Subject: BRIDGES AND DEMOCRACY
A 'BRIDGE PROJECT' IN VICTORIA
SHOWS HOW BAD THINGS ARE ...
Here in Victoria, BC - our "leaders" are planning to spend ONE BILLION DOLLARS of public money to make Wal-Mart 'Our New City Centre'.
The story is this: A $10 Million Bridge REPAIR has been turned into a $92 Million NEW Bridge that we shouldn't have had to build for another 50 years. Also, this project has removed a much-needed rail bridge. Removing the rail bridge has eliminated a $70 million 'rail solution' to the city's biggest traffic problem. They are proposing instead a $950 Million LRT to Wal-Mart solution that will probably finish off our downtown and make a Wal-Mart Mall the new centre of the city. It is amazing to watch them pull this off, with the truth going almost completely unmentioned.
And WHO are "THEY"? From what I can see, 'they' are Big Business and The Corporations that run this city. Also involved are the city's Corporate-Media. The Media makes sure we citizens are told the right stories - so we will think as we are supposed to think, and do what they want us to do. Some Senior City Staff also played major roles, as did provincial and federal politicians. And Our City Council. To put it politely, they seem to have been convinced that this expensive and un-necessary New Bridge Plan was the way to go, and they manipulated us into doing what THEY wanted done. They did not tell us the honest facts, and the correct numbers, so we could decide for ourselves. When forced - by law - into a Referendum, City Hall used our own money to mislead us.
Many people voted for their plan, believing that a $92 Million NEW BRIDGE was CHEAPER than a $10 Million REPAIR ... and the way the politicians and media presented the numbers, it did look cheaper. How crazy is THAT? And the destruction of the Rail Bridge is leading us into spending an extra $880 Million to move people AWAY from our downtown and TO a Wal-Mart Mall. This project is creating the future of our city, and the public is simply never told what is happening.
At least, that is MY opinion. I may be wrong but I don't think I am. I certainly feel let-down and betrayed by this whole undemocratic process.
BUT THE REAL PROBLEM IS THAT THIS KIND OF STUPID THING is happening at every level of our government and in every part of our economy and society. The Corporations and Their Politicians and Their Media are turning us into a 3rd world Corporate Dictatorship. We can't afford to put up with this any more, because we are already on the edge of economic, environmental, and social disaster, in case you haven't noticed.
BUT THERE ARE SOLUTIONS: Clearly we need a media that will tell us the truth about what is going on. And clearly we need a more democratic system of government - where an informed citizenry has a voice in what is happening. A free press will give us the information we need to make intelligent decisions, and more democracy will give us the power to make those intelligent decisions.
I will trust an informed public to take this country in the directions we want it to go in, and to build a sustainable future. But I am very tired of the Corporate Lies and Manipulation and Corruption that seem to be running Canada today. It is simply too dangerous to allow that to continue,and we have got to fix things up.
jack etkin
jetkino@yahoo.ca
