What do you think of other parts of Canada?

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by NISH89

The rest of Canada needs to step it up and act the same, its a waste of tax payer money.

Drugs are a scourge and have played a significant role in western civilization's decline over the last generation. Public abuse of drugs such as you described in your post does not have a place in civilized society. Police should not have a choice as to what laws they wish to enforce. That can only lead to corruption and further decline.

[Hali87]

This might be a common opinion but the realities of the Vancouver area fly in the face of such statements. Marijunana laws are essentially unenforced in Vancouver, and rates of use are almost certainly higher than in most parts of Canada, yet the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live IN THE WORLD, and has been one of the most successful cities in Canada in pretty much every way. Vancouver does not make a good example of a city that has been ruined by pot. Cannabis almost certainly causes less problems in Vancouver than alcohol does in Halifax.

[someone123]

The area around Main and Hastings in Vancouver is called the Downtown Eastside. Its existence has little if anything to do with marijuana consumption or laws. Most of the people there are on drugs like heroin, and there is a lot more to the story than drug consumption. For example, many of the people there have mental health problems that make it difficult for them to integrate into normal society and more susceptible to drug addiction. This is part of why drug prohibition laws haven't been very successful in solving the problems and why Vancouver has largely given up on that approach. I'm not sure how throwing people in jail is supposed to help anyway when the root cause of their problem is a lack of healthcare treatment and general living standards.

I haven't seen any evidence that pot is any worse than alcohol, and pot laws are clearly causing a lot of hardship and public expense. I don't think pot should be illegal, particularly when enforcement is so spotty and when the laws are so mixed up. It's a real mess in the US. In a few cases even farmers who have gotten medical marijuana crops OKed by lawyers and state legislators have been arrested and imprisoned by federal law enforcement. In the particular Montana case I was thinking of the farmer had a gun on his property so he fell under some sort of "drug trafficking with weapons" multi-decade mandatory sentence. It's ridiculous and obviously driven by politics more than a sense of justice or concern for society.

Originally Posted by Hali87

Marijunana laws are essentially unenforced in Vancouver, and rates of use are almost certainly higher than in most parts of Canada, yet the city consistently ranks as one of the best places to live IN THE WORLD, and has been one of the most successful cities in Canada in pretty much every way.

I wouldn't put much stock in those rankings. Vancouver has one of the highest poverty rates in Canada, some deep social problems like the drug abuse you described, low wages, and some of the worst housing affordability in the developed world. It's a nice spot and a nice city to live in if you're rich, but in practice I don't think it has a very good quality of life for the average person. I think the average person in Halifax or Calgary has a much higher standard of living than the average person here. There's also a pretty noticeable "brain drain" of professionals out of this city because of the high costs. Hopefully that will turn around a bit as the housing market cools off a bit here and housing costs reflect what locals can pay rather than how much investors think they'll get from speculating on condos.

[Wigglez]

Originally Posted by Hali87

Winnipeg: I have really mixed feelings about Winnipeg. In theory it's the most similar city to Halifax in Canada: mid-sized, isolated, both the capital and largest city of its province, as well as the cultural and financial centre for a larger region. I want to like it, but it basically plays out like a case study against integrating modernistic elements into an established city. As much as Montreal celebrates modernism, Winnipeg wears it with a sense of tired frustration. It's a city expanding largely on the Edmonton/Calgary model, except that it has a proportionately larger built-up core and lacks a coherent street grid, instead having several grids that are aligned differently and intersect at weird angles. This combined with a speed limit of 60 on major streets as well as a large number of 1-way streets makes it a challenging place for a non-local to drive. Downtown Winnipeg is also very hostile to pedestrians. Portage and Main is notoriously the country's windiest intersection, but is also one of its most celebrated. Unfortunately, present-day P&M at street level is basically like the Windsor Street exchange, only surrounded by huge office buildings with no street presence. I don't think there's even a crosswalk. Apparently the pedway system is well developed so people tend to use that more than walking outside. The downtown did have some architecture that is unique in Canada (Chicago style highrises that are 10-20 storeys tall and only 1 or 2 windows wide) and adjunct areas like the Exchange and Osborne Village were very lively and similar to Barrington or Spring Garden. The Forks was a little bit underwhelming, and reminded me a lot of Alderney Landing, although much busier. Winnipeg's Chinatown is the oddest I've ever seen. Think Robie and North but with bigger parking lots and few historic buildings. Local sports are very important in Winnipeg (I would say more than in Edmonton but less than in Regina, about the same as Van) and culture (art, dance, music) seems to get a lot of investment too.

I think a lot of STV members would literally vomit if they saw some of the architecture in Winnipeg. It really got the absolute worst of the 60s and 70s brutalism craze, to the point where many large buildings literally look like the architects went out of their way to make them uglier. Awkward shapes, blank walls, and so much brown, grey, and beige. And they really do stick out like sore thumbs in Winnipeg, because the landscape has no relief. There is literally just a layer of trees and rooftops and then a layer above that that is 90% ugly. The apartments on Brunswick between Duke and Cogswell would definitely be above average for aesthetics if they were in Winnipeg. A few newer buildings like the Manitoba Hydro and Human Rights Museum actually look great, but it will take a lot of work to make the (highly visible) skyline more attractive. There are also a lot of restoration/conversion projects along similar lines to Espace or RBC Waterside - Red River College has an interesting downtown campus housed partly in renovated heritage buildings/facades. The inner city streets outside the downtown were lined with buildings like the "Etc." building on Quinpool; it actually created an urban environment that seemed unique for Canada, although not necessarily a very inviting place. It feels dreary when everything is wide and flat and made of brown brick and concrete. Housing in these areas was pretty similar to what's around Bayer's Road. Outside of these areas the rest of the city was fairly sprawly, a lot of areas like Clayton Park but with less retail. The second time I was in Winnipeg (summer 2012) a BRT service had recently been launched and was being marketed heavily. The major transit terminal that I saw (Osborne) was probably of a similar scale to the new Bridge Terminal but was very different, and I have to say I like the Bridge terminal better. I would hope that the Osborne Terminal was at least less expensive. One thing that I liked about the transit system in Winnipeg was that most bus stops actually had small digital displays that showed next bus times. Even if GoTime works properly it's still no good to anyone who doesn't have a cell phone.

I live in Winnipeg and you give a good description of it! Walking around downtown can be a very unfriendly thing thanks to massive parking lots, buildings with no street presence, and panhandlers.

I actually attend school at the Red River College campus you described, its a very beautiful building inside and out. During the day it feels very safe around here but if you stay after hours (and thanks to homework i often do) when the sun is down and the office workers have escaped to suburbia it can shockingly empty and unsafe.

[Hali87]

Here are a few images of Winnipeg to illustrate some of the things I mentioned:


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[Antigonish]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

Drugs are a scourge and have played a significant role in western civilization's decline over the last generation. Public abuse of drugs such as you described in your post does not have a place in civilized society. Police should not have a choice as to what laws they wish to enforce. That can only lead to corruption and further decline.

C'mon Keith, you grew up in the 60s you definately had your fair share back in the day

I don't condone hard drugs, but weed is pretty harmless. I bet if it were legalized the number of users nation wide would drop over the years to come. Your lifestyle "4/20" pot heads would keep doing it regardless, but it would be safer for the average joe who doesn't have to go to a coke or pill dealer to pick up a gram every now and again, they could just head down to the local corner store.

[Keith P.]

Originally Posted by NISH89

C'mon Keith, you grew up in the 60s you definately had your fair share back in the day

I don't condone hard drugs, but weed is pretty harmless. I bet if it were legalized the number of users nation wide would drop over the years to come. Your lifestyle "4/20" pot heads would keep doing it regardless, but it would be safer for the average joe who doesn't have to go to a coke or pill dealer to pick up a gram every now and again, they could just head down to the local corner store.

And for the recreational coke user... you can see the slippery slope.

I no more want you smoking dope sitting on the streetcorner than I want you drinking openly on that same corner.

[Hali87]

You can drink openly on the street corner in some parts of Montreal and St. John's... (legally, I mean)

[Wishblade]

Originally Posted by Keith P.

And for the recreational coke user... you can see the slippery slope.

I no more want you smoking dope sitting on the streetcorner than I want you drinking openly on that same corner.

coke in no way compares to weed. one is a much harder, much more addictive and dangerous substance.

And Im sure you enjoy a drink or two in your home or a bar atleast from time to time. So how do you feel about someone smoking a joint or 2 in their own home, or if we had something such as the coffee shops in Amsterdam, one of those?

[someone123]

Originally Posted by Hali87

You can drink openly on the street corner in some parts of Montreal and St. John's... (legally, I mean)

I think a lot of the liquor laws in Canada are stupid. "Public drinking" is vague and covers both undesirable and completely innocuous behaviours. You can't have wine at a picnic around here, for example. Alcohol's sometimes a factor in crime but crimes are by definition already illegal. On top of that, since it's so easy to conceal alcohol or just get drunk at home ahead of time the laws don't seem to make a lot of difference anyway. We had a riot here last year in an area where alcohol and intoxication were supposedly not allowed.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by someone123

I think a lot of the liquor laws in Canada are stupid. "Public drinking" is vague and covers both undesirable and completely innocuous behaviours. You can't have wine at a picnic around here, for example. .

Do they actually enforce those laws? I think most places in Canada (including Quebec) have laws or bylaws forbidding this, but my impression was that they were seldom enforced. In Quebec I am pretty sure they are *never* enforced. Unless you are behaving like total yahoos and then they will use these legal provisions against you of course.

Just checked and Montreal allows alcohol at picnics in parks, but not in other public places. Of course, that's the official line.