On Tuesday, June 24th, the world witnessed one of the largest political upsets in American history. Zohran Mamdani won the Democratic primary in the race to become mayor of New York City with 56% of the vote. This final result was confirmed on July 1st. Let me set the stage. When Mamdani first announced his…
Selective Sympathy: How the Media Frames Civilian Suffering
On Friday June 20th, I hosted my monthly virtual movie night. This month’s movie was the second half of Manufacturing Consent, a documentary based on the 1988 book written by author and activist Noam Chomsky with economist and social critic Edward S. Herman. The thesis of the book and the movie is that our media…
NO MEGATOWERS AT SAFEWAY
To the great dismay but not great surprise of Vancouver residents in general, and residents in Grandview-Woodland in particular, on June 10th Vancouver City Council approved a controversial rezoning application by the Crombie REIT (real estate investment trust) and Wesbank Projects Corp. to build three megatowers ranging in height from 36 to 43 storeys on a…
COPE’s Sean Orr Gets It
On June 3, 2025, Vancouver’s ABC-dominated City Council moved a motion which will do away with public hearings for all developments deemed consistent with the City’s official development plan. Only COPE’s Sean Orr voted against this very undemocratic motion. Vancouver Green’s Pete Fry abstained. OneCity’s Lucy Maloney voted in favour. As is far too usual…
Court Win, Housing Loss: Vancouver Abandons Arbutus Supportive Project
On May 27, 2025, it became clear that folks who require supportive housing had suffered a very major defeat. The City of Vancouver was abandoning a proposal by BC Housing to build a 13-story tower next to SkyTrain’s future Arbutus Station on Broadway. The project would have provided 129 studio units of low-barrier supportive housing….
Starving Gaza: Will the World Finally Force Israel to Stop?
As the nightmare in Gaza continues, there may finally be a small but growing sliver of hope. On May 19, 2025, two remarkable statements were issued, calling on Israel to stop its military offensive in Gaza and to lift aid restrictions. The first was a joint statement by Canada, the United Kingdom, and France, which…
A Week That Kept Political Junkies Glued to Their Screens
What an interesting week it was in federal politics! With the federal election behind us, I thought things would quickly become less thought-provoking, but I was wrong. First off, let’s go to the federal riding of Terrebonne in Québec. On election night, the Liberals appeared to have won the riding, but the vote validation process…