Personal thoughts

Confused Socialist

| by Ron Brydges
I am a Confused Socialist
I see myself as a working class socialist. I have the personal demeanor of the working class.
I am not an intellectual by any means but I do have intellectual pursuits. I am a socialist and I think I can cross the bridge between working class socialists and the academia intellectual socialists.
To be sure some working class socialists are amazing intellectuals. And some academic socialists choose to exist within the working class.
Show me a Conservative or Liberal who can say that.
Cutting the Mustard
A lot is made and said about the glorious provincial Conservative goal of building 1 ½ million new homes in Ontario. But most of that will be market housing while the greater and growing number of those looking for a home, be it a house or apartment, will need affordable housing. That’s because workers generally are getting poorer with the cost of everything going up faster than wages. It is also because immigrants, Ukrainian and others, pouring into this country will not have the finances required for market priced housing and rental units.
This is a huge gap that will not be resolved with the current system of favouring developers over people. For the most part developers across the province are not required to build affordable housing units. Toronto’ City council passed special legislation requiring developers to include 5 to 10% affordable housing in their city developments. We need 1 1/2 million affordable houses not market priced housing. Ford’s housing policy does not cut the mustard.
rb

Author: Ron Brydges

Born on Vancouver Island and raised as a child in Prince Rupert and as a teenager in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. Graduated, not without struggle, from Central Collegiate High School. Got my first post graduate job at a steel and pipe mill in Regina, Returned to B.C. and worked in a fabrication shop, a consulting firm, a northern mine and then went east and lived and worked in Toronto for a machinery manufacturer. Moved to St. Catharines where i worked on contract for GM. Was discharged at 62 and took up writing. Now divorced with two daughters and four grandchildren. There was a life between these lines and some of it will come out in my blogs.