Rigged

February 19 update as Fake Cowboy Convoy arrives in Ottawa: In 2012, when oil prices were high and Alberta was flush with cash, the Conservative Party of Canada Prime Minister, Stephen Harper (and we still don't know who funded his leadership campaign), hit the Canadian public service with massive lay-offs. Environment Canada, in particular, was decimated. I was one of those casualties, even though just on term (they let all the terms run out and nobody was renewed). Since 2012 I've never been able to make more than $10K per year.

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So we went to Toronto on the bus this weekend, because the train there was too expensive, returning home to Ottawa on the train though because Ottawans want to go to Toronto more than Torontonians want to come to Ottawa.

I think it's even Winterlude here, too. Of course, I'm not sure there's a way to get to it, given the snow monsoon we just had.

Anyway, it's been a while since I made a trip to The Big Smoke, and we had a lot of fun seeing old internet friends and meeting new internet friends, checking out the food court at 10 Dundas East, listening to jazz over a pint at Grossman's on Saturday and The Rex on Sunday.

Pretty hard not to notice the crisis of homelessness amidst the to and fro, though. The contrast between haves and have nots is glaring, too, way worse (or just different?) from when I lived and worked in downtown Toronto, that's for sure.

And yes, Ottawa has its own crisis of homelessness, its own contrast between haves and have nots.

But no matter because the big riggers of Alberta come first, and although they're not homeless, or even necessarily poor (of course, Ralph Klein took care of that back in the flush days with his free ticket out of town offer, didn't he) they're not making the kind of money they're used to making.

And so, the citizens of the city of Ottawa - because Ottawa's a city, not just a Conservative cuss word - have been instructed by our local CBC news celebrities to find alternate ways to get to work (if we have a job) or stay in if we don't.

Well hey, no problem, because that's pretty much been how it is here in Ottawa anyway.

Except for the lower orders in the public service for whom working from home is not possible (and I'm sorry but if you can work from home than why the fuck are the rest of us paying for you to have an office) and in the retail/service abyss where working from home equals "you're fired - next!"

And homeless citizens, of course.

Make no mistake, holier'n thous, if you're right, and there's a hell, we're ALL going there.

And especially big riggers are going there now.

But hey, I was thinking, if the environmental movement really wants to cut down on greenhouse gas emissions for the rest of us, it should just hold ongoing kickstarters for Albertans in the oil and gas business.

I bet even just 1% off the top would fund at least one climate change adaption project before we all drown or burn.