I believe that we are in need of a good protest. I see people gathering all across the world, showing camaraderie against this failing system; yet here in Canada the only people gathering to make change are those angry at losing a hockey game. Why are we so pinned against one another, on opposite sides, passing blame and not seeing that we all come from the same place? I would like to see and help create changes and it must start in the city I live in.
Bus prices are too high. Really, 3 dollars wasn't enough, you had to add an additional 0.25 cents to the bill? $3.25 is too high for a single ride. I am more inclined to walk the 20 minutes then pay that price, yet if it were at a reasonable 2 dollars I may take the bus more frequently. Mississauga has over 700,000 thousand residents, I have yet to see a single person stand up against the inclining transportation rates. I bet if 5000 people, a mere fraction, got together with signs and voices, headed over to city hall and demanded for the bus fare price to go down by 25 cents, it would happen. But we won't know that until we try. When will the people realize that the power is not in the few people who sit in their comfy offices, but that it is in us IF we learn to come together and act in cohesion for the greater good of our livelihood. It starts with the bus prices, one simple change, then we move on to more.
We do not need another wal-mart. We do not need another mcdonalds. What we need is more independently run businesses. Tax breaks should be given to those who want to start a business from scratch; taxes must be raised on the big american giants robbing our land. People cant start business' because they cannot afford too, the only people who can afford the space on Mississauga pavement are the business' whom are already swimming in profit. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer because everyone (including middle and low income families, you and I) cater to big business.
It starts at home, I know this. It starts with us but they make it pretty damn difficult when around every corner is a fast food restaurant. The family run business' are few and far between. But know this, they are there if you just take the time to look. This is why I make a point to eat at independently run places. In Mississauga those places are usually cultural masterpieces such as pho, sushi, or shwarma made with fresh ingredients (not pre-frozen and cooked off site). It is so easy to chose this over a burger hut that is microwaving pubic hairs as a topping or a restaurant charging $20 for a plate of pasta made from a package.
One of the commercials I heard over this holiday season absolutely left me shaking my fist. The commercial was for a gift card (in my opinion a gift card is THE most impersonal gift you can give someone, if you don't know someone well enough to pick out something special, howabout cross them off your gift list and call it a day?). The two actors were discussing what to call the fantastically awesome remarkable piece of plastic that could be used at harvey's, montana's, boston pizza, swiss chalet, you know those restaurants that are usually all grouped together around a movie theater. So they cleverly called it the "card of choice". Holyfuckshitpisscrappoop! That is not choice. That is the exact opposite of choice. THAT is false advertising because all those places are owned by the same corporation. Why would you want to eat food that is pre-packaged and not freshly made with love? Well, people in Iceland and Bolivia know better.
In Bolivia people believe that : “Fast-food represents the complete opposite of what Bolivians consider a meal should be. To be a good meal, food has to have be prepared with love, dedication, certain hygiene standards and proper cook time.”
http://www.hispanicallyspeakingnews.com/latino-daily-news/details/mcdonalds-closes-all-their-restaurants-in-bolivia/12787/
In Iceland, the last McDonalds finally shut down because after the financial crisis, instead of the government raising the people's taxes and bus fares, they taxed the business' who were importing goods outside of Iceland and the owner of the last mcd's was "bound by McDonald's requirement that it import all the goods required for its restaurants - from packaging to meat and cheeses - from Germany."
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/money/bye-bye-big-mac-iceland-closing-mcdonald-article-1.388237
Tax the companies who outsource goods and materials from other countries. We all know the reason why companies do this, cheaper labour aka labour that does not fit with our own health and saftey regulations as well as minimum wage. Why are people ok with the fact that it is illegal for your tiny child to not take an active role in the work force, but totally cool (and even worse, supported by your purchases) if someone else's child is forced into the workforce across the globe? We must look at every human being as someone whom deserves quality living on the Earth that we share and if your brother or sister is not getting a chance at a quality life then you must not take that as an opportunity to better yourself, to kick them when they're down. There is enough for everyone if only some could please stop being so greedy.
Mississauga can set an example, it has the power to do so as it is debt-free and "is placed fourth in 'large cities of the future' by financial publication fDi Magazine for North and South American cities.[4] Mississauga was also rated as Canada's 11th best city to live in terms of prosperity according to MoneySense magazine." (source) You know what I learned today? That Mississauga houses several major corporate headquarters for Canada such as Walmart Canada, Microsoft and General Electric.
Why the hell are the bus prices going up? Why are people that are parked on my residential street getting tickets during the day, everyday? The city does not need more money, they are doing fine, and if they wanted more money they could start with taxing those damn corporations who we all know, are not sharing any profit, they are hoarding it. Why is it ok for all of those places to keep their lights on all night? There should be an energy tax for such wasteful use of energy. Tax the assholes keeping their lights on for no good reason, put that money into the transit system then you can stop raising the fucking prices of bus fares and property tax for the regular folk.
86% of the WORLD'S goods are consumed by North Americans. The problem is that "they don't quite understand the consequences of their consumption".
The power lies where people spend their money. Take the power back. Take it back today. Do you chose to spend the majority of your time and energy earning money so that you can buy crap that further destroys the whole world's livelihood? Why would you rather not spend your money on trying to preserve what little we have left? You can start by spending your hard-earned money at family-run business' when you go out for dinner. You can decide to not buy another pair of shoes or jeans, until it is really necessary and when it is necessary support a person not a corporation. You can shop for groceries at markets on the weekends (usually only during the summer) and actively search for an independently run grocer in your neighbourhood (AND YES! They do exist, in my 'hood we have: http://www.theapplemarket.ca/ ) A lot of necessary beauty products such as shampoo and soap can be found at health food stores and I am finding that they are not only better for you but are just better in general.
Your precious wal-mart is currently conquering the food system in America, receiving 1$ for every 4$ that is spent on food. This means that wal-mart has much of the control on where the food comes from. Please take a gander at this graph http://www.ilsr.org/infographic-walmart-food/ it explains better than I can. The food you chose to eat has every effect on your health, do you think corporations care about your health? If you do not yet know about GMO foods and Monsanto I suggest you learn.
Oh but it's ok, because it is JUST business, right? How many times has someone acted in an entirely deceitful and evil way justifying it by saying, it's just business *shoulder shrug* while society continues to prove to us that business is above law, religion, health, government, and human rights.
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