Dispatches From the North, Number 2 of 2

We've been trying to keep abreast of the latest strike news via the networks as well as our singular Canadian television channel down here but both the quantity and quality of coverage has been most unsatisfying. So we took matters into our own hands. (Confidential to Metroblogging Vancouver: If you don't provide any sort of contact address, we cannot reach you for guest/expert commentary.) We contacted The Vancouverite because we believe in their attractive tag line --"Hyper-Caffeinated Snarky News & Opinion". More importantly, following The Onion's precedent, we assign greater cultural credentials to sites employing the definite article. Here's what Editor Jackson reported about the strike:

The funniest thing about your email, to me anyway, is that you've thought more about the strike here in Vancouver than I have...

Stop the presses. We believe that this may be the first time in history that an American has been accused of paying more attention to a Canadian issue than a Canadian has... and the accusation has come from a Canadian. We don't mean this as a boast even though it sounds like one; we just find it a funny turning of the tables.

Anyway, I think the reason that the news has been so unsatisfying in this case is simply because there have been no dire consequences. I mean, I haven't noticed that there is a strike on at all - I guess I don't go to the library or need any permits. God bless downtown buildings all using private garbage companies! Who ever thought that would pay off?

Funnier still is that this was a greater lower mainland problem, except in the past two weeks 5 districts unions have all caved and signed deals to end the strike in their cities - not that anyone downtown cares about 'burbs like Delta anyhow, but still. This leaves Vancouver City as the lone
holdout. And surprise, surprise, they are back talking now too. For Vancouver, as comic book guy in the Simpsons might say, "Worst. Strike. EVER." Since nobody really seems to care, and clearly none of this has had even the slightest affect on me. Although there could be garbage piled a mile high outside of the 6-block radius that is my life, so take it with a grain of salt.

We hope that's not the case as Vancouver has some fine alleys. On the other hand, temporary piles of unsightly and unsanitary garbage in the name of labour progress may just have to be one of those necessary sacrifices in today's corporately-controlled world. Even garbage collectors are human beings who have themselves, and often families, to support. Additionally, only a small portion of the striking workers are garbage collectors. Civil workers do thankless jobs often with fewer resources than their private sector counterparts --and they manage to be just as incompetent as the chumps in the private sector.

In other news, the Canadian dollar seems to be faring much better. A few days before our jaunt, we caught The National, anchored by dashing ass-kicker Peter Mansbridge (awesome new anchors have a habit of being Canadians named Peter), because it comes on right before another excellent Canadian television programme. Anyway, The National ran a story about how the loonie was currently up to a 30-year-record high 96 cents of a US Dollar.

This is huge news. Having family in both Toronto and Montreal, we've been visiting Canada all our lives. In our youth, the loonie was worth anywhere between 60 and 75 cents US. One could buy half of Saskatchewan for that exchange rate. Even when we got older and traveled to the Great Civilized North without being tethered to our parents, the exchange was somewhere in the 80s, still favourable enough to drive up for a 1.75l of gin, some scallions, a liter of homo milk, and a bag of delicious, ketchup-flavoured potato chips. (And why are conservatives so vested in them?)

With the Loonie's new-found strength, are we in danger of becoming the much-maligned South, as in "things are going south"? Will we start illegally crossing the 49th parallel to get in on some of the oil sands money, for example? How about that one, Tom Tancredo? If we were bricklayers, we'd be negotiating with the Canadians to pre-emptively build a few walls --ya know, because they make good neighbors.

Seeing as we're almost trading even, it's not too difficult to keep track of our spending on account of not needing all that pesky, troublesome math. On the other hand, we can no longer just spend all willy-nilly up there. Fortunately, we found a few bargains in Vancouver. Ice cream (pictured) is not only refreshing this time of year but its pretty affordable. Peep shows still cost a reasonable amount. And merely browsing overtly sexy furniture is free.

In any case, as comments to our previous post have corroborated, Vancouver is a great city which is even more gorgeous in the summer. Best of all, it is only a little over 2 hours away. They have a rad public choo-choo with a forward-looking, semi-retro-futuristic name and they are building a new line as we write. And they've finally got some modern buses. But, as we said, Vancouver is perfectly walkable in a most jaunty manner. There is no excuse not to go.