Finding Ways to Marginalize and Control Us
"We need housing, so let’s make a ton of money selling spots to live—and promise nothing but the bare minimum."
What the hell is 'affordability' anyway?
If they truly wanted affordable homes, they’d build them cheap and fast—wood frames, six stories max, breaking ground today. Not these drawn-out sales pitches designed to wear us down. Real emergencies demand action, not 15-year timelines for a single project.
Instead, their time and effort go into manufacturing our consent—selling our communities out from under us while calling it "progress." They know exactly how this works: dangle crisis language to justify rushed approvals, then vanish when the infrastructure bills come due. It’s not development—it’s extraction disguised as policy.
I stand outside my home and watch eagles soar overhead as I walk to the grocery store. Why am I told we don’t have a "walkable city"? Is this just another buzz word to sell us sidewalks through the very developments we oppose?
When we dare express concern for our future, We are labeled a NIMBY—a term invented to strip residents of credibility and transfer power to developers and the politicians who either don’t understand or don’t care about the agenda they’re pushing. They want us to believe that wanting guarantees—about schools, hospitals, green space—is unreasonable. Since when did "selfish" mean refusing to hand our town over to speculators?
But here’s the truth:
We have every right to protect our community, the people in it, and the natural habitat we’re duty-bound to preserve. We are not beholden to the real estate interests that have turned every aspect of Canadian life into a speculative game. Real partnerships between communities and developers exist—they just require actual value in exchange for change. What we’re getting is theft with a zoning permit.
It’s time to face reality: We, the people, have very little left to hold onto. What we do have—a loving, fought-for community—is now the frontline. The industrial machine feeds on the apathy they’ve cultivated in us, while every facet of our lives gets sucked into markets demanding infinite growth.
Noam Chomsky said it best:
"Social action must be animated by a vision of a future society—and by explicit judgments of value about what that society should be."
What values are we upholding by accepting an OCP shoved through in four months—with no explanation beyond blaming other politicians? Their "vision" is urban centers (whatever that means) on a small peninsula next to the beach. Ours is Tsawwassen as it is: a place of natural beauty and tight-knit community. They repeat their slogans, trot out hired consultants, and appeal to authority to corrode our resolve.
And for what? To hand over the very quality of life that makes this place desirable—only to be gaslit into feeling guilty for resisting the same forces that created this mess.
I keep hearing it’s "uneconomic" to build housing that aligns with Delta’s character. I don’t buy it. If people want to live here (and they do), they’ll come—perhaps even because we refused to surrender to short-term profiteers and held the line for what actually matters.
Looking forward to us all meeting again soon. Until then, stay strong in your resolve. Do not fall for the distractions, or the illusions that this is all a "done deal."
Alex