October 4, 2024
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No children play on playgrounds in Strathcona Park while surrounded by tents being used by the growing homeless population in Vancouver, B.C. on Tuesday, August 18, 2020.

Nanny state Canada leashes law-abiding citizens as criminals roam free

We’re told we can’t have summer road trips or free speech online, but criminals like the viral knife-wielding road-rager get a pass

We live in one hell of a chaotic nanny state in Canada.

On Tuesday, moments after reading an official city email warning New Westminster residents that their friendly dogs must be licensed, leashed and kept far away from others to ensure that everyone “feels safe,” I saw the news that an Ontario man caught on video trying to stab someone during a road rage incident had been arrested and released in a span of two days. He was in breach of two court conditions when he was arrested, too. But now he’s out on bail. We can’t allow a chihuahua to lunge at someone, but a knife-wielding man gets a pass. So much for that feeling of safety.

Or, if you’re in Vancouver, perhaps you received a warning from the city that they will fine you $500 for using any unregistered wood-burning fireplace or stove in your own home. The city’s stated goal: air quality improvement amid a climate crisis. This might leave you wondering how far this regulatory measure will go towards offsetting the single-residence occupancy building fires that are now commonplace in the city’s notoriously crime and drug-ridden Downtown Eastside neighbourhood. It’s also possible you didn’t even get the fireplace memo, too caught up trying to keep track of public warnings on the latest sex offenders and violent criminals living in the city. This is Canada, after all: We offer day parole to persons sentenced to life in prison for rape and murder. And if we don’t grant them parole, they can simply identify as women and — poof — be transferred to a women’s prison.

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