Three years from today and Vancouver and Whistler will welcome the world to British Columbia, as the 2010 Olympics get underway.
In order to celebrate the countdown, they unveiled the Olympic Countdown Clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday afternoon. And as is befitting Vancouver’s reputation as a destination for demonstration, the ceremonies were interrupted by a group of protestors, two of whom managed to take to the stage and push aside the Master of Ceremonies for a brief period of time.
Other demonstrators engaged in a shoving match with Vancouver Police and threw a number of items at the stage and police during the brief skirmishes. Balloons of paint, eggs and rocks wrapped in paper were all unleashed by the noisy and disruptive group.
The cause was supposed to be about the housing crunch in Vancouver and how the Olympics may be contributing to a gentrification program of East side hotels, a situation that many fear will see the poorest of citizens tossed out on the streets.
It’s a civic issue that needs to be addressed, but surely one that isn’t assisted by the boorish behavior of the near anarchist crowd of usual rabble rousers of the Vancouver scene. Their attempt to hijack the day’s events didn’t paint them in a particularly good light, nor did it probably garner much sympathy for their cause.
There is a need for free speech and civic protest on issues that truly need redress, but abject law breaking and violence isn’t going to change that situation one little bit. The need to highlight the desperate situation in Vancouver’s east side is there, but the approach used today is not going to be of any value, to those that need the help the most.
Three years from now the world will arrive in Vancouver; civic officials must make it a priority to change the dynamics of the downtown east side long before the first athlete or visitor arrives. Responsible governance is needed to provide shelter and assistance for those that have long needed it, overlooked for far too many years the need is urgent and should not be delayed any longer.
Vancouver is on the clock, for the Olympics and much, much more. Sam Sullivan, Gordon Campbell and Federal Minister David Emerson all need to be more proactive in the many serious issues outside of the Olympics. The world will be watching and it may not be very impressed with some of what it sees.
In order to celebrate the countdown, they unveiled the Olympic Countdown Clock at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Monday afternoon. And as is befitting Vancouver’s reputation as a destination for demonstration, the ceremonies were interrupted by a group of protestors, two of whom managed to take to the stage and push aside the Master of Ceremonies for a brief period of time.
Other demonstrators engaged in a shoving match with Vancouver Police and threw a number of items at the stage and police during the brief skirmishes. Balloons of paint, eggs and rocks wrapped in paper were all unleashed by the noisy and disruptive group.
The cause was supposed to be about the housing crunch in Vancouver and how the Olympics may be contributing to a gentrification program of East side hotels, a situation that many fear will see the poorest of citizens tossed out on the streets.
It’s a civic issue that needs to be addressed, but surely one that isn’t assisted by the boorish behavior of the near anarchist crowd of usual rabble rousers of the Vancouver scene. Their attempt to hijack the day’s events didn’t paint them in a particularly good light, nor did it probably garner much sympathy for their cause.
There is a need for free speech and civic protest on issues that truly need redress, but abject law breaking and violence isn’t going to change that situation one little bit. The need to highlight the desperate situation in Vancouver’s east side is there, but the approach used today is not going to be of any value, to those that need the help the most.
Three years from now the world will arrive in Vancouver; civic officials must make it a priority to change the dynamics of the downtown east side long before the first athlete or visitor arrives. Responsible governance is needed to provide shelter and assistance for those that have long needed it, overlooked for far too many years the need is urgent and should not be delayed any longer.
Vancouver is on the clock, for the Olympics and much, much more. Sam Sullivan, Gordon Campbell and Federal Minister David Emerson all need to be more proactive in the many serious issues outside of the Olympics. The world will be watching and it may not be very impressed with some of what it sees.
The three levels of government need to make sure that all those issues are taken care of; before that clock counts down its final seconds.
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