this post was submitted on 12 Jun 2023
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Can you be more specific about what you would like to see?
Should we ignore the state of things to post only happy pictures of Ontario?
I do agree that negativity can be toxic but we can't ignore that for many people living in Ontario things are all doom and gloom. It is hard to be positive when your future looks hopeless.
I think making a change in attitude towards constructive criticism would be much more healthy for the poster and for overall discussion in the community. It opens up debate and becomes a driver for engagement.
I certainty disagree that our situation is hopeless. We're clearly seeing a decline in the standard of living we used to take for granted without much thought. There are major challenges that will require reform, but that reform will never happen with a disengaged and despairing electorate.
Yeah, it devolves into wallowing in the negatives. If any of the major complaining came with a vibe that we were going to try to do something about it (even in just a broader 'this is one more thing to keep in mind as we build up to such-and-such'), it would've been more useful. I don't know if it's different on Lemmy, but Reddit did a lot of angry ruminating without much interest in going beyond that. Conversations would fall apart when it became anything else than agreeing about how much things sucked and would always suck forever.
So... I'm on board to have people bring up the bad stuff, but I don't want to get lost in it.
I'd love to get lost in the awesome stuff people are doing. Communities, outreach, events, plans, talking, sharing, alerts, hobbies, chances to change things - all that stuff. I'm not trying to put my head in the sand, but I don't want to circle the drain of negativity when there's a perfectly good pool of good stuff to talk about. It's all in moderation. :)
At this point there really isn’t much we can do other than wait until the next election and try to drive people to vote for a better premier. What other sort of engagement did you have in mind?
Most of the fight against the province is currently going on at the municipal level.
To use one example. Despite the blatant short term profit seeking legislated in the More Homes Built Faster act it may have the unintended consequence of forcing denser more efficient neighborhoods that aren't a sinkhole on local budgets. Not Just Bikes over on Youtube has a quick introduction to the issue here. Local governments, notably Brampton and Mississauga would temporarily balance the books with the collection of developer fees creating a subdivision ponzi scheme that worked as long as you still had future land to develop on. This legislation completely breaks that cycle and now everyone in those cities is going to feel the hurt for a bit while property taxes are jacked up to better reflect the real cost of low density sprawl. The new realities, as well as public consultation will shape how development works going forward. It's easier than you'd think to get involved in that process and can largely be accomplished purely through online feedback. I'll admit your experience will vary from one local government to another.
Personally I was involved in helping conduct an inventory of historical buildings in my local area also in response to the More Homes Built Faster act. It didn't get a lot of traction in the news but the act also gutted the Ontario Heritage Act leaving local governments scrambling to document and designate notable historical structures before they're stripped of protection and left to the mercy of developers.