CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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colonel_korn: May 16, 2003

@Kady: Has Stephen Harper resigned yet? No one will say

quote:

If he�s set on swearing in his new cabinet as planned next Wednesday, Justin Trudeau may have to do something he likely thought had dropped off his to-do list forever: namely, call on Stephen Harper to resign � not publicly, necessarily, and with the greatest possible respect for the outgoing leader, but definitively.

Or, if he has indeed done so, make a public announcement to that effect.

Because at the moment, it doesn�t appear that Harper has formally served notice to Governor General David Johnston � or anyone else � that he will voluntarily cede power to the incoming Liberal government next week. No official notice has been released to the media, or posted to the Rideau Hall website, nor has Harper�s office issued a statement confirming that he will resign.

Trudeau was spotted heading into Langevin � the building that houses the Prime Minister�s Office � last Wednesday, but no official notice of what was, presumably, the first face-to-face discussion between the two men since the election was released by either PMO or the Liberals.

(It also appears to have been relatively short, as Harper � in a black SUV � reportedly departed within half an hour of Trudeau�s arrival.)

Even the Nov. 4 save-the-date for the swearing in of the new cabinet � which Trudeau personally announced to reporters during a press conference last week � has yet to be acknowledged by Rideau Hall.

And while the lack of official confirmation could be written off as simply a more low-key transition process � it�s not clear that�s actually legal � or, more specifically, constitutional � for the transition to proceed without a signed notice of resignation in place.

Trudeau and his advisors have, after all, reportedly been getting briefings by senior officials.

If he hasn�t been formally invited to take power, that raises the question of who, exactly, has authorized the release of presumably confidential information related to the ongoing operations of government. But the incoming prime minister is not currently a sworn member of the Privy Council � and if the governor-general hasn�t yet been in official communication with him, even the use of the prime minister-designate title may be not accurate.

(Like Rideau Hall and PMO, PCO failed to respond to a request for comment.)

The ongoing confusion over Harper�s current status began shortly after he took the stage in Calgary to concede defeat.

Although he noted that he had already offered his congratulations to Trudeau, and �assured him of [his] full cooperation during the process of transition in the coming days,� at no point did Harper expressly state that he would be stepping down � either as party leader or, perhaps more crucially, prime minister.

(The bulletin issued by Conservative president John Walsh the following day is similarly oblique: notably absent from the 261 word message is any explicit reference to Harper�s resignation, although he does lay out the preliminary steps to be taken in the leadership selection process, which is a tacit admission that the position is, or will soon be vacant.)

Since then, the only public sighting of the outgoing prime minister has been a brief appearance alongside Trudeau and Johnston at the memorial ceremony to mark the Oct. 22 attacks.

Aside from a brief statement tied to the event, his office has been silent � as has Rideau Hall and Johnston, who, as the Crown�s emissary, is supposed to play a central role in the transition process, from accepting the resignation of the outgoing prime minister to presiding over the installation of the incoming one.

By comparison, the most recent previous federal changing of the guard was downright transparent.

One day after he was handily trounced at the polls, then-Prime Minister Paul Martin formally advised then-Governor General Michaelle Jean of his intention to step down, a message that Rideau Hall duly communicated to the nation.

The following day, the soon-to-be-former Prime Minister�s Office put out a statement of its own, in which he �reassure[d] Canadians� that both he and his team would �work together to facilitate the transition that will lead to the installation of a new government.�

And on Jan. 26 � which, for those keeping track, was two days after the election � Rideau Hall released a second media advisory announcing that Harper had paid a visit to Jean earlier that morning.

�During the meeting, it was agreed that Mr. Harper would be sworn in as Canada�s 22nd Prime Minister, along with his Cabinet, on Feb. 6, 2006,� it noted.

Leaving aside the issue of whether it is constitutional for Trudeau to be treated as a de facto prime-minister-designate before such a designation has been made, the uncertainty over the handing over of power will do little to renew public confidence in our democratic institutions.

As University of Ottawa professor Adam Dodek pointed out earlier this week, simply �publicly recognizing� what goes on behind the scenes during a change of government could go a long way to illuminating the dustier corners of one of the more arcane aspects of the parliamentary system.

In this instance, that would mean following the previously standard procedure, which would involve either Rideau Hall, the Prime Minister�s Office � or, ideally, both � releasing the gist of their formal correspondence in a timely manner.

quote:

That is, of course, assuming that a notice of resignation has been � or will shortly be � tendered.

If not, Johnston could soon find himself facing the very real prospect of becoming the first governor-general in modern Canadian history forced to advise a prime minister that Her Majesty no longer requires his advice, which is likely not how Harper would have preferred to leave office.

I really doubt it will ever come to that, but seriously, :lol:

. Harpo is so loving salty.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:05

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# ? May 14, 2024 08:24

Do it ironically: Jul 13, 2010; by Pragmatica

Square Peg posted:

Given the median income in Alberta is only like $42k, it will barely affect anyone.
Hopefully it's just stage 1 and 2 of a 5 step plan towards full communism.

id love communism because then i wouldn't have to work it'd be great.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:06

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

THC posted:

Vancouver City Council voted today to tear down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. You know what that means: a bunch of people who don't live in Vancouver will be slightly inconvenienced while driving through Vancouver. That's bad!

Tearing the viaducts down is a good decision, especially considering their plans for the land. gently caress everyone from Surrey opposing this.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:08

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

Pinterest Mom posted:

Who do you think should hold them to account? How?

Nobody's asking for some kind of regulatory agency for the press, calm down. It'd just be nice to hear a real journalist roll his eyes and say "man what a gaggle of shitlords", except that the cover of the sun wouldn't be noticed by this hypothetical journalist unless he owned a pet bird.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:08

rawrr: Jul 28, 2007

OSI bean dip posted:

Of course half of those people live outside of Vancouver and probably a tenth of that half drive to work downtown. It's like my father complaining about the bike lanes downtown when in reality he has never driven downtown for work ever, never visits downtown because he flies between here, Calgary, and Toronto most of the time, and when he does come downtown it's probably like once or maybe twice a year.

Bridge and tunnel people are the worst.

Tear them down and bring on the tears.

I kinda liked the idea of turning them into an elevated greenway that the city was exploring, but I guess it's not really practical/beneficial.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:09

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

flakeloaf posted:

Nobody's asking for some kind of regulatory agency for the press, calm down. It'd just be nice to hear a real journalist roll his eyes and say "man what a gaggle of shitlords", except that the cover of the sun wouldn't be noticed by this hypothetical journalist unless he owned a pet bird.

I sure long for the day where someone will finally have the guts to start making fun of the Sun.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:13

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

rawrr posted:

I kinda liked the idea of turning them into an elevated greenway that the city was exploring, but I guess it's not really practical/beneficial.

Considering the cost required to rehabilitate these eyesores that were originally built to allow people to drive over the railway tracks from a failed freeway plan would be more expensive, it was the right move.

I am friends with someone on the False Creek Residents Association and their main beef is the lack of proper park space. I am sure that you cannot please everyone in that situation but I think that in the long-term and with the promised park that everything will work out for the better.

Having said that, it does suck that the cheapest parking lot downtown ($6.00 all day) will go with it, but enh I only drive to work maybe once or twice per year as I am a sane person and commute by SkyTrain.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:20

Coolwhoami: Sep 13, 2007

jm20 posted:

Actual progressive taxation of personal income. Look at what they are proposing, granted it is a toe into socialism. The revenue shortfall was forecast at 5b , but will likely be higher at 6-6.5b. The personal income tax revenue was 11b out of a 50b. http://finance.alberta.ca/publications/budget/budget2015-october/fiscal-plan-revenue.pdf
code:
Taxable income		Rate
			2015	2016
$125,001 � $150,000	10.5%	12%
$150,001 � $200,000	10.75%	13%
$200,001 � $300,000	11%	14%
>$300,000		11.25%	15%

But the job creators? What about the poor job creators? How can the ANDP treat them like this

Dammit, now this has got me heated about Doris Day and the Flat Tax rate again.

While Alberta for a very long time has had very low top tax rates, the move to a flat tax was a dumb, overt tax break for the rich that was marketed as being more beneficial to poorer people . Meanwhile the provincial government centred its economy around a single resource because times were good(increasing oil prices), and now that times are bad people are still loving upset that they're going to try to fix this, despite the initial drops only being possible because times were good. I mean look at this dumb poo poo:

Almost every province did this, and has continued to justify it out of a rallied fear by supply-side economists that if they raise them at all the economy will fail (plus the changes in federal tax rate that were predominantly a tax cut for almost everyone making less than $100k). I really would like to know on what basis they continue to spout this nonsense, given that they have little to no proof that it does as they claim.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:24

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

Ontario is pushing the top rate to 53.5% in 2016, good times.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:28

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Ikantski posted:

I'd actually argue that it's people that are like that now. Newspapers don't influence readers, readers influence papers. People will buy the paper that reinforces their world view. As people got more polaraized by Harper, so did the papers. They're an outdated medium precariously teetering on the edge of profitability so you kind of expect them to pander to their readers and be a bit biased.

While I don't entirely disagree with this analysis I think you're overlooking the extent to which unprofitable newspapers are maintained by their owners so that they can be used to influence political outcomes. For instance, if the Toronto Sun (or the Globe for that matter) was exclusively catering to the bias of it's readers then why would it continually endorse a party that has only won a single seat in Toronto (that it held for less than a full term) since 1999? For that matter, why would The Star have pursued an extended war with Rob Ford when many of it's readers are (or at least were) Ford supporters? From what I've heard The Star lost a lot of readers over the Ford saga, but they seem to have pursued that conflict anyway, perhaps because their editorial and writing staff and ownership personally disliked Ford and wanted to damage him, even if it cost them money to do so.

As the profitability of the print media has declined I think that their editorial dependence has also declined, which means that they actually have less scope for catering to the prejudices of their readers. Instead they now respond to the desires of their owners, since if they didn't there would be no point in keeping them in circulation.

Pinterest Mom posted:

Who do you think should hold them to account? How?

I would like to see much greater freedom of speech than Canada currently has, but in my ideal vision of society we would find some new model for financing the press and wouldn't allow wealthy individuals to control entire newspaper chains since it really undermines the effectiveness of democracy when a small handful of people (who invariably have other financial interests as well) have such a ridiculously disproportionate ability to influence political discourse.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:34

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

CLAM DOWN posted:

Tearing the viaducts down is a good decision, especially considering their plans for the land. gently caress everyone from Surrey opposing this.

People are demanding a metro-wide referendum on this thing, lol. Yes let's ask the residents of Langley if we're allowed to clean up our front yard. With our own money.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:41

Lassitude: Oct 21, 2003

colonel_korn posted:

I really doubt it will ever come to that, but seriously, . Harpo is so loving salty.

"Justin had to DEMAND the resignation of the Right Honourable PM that the true Old Stock Canadians wanted! JUST NOT READY!"

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:42

Square Peg: Nov 11, 2008

Maybe Harper heard what happened in Portugal and a lightbulb flashed above his head.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:46

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

THC posted:

People are demanding a metro-wide referendum on this thing, lol. Yes let's ask the residents of Langley if we're allowed to clean up our front yard. With our own money.

Jesus christ, what is with the hardon for referendums the idiots of this region have

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:47

Lassitude: Oct 21, 2003

Square Peg posted:

Maybe Harper heard what happened in Portugal and a lightbulb flashed above his head.

Replace pro-Euro/Brussels with pro-US and approximately 30% of Canadians would be totally onboard with the CPC abolishing democracy in the interest of appeasing the US.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:49

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

colonel_korn posted:

@Kady: Has Stephen Harper resigned yet? No one will say

I really doubt it will ever come to that, but seriously, . Harpo is so loving salty.

Remember when the Globe & Mail was theorizing he might step down even if he won?

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:51

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Helsing posted:

While I don't entirely disagree with this analysis I think you're overlooking the extent to which unprofitable newspapers are maintained by their owners so that they can be used to influence political outcomes. For instance, if the Toronto Sun (or the Globe for that matter) was exclusively catering to the bias of it's readers then why would it continually endorse a party that has only won a single seat in Toronto (that it held for less than a full term) since 1999?

If I were running a paper in the GTA, would I want to compete with the Toronto Star for progressive readers or would I go for the slightly smaller but competition free market of conservative minded GTA readers? You don't need to go after the biggest market to make money, lots of people make money by going after smaller ones that have less competition. I wouldn't imagine the Star lost money over attacking Rob Ford, people were eating that up. I'd need to see some real numbers at least.

I'm also not saying they're entirely biased and you're not saying they're entirely unbiased just that economic realities mean we should keep in mind while reading that they're probably biasing themselves to their readership a little bit. Even the Globe's ~~Harper~~ conservative endorsement did that. Lots of Globe readers are long time conservative voters who were not thrilled with Harper. Libs are happy to see the paper attack harper, cons are happy to see them endorse the cpc. It basically said "Vote conservative. Or don't. Neither choice is that wrong", a cop out similar to the Toronto Star's "Hold your nose and vote Wynne" one from a year ago, just printing what the readers are already feeling.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:59

Beelzebufo: Mar 5, 2015; Frog puns are toadally awesome

Update:
Updated — @Kady: Stephen Harper hasn't resigned yet, but he intends to on Nov. 4

Drawing it out as long as possible.

Ikantski posted:

If I were running a paper in the GTA, would I want to compete with the Toronto Star for progressive readers or would I go for the slightly smaller but competition free market of conservative minded GTA readers? You don't need to go after the biggest market to make money, lots of people make money by going after smaller ones that have less competition.

That's true, newspaper readers, and especially subscribers, skew much older than the general population, and older people tend conservative. Even the more respectable members of the post family like the National Post or the Ottawa Citizen have editorial pieces aimed at a conservative mindset.

Beelzebufo fucked around with this message at 20:04 on Oct 28, 2015

# ? Oct 28, 2015 19:59

colonel_korn: May 16, 2003

The story was just updated to say that he has apparently told the GG that he will resign, but won't do so officially until just before Trudeau is sworn in on November 4th for ~*reasons*~.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:00

David Corbett: Feb 6, 2008; Courage, my friends; 'tis not too late to build a better world.

Square Peg posted:

Maybe Harper heard what happened in Portugal and a lightbulb flashed above his head.

Say what you will about the monarchy, but I cannot imagine Her Maj pulling that kind of bullshit.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:08

Square Peg: Nov 11, 2008

David Corbett posted:

Say what you will about the monarchy, but I cannot imagine Her Maj pulling that kind of bullshit.

Who knows, maybe there's some clause about all members of government having to be vetted by an unelected tribunal of business interests somewhere in the TPP and Harper was counting on it being ratified before the 4th.

:tinfoil:

Square Peg fucked around with this message at 20:17 on Oct 28, 2015

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:12

sbaldrick: Jul 19, 2006; Driven by Hate

JohnnyCanuck posted:

Ahahaha IT BEGINS

While a reality show with Mike Holmes rebuilding 24 Sussex would be interesting I don't think he has the skills to work on an historical building which are generally a giant pain in the rear end and require a whole bunch of different contractors. The fact that the best mason in the country are currently working on the hill might also be an issue.

I'm surprised no on has talked about how Harper it seemed planed on a 150 million dollar renovation to bring the PMO to 24 Sussuex.

colonel_korn posted:

@Kady: Has Stephen Harper resigned yet? No one will say

I really doubt it will ever come to that, but seriously, . Harpo is so loving salty.

I'm pretty sure Johnson wouldn't let Harper stay in power.

The Civil Service has already basically been in stationary mode for the past two months and already started to gear to change government, despite the story about a judge being appointed, expect a lot of resignations in Ottawa in Nov/Dec.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:37

Juul-Whip: Mar 10, 2008

sbaldrick posted:

I'm surprised no on has talked about how Harper it seemed planed on a 150 million dollar renovation to bring the PMO to 24 Sussuex.

Tell me more.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:45

Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

Boring content, great title

quote:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-election-2015-liberal-constitutional-laws-1.3292120?cmp=rss

Liberals must decide which Tory laws to fix, which ones to flush

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:45

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

colonel_korn posted:

The story was just updated to say that he has apparently told the GG that he will resign, but won't do so officially until just before Trudeau is sworn in on November 4th for ~*reasons*~.

Who cares, really. The incoming PM chose the transition date. The outgoing PM will resign on that date. It's fine - everybody's happy, and nothing untoward is being done.

This isn't a case like Tony Abbott hiding out and preventing the transition for two days and submitting his resignation by fax earlier this year.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:47

upgunned shitpost: Jan 21, 2015

It's petty and absolutely worthy of scorn.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:49

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

jfood posted:

It's petty and absolutely worthy of scorn.

I don't understand why visiting the GG on November 4th and resigning is worse than visiting on October 28th and telling the GG you intend to resign on November 4th.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:52

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

The Greens on council voted against the viaduct plan because greens are mostly all reactionary conservatives hiding behind a greenwashed facad. Something something access to the city something something greedy developers getting the land.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 20:59

upgunned shitpost: Jan 21, 2015

Pinterest Mom posted:

I don't understand why visiting the GG on November 4th and resigning is worse than visiting on October 28th and telling the GG you intend to resign on November 4th.

The Westminster system functions almost entirely on tradition and not much of a fixed ruleset. They're supposed to do this poo poo because it's polite and respectful of government as a whole.

You're totally correct there's no legal reason he cannot continue to be a oval office right up 'til zulu hour.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:05

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

jfood posted:

The Westminster system functions almost entirely on tradition and not much of a fixed ruleset. They're supposed to do this poo poo because it's polite and respectful of government as a whole.

You're totally correct that's no legal reason he cannot continue to be a oval office right up 'til zulu hour.

I don't understand what he's alleged to be doing wrong. He's on the way out. He's signalled to the GG he intends to resign on the date chosen by the incoming PM. He's moved out of the house. The civil service is in full transition mode. Decisions, like on Post Canada home delivery and airstrikes, are already being taken and implemented by the incoming government.

What part of that is PMSH being a "oval office".

Pinterest Mom fucked around with this message at 21:12 on Oct 28, 2015

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:08

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Trudeau and his ideological true father. Get ready for communism canada!

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:19

upgunned shitpost: Jan 21, 2015

Pinterest Mom posted:

I don't understand what he's alleged to be doing wrong.

There is nothing wrong with being a oval office, I excel at it. I just don't think such behaviour is worthy of the office, that's all.

What's so wrong about asking for clear information released publically?

Just one last wipe of his rear end on the rugs of Parliament before he leaves, no biggie.

Baronjutter posted:

Trudeau and his ideological true father. Get ready for communism canada!

Baby Justin, ready to straight murder a muthafucka...

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:21

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

It speaks volumes about a person that uses that word.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:22

Terebus: Feb 17, 2007; Pillbug

THC posted:

Vancouver City Council voted today to tear down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts. You know what that means: a bunch of people who don't live in Vancouver will be slightly inconvenienced while driving through Vancouver. That's bad!

I live in downtown and I think it's a bad idea to tear down the viaducts. I don't think the replacement will handle the traffic and they'll just use the area to build more condos so I'm not sure how that's beneficial. They are an eyesore though. I think city council paid for a before/after traffic assessment but I'm not sure how much I trust that. What's the benefit to tearing the viaducts down?

The viaduct teardown coupled with the hospital moving outside of downtown Vancouver is going to make it pretty hilarious for when ambulances need to get anywhere near the Stanley Park or English bay areas.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:25

cheese sandwich: Feb 9, 2009

Pinterest Mom posted:

I don't understand what he's alleged to be doing wrong. He's on the way out. He's signalled to the GG he intends to resign on the date chosen by the incoming PM. He's moved out of the house. The civil service is in full transition mode. Decisions, like on Post Canada home delivery and airstrikes, are already being taken and implemented by the incoming government.

What part of that is PMSH being a "oval office".

He's obviously moving out so that he can take his office and the title belt to Calgary which will hereafter be known as the capital of Supercanada under his exclusive rule encompassing everything west of Ontario.

This is when we find out about the squatters rights motion that got snuck in beneath one of his omnibus bills and Canada becomes east and west. Maybe there will be a wall involved, we will see.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:30

Baronjutter: Dec 31, 2007; "Tiny Trains"

Terebus posted:

I live in downtown and I think it's a bad idea to tear down the viaducts. I don't think the replacement will handle the traffic and they'll just use the area to build more condos so I'm not sure how that's beneficial. They are an eyesore though. I think city council paid for a before/after traffic assessment but I'm not sure how much I trust that. What's the benefit to tearing the viaducts down?

The viaduct teardown coupled with the hospital moving outside of downtown Vancouver is going to make it pretty hilarious for when ambulances need to get anywhere near the Stanley Park or English bay areas.

Maybe they could invest in transit and bike lanes and grow up and start planning around transport other than lazy baby poo poo like motor vehicles? Oh wait they voted on that. Enjoy your gridlock idiots.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:34

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

Terebus posted:

I live in downtown and I think it's a bad idea to tear down the viaducts. I don't think the replacement will handle the traffic and they'll just use the area to build more condos so I'm not sure how that's beneficial. They are an eyesore though. I think city council paid for a before/after traffic assessment but I'm not sure how much I trust that. What's the benefit to tearing the viaducts down?

The viaduct teardown coupled with the hospital moving outside of downtown Vancouver is going to make it pretty hilarious for when ambulances need to get anywhere near the Stanley Park or English bay areas.

The viaducts have been closed at various times in the past and the city didn't devolve into a Mad Max scenario. I bet that you had a problem with the giant screens outside of BC Place, all the while forgetting that you live in an intentionally noisy and bright area.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:41

Terebus: Feb 17, 2007; Pillbug

Baronjutter posted:

Maybe they could invest in transit and bike lanes and grow up and start planning around transport other than lazy baby poo poo like motor vehicles? Oh wait they voted on that. Enjoy your gridlock idiots.

I'm all for investing in transit, I would much rather transit to work but I'm in the weird situation that I live in downtown and work out in the boonies so I have the option of a 30 minute drive or a 2 hour transit.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:47

Terebus: Feb 17, 2007; Pillbug

OSI bean dip posted:

The viaducts have been closed at various times in the past and the city didn't devolve into a Mad Max scenario. I bet that you had a problem with the giant screens outside of BC Place, all the while forgetting that you live in an intentionally noisy and bright area.

Traffic gets pretty horrible when there's a viaduct backup and I don't think pushing more traffic into Hastings street is a good idea since there's already a ton of pedestrian/car accidents in that area. I'm all for better and more transit options in and out of downtown Vancouver but that's unlikely to happen with all this referendum bullshit getting thrown around. Since better transit is off the table traffic is going to just get worse in downtown and I think the new streets are going to compound the issue. I could be wrong about that and I'm not a traffic engineer but in my opinion adding extra intersections on surface roads in that area is going to be bad. That and trading the viaduct eyesore for more designer condos isn't a benefit.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:56

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# ? May 14, 2024 08:24

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

Terebus posted:

Traffic gets pretty horrible when there's a viaduct backup and I don't think pushing more traffic into Hastings street is a good idea since there's already a ton of pedestrian/car accidents in that area. I'm all for better and more transit options in and out of downtown Vancouver but that's unlikely to happen with all this referendum bullshit getting thrown around. Since better transit is off the table traffic is going to just get worse in downtown and I think the new streets are going to compound the issue. I could be wrong about that and I'm not a traffic engineer but in my opinion adding extra intersections on surface roads in that area is going to be bad. That and trading the viaduct eyesore for more designer condos isn't a benefit.

Automobile traffic into the downtown core has been steadily decreasing for the past decade. Also the plan calls for connecting Georgia Street via Pacific Street, allowing an easier connection to 1st Ave, reducing the number of turns and intersections required to leave the downtown core and head to the "boonies". It's really not as bad as people paint it to be and yet everyone gets fixated on this idea that we're going to have everything ruined.

# ? Oct 28, 2015 21:59

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