New Media

Everybody and his blog is shouting from the rooftops about the Canadian dollar’s rise to parity with the US greenback.

Frankly, I’m not all that convinced that this is a good thing, particularly for people like me that rely on foreign clients for part of my income. If our currency goes much higher, our international friends are going to go elsewhere.

But I’ve also been hearing a lot from people who are concerned that Canadians are going to undergo the same housing slump that has hit the US. I don’t see it happening, though. In particular, the housing market right here in Vancouver seems set for even more insane prices.

Oh, the housing cycle will eventually take us down. But international investors looking to park their money somewhere are probably going to keep propping up our local housing prices for a little while longer. They won’t want to put their money into the radioactive market to our south, at least until the worst of the fallout subsides. Besides, the Olympics aren’t even here yet.

Patience, first-time home buyers. The time is not yet ripe. But soon…

I’m sure I’m not the only one asking the question.

While I’m pretty insulated from the effects of the strike (city managers have even managed to set aside time to spoon-feed me data for an upcoming magazine feature article), countless City residents are certainly losing their patience.

I’m not anti-union. Frankly, I wouldn’t mind belonging to one that managed to get me the kind of benefits that City workers had even before the strike started.

But on the whole, some of CUPE’s demands just seem greedy.

The City’s offer of a 17.5 per cent raise over five years seems decent enough, and pretty much in line with the private sector for outdoor work not involving oil rigs in Alberta.

Meanwhile, why is CUPE asking for a no-layoffs policy? The government is not an employer of last resort. If there’s no work, there’s no work.

Besides, it seems to be a red herring, given that over the past ten years, the City has laid off just 10 workers of a workforce of 3,500. How much more job security could one possibly need?

CUPE also wants all auxiliary work only assigned on the basis of seniority. Why shouldn’t merit be at least a factor, even if not the primary one?

Perhaps Vancouverites are already aware of these kinds of examples, though. It may explain why I have yet to hear a single commuter honking their horn in support for the strikers outside City Hall.

Six years on from the 9/11 attacks of 2001, Canadians still stand in solidarity with their southern neighbors.