THE MONTHLY EH?! - APRIL 2025 (*the one right before the big 2025 Canadian Federal Election)
Because what's the "strategy" of waiting any longer to put this month's newsletter together if Advanced Voting has already ended and the last day to vote (April 28th) is only a few days away, eh?
Hi!
As the last day to vote quickly approaches in what some political analysts are calling “the most pivotal” election in Canadian politics since the previous most pivotal election (much like how each new Bachelor episode is presented as the newest “most shocking” episode yet… except with elections there are much more serious results for a whole bunch of humans, because the politicians we vote for end up setting the rules & conditions for the world we all have to carry on living in/on together) — so let’s just jump straight into this month’s HERE’S FIVE THINGS FOR before April 28th comes & goes (besides, I already did most of my political jibber-jabbering online already anyways):
THING #1: I UPDATED THE MOUN.TOWN BLAHG WITH A BLOG POST ABOUT “STRATEGIC” VOTING (WHICH INCLUDES AN ONGOING COLLECTION OF ALL THE ‘ALL-CANDIDATES FORUM’ VIDEOS THAT HAVE TAKEN PLACE IN THE ‘COLUMBIA - KOOTENAY - SOUTHERN ROCKIES’ RIDING SO FAR).
I originally shared my thoughts on “strategic” voting on the 95EH Facebook page, which I then shared to the sometimes volatile “Kimberley Corkboard” community FB group (where the post has engaged 118 131 comments at my last count), and then I also broke all the words down into a PART 1 + PART 2 Instagram share (and I also tried to share my 95EH post to one of the Cranbrook community FB groups, but I did not make it past their moderation… which was probably for the best given the 118 131 comments that the Corkboard post generated).
However, one place I had not gathered my thoughts was over on the ol’ MOUN.TOWN blahg (a domain I moderate myself) — SO — besides sharing the words that were first shared on the Metaverse as a blog post at the easy to remember & share URL “moun.town/vote” (with added links & context not possible to do in a FB post)… I’ve also started an ongoing collection of all the All-Candidates Forum videos that have been posted from different municipalities in our 'Columbia – Kootenay – Southern Rockies' riding at the bottom of that same “moun.town/vote” blog post (yay relevant context).
I’ll just add that I also shared news of this ‘new blog post’ news over on the 95EH Facebook (and then I shared that post back into those sometimes turbulent Kimberley Corkboard waters).
I also turned things into an Instagram post, and I also shared the blog post link in a few different Reddit communities (with the Kootenays Reddit stirring up the most “dialogue”).
THING #2: I ATTENDED THE ALL-CANDIDATES FORUM THAT WAS HELD IN KIMBERLEY
You can read my thoughts (and whether they stirred up any other thoughts) over on the 95EH Facebook and/or the 95EH Instagram.
However, I just wanted to highlight that, since one of the questions I submitted for consideration to be asked at the Kimberley All-Candidates Forum did not get asked to any of the candidates that night, I threw out my “woke” question in my 95EH social media posts, with all of the candidates who were on stage at McKim tagged (both their Instagram and Facebook accounts) — the question:
…
The word "woke" gets thrown around a lot these days. It is often used in a negative context, with prominent Canadian politicians using terms like "radical woke agenda" or "woke mind virus" to label others who want to openly discuss important societal topics like reconciliation and extreme income inequality. Especially during this chaotic moment in history, I think it would be very enlightening if we could hear each candidate speak on what their definition of "woke" is —AND— whether they think people in our riding should be worried about "wokeness" ruining the country?
…
And who was the only tagged candidate to answer that question?
Kallee Lins of the NDP.
THING #3: SPEAKING OF KALLEE LINS AND COMMENTS… HAVE YOU SEEN THE COMMENTS SECTION ON SOME OF HER FACEBOOK POSTS?
Let me first start off by saying that I am not pointing out how ugly some of the comments are that some people are carpet-bombing Kallee’s Facebook posts with because I think everyone should go “boo!” them (because I don’t think that). There’s a reason why “skillful speech” is considered one of the eight most important things to stay on top of if attempting to walk a certain noble path (and there’s a reason why sometimes the “skill” is to not say anything at all, or to say it somewhere else entirely).
I really just think it is interesting how normalized some people have gotten with the things they confidently say “out loud” online — because this post’s comments section is a real treasure trove of good examples of bad vibe mindsets, HOWEVER, it is sadly not the only example to be found on Kallee’s FB page.
I only point out this specific post because I was one of the many who jumped into the comments section to attempt to have some rational conversations interspersed with those comments of the more “yikes” variety, not to mention all the “vote blue no matter who (Canadian edition)” folks (plus a few “actually red is the correct colour to pledge allegiance to in Canada” folks) — so I figured I’d steal some of what I wrote in the comments and re-share it here:
Y'know, I was originally leaning Kallee Lins based on me being the most impressed with her words and engaged presence during the many All-Candidates Forums that have been held throughout our riding so far (and hearing her talk about serious, nuanced societal issues in ways that I can respect as a fellow human being also aware of certain shared realities), BUT… now that I check the comments section of this FB post of Kallee's and see it flooded with enlightening comments such as:
"Go back to the west kootenays where they love sociakists!"
“She should be at home making meals for her husband and kids"
"Liar! Can't say it enough! How many fentenyl deaths? How many billions of those drug dollars laundered throught Govt. casinos. You are the scum of the Earth."
"Sure bring on Socialism with all those tax paying programs so that the next step is Communism."
I have to admit… NOPE — I'm totally good & still feeling fine with my choice of Kallee as my preferred representative for this 'Columbia Kootenay Southern Rockies' riding (and fans of 'more subjective context' can read more at: moun.town/vote)!
Although I do now wonder what Rob Morrison, MP's comment section looks like on Facebook (ie. what is the "progressive" version of carpet-bombing a "conservative" candidates Facebook comments section with comments like the ones Kallee has been getting)?
Are they as overtly messy as these ones?
Do I dare go look for myself (ie. do my own research)? 🤔
FWIW, I did go look at some of the comments Rob gets on Facebook, and he does get a lot of comments from more than just his die hard supporters.
However, I did not spend long in Rob’s FB comments section to bring back any solid reporting because I honestly did not have the time or energy for spending anymore time/energy in anybody else’s FB comments sections because I have already spent more than enough time in FB comments sections this election cycle due to all the stuff I’ve already publicly posted online myself.
THING #4: I’M NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO THINKS KALLEE LINS WOULD BE THE BEST REPRESENTATIVE FOR THEIR VOICE
I also wasn’t the only one who highlighted something Rob Morrison said at the All-Candidates Forum held in Invermere (for reference: I pointed out his stance against proportional representation), so here is local area mountian man Pat Morrow’s nicely stated FB post highlighting how Mr. Morrison said one thing on stage (“all our school children should have a program in which they can eat”) while also knowingly voting against Bill C-322, the national school food program.
I’ll just point out that in the comments section on Facebook someone tried to make the argument that people should “vote for change, vote conservative”, so I then pointed out that the MP for this riding has been a Conservative for the last 6 years — which means that Rob Morrison has literally been our riding's Member of Parliament for the last 6 years of what this person kept calling "the most destructive government in Canadian history" (ie. Rob Morrison has literally been getting a paycheque as part of the very Canadian government that has been deemed “most destructive” by this person).
I tried to get across that if voters in this riding truly wanted change, it would not make sense to advise them to vote for the exact same guy that has been the MP of this riding since 2019 — because that literally would not be voting for a change in this riding (as long as we are working with the same literal definition of the word "change").
Of course, they saw right through my flawed logic because I had clearly not considered that EVERYTHING is the fault of ‘Jagmeet and the Liberals’ and NONE of the blame should fall on any of the Conservative MPs who have literally been a part of their self-described “most destructive” government in Canadian history as well (and, no, I did not have the heart to reply back that I think some Indigenous people might like a word about that “most destructive government” timeline only going back 10 years).
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
So please check Kallee’s Facebook page for some more local area endorsements (like Wayne Stetski and Dr Ilona Hale)… and then please remember that voting always still comes down to one’s own decision once they are in the ballot box.
We’re all just talking out loud here about subjective opinions shared openly on a public forum (and I am just one person with a newsletter & blahg & social media, same as any other one person could be doing) — nobody is trying to “convince” anyone of anything (and nobody is trying to indoctrinate anybody out of their current indoctrinations).
As I told one FB commenter who posted an “NDP = Needles Drugs Poverty” meme in the Corkboard comments section:
“Letters & words, amirite?”
THING #5: THERE’S MORE TO LIFE THAN POLITICS. FOR EXAMPLE, THERE IS GARDENING.
Regardless of what this election ends up revealing after the final votes are cast on April 28th, I think we can all agree that we’re ALL going to be continuing to need our basic needs to be met (and it’s kinda sad how knowingly bad we are doing at this stuff for A LOT of people, especially given all of the supposed BILLIONS of wealth that everyone’s labour is generating in “profits” during a never-ending “cost of living” crisis).
So let me officially confirm some nice news (because I counted the seed packages myself) that bodes well for these upcoming post-election months:
After only one month of the refreshed Kimberley Seed Library being open for seedy business at Kimberley’s wonderfully sweet Platzl library (ie. we “launched” on March 20th this year)… over 450 donated seed packets have already been freely distributed to the growing local community!
So, if all goes according to everybody’s interconnected garden plans… that should mean that a whole bunch of local area people are going to be growing (and sharing) local food in 2025.
Some together. Some on their own. Some doing a combo of both and more.
Because it’s cool to try and grow some of your own food (and all the cool people know that).
And it is also cool to share some of the food you grow if it ends up doing that thing that often happens when everything comes at once and suddenly you have more lovely fresh veg & herbs than you can eat/process yourself — which is why cool people (all the way over in Winnipeg in the 80s) have already started a cool initiative called “Plant a Row, Share a Row” that encourages folks to grow some food and share some of the grown food (if one has enough/extra).
Which is cool, because Kimberley has some wonderful local organizations like the Kimberley Food Bank and the Kimberley Food Recovery Depot that anyone can always bring any of their extra harvest to (in fact, it is warmly encouraged by the “Plant a Row, Share a Row” initiative).
And Cranbrook also has some has some wonderful local organizations like the Cranbrook Food Bank and the Cranbrook Food Recovery Depot that anyone can also always bring any of their extra harvest to as well (or there is always one’s neighbours and friends and family).
And with the Cranbrook Library also offering a community seed program (and with a Cranbrook community garden working with the Cranbrook Library on an “encourage local growing/sharing” initiative much like how the KEGG community garden has been working with the Kimberley Library), I don’t think I am the only one in the local area excitedly looking forward to getting out in the garden to “touch grass” more and let all the noise from this latest election cycle get drowned out by birdsong (even if it is sometimes the less beautiful cawing of a crow or squawking of a magpie) ✌
Until next time…
I’ve started posting more on the socials since the end of my most recent “social media break”, so if you use the Facebook and/or Instagram (because f*ck Twitter and I’m not sure if I can be bothered investing time into Bluesky or Threads right now and/or ever):
Follow the KEGG community garden on Facebook + Instagram + Tumblr
Follow my HI54LOFI account on Instagram + Reddit + Letterboxd
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As for me, I need to finally get around to getting my taxes done, so hopefully now that I’ve got April’s newsletter sent off and my vote already cast… the list of other things to keep me procrastinating on my taxes should start to go down any day now (although it’s unfortunate that the NBA & NHL playoffs had to get started before I got started on figuring out how to file my online ‘gig work’ income smartly, but such are the many challenges of modern living — including the main challenge of just being able to afford to stay alive)!
Cheers 🍻
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Jeremy / HI54LOFI