On December 13, 2023, Vancouver City Council passed a motion seeking provincial endorsement for the elimination of the Park Board. The ruling ABC majority has given strong indications that they are seeking the privatization of parks assets and operations as a short-term attempt to balance the municipal budget, embedded within a wider project of neoliberal restructuring.
Category Archive: Analysis
In this essay Maria Wallstam and Nathan Crompton provide an overview of the historical evolution of government subsidies provided to Canada’s real-estate sector. State-backed financing and mortgage insurance for the big banks have cost the public billions over the course of several decades – but it’s not the only way to do housing.
In recent months we have witnessed a moral panic over shoplifting and the rise of terms such as “violent shoplifting.” Journalists and “experts” have pushed this narrative along, but a quick browse of mainstream media articles suggests that the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) has been a major force in pushing public fear over shoplifting.
The daily seizure and destruction of belongings is part of the systematic decimation of encampments. This violence has happened in cities far and near, including Vancouver and Prince George, but also Toronto, Victoria, Nanaimo, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, Los Angeles, Boston and many others. Cities aim to “invisiblize” unhoused people rather than create more livable housing.