New Media

The latestfrom MetroBlogging Vancouver’s group blog has it that the Pacific metropolis’ breakneck development will run into a brick wall after the 2010 Olympics.

Well, you heard it there first. But I suspect it won’t happen. The economic fundamentals (a strong resource-rich hinterland, highly educated population, extremely livable urban environments and overall Canadian political stability) are just too strong for people and capital to stop flowing into the area.

Sure, there will likely be a big dip as the American economy bears the shocks of an overdue recession. And real estate prices have to go down at some point. You don’t have to be an economist to see what’s coming down the road. But the way things are going in Vancouver and the rest of the province, it seems as though the good times have just begun.

Party pooper.

The Supreme Court of Canada on Tuesday defended a court verdict that sentenced a 19-year-old victim of a gang rape to six months in jail and 200 lashes because she was with an unrelated male when they were attacked.

Well, that’s not exactly true – it was actually the Saudi judiciary that was passing judgment on the 19-year old Saudi woman. It sometimes helps to get a perspective on international news by looking at it from a local perspective, though.

Is there any particular reason why Canada has diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia while Canadian troops are fighting medieval religious thugs in Afghanistan (who were educated in Saudi-funded fundamentalist madrassas in Pakistan)?

Of course, most Canadians have already probably forgotten the name William Sampson.

UPDATE: Evidently, I think like a presidential candidate. Now, if only he stood a chance of getting elected…

Can Vancouver export sustainable urban design to the world?

Dubai is as good a test case as one could hope for. Media expert Michael Klassen notes that the future Hong Kong of the Middle East has already snagged five of our city planners. The plan is to use the same expertise that made Vancouver into a world-class city and showcase for sustainability to give Dubai a look to match its ambitions.

But EcoDensity only makes sense in a place that can actually accommodate density without massive resource transfers and subsidies. Vancouver has plenty of water; Dubai doesn’t. Vancouver has access to green hydroelectric power; Dubai eventually may be a solar-energy superpower, but it’s not there yet. Dubai’s service economy has to import virtually all basic commodities and manufactured products. This may be a case of importing the look of Vancouver without the underlying sustainability.

Vancouver’s cold wet rainforest climate has kicked in again, just in time for the reopening of Stanley Park. Presumably, only the most hard-core rollerbladers and mountain-bikers are risking their necks on the sodden seawall this rainy weekend.

Still, it’s nice to know the jewel of Vancouver has recovered after the winter windstorms last year turned the park into a deathtrap (okay, maybe a bonk-on-the-head with-a-falling-branch trap).

Vancouver blogger/social media maven Miss604 has an excellent roundup on her own venture into “forbidden Stanley Park”after the storm that’s worth a read. The pictures really show the extent of Mother Nature’s fury.

They signed up for the US army voluntarily during wartime – and then decided they’d rather live out the rest of the Iraq war in Canada. Now we’re sending them back – along with up to 300 other soldiers.

There’s no question that Iraq is a debacle. The country is a shambles and likely a terrorist breeding ground for years to come. And while the US-led multinational force in Iraq operates under a (little-publicized) UN mandate, the whole mission is under fire from the vast majority of pundits of the left and right from around the globe.

But soldiers who volunteer for the army don’t get to choose which wars they get to fight.

I do have sympathy for deserters like US Army Private Brad McCall, currently staying in Vancouver. He’ll surely be affected by the Canadian Supreme Court’s decision.

During a recent conversation with me, McCall told me of how his entire family wished he were fighting in Iraq right now instead of living up north. They won’t even talk to the guy. He is cut off from everyone he ever loved or cared about.

That’s harsh. But he must have had some inkling of what to expect. And if he does face prison time, then that will be another fairly predictable consequence of his actions.

But perhaps there is another way out: clearly, the UN-mandated and US-led NATO mission in Afghanistan has much wider support from the international community and far more support from ordinary Afghans than the Iraq mission has from Iraqis.

Could these soldiers who refuse to serve in Iraq be given the choice of volunteering for the NATO mission in Afghanistan as Canadian assets in return for full Canadian citizenship?

These soldiers don’t want to be called on to commit war crimes in Iraq. Fair enough. Would they be willing to use their war-fighting skills to help their adopted nation bear its own heavy military burden?

These soldiers need a new place to call home. Perhaps they have a way to earn it.