Government Creep, The Ongoing Saga

Recently I posted an article about how much of a role the different levels of government take in our lives and how this influence is increasing every day. While writing the article it began to dawn on me just how persuasive and deeply entrenched this interference is. Every day it "creeps" a little more into our lives, slowly and steady,  and relatively unnoticed,  a new regulation here, a law that is introduced, a new department formed, or maybe an act that is tightened  just a bit. The creep is relentless and for the most part unstoppable. Sure, we are all used to the "big ones" like Revenue Canada (now the "CRA), or Customs and Immigration. But how many of us realize just how pervasive this creep has become, how it is invading every nook and cranny of our lives, to the point of being ludicrous.

So I have started this page where I will post the worst examples of "government creep" as I stumble upon them. The ones I am interested are the one that are almost moronic in nature and show just how the much government truly needs to regulate our lives.

Tuesday, April 9, 2012

Bagpipes are the order of the day, not infrastructure for Vancouver's Engineering Department

Image courtesy of
Walkabout Crafts

It use to be that a cities engineering department had the task of planning, developing, and maintaining a cities infrastructure. You know things like roadways, bridges , waterworks, sewers, just the everyday stuff we all take for granted, but by the same token expect to be kept up to date. However or at least in Vancouver, BC that has changed and the cities engineering department has apparently found other tasks that they deem as more urgent than worrying about the mundane day to day infrastructure demands of an area with a population in the neighbourhood of 2 million.

Recently the the city's engineering department  banned bagpipes and percussion instruments from Vancouver streets. Why? Apparently the "powers that be" determined that bagpipes and other percussion instruments create too much noise in the city. However, guitars and other instruments are deemed  to produce noise at levels that are more appropriate. Now, as someone who has spent a good portion of his life in Vancouver I can attest to the fact that on many a busy street you would need canine quality hearing to even discern a set of bagpipes from the general racket that takes place.

Fortunately not all those in power agree with the ban. Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson who has Scottish heritage and actually wore a kilt to his inauguration last December has made it clear that city council does not expect to support the ban, which is now under review. “The clans won’t stand for it!” Robertson joked when he was informed of the bagpipe ban . “I’ve asked city staff to review this issue.

This is good, maybe once they get past this nonsense the engineering department can get back to fixing roads and water-mains, you know the "mundane tasks" or maybe even determining what a Scotsman really wears under his kilt.