Homeless in Vancouver: Rather pedestrian sign of political frustration

There it was earlier this week for all to see: a sticker in the shape of a red stop sign, printed with the slogan “Stop Harper” affixed over one of the lightbox walk signs guarding the intersection of West Broadway and South Granville Street in Vancouver’s Fairview neighbourhood.

A pedestrian crossing is not where one expects to see much in the way of political discourse, beyond protesters crossing the street, but then, Broadway and Granville is a special extreme case.

A poor excuse for debate in a fairly rich place

The intersection of such a busy main arterial as West Broadway with Granville, one of the city’s most upscale shopping strips, constantly rubs rich and poor together: blue collar tradespeople with white collar executives, minimum-wage shop clerks with rich shoppers and street people with the people who own the streets. The intersection is therefore a frequent site of low-level asymmetrical class warfare.

To be honest though, a sticker applied over top of a crossing light is a poor way to get a political point across—rather, it’s discourteous vandalism at best and at its worst, dangerously obscures a safety signal. Hopefully the sticker is removed soon.

As for the message, it refers to stopping the policies of the Conservative government of Canada led by Prime Minister Stephen Harper—the government staunchly supported by many of the residents of Fairview and the nearby rich enclave of Shaughnessy.

Unless you actually live in Canada, you may not know much about this Stephen Harper person but that’s not really necessary in order for you to understand the support for and opposition to his government’s policies. You’ll probably do just as well to substitute “Cameron”, “Valls”, “Abbott”, “Peña Nieto” or whichever neoliberal politician and governing right wing political party you are familiar with.