Enough is enough. It’s clear to me now that the govt of Newfoundland and Labrador has no respect for the services its capital city provides to the people of this province. There can be no meaningful action on poverty and climate without investment in public transportation. 1/ In 2020, the province committed 2.1M annually to the low income bus pass program. In 2022, the only program I can find anyway that received a budget cut was the low income bus pass. Not only that, they announced it without an agreement with the transit authority and city. 2/

I am struggling with the heaviness of the grief facing our society right now. The devastating IPCC working group report on the climate crisis, the war in Ukraine, the ongoing grave findings at residential school sites in Canada, the effects of the pandemic, and so on, 1/ There is so much to contend with that it is so easy to get tangled up in trying to find targets for our grief and rage. I know what it’s like to feel a burning rage and misplace this anger, pushing it onto whatever feels within my control to have an impact on. 2/

To me, as someone who spends a lot of time engaging with a broad spectrum of folks online, this tantrum is just a real world manifestation of years of toxic hate that’s been building in alt-right echo chambers on social media for years. It’s horrifying but not unexpected. 1/

https://twitter.com/stephtaylorcp/status/1492287709003583496

During the pandemic, I’ve lost count of the number of people close to me that have been totally swallowed up by fringe movements online where conspiracy theories that have been brewing in the dark web hell holes of misogyny and racism as a backlash to progressivism for years. 2/

“Let no one imagine that because he lives in a modern home with all conveniences, clean surroundings and a garden, that he has no responsibility for how others live.” - Editorial in response to the report of the St. John’s Housing Commission in the Daily News, 1943 “This report and all the effort that has gone into the drafting of it can be an historic document or a waste of time. If it should prove to be the latter we shall condemn ourselves as a selfish, apathetic community deserving of all the ills that may befall us”

In case you are looking to understand the Council history on the Park Hotel vote I've got some links for you. Also, the City website search function is SO MUCH better now than it was in the past so if you search "1 Clift's-Baird's Cove" you can get lots of info: On Sept 12 2018 Committee of the Whole debated whether or not to consider the Park Hotel. Here is that agenda: stjohns.ca/sites/default/…

Here is a CBC article from the same day: cbc.ca/news/canada/ne…

Here are some notes on the new inspection powers from the HoA, nothing I enjoy more than comparing old legislation with recent amendments.

The new power to put people on the ferry seems to require two cabinet ministers’ input. That’s a pretty involved process. See below. 1/ The inspection powers in s.50 are very very broad. Maybe too broad—it seems they could be used to investigate any “health hazard”, eg illegal drug use. This is probably important to clarify! However insofar as there is news here the news happened in 2018 when act was passed 2/