but I’m sure it’s less concentrated in most places, and likely less dangerous.

If you watch YouTubers who make videos about coming to Vancouver, the overwhelming #1 comment that is the common theme among them all is that they figured you would feel safer here than they felt.

[mikemhg]

Are we getting into a homelessness argument again?

Honda, I hate to tell ya, but homelessness is worse off writ-large everywhere nowadays. You should see the homelessness issue down here in Texas, these people are everywhere, if anything they look WORSE off and more sketchy down here due to the lack of support systems in this good ol' red state.

You can talk to the most ardent Republican down here and they'll all tell you the homeless issue has gotten worse here in the last 5 years, and this has always been a red state. If Texas has major homeless issues nowadays, how can that be based on progressive/lefty policies?

The red herring here is the cost of housing and inflation, COVID poured gasoline on the problem and here we are.

We need to stop acting like this is some left vs right issue, it isn't. This is a problem spurred by the haves taking from the have nots. The last election was all about this, 1 and 3 workers (34%) are living paycheck to paycheck, that tumultuous slide from being housed to on the street is prescient nowadays. We've whittled down the middle class based on ridiculous neoliberal and conservative economic policies, and here we are.

I truly reiterate this outcome is not about the left or the right and the sooner we as a whole recognize that, perhaps we'll see actual improvements to this problem.

[Hondaracer]

As I said on the last page, no one’s going to fix it. Texas and Florida have among the most homeless in the USA, so of course that doesn’t track with that narrative

However, in Canada I do believe the liberal immigration policies played a pretty substantial role in the current situation here. Are they as big as I make them out to be? Maybe not, but it’s a pretty reasonable argument imo to say that it played into the tangible increase in homelessness, and along with it the crime and disorder you see.

Even for mental illness, if you can rent a room on some subsidy you get and you’ve got a roof over your head and a place to have your belongings, that’s such a step up from having mental health issues and being on the street. At that point most people probably just give up and do whatever they can to not feel shit.

In Texas at least I’m sure you can live in some shit hole for a reasonable rent. In the lower mainland, you can’t be west of chilliwack and find “affordable” housing that doesn’t eat up a substantial portion of your income

I’m a 6’0 200lb white guy with a beard walking around with a scowl on my face lol like I’m not scared to be out I’m not scared of the current state we find ourselves in. But I am legitimately fearful for my wife being out if she was to go out for dinner with friends in gas town, Chinatown, really most of downtown. She isn’t the type to handle a confrontation nor a “random” attack etc.

[Badhobz]

They should relocate crack town. its sitting on some real prime real estate and its a huge eye sore to all the tourists.

Move it to surrey where it belongs damnit!

sim mayor should just put up like 4 more police stations around each block and then crime will go down. don't forget to zone it back to blue for commercial stupid !

[noclue]

We just need another olympics and then the BC government will bus them out of the DTES

[Traum]

Well... we do have Taylor Swift's Eras Tour coming in December. And then in 2026, we'd have a bunch of FIFA World Cup games too.

[TOS'd]

That's what Toronto did around Rogers Centre (where the Taylor Swift concerts are taking place):

Five unhoused people who were staying in tents near the Rogers Centre have been given spaces in a Toronto shelters ahead of six sold-out Taylor Swift concerts that are expected to result in a significant influx of visitors to the downtown core.

https://toronto.ctvnews.ca/city-of-t...hows-1.7110310

[Mikoyan]

Originally Posted by Traum

I'm pretty sure I've mentinoed it on RS before, but I've had some on-going personal business to attend to in Chinatown this year, and I noticed that compared to the previous years, Chinatown has cleaned up a lot. At one point -- likely around 2022 - 2023 -- the streets were really filthy, and you can see a lot of homeless people everywhere. But this year, there was significantly less feces and urine smell across the area. I see cleaning crew out power washing the streets, and people from the underprivileged class working as garbage pickup persons -- I suspect it was some sort of social assistance program helping these people get back on their feet.

With the area between Knight to Joyce though -- I'd have to say at least part of the clean up is due to gentrification.

A large part of that was all the hourly rate motels along Kingsway getting shut down. There were newspaper articles talking about the the gentrification of the area back in the 90's. I remember walking past the hookers as a kid to get to the McDonalds at Vic/Kingsway.

[EvoFire]

Originally Posted by Mikoyan

A large part of that was all the hourly rate motels along Kingsway getting shut down. There were newspaper articles talking about the the gentrification of the area back in the 90's. I remember walking past the hookers as a kid to get to the McDonalds at Vic/Kingsway.

My ex way back worked at the mcd on Kingsway and Victoria. She said there would be hookers having sex in the washrooms all the time and she'd have to call the manager to come clean up

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

My ex way back worked at the mcd on Kingsway and Victoria. She said there would be hookers having sex in the washrooms all the time and she'd have to call the manager to come clean up

Sounds hot

[RevYouUp]

Let’s be honest, most of us are greedy and selfish here, that’s just human nature. We’re all talking about social issues out of our control and pretending we’re all social justice advocates. None of us will drop our lifestyles, families, careers and cars to actually go out and help with all these issues and distribute our wealth and time. If you are, all the power to you.

We can all just talk about it like we’re making a difference and be keyboard politicians. There’s no wrong or right, one thing that’s morally correct might not be the same for the other person. These arguments are all pointless, but I do enjoy the read.

[Ulic Qel-Droma]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Sounds hot

HAH until you see what these hookers look like...

bro these aren't the seymour street hookers of the 90's... as a kid i thought they looked like models...

these are east van street walkers... they look like zombies.

[Badhobz]

I haven’t seen a hooker for a long long time. I guess that entire profession has gone online.

Nobody stands on corners anymore; unless they bent over and totally cracked out due to fent.