It’s a concept catching fire among (mostly) left-wing, climate-concerned circles. Photo credit: Pexels/Pixabay
You’ve got to hand it to them – the left really do have a way with words.
One of the latest fads that is being bandied about by the woke set is the 15-minute city. It basically entails the concept that communities should be planned so that everything you need to live a climate-conscious life will be available within a 15-minute walk or bike ride from your residence. The idea was developed initially in Europe, where population density is much greater than in North America. Yet even in Europe, the notion that schools, places of employment, shopping centres, entertainment, government services and so on could really be available in such a concentrated way is likely impossible, let alone Canada where the population is much more spread out.
The 15-minute city notion also goes hand in hand with the so-called smart city concept, where digital networks monitor everything from street crossings to park bench usage. Toronto toyed with the idea of creating a smart community on a 12-acre lot on Lake Ontario a few years ago, and a subsidiary of Google – Sidewalk Labs – was slated to develop it. However, once Torontonians got wind of the details, they became justifiably concerned about all of the data that would be collected on residents and the privacy implications, and the projects was scrapped. The idea seems to now be revitalized as the 15-minute city.
United Nations (UN) officials have in the past said the only way to achieve the climate zealot goal of limiting the average global temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius is to shut down the entire global economy. Many groups sympathetic with this viewpoint, including the World Economic Forum (WEF), seemed quite delighted by the severe lockdowns imposed by many jurisdictions during the pandemic, as the cessation of much economic activity meant emissions were greatly reduced. The misery suffered by so many because of the pandemic measures didn’t seem to be a problem for this gang.
The 15-minute city is yet another way in which the self-described elites in places like the UN and WEF plan to tell the rest of us how to live, for our own good of course. Whether anyone even wants to live this way is irrelevant as long as the climate and other societal goals are achieved. This is the same crowd that has proclaimed such absurdities as “You will own nothing, and you’ll be happy.” The true agenda is revealed when we realize that these folks who feel entitled to tell the rest of us how to live have zero intentions to live that way themselves. In Canada, this is very much the approach of most members of the Trudeau Liberal government, who are pleased to live well courtesy of the taxpayer while telling the rest of us how we need to reduce our consumption, live more frugally, and cut back on travel.
Some of the elements of this plan are already in progress in Canada. For instance, the recent meeting of Justin Trudeau with the Premiers on health care included discussions of Premiers agreeing to a digital ID for health care as a condition of receiving the federal funds. This would just be the beginning.
The whole concept of a digital identity system is another element of the Great Reset plan and an integral part of the 15-minute city. An advanced version is now in place in China, where the so-called social credit system monitors your every move, purchase, eating habits, and spending trends so that the government authorities can decide such things as whether you have spent enough on meat, or gasoline or whatever else so any further purchases you might want to make for these items will be blocked on your digital currency account. Happily, Premiers Smith of Alberta and Moe of Saskatchewan have already come out against this health care digital ID, and hopefully the other Premiers will soon join them.
Ultimately, all of these connected initiatives being planned for us in the name of climate are about limiting the freedom of most of the population while a self-selected and unelected elite deign to tell us how to live. Hopefully, enough of us will wise up to this plan and all of its many elements – of which the 15-minute city is just one – before things are too advanced.
In the interim, I think I’ll get fitted for a new tinfoil hat.
She has published numerous articles in journals, magazines & other media on issues such as free trade, finance, entrepreneurship & women business owners. Ms. Swift is a past President of the Empire Club of Canada, a former Director of the CD Howe Institute, the Canadian Youth Business Foundation, SOS Children’s Villages, past President of the International Small Business Congress and current Director of the Fraser Institute. She was cited in 2003 & 2012 as one of the most powerful women in Canada by the Women’s Executive Network & is a recipient of the Queen’s Silver & Gold Jubilee medals.
