If we don’t change the conversation, if we don’t deal with the systemic problems of capitalism and come up with a viable alternative, our goose is cooked.
In principle, free transit advocacy can also be an element in a broader vision to reorganize urban life and restructure the social order along red (working class-based, working toward socialism) and green (environmental) lines. This requires working through a host of open questions that go far beyond lowering the cost of fares. These include:
Last year something shocking happened in Seattle — people voted to paint “Bus Lane” along seven major arterials, onto what was space for parking and driving cars. And there was not much of a fuss.
A decade ago, this would have been seen as a wildly radical move and pundits across the continent would have set their hairpieces on fire. But now, gradually re-allocating road space from general purpose and parking use to exclusive 24/7 public transit lanes is becoming normal in many cities — even in the United States.
Why did the BC Liberals prioritize a project that could harm local communities, the Fraser River and farmland?
On the 601 bus to my hometown of Tsawwassen, I watch as bulldozers uproot the evergreens adjacent to the farmland along Highway 99, making way for a costly ten lane bridge built in the interests of industry. I imagine dredgers forcing themselves on the river bed, scraping at the sediment and defiling the critical salmon habitat.
When Dave Barrett led the NDP to victory and became premier in September 1972, Vancouver was in the midst of a freeway revolt. East Vancouver and Chinatown residents had united against the planned downtown freeway and third crossing to the North Shore.
June 30, 2017 - The fossil industry’s own data shows Canada’s tar sands/oil sands entering a period of managed decline, with no commitments at all to new project construction beyond 2020, Oil Change International concludes in a provocative briefing note issued yesterday.
The federal government has been caught making false statements about how oilpatch partners tried to hijack its efforts to consult First Nations in British Columbia on marine protection in their territory.
Today, [ April 26th, 2017] Premier Christy Clark wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau seeking a ban on thermal-coal exports through B.C. ports.
She's crafted this political response to the Trump administration's plan to impose countervailing duties on Canadian softwood lumber bound for the United States.
