I live in a little village in the southern yukon called “Teslin” and it is a wonderful community in which to live. However, you cannot eat most forms of scenery, which is an abiding problem.
Economic opportunities consist of tourism in the summer and the grade A or grade B welfare plans in the winter. If you prefer to not take advantage of the welfare plans because you are healthy and prefer to do real work, it’s a long wait for the flowers of spring, during which some construction occurs, roads are cleared of snow and firewood are demands met mostly by local woodcutters.
The sleepy northern status of Teslin is about to forever change though, it seems.
Over the next ten years, we’re supposed to spend 110 million dollars on infrastructure upgrades and various projects, money borrowed by the liberals and force fed to the territory with great figurative trumpet blasts and grinning politicians, the spending of which is mostly as to be determined locally by consultation with the community members affected, or at least, that would seem to be an appropriate procedure. Seems its a bit more like: We built 30 lots and sold 2 or 3 so let’s put in another 100 and not sell them! So, northern neighbours of mine, how do you want your 300,000 spent? Cause it’s being decided for you by the chosen few.
Normally the expense of multiple millions on various projects gets ignored and the larger contractors perform the work and submit bills for the amounts they deem reasonable, but someone must have stomped on the wrong galoshes this time because in a recent rezoning meeting, roughly 20 members of the community showed up to express their concerns or to pick up some local “knowledge’. Now you must understand that 5 percent is an unusually high number of residents and probably indicates the closest thing to mass outrage ever seen in the community!
It seems the trigger was the exciting new bylaw preventing people from living on an RV on their or a friend’s privately owned land. The reason given was the concern of the local council that someone may die in an RV fire. Sure enough. you betcha. Uh huh.
One exception is to be made for someone building their own house in which case you may provide the village with a 5,000 dollar deposit to be returned at the end of the year in which you are allowed to live in the RV. Should a landowner decide to say “screw it, i’m living in my 48 foot million dollar RV on my own frigging land because i like it sue me” what will the village do to you? Well, seems they will fine you more and more and more until they take possession of your land. (they spelled “steal” wrong) Nice. Really makes you want to buy one of those new lots, doesn’t it? This last sentence is sarcasm for any who may need this spelled out.
Remember, this is all occuring in Teslin, Yukon, population 450, a true one-horse town where bylaws didn’t even exist a mere 20 years ago. Oh and horses aren’t allowed, or any form of livestock apparently unless you have a 30 meter buffer from them to the edge of your property which wipes out the possibility of nearly any form of agricultural experimentation for the vast majority of residents . Dont we all feel so much safer now from all those nasty chicken bites?… blah, blah, blah.
As for the 110 million plus windfall, apparently we can look forward to another 100 plus new empty building lots being installed on the periphery of the community, up on the hill and away from the lake. The ancient forest is already being cleared to make way for this new anti-tree development, although the entire project defies explanation. Who will buy these lots when there is next to no industry or job opportunity in the community other than perhaps newly formed govt agencies to regulate and thereby prevent any form of human activity imaginable? This has yet to be determined and will likely be the topic of another govt “study”. An employmnt opportunity for a summer student who is willing to sign an attestation that they agree with our prime lunatic’s values?
Our Yukon premier said it best, when he stated we have to get this money spent and “we dont want to leave this money on the table” and clearly that is the focus of our leadership here in the Yukon, spending the money the Federal Govt “provides” by enslaving every canadian into more and ever-increasing swirling vats of indebtedness to the central banks who print the money by typing new numbers on their keyboards. (Nice work if you can get it.)
When, if ever, will we recognize the enormity of the frauds being commited against us all?
Must we burn tires and block highways in order to have our concerns addressed in a meaningful way? In any event it was heart-warming to see people take the time to go to this meeting and express some feeling about having our personal freedoms stripped away for the temporary emotional or financial benefit of the writers of these new laws.
Dear Teslin:
Your local government is making instant criminals out of trailer-dwellers and that my friends is what is criminal in this story.
Skulltripper 