2023-09-09 04:00:00
Remember when the typical homeless person was a nice old gentleman who had “a drinking problem”?
He was not a homeless person, but a tramp, a hobo.
Who quoted old French poets and spoke like a sage.
HEAVY METAL
That was the “folkloric” version of homelessness. The “unplugged” version, acoustic, almost poetic.
Today, we are in the hardcore, heavy metal version.
Young schizophrenics walking on all fours and delirious in an alley while waiting for their next fix.
That’s how it is in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. It’s like this near the ByWard Market in Ottawa. It’s like that in the Quartier des spectacles and in the Gay Village in Montreal.
And it’s starting to be like that almost everywhere in Quebec.
There are even homeless camps in Rimouski!
Not to mention this poor homeless teenager who gave birth in a wooded area in Gatineau.
This is no longer a local problem. It’s a national problem. Which affects the province – and the country – as a whole.
And if we do nothing, in five years, major Canadian and Quebec cities will look like San Francisco.
Have you been to “Frisco” in recent years?
It is no longer the city of peace and love, like in the 60s and 70s.
It’s the setting for a zombie movie.
The authorities there have completely lost control.
LOWER YOUR TONE?
So it is not surprising, given the scale and urgency of the situation, that mayors are starting to speak loudly and demand accountability from the Legault government.
It’s all well and good to say that cities should be better managed, but no municipality, even the best administered, is equipped to deal with such a problem.
They need help from Quebec.
Now, what did Minister Carmant say?
That mayors (like Bruno Marchand, mayor of Quebec, and France Bélisle, mayor of Gatineau, who are leading the charge) should “start by lowering their voice” and stop “throwing tomatoes” at him.
Sorry, but when we feel like no one at the top is listening to us, it’s normal to raise our voices.
As a colleague told me Journal yesterday, it would be time for François Legault and Pierre Fitzgibbon to “stop managing Quebec with checks and start governing.”
Presents are all well and good, but he’s not the Santa we need.
He’s a prime minister.
A government with a vision.
OVERWHELMED CITIES
Yes, I know, the problem is infinitely complex.
It’s about poverty, social housing, mental health, drug addiction, sexual abuse (several of the multipoques who fall into drugs and then end up on the street have had horrible childhoods), etc.
It’s so big that we don’t know where to start…
Hence the need to have a clear plan. So that everyone rows in the same direction.
Currently, municipalities have – rightly – the impression of being left to their own devices.
And having to solve a colossal problem with extremely limited resources.
TRAVEL WITHOUT LEAVING YOUR LIVING ROOM
Jean-Marc Jancovici, a French engineer and member of the green think tank Shift Project, is campaigning for each human being to only have the right to four plane trips in their lifetime!
And if your mother or son lives on the other side of the world, what do you do? If you are an athlete who participates in international competitions? An artist on tour? A diplomat?
Some people wonder if there is life after death. I wonder if there was one before.
Let’s all go live in the metaverse, for that matter!
A HEAVY BILL
You go to the restaurant.
Your pasta dish costs $23. With GST, it’s $24.15. With QST (which applies to GST), it’s $26.44. And with the 18% tip which is calculated on the total amount INCLUDING taxes, it’s $31.19.
That’s eight dollars more!
In Quebec, the tax TAXES the tax! And you tip ON the tax!
And don’t you dare tip 15%, because you’ll look like a cheap!
And that’s without the $14 glass of wine.
In short, no wonder so many restaurants are closing…
THE ZOO
Air Canada deported two passengers because they refused to sit in vomit-stained seats.
We are far from the old Pan Am ads, which presented air travel as heavenly experiences!
Dead drunk passengers, screaming children, people cutting their toenails, passengers watching porn on their computers, influencers partying – traveling by plane is increasingly an ordeal.
Taking a plane is like taking the metro, they say.
Effectively.
An old New York subway at two in the morning.
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