(For those who can't read the subtle subtext in this post: I had another lousy day, and this one is my own fault. I knew GDP was only goods produced, not sold, in Canada. Knew that. Until I sat down for my econ midterm.)
In a move usually reserved for little girls who aren't allowed in the boy's tree house, another group waxing poetic about the chunk of asphalt downtown has reared their collective heads, calling themselves "Yes for Edmonton", ("No for context" was already taken by Bob Ligertwood.) The way Envision Edmonton (the foremost group championing the airport) has tried to downplay them made me automatically assume they were important, but with little over 200 supporters, they couldn't even hold a very good sit-in, let alone a riot. They are said to be "grassroots" but I'll believe it when I see it, especially in a group headlining two former city council people and a current senator. But wait! They are getting their message out through "social media", which apparently does not include a facebook page. Perhaps by social media they meant telegram. That's what's hip now-a-days.
This whole ordeal is just a cheap effort to spark interest in an election to create more votes by making people feel they are "part of something". "C'mon, everybody, vote for your favorite team!" If I see one vuvuzela anywhere near a polling booth, I'm moving to a dictatorship. One of the most trite, obnoxious, and self-serving positions a candidate can have is to "support democracy". Of course you support democracy, you bloated fart: you want votes. It is useless noise, drum beating of the most self-righteous kind, discernible only from sport fanatics because they don't wear goofy wigs (face painting is cool though).
This is a cover group. Wheedled together out of the ramshackle vestiges of someone's dying career, or perhaps someone's shamelessly crippled one; they don't support candidates because there are none to support. The only openly anti-airport (oops, sorry, Pro-Edmonton since no-one is anti-anything) is Mr. Mandel, and he's aiming to waltz through this election like stank on a biscuit (The meme phrase "Move forward, not Dorward" pretty well reflects what Edmonton thinks of Mr. Mandel's closest competitor). Plus it's wildly hypocritical, given the current climate, to claim you are pro-choice (like as in "choices", not the abortion issue kind) and pro-Mandel because he's the "bad guy" who didn't listen to a petition and thus thinks all opinionated Edmontonians can go suck an egg because he'll do what he likes and we can do nothing, we are the downtrodden masses under an oppressive heel the likes of which the world has never seen.
The budget for "Yes for Edmonton" is under $5000, which, if it's businessmen pushing some personal agenda, as has been suggested, they are doing a sad, sad, job of promoting it (it could be entrepreneurs, however, who are notoriously loath to pony up cash if they can't see an expected return spreadsheet [Good Feelings are not a good bottom line]), and is claimed to be used for "incidentals and support our web site". That is verbatim. I can only assume the incidentals are canisters of helium because it is hilarious to issue press releases when your voice is squeaky, and nachos because "grassroots activism" is hungry work.
So we have two conclusions: One this is a pathetic attempt to drum up support for the democratic process by appealing to the younger demographic but without the budget to research what the cool kids are doing (Admittedly, I have no idea what either; Are pogs still hip?), or two it is a front, paid for by Envision Edmonton to make themselves look better against the idiotic profile of a foil group, an entire lobby organization made up of strawmen.
Either way thank goodness they're here, or else the airport would never be closed, except for how it is now, or people's voices wouldn't be heard, all two hundred of them, or Envision Edmonton would run rampant and unchecked, instead of running themselves out of steam in a few months to a year, tops.
Again, we have good intentions misguided into a idiotic group with no thought. Does Ms. Stronach know about them?
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