Fact of the Day: Cruising Record Numbers

Cruise season has ended with record number of passengers

The last cruise ship set sail yesterday, marking the end of the cruise season in Vancouver, and 2024 was a record-breaking year.

According to the Port of Vancouver, 327 cruise ships docked in the city and carried 1.32 million passengers between March 11 and October 29, breaking last year's record by more than 80,000 or 7 percent increase year-on-year.

An Economic Impact Study released earlier this year by the port authority found that passengers, crew and cruise lines spend more than C$1.1 billion locally annually, which includes passengers spending an average of $450 each on hotels, restaurants, shopping, tours and local attractions.

Meanwhile cruise lines spend as much as $660 million a year on goods and services, as many passengers embark from Canada Place in downtown Vancouver for cruises to Alaska, while the ships get re-stocked, re-fueled and maintained between trips.

That works out to each cruise ship injecting an average of $3 million into the local economy.

Vancouver has been a home port for Alaska for more than 30 years, but can the Port of Vancouver do something about the disembarking experience? Getting to the cruise ship is a great experience, but when about 3,000 passengers with their luggage stream off the cruise ship with no orderly process to get taxis or Uber, it's absolute chaos as I have experienced this first hand in June!

Another thing for the city to fix are the homeless and drug addicts wandering around Gastown and Chinatown who make it a terrifying experience for tourists... 

Tang says Arrested Protesters Will be Charged... Eventually

Over 10,000 people were arrested in connection with protests

Hong Kong Secretary for Security Chris Tang Ping-keung says the authorities will continue to prosecute the 2019 protesters with no time limit, even "after 20 years". 

He said if a deadline was set it would go against the spirit of the rule of law and could risk "legalising illegal acts".

Some are calling for the authorities to wrap up cases five years after the 2019 protests, but Tang disagrees.

Tang says prosecutions will continue

"Unless there is a time limit for prosecution, we will lodge a case when we have sufficient evidence and upon agreement from the Department of Justice. This reflects the spirit of the rule of law," he said in an interview.

"I understand that some people have raised the idea that we should drop the cases based on a certain time frame, but this would in fact legalise illegal acts. I think this isn't in line with the spirit of the rule of law. Illegal things are simply illegal."

The police arrested 10,279 people aged 11 to 87 in connection with the 2019 protests, and of that total, 2,974 have either gone through or are undergoing judicial procedures as of September.

Of those, 2,403 have faced punishment after pleading guilty or were convicted. Therefore, there are more than 7,000 arrestees who have yet to be charged, five years later.

"If we had evidence and know who you are, but chose not to arrest you until when we wish to do so, then that's not right. But we need time to gather evidence -- this is reasonable," Tang said.

Tang says police are still investigating 5 years on

He explained the police were painstakingly going through video footage to identify each person and gather evidence in order to press charges, and a lot of people participated in the protests.

"This isn't a matter concerning how many years have been spent on this. For those who have offended the law and left Hong Kong, we will arrest them just the same if they come back after 20 years," Tang warned.

However, Professor Simon Young Ngai-man of the University of Hong Kong's law school said finality was a very important aspect of the city's legal system, which former chief justice Andrew Li Kwok-nang noted in a previous court case.

He acknowledged that while it was true there was no limitation period for indictable offences, it was also unlikely that the thousands of arrested-but-not-charged cases were still being actively investigated.

Young suggested the authorities should at least inform those whose cases were not under active investigation.

"I see no consistency with the rule of law to say to those persons that 'no active investigation is not being undertaken in relation to your case'. This would provide them with some degree of assurance that they can put the past behind them," he said. "For those whose cases are still active, nothing needs to be said to them."

But it seems the government is intent on keeping those arrested on edge, even if it takes 20 years or more to finally charge them...

Finally BC Election Results are In

Eby and the NDP will continue to hold onto power

Finally nine days after election day, British Columbia Premier David Eby has clung onto power with 47 seats, the Conservatives with 44 and the Greens with two. This afternoon Eby met with Lieutenant-Governor Janet Austin about forming the next government.

Elections BC released the finally tally, though two ridings, Surrey-Guilford and Kelowna Centre are too close to call and will be automatically recounted pending a judicial review.

Rustad accepts the election results

But the results show the NDP have to show British Columbians that they are willing to work hard in the areas of housing, healthcare, and affordability, as well as public safety and the opioid crisis, and Eby acknowledged this.

Meanwhile Conservative leader John Rustad is chuffed about how his party went from no seats to 44 in less than two years, but questions remain about how he will rein in people in his party who have racist leanings, like Brent Chapman in Surrey South, and Dallas Brodie in Vancouver-Quilchena.

Rustad must be breathing a sigh of relief that Conservative candidate Marina Sapozhnikov lost the Juan de Fuca-Malahat riding to the NDP. Sapozhnikov had spewed a lot of racist comments regarding Indigenous people, calling them "savages", and that they were not enlightened people.

Nevertheless the strong Conservative results also show voters were willing to hold their noses and overlook their racist outlooks and cast ballots for them in a desperate bid to kick out the NDP.

Furstenau with the Greens' elected MLAs

Although the NDP technically have a majority with 47 seats, they will still need the help of the Greens to pass legislation, and conversations between the two parties have already taken place. 

"Pending a judicial recount, it appears as though MLAs from different parties will have to work together for the Legislature to function effectively," said Sonia Furstenau, leader of the BC Green Party.

The Need for Conversation in the Age of Rage

Off (centre) and Williams discussed their books on Friday

On Friday I went to a stimulating discussion at Granville Island as part of the Vancouver Writers Fest about the political and social divide, how disinformation is driving us as a society apart and how we can try to bridge the gap again. The answer? By talking to each other again.

Entitled "Listening in the age of rage", two authors, Carol Off and Ian Williams tackle this very timely topic in their books, At a Loss for Words: Conversation in an age of rage, and What I Mean to Say respectively. 

Off analyses six words

Off was the host of the CBC Radio current affairs show As It Happens and in her over 25,000 interviews, she began noticing, towards the end of her time there, that the people she interviewed, used words as weapons, something that wasn't so prevalent before. So she began examining six words: democracy, freedom, truth, woke, choice and taxes.

She gives the example of freedom and it was during the freedom convoy protests in January 2022 that the protesters kept using the word "freedom". Off says the protesters wanted freedom from society, freedom to do whatever they wanted, the freedom not to care for anyone else.

Meanwhile Williams is a Giller Prize-winning author and professor who has observed how there are two polar opposites, but most of us in the middle are too timid to speak for fear of being cancelled, but he says we need to listen to others and also stand our ground otherwise the middle will be lost and it will be even harder to find any kind of commonality.

He also talked about as a professor, he is expected to "care" more for his students than before. However, he is constrained by university protocols that he should care, but not get too involved, but at least show some empathy.

Off jumped in and said she guest lectured some students about her book and was annoyed that the students believe everyone is entitled to their own opinion and that these opinions are all valued. She said she lost it, and ranted then did that mean that Vladimir Putin's opinion that Ukraine should be annexed should be valued and talked about other dictators. She had a point. It was going too far.

Williams encourages active listening

In addition, she said these dictators do not appeal to rationality, but emotion. When all rationality is gone, all people have left is emotion, and used Donald Trump's silly statement that in Springfield, Ohio, the Haitian immigrants are eating cats and dogs. The media went there to check, and no, they were not eating people's pets, but it was Trump appealing to people's base emotions of feeling these immigrants were taking away jobs and invading the country.

This analysis helped the audience have a better understanding of how and why people think this way, but perhaps still not quite comprehend how people can even have this kind of bizarre thinking, but this is how dictators can control people, by appealing to their emotions not their rationality.

In the end Off and Williams encourage people to try to stop this by actively listening to the other side to try to understand where they come from and to question them about where they got their information from, to see how credible it is, or to show rationally that their argument has no basis.

An audience member asked about being part of the left, but there are disagreements within the left that he was not doing enough and pouring guilt on him. Williams suggested that he stop thinking this way, that he had done what he could do, or that he has other ways of promoting his point of view otherwise it gets too exhausting to defend yourself when you should be banding together to fight against the right.

The discussion was a lot to take in but it made people in the room realise we are all in this together and we each need to do our part to bridge the gap. So start listening and analysing what words really mean these days!

Picture of the Day: Beautiful Bridge Pillar

A beautiful pillar of the Granville Street Bridge!

The other day I was at Granville Island for a book talk (which I will write about later), and on my way to the bus stop I had to stop and take this picture of the creeper vine leaves that have turned into autumn colours on one of the pillars of the Granville Street Bridge!

I did not know that these leaves could change to yellow, orange and red. 

What a gorgeous sight!

Anthony Wong Yiu-ming in Vancouver

Wong performed last night in Vancouver

Last night I attended my first Cantopop concert! In all my years living in Hong Kong I never went to one because I wasn't familiar with the music, no one asked me to go, and it felt inaccessible.

But a friend asked me to go see Anthony Wong Yiu-ming in Vancouver and I shelled out for a pretty good seat, only metres away from the stage at The Centre downtown. I'm surprised that since 2013 the building, which used to be owned by four brothers from Hong Kong is now owned by Westside Church! Nevertheless it's a great venue, clean and comfortable seats. Several Hong Kong bands and artists have used this place, partly because the staff are not in a union.

He was last in Vancouver five years ago

I was expecting a band with dancers, but it was very scaled down, Wong with two musicians who mostly played synthetizers, and one periodically played guitar, the other played the accordion for one song. 

Wong's fans were excited to see him -- one near the front even had a bright sign lit up with LED white lights that said "明哥" or "Ming Gor", a term of endearment. Many wore either his current concert tour T-shirt, or previous ones.

I don't know the songs that he sang, but later in the show he sang Joni Mitchell's Both Sides Now. Wong explained that when he goes to a different place he likes to sing a song from there. As French is also spoken in Canada, he sang a song by Edith Piaf.

He explained he admired Jean Cocteau, a Renaissance man in his day, who was a poet, playwright, novelist, designer, film director and visual artist. He was good friends with Piaf. She died October 10, 1963, and Cocteau died the day after.

Wong noted that Anita Mui Yim-fong was born October 10, 1963...

Early on in the show fans rushed to the stage to give him flowers. My friend had heard earlier that Wong had asked his fans not to give him flowers but money instead. Possibly a joke? But Wong was grateful to receive the flowers and read out a few of the cards, though these fans had written very long letters to him and he couldn't read them all.

He sang a mix of new and old songs

On stage, Wong drank a lot of liquids, as he coughed a bit. But after he seemed to end the show, and the audience clamoured for him to come back. He finally appeared and seemed to have his second wind and sang songs that Joseph Koo Kar-fai had written, again explaining it was because the legendary composer had lived in Vancouver (until he died last January). Wong seemed to be excited and told the audience he was singing yet another song that he didn't perform in Toronto, which got his fans all cheering.

The show started at around 8.20pm and didn't end until 11pm!

This evening, he came to the Asian Centre at the University of British Columbia to talk about his work in Cantonese. Again the room was filled with fans, almost all from Hong Kong, with a few from China.

Someone asked him if he would stay much longer in Hong Kong given the situation, and his brushes with the law. Wong admitted that he had thought about leaving, but he said his loved ones are in Hong Kong which is why he will stay. He added that he feels like he doesn't belong anywhere in particular and that's fine with him.

Another asked about his songwriting process and this was where Wong praised his collaborators, the two musicians who were on stage with him, along with a few others. He said it was a collaboration, where he might have some ideas and they try to realise it for him, and it's a back-and-forth collaboration; Wong insisted he could not do it by himself as he does not know how to read music, let along write it, but he has ideas, and these musicians have the technical ability to help him.

Fans asked Wong questions at UBC

One woman asked about his influences and how he curated them. He said there were too many to say what they were, but explained that when he was a child, he helped his father with his work and for that he got some pocket money. Wong would spend it watching movies in a theatre that changed films every two days so he watched a lot of them. He also listened to a lot of music too and from there he said he has been exposed to a lot of different things.

A fan asked about why Cantopop is not as globally popular as K-pop and he said it's because the Cantopop songs are very Hong Kong, it's about the place, the people, the circumstances... with K-pop it has a melody that is accessible and the lyrics are generic, that everyone can relate to.

Wong was gracious with his time and answered each question with lengthy replies; other celebrities might just answer with a word or a quick sentence or two. His fans hope he will come back again soon -- his last concert in Vancouver was five years ago!

Picture of the Day: Autumn Colours

Brilliant fall colours are on display

There's a lot of noise in the streets these days. It's either the scratching sound of people raking leaves, or the annoying buzz of leaf blowers, using the sheer force of air to push leaves off lawns -- only to have them covered with again the next day.

Some trees have already lost all their leaves, their branches awkwardly bare, while others are only now starting to turn from green to yellow to red. It's a magnificent sight to see these brilliant colours, and it's only on autumn.

I can't get over how stunning these trees look, especially on a clear blue day.

One of the benefits of living in Vancouver, though these days we have to bundle up! 

Review: Ru with Kim Thuy

Kim Thuy's novel Ru was adapted for the screen in 2023

As part of the Vancouver Writers Fest, this evening had the chance to see Kim Thuy again -- in person and on the big screen! In 2009, her book Ru was published, described as a novel about her impressions of her family fleeing Vietnam as refugees and then making it to Quebec, Canada.

She explained after the film screening of Ru that she wrote about her own memories and did not consult her parents about what happened -- it was how she remembered it. 

Ru became a bestseller, originally in French and then translated into English which got even more people reading the novel.

Thuy was 10 years old when she came to Canada

Before Thuy became a writer she was a restaurateur and one of her regular customers was a man she thought had no friends, and read books, but in fact he was reading scripts. He helped her get her story published and then he bought the rights to turn the book into a film.

The film opens showing 10-year-old Thuy, her first name Tinh, in a wealthy home in Saigon, with her grandmother, parents, two younger brothers and an uncle. Her father was a deputy minister in the government. But Communist soldiers charge into the house, ransacking it, and the family has to leave. 

They flee onto a ship, then a small boat and make it to a refugee camp (in Malaysia, but it's not explained in the film), and from there the family is chosen by the Canadian government to go to Quebec because Thuy's parents can speak French fluently.

But when they arrive, it's in the depths of winter and they've never seen snow before. Thuy later said when they arrived she was overwhelmed by the snow, but also they were very unhealthy, having lived in a refugee camp for months, sleeping next to the open latrines so they had a lot of infections, lice in their hair, diarrhea. 

However, the small town they went to welcomed them with open arms, giving them a reception and paired up families with a sponsor family who helped them get set up rent-free for the first three months, helped them with furniture and integrating into Canadian life.

The family landed in Quebec in 1979

And this, Thuy says, is what makes her so grateful for this sponsor family and everyone, including her first teacher in Quebec, to help her to learn how to be Canadian.

Her parents had a rough time starting over, as her dad began working as a food delivery person for a Chinese restaurant, her mother a seamstress in a clothing factory. 

In one poignant scene, an elderly Vietnamese man who shovels snow tells Tinh that he used to be a judge and nearly had his brains blown out. But when the soldier ran out of bullets, the former judge looked up at the sky and for him it was his ticket to freedom. Which is why he kept asking her about the colour of the sky. 

When the filming began, it was all shot in Montreal and they could not go to Vietnam nor Thailand because of Covid-19. Thuy was named associate producer in the film, but she says she was only given this role so that she could be on set because of pandemic restrictions.

Thuy recalls when she stepped onto the set of the home, she began crying because it brought her back to when she was 10 years old, and made us the audience realise that she still hadn't fully processed her trauma. She said the most emotional scene for her was the car driving along a stretch of road in the snow, which to Thuy says demonstrates how far her family had come, and she found it unbelievable that they had come from Vietnam and were now in Canada.

Thuy (right) is grateful about being in Canada

She also says it was at the age of 50 that she first expressed anger, being in touch with emotions she had repressed for decades because her family had to live with Communist soldiers in the house, so they didn't dare say anything that would incriminate themselves; she was forced at school to denounce her parents and grandparents for playing music, or reading books and such. So it was best to keep quiet about everything.

These days she's very open, emotional, lively and grateful for everything that has happened to her in her life. At the end of the family the post script says her parents retired, and her brothers became an actuary (for Sun Life) and a dentist.

Someone asked what Ru means, and she said in French it's a small stream at the top of a mountain, which eventually becomes a river, while in Vietnamese it means a lullaby, lulling a child to sleep. So to her both words were beautiful images she wanted to convey.

Ru

Directed by Charles-Olivier Michaud

116 minutes

Based on Ru by Kim Thuy

Promoting Construction with Construction

The Kau Yi Chau project will create 1,000 hectares of land

The Hong Kong government is pushing ahead with developing the New Territories with the Northern Metropolis and creating manmade islands called Kau Yi Chau Artificial Islands to build new housing and boost the economy, as the city integrates further into the Greater Bay Area.

Kau Yi Chau will create 1,000 hectares of land, but environmental groups are concerned about how the construction of the islands will impact the natural habitat, not to mention the cost, at the price tag of HK$580 billion over 10-15 years.

The Development Bureau is banking on these two massive infrastructure projects that it is proposing to shell out a whopping HK$600 million (US$77.2 million) to build an exhibition hall in Wan Chai to promote these projects by 2027.

Last year's policy address highlighted the need for exhibition space to showcase these two projects and Wan Chai North Promenade was chosen, directly across from the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts.

The space, which is about 5,000 square metres, will house a building that will be three to four stories high with a total area of about 8,000 to 10,000 square metres.

Construction will begin next year to open sometime in 2027.

What happens to the building after those two projects are completed?

8 Authors Talk About Finding Joy in Turmoil

The eight authors with Abdelmahmoud (front) at the Playhouse

The 37th Vancouver Writers Fest officially kicked off today and this evening I attended one of the first events with the intriguing title: Finding Joy Amid Turmoil.

It was held at the Vancouver Playhouse and understandably sold out with attendees wanting to find out from eight authors how to find job amid turmoil.

CBC Radio Commotion host Elamin Abdelmahmoud was the emcee for the evening and he's funnier than he is on the radio. He explained that the festival changed its format for the grand opening event, which usually entailed a talk with a Giller Prize author.

But for some reason that did not happen, and the next suggestion was to present something on Alice Munro, but that was soon nixed, as it was revealed by her daughter that she was sexually abused by Munro's second husband, but did nothing about it.

So Abdelmahmoud joked that tonight's event was Plan C.

We appreciated this third option. Eight authors came up one by one to give their interpretation of finding joy amid turmoil.

Kim Thuy talked about how her family was very poor when they came to Canada from Vietnam, and how they scraped together money to put food on the table. But she and her uncle spent C$12 on the French novel, The Lover. She described how he explained the words to her and she would read the book over and over to the point where she could do dictation perfectly, down to the commas. 

As a 14-year-old she didn't make many friends because she talked like the book, "Your face, devastated".

Tanya Talaga is Anishinaabe and Polish, and talked about her latest book, The Knowing, researching her family's Indigenous stories, and told us how she gave a talk to high school students and reframed Canadian history from the point of view of aboriginals, how their land was arbitrarily taken away from them by the British. But she sees hope in the next generation who understand, but also embrace their indigenous classmates.

Irish author Roddy Doyle also talked about his 14-year-old self being beaten by the priest with a leather strap at school. Doyle still vividly remembers the searing pain, but says it was worth it because they had made fun of the priest for his sexual urges that he displayed during class (rubbing himself against the desk). One day the boys left chalk marks on the desk so that there would be white marks on the priest's groin area...

Heather O'Neill explained she did research for her book, The Capital of Dreams, spending time in Gaza just before the October 7 attacks. She read entries from her journal of her observations, some funny incidents, mostly at a human level.

After a short break the talks continued with John Valliant, speaking with no notes, but weaving a true story about when he first heard about the September 11 attacks, trying to process this shocking news, and then his nine-month old son crawling by and giving him joy. He also talked about how months later, cellist superstar Yo-Yo Ma was performing at the Orpheum and Valliant was amazed at how people were not concerned about their safety, but there for the concert. He said Ma was only focused on making music for people to enjoy, much like what we were doing right now.

Sadiya Ansari's book is Exile: Rupture, Reunion, and May Grandmother's Secret Life, where she described how her father only saw his mother twice, 18 years apart due to partition between Pakistan and India -- thanks to the British. 

Ukrainian journalist Andrey Kurkov wasn't able to make it -- his flight was delayed and he was in Portugal. But another author, Conor Kerr, who is part Ukrainian, read an excerpt from Kurkov's book, The Silver Bone, about the Ukraine-Russian war going on now. He described what it was like to celebrate New Year's Eve in Kiev, unsettling, but trying to make the most of it.

Finally Bill Richardson came on stage. He still talks like his CBC Radio days, linking together bizarre facts and stories. He joked that he was doing a Ted talk, having researched that while we all know Elizabeth Taylor the actress, in history there have been numerous other Elizabeth Taylors. He recounted some of their lives that were hilarious when he read them out. At one point there is Elizabeth Taylor the actress with a tiara on her head in a room full of balls. Richardson explained he had asked AI to find a picture of her in a ballroom. Ha ha.

His Elizabeth Taylor yarn went on a bit long, but he had us laughing, with joy.

The picture above (from left to right): Bill Richardson, John Valliant, Conor Kerr, Roddy Doyle, Sadiya Ansari, Tanya Talaga, Kim Thuy, and Heather O'Neill

Hong Kong-style Diner in Paris

Have a pineapple bun, char siu and milk tea in Paris

The Hong Kong Tourism Board is doing something eye-catching for the right reasons.

At the Art Basel fair in Paris, there's a cha chaan teng pop-up serving Hong Kong-style milk tea, char siu, pineapple buns, mango pudding, and egg tarts. 

"It is exciting to see many visitors coming to the cha chaan teng and enjoy a variety of authentic Hong Kong delicacies. We look forward to continuing to showcase Hong Kong's unique experiences in different ways at Art Basel exhibitions around the world," said Tourism Board executive director Dane Cheng Ting-yat.

The cha chaan teng is sponsored by the HKTB

The one in Paris is not the first time the HKTB has set up a pop-up cha chaan teng -- earlier this year one was installed at the 24th Biennale of Sydney, an international festival of contemporary art held every two years.

In December a cha chaan teng will be set up at Art Basel Miami Beach from December 6-8.

The HKTB is not only trying to promote Hong Kong as a destination to attendees, but also that the city will be hosting Art Basel again from March 28-30 next year.

This cha chaan teng concept is a good soft power initiative... but what Hongkongers really want to know is, how's the food?

BC Elections Too Close to Call Tonight

The start of live TV broadcasts waiting for election results

British Columbia still doesn't know which party will govern it -- it's literally neck-and-neck between the NDP and the Conservatives because Elections BC is recounting 21 ridings as the votes are just too close.

So far, the NDP have 46 seats, the Conservatives 45, the Greens 2. Interestingly so far none of the independents, particularly the incumbents who were formerly BC United, have not made a dent at all.

Rustad giving a victorious speech tonight

The biggest winner tonight was Conservative leader John Rustad who was kicked out of the then BC Liberals and resurrected the blue party from the dead to have the best showing in 100 years. He is obviously chuffed at literally rebuilding the party from scratch. 

Despite his poor performance in the television debate, Rustad and his party has managed to turn the interior of the province deep blue with far less resources than the NDP, which won Metro Vancouver (except Vancouver-Quilchena) and the coastal areas. The results show voters are dissatisfied with the NDP and want change.

The biggest loser was David Eby of the NDP. The close vote is a repudiation of him wasting his two years as leader and not continuing on his predecessor John Horgan's positive streak and making things better for British Columbians. Instead Eby rested on his laurels and also dragged the province into C$9 billion in debt.

Tonight Eby ate his humble pie and has promised to work with the Green party to follow through on his promises.

Eby vowing to keep fighting Conservatives

Meanwhile even though Sonia Furstenau was considered the only adult in the room during the televised debate, she lost her seat tonight at the leader of the Green party. Part of the reason is she chose not to defend her seat in Cowichan Valley, but instead take on NDP incumbent Grace Lore in Victoria-Beacon Hill, a riding held by the NDP since 2005.

Nevertheless, the Greens managed to clinch two seats to maintain its political party status in the legislature, and will be the kingmaker to whoever wins the mandate to form the next government.

There are still some 100,000 mail-in ballots that also need to be counted! Perhaps tomorrow we'll know who won?!

Picture of the Day: Tim Hortons in Singapore

A 12th Tim Horton's will open in Singapore

The other day my friend in Singapore told me she saw yet another Tim Hortons opening in the Lion City!

And looking at the company's website, there are 11 locations in Singapore already, serving double doubles and Tim Bits along with ice roasted macadamia oatmilk latte, maple cinnamon latte and Belgian chocolate mocha. Or if you're not fussed about your coffee, then you can order the "daily brew".

Interestingly the donuts available include yuzu cream, kaya filled, along with honey cruellers, maple glaze and caramel Biscoff. 

Wonder what makes Tim Hortons so appealing to Singaporeans?!

For some it might be the intriguing taste of Canada (or nostalgic for others?). Tim Hortons has only been in Singapore since November 2023. 

The Canadian brand is one of the largest coffee chains in the world with over 5,700 stores in 14 countries, with the first outlet in Hamilton, Ontario in 1964.

Canadian soft power in the form of donuts and coffee...!!!

Tackling HK's Problem of Subdivided Flats

People with few resources end up in subdivided flats

In his policy address, Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu wanted to (finally) tackle the issue of subdivided flats -- where a space is subdivided to the point where tenants literally live in cupboard-like spaces, sharing bathrooms and kitchens, and there are hardly any windows for air circulation, let alone fresh air.

During his speech, Lee said about 30 percent of the 110,000 subdivided flats were "improper", and would be phased out with upcoming legislation, and that there would be time for landlords to upgrade these flats to meet the requirements of what the government believes is a decent living space.

How does Lee know it's about 30 percent? Deputy Financial Secretary Michael Wong Wai-lun said after it didn't necessarily mean the other 70 percent were in full compliance with the requirements.

Lee says 30 percent of subdivided flats "improper"

With the new legislation, subdivided flats that have been registered and meet the requirements will be designated as basic housing units and will be allowed to be leased.

That means the flat needs to be at least 86 sq ft, with a ceiling height of 2 metres, have a toilet and ventilation system, and meet fire and structural safety standards.

If landlords don't meet this new code, they could go to jail for at least two years.

It'll be interesting to see how this registration process works and what it will reveal in terms of the state of these subdivided flats. 

The big problem though, is that while it would be good for these living spaces to be upgraded, where will the current tenants live temporarily and also will their rents increase to pay for these renovations? Has the government thought of that?

That's Vera Yuen Wing-han's concern, an economics lecturer at the University of Hong Kong. She says the government phasing out the smallest subdivided flats could lead to higher rents for other subdivided homes as long as there was a demand.

Will tenants be forced to pay more for upgrades?

After all, people live in these poor-quality spaces because they can't afford to live anywhere else.

She also said landlords would have to pay for the renovations to meet the requirements and pass down these costs to tenants.

"If the government does not do anything, [tenants] will have to be squeezed into one unit with dividers," she said. "[This] kind of model happened in Hong Kong, like in the 1950s and 1960s when a lot of families were living in one unit, sharing the living room and the kitchen."

The government will launch the consultation process in December and start the legislative process next year, while the registration will begin in the fourth quarter of next year until the fourth quarter of 2026. Once legislation is passed, then the government will decide the time frame and targets for enforcement action against landlords. 

The Concerning Subdivided Units Alliance said the government's time frame for enforcement action against landlords was "too vague" and gave the latter too much flexibility. 

"It is unclear when the government will take the enforcement action," the alliance's Lai Kin-kwok said.

Lai also questioned the effectiveness of implementing the legislation without a clear enforcement plan, suggesting landlords could continue to rent out flats with poor living conditions.

Subdivided flats in Hong Kong are a difficult topic to deal with, as people are desperate for places to live in, and yet they are practically inhumane... 

Early BC Voters Came Out in Droves

Over 600,000 people have already cast their ballots

The BC provincial election is this Saturday, but a lot of people have taken advantage of advance voting from October 10-13, and then October 15-16. Apparently over 600,000 people have already voted today, which is considered a very good turnout.

Today was the last day of advance voting and so we went to cast our ballots at the Dunbar Community Centre after lunch.

A long line ahead of us this afternoon

We were shocked to see a long line that had formed in the long corridor, but the line was moving, ever so slowly.

A few minutes later we got to the point in the line where the poster read that we were 20 minutes away from voting, and then another one saying 10 minutes to go. Luckily for the elderly there were folded chairs available to sit on if they couldn't stand too long. We even bumped into some friends in the line ahead of us.

Finally we made it to the front, where we could see the hold up -- only three volunteers were registering voters, while a few others were milling around. 

Our photo identification was matched with the voter card and then we were formally told a ballot was being prepared for us. We were instructed to take a Sharpie pen and either fill the circle or draw an "X" and not to vote for more than one candidate. Then we were told to put the ballot in a black folder and take it to the person who would insert it into the ballot counting machine.

Personally I was surprised to see two pairs of voting booths were next to each other and not separated! In any event I brought my ballot to the guy who slipped my piece of paper into the machine that looked like a printer and a few seconds later my vote was counted, #5842. So up until the point when I voted there were 5,842 of us who had voted in the advance polls in this polling station since October 10.

Cute signs hinting the length of time

Coming out of the voting area there was still a very long line of people waiting to vote, and the queue snaked all the way down the corridor to the entrance of the community centre!

I heard yesterday there was no line at all! Perhaps voters woke up today, worried about long lines on Saturday and wanted to cast their ballots earlier; it's going to be a nail-biter of an election which is heartening to see so many people coming out already!

CE Lee's Proposals to Prop up Hong Kong

Lee promoting a green Hong Kong with his policy address

Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu just finished delivering his Policy Address which clocked in at 2 hours, 31 minutes and 25 seconds, which is longer than it took 30 runners (25 men, 5 women) to complete the 2024 Hong Kong Standard Chartered Marathon.

The speech was filled with ways to bump up the economy, from developing the city into an aerospace research hub, cutting liquor taxes, attract more investment from the Middle East and Asean member states, and develop the Northern Metropolis.

Many in Legco wore green in support of policy

There's a lot of unease about Hong Kong's economy, with shops announcing their closures, people going across the border on the weekends for cheaper dining and retail experiences, and not many tourists coming back, particularly long-haul ones who spend more.

So there was a lot riding on Lee's shoulders in delivering this speech which had a green theme, and so many pro-establishment politicians sported green dresses for the ladies, and ties for the men, including the chief executive.

There were concerns about reducing the duty on liquor (priced over HK$200) from 100 percent to 10 percent. Those opposed were in the public health sector, including former secretary for health Sophia Chan Siu-chee, saying this only encourages people to drink more alcohol and will lead to more health problems; however, doctors in the Executive Council agree with the proposal, saying this will lead to people drinking higher quality alcohol.

Meanwhile Lee says Hong Kong should promote itself as an international hub for post secondary education. One way is by offering scholarships to 1,200 students enrolled in post secondary programs, and to entice students from Asean and Belt-and-Road countries to come to the city to study.

Can West Kowloon bring in droves of tourists?

But if many foreign professors have left Hong Kong because of national security fears, how will the city be able to lure students to study?

While Lee wants to promote the West Kowloon Cultural District as a must-visit landmark, and for the area to work with the Hong Kong Tourism Board to get more visitors to the district, the arts hub could run out of money by next year. Its budget of HK$21.6 billion is almost all spent, which is why Lee wants more tourist dollars flowing into the area. However, is the HKTB going to move fast enough to get visitors to the area when admission to M+ starts from HK$120, when it's free going to the Hong Kong Museum of Art...

And speaking of tourism, effective today, travelers going in and out of Hong Kong will no longer have to fill out those arrival and departure forms with pen and paper! Finally!

Shrinkflation Hitting Hong Kong Consumers

Shoppers are seeing shrinkflation in many items they buy

How is it only now that the Hong Kong authorities realise that consumers are suffering from shrinkflation, where they pay more for less volume or weight of a product?

The Consumer Council has found a number of supermarket products have shrunk by as much as 30 percent, with 16 products having price increases of up to 26.2 percent.

The consumer watchdog released its report on Tuesday and said retailers had the responsibility to let shoppers know of the changes in packaging and price.

Consumer watchdog released report Tuesday

"The council is of the view that consumers are the ultimate stakeholders affected and the party to pay, and agents have the responsibility to clearly state volume or weight changes of goods on the packaging or at the point of sale," said Victor Lam Hoi-cheung, chairman of the publicity and community relations committee.

In its report the Consumer Council chose 62 products from its "Online Price Watch" tool with volume or weight changes between January 2021 and July 2024, with products ranging from food, daily necessities and pet food.

Of the 62 products, 58 had downsized by 1.3 percent to 30 percent, and 25 items had a reduction in content by at least 10 percent.

Kellogg's Frosties cereal had downsized the most, from 250 grams to 175 grams, a change of 30 percent. 

This cereal had the biggest drop in size

Another was Tulip's Hot Dog Skinless Sausages, where the mass of the sausages dropped from 250 grams to 200 grams, a change of 20 percent.

Meanwhile McVitie's Club Orange had its price per millimetre had jumped 26.2 percent; its content was reduced from eight sticks at 176 grams to seven sticks at 154 grams, and the price increased from HK$33.50 (US$4.30) to HK$37.

Responding to the council's findings, McVitie's distributor said the price of Club Orange increased due to the rising cost of ingredients, logistics and other factors.

Shrinkflation seemed to happen a lot during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the Consumer Council only made a report about it now? While it is understandable that practically everything costs more, it is also understandable why Hongkongers are flocking across the border to Shenzhen to shop, causing shops in Hong Kong to close because they don't have enough business.

It's a vicious cycle and it's a race to the bottom that's happening very quickly...

Grocery Chain Closes in Hong Kong Adding to Retail Woes

Uselect supermarkets will be closing across Hong Kong

More closures happening in Hong Kong with supermarket chan Uselect closing all of its locations because of the city's retail slump.

Uselect is owned by state-owned China Resources Group, and its closure comes days after its health product business CR Care announced it was shutting all 19 of its shops in November after 13 years in Hong Kong.

Uselect offered many UK-imported goods

Before the 2019 protests, Uselect opened in good locations and offered things like a large selection of cheeses at decent prices aimed at expats. It was also open later so I would sometimes pop in to buy something, or look around for discounts.

The supermarket chan had 100 locations in the city as recently as last year, but when it announced its closure on Sunday, only 40 were listed. 

When the 2019 protests broke out, some protesters targeted mainland Chinese businesses, but they managed to survive through the Covid-19 pandemic too. But perhaps shoppers would rather patronise local businesses.

Other closures:

An American brand called Garrett Popcorn is closing all of its locations as well after calling it quits on Hong Kong after 13 years.

UA Cinemas has also shuttered its six theatres across the city, unable to recover after there were mandatory closures of the theatres in 2020 for 190 days. 

The opening of Abercrombie & Fitch in 2012 

Dessert shop Holly Brown that served unusual ice cream flavours and specialty coffee, closed last June, while its subsidiary Cabin Crew Coffee also closed in August last year.

Grocery chain Dah Chong Hong (DCH) Food Mart announced in March it was closing all 28 branches after 39 years in Hong Kong. 

That said, Abercrombie & Fitch is coming back! There will be two locations, in Hysan Place in Causeway Bay and New Town Plaza in Sha Tin. The American fashion brand returns to Hong Kong eight years after it left Pedder Street where it paid an exorbitant amount for rent.

Everyone wants to know -- will they be bringing back the shirtless young men too?

Controversial Conservative Remarks Before Election

Brodie is third from the left, flanked by Greens and NDP

There are only days left until the British Columbia provincial election and already advance voting has seen the highest number of people coming in to cast their vote before October 19.

It's a highly contentious election with the New Democratic Party and in the latest polls the Conservatives are neck-and-neck. Earlier this week there was a televised debate between the three parties, NDP, Conservatives and the Greens.

That 90-minute debate revealed Conservative leader John Rustad not looking confident, hardly looking at the camera and having to go on the defensive as incumbent Premier David Eby launched numerous attacks, sometimes in concert with Green leader Sonia Furstenau.

But Eby was unsettled too, having to defend his record and not having much to show for his two years in power. Rustad said that Eby inherited a province that had a healthy bottom line of C$6 billion, but now is C$9 billion in the red, and what did he have to show for it?

The sniping between Rustad and Eby made Furstenau look like the only adult in the room, using the opportunity to explain the Greens' platform.

Then on Thursday evening, the neighbourhood I reside in held a Q&A with the candidates running in our ridings. Eby is in Vancouver-Point Grey, while Vancouver-Quilchena was the left-leaning stronghold of the BC Liberals, which morphed into BC United led by Kevin Falcon.

But in late August Falcon suddenly announced BC United was suspending its election campaign which resulted in total disarray; BC United candidates were not told of the news ahead of time and didn't know what to do, and neither did left-leaning voters.

In the end some candidates were taken up by the Conservatives, but some chose to run as independents.

So it will be interesting to see who will take Vancouver-Quilchena now that BC United is gone from the slate. 

I was surprised to see a number of Conservative signs up in my neighbourhood and even more so now that the candidate Dallas Brodie has been slammed by an indigenous leader for her racist remarks made at the event I attended.

An NDP candidate fired the salvo, bringing up Brodie's comments about First Nations people who want autonomy and equal footing, those rights come with responsibility.

"When a large percentage of your people are on the Downtown Eastside, it's important that you come and take responsibility for that piece as well. It's not okay to leave your people," she said.

Wade Grant of the Musqueam Indian Band attended the meeting and recorded the video of Brodie's remarks. 

"You could tell there were people in the audience who were uncomfortable with the answer," he said, adding that, "My reaction was one of disbelief for somebody who wants to be a leader in this province."

Many people were taken aback by what she said, as indigenous people in the Downtown Eastside is a complicated issue, and the reason why people end up there are for many different reasons. 

Brodie felt the moderator had cut her off, but he said she could use time in the next question to finish her remarks but she did not.

Nevertheless, it seems most people in the room were more supportive of the NDP and the Greens, and some political pundits are anticipating an NDP minority government propped up by the Greens.

We will find out soon enough...

Last Richmond Night Market of the Year

Not too crowded but a bit chilly at the Richmond Night Market

A friend asked me to go check out the Richmond Night Market, and I can barely remember if I had gone before so a good a reason as any to check it out this evening.

It turns out she had admission tickets and the market ends this weekend so we were able to skip the very long lineup to get in at 7pm when it started. There are a few dragon decorations from the Mid-Autumn Festival, though there are a few dinosaur sculptures standing around which is a bit incongruous, but no one seemed to notice. 

California Roll in seaweed taco

Once we got in we made a beeline for the stalls serving food. It felt like the Canadian version of Ladies' Market in Hong Kong, or maybe what the Lunar New Year festival in Victoria Park used to be like, with the various stalls selling items for impulse buys and mostly deep-fried food to entice your hunger pangs.

We had some Japanese takoyaki topped with large bonito flakes that were not bad, and had some deep-fried popcorn chicken and mushrooms, both were quite good. 

At a dim sum stand I got some pan-fried pork buns and Hong Kong-style curry fish balls that were not bad. By this point we were getting thirsty and had a lemonade drink for C$7, though one could get a giant bucket of a drink to carry around too.

My friend got a California roll taco, basically rice topped with fake crab meat, a bit of mentaiko, sprinkles of sesame seeds, mayonnaise and spring onions in a deep-fried seaweed taco shell; after eating that she was full. I got a giant scoop of pistachio gelato that only had a hint of the nut flavour, but the ice cream hit the spot despite it being around 8 degrees Celsius.

The non-food items ranged from earrings and fake nails to socks, smartphone accessories and even camping gear. As it is the last weekend, some stalls discounted prices to get rid of stock, only with limited success.

A man and his dog hanging out

I was surprised to discover Richmond Night Market has been around since 2000 when entrepreneur Raymond Cheung started it at Continental Centre on Cambie Street. It's now on an empty piece of land that has a lot of electricity to power all the stalls as well as live entertainment.

As we were leaving we discovered the games section of the fair, where people had to throw rings around the necks of bottles or pick up a bottle using a ring attached to a stick. One guy with his dog strapped to his chest hung on a bar; he had to stay there for two minutes, but gave up at the 1.47 mark! 

Would I go again to the night market? Probably not, though I didn't mind spending C$45 for food and drinks to share on a chilly Friday night.