Still more local stuff:
I'm going to be on vacation soon so the frequency of posts here will plummet. I'll check in as often as I can via internet cafes,etc and post what I can.
I'll also try and check in on the local elections here from time to time. The latest is that the business and resident opposition group to the new Oly-West hog plant in Winnipeg's St. Boniface district has signed up a number of other organizations so as to show an "united front" against the plant. The plan, by the way, has been offered all sorts of goodies from both the province and the city, "goodies" that small producer coops would never get even though they can create far more employment per dollar spent (by a factor of 10 ?) than such a plant can. With, of course, no nuisance costs to the neighbours. A hog plant comes pretty well near the top of "nuisance costs".
Anyways, the opposition group has now signed up not just the Green Party (an expected event) but also the provincial Liberal Party to their coalition. They have also signed up a number of environmental and animal welfare groups such as the 'Save Our Seine Coalition' (the Seine is the river that flows through St. Boniface), the Winnipeg Humane Society and others. Some of these organizations actually have a base and aren't just the usual lefty house of cards supported by government grants.
The opposition to the plant has begun to endorse or oppose candidates on the basis of their stand around this issue. Some candidates for city council have been endorsed, and the traditional lefty candidate for Mayor, Cerrilli (see previous post) has also been endorsed for her stand. The clownish "fashion left" candidate Hasselriis has studiously avoided the issue. An interesting sideline is that there has been some backroom wheeling and dealing vis-a-vis candidate Dan Vandal's campaign in St. Boniface. Vandal is running against Mayor Sam Katz's favourite poodle, Franco Magnifico, and he is the supposed "lefty" candidate for the ward. Behind the scenes, however, the provincial NDP government, which supports the plant and is willing to "fertilize " it with all sorts of taxpayer dollars seems to have "leaned on" Vandal to distance himself from the opposition. The opposition has responded in kind by refusing him support.
All that I can say to the latter, as an ex-member of the NDP who quit in disgust over such conspiracies and lack of principle, is "good and double plus good".
Should I have the misfortune of living in the vicinity of the proposed plant I WOULD violate the anarchist strictures against voting and vote for a candidate opposed to the plant. Furthermore I would be part of the resident/business coalition. Living in perpetual stench is enough of an incentive to violate principle. I actually like the proposal to "build in in Tuxedo" (the affluent area of Winnipeg which has lots of available space). Anyways, lucky for me I don't live in St. Boniface so I remain a non-voter.