This slope is not slippery at all. Denying holocaust has been a crime since 2002 1994 in Germany and yet Germany had no issues with upkeeping free speech in the two three decades since.
edit: oops it’s actually older than I thought
This slope is not slippery at all. Denying holocaust has been a crime since 2002 1994 in Germany and yet Germany had no issues with upkeeping free speech in the two three decades since.
edit: oops it’s actually older than I thought
:lolsob: tragically accurate joke
Public yes, but not nationalized.
What’s the distinction here? You mean that you want it to be federal instead of provincial? Or that a govt-owned company doesn’t count as nationalized because its governance is too similar to a private company?
What I sparsely understood from your comment is that these agencies need more govt funding and less reliance on fees, which I totally agree. Not sure if that’s what nationalizing transit means, though.
There’s Government Service, and there’s Public Service Badly Managed for Profit. Hint: if our ferry system tries to bill itself as a tour operator, it’s in the latter group.
So is the problem with BC Ferries that it’s badly managed and the way it markets itself… or is the issue that it receives too little govt funding? I think it’s the latter.
Most if not all transit agencies in Canada are already belong to the public (as opposed to private businesses) already, no? TransLink mentioned in the article sure is, BC Transit too. BC Feries too… (kind of, crown is the sole shareholder).
edit: lol what even does it mean to get downvotes for this
It feels like I’m missing something, maybe because I’m not a politician or a transportation engineer. It’s very common that upper spheres of government will provide extra funding focused on capital expenditures like building new infrastructure but won’t commit to operational expenditures like maintenance and salaries.
I wonder if it’s some sort of political game of being able to claim funding for shiny new things, because expansion is flashier than maintenance. Or maybe there’s a real governance aspect to it, considering that OPEX should stay under control at the right level as to not overstep the scope of each sphere of government - transit agencies should not grow accustomed to funding that is supposed to be extra. IDK, I guess I’m not ready to have an opinion on this. I’ll just trust whatever the folks at Movement say.
some might even say a poopyface too
Fair enough. I am in fact looking forward to a future where e-bikes and other electric micro mobility bring the freedom that the oil & gas industries promised and failed to deliver.
Huh, that’s actually a pretty interesting collection. A few I kind of don’t really think hold any weight but some I haven’t thought about before. Cheers.
I mean, there are reasons. But I’m not really advocating for businesses to stop accepting cash, I’m more like curious on why people hold on to having to carry cash so dearly.
especially Canada can and will freeze bank accounts as a back channel way to control people that they disagree with
lol indeed cash is very fit for the tinfoil hat crowd
As for e-payment not working, it happened to me at least 3 times since last year, and it fucking sucks.
Wow, I see. I would not have estimated that many.
How do you imagine elderly people that don’t really understand technology would cope with downloading an app or going to a web site to pay for parking.
Using a card. If they’re able to drive, they’re probably able to carry a card and tap it. Maybe it’s a failure of my imagination but I can’t conceptualize someone being able to drive and park a car and yet this same person can’t use a card.
Edit just to clarify: the article mentions “a smart phone with a credit card to pay for parking” specifically, and I guess it’s my fault for going a bit off topic without a more explicit disclaimer. I don’t think a smart phone should be required for anything. I’m just curious about the anti-cashless movement in general, because a smartphone isn’t the only alternative to cash.
There is no reason to require trusting some random site with payment details, generating another set of account credentials, and installing some mystery app that wants way too many permissions just to visit a park.
But those are all details that pertain to a specific type of digital payment. Like I said in a different comment, sign me up for better digital payment options and increased privacy guarantees. Sticking to cash is not the only way to achieve this.
Right… that’s about what I imagine someone fighting against cashless is like. You actually pay for gas in cash and you don’t have a smartphone with Internet.
Kind of ironic that you’re excited about EVs, though.
Ever had a moment where you needed to go buy groceries but couldn’t pay because the payment system is down nation wide?
Never. If it did happen, it’s almost certain that I wouldn’t have the cash on me to pay for it anyway 🤷♂️I’d rather not walk around with more than $100 in cash on me.
since a merchant can’t refuse legal tender
Where does that come from? AFAICT there’s no law that requires businesses to accept cash as a form of payment. Not in Canada, at least.
Do you like the idea of all our payments for everything going through a private duopoly who takes a cut of every transaction?
I don’t, so sign me up for the fight for better digital options. In fact I frequently advocate for a BoC-managed alternative to Interac. Even the US with its ridiculously contrived banking system is already working on it (FedNow).
But I don’t see the need to wait for that, we can go cashless AND work on better digital options simultaneously.
One of the modern mysteries I can’t quite get is people caring so much about paying stuff with cash. Are people out there paying for gas using cash as well? How many people have a car and don’t have a credit card or smartphone? So many questions…
Yes, yes, kinda yes.
would you live next to one?
I would rather not to, so if one was planned to open next to my house, I’d consider moving out. However, I would not fight against opening one because I know society needs these. Let me put it this way: I’d hate to live next to a fire station or a an emergency hospital, but I know the city needs those so I will fight for them to exist but I’d move away from them whenever necessary to protect my sleep and peace of mind.
Anyways why not in a hospital? I don’t get why this has to happen in residential areas?
This is a different question altogether to your first question, and you’ll get a better answer by talking to specialists.
Sure. I wouldn’t like to see climate change denialism criminalized in this century and I’d be pretty worried if any government pushed for it - but we’re so so far away from something like that happening. We’re way closer to going backwards in reconciliation.