The Garden City Refugee

An Act of Defiance

July 2, 2026

Yesterday morning, I pulled up to the parking lot at Lakeside Park in Port Dalhousie, long before most of the Canada Dominion Day crowds descended on the park. While locking up my bike, I couldn’t help but notice that the nearby parking meter had been spray-foamed.

Looking around the lot, much the same had happened with each of the other meters. The QR codes on the signs had also been spray-painted.

Before I go any further, I will state that I had no involvement with this vandalism, nor do I have any knowledge as to the identity of the perpetrator(s). Furthermore, I do not encourage or support such acts, and I hope the perpetrator(s) are ultimately apprehended and made to pay restitution for the damages.

That said . . .

We in Canada have been living under increasingly authoritarian rule. All levels of government have been treating us like shit. The state is supposed to be the servant, but in reality, it has become the master. The police who will be investigating this crime have also switched sides. Once respected as defenders of our safety, they are now instead defenders of the government.

This has been no more evident than what’s been going on at the municipal level. Major policy decisions are being made which have no popular support. Anyone recall voting for smartphone-only parking downtown? Anyone recall voting for removing cash as a method of payment for City services? Worse yet, these decisions aren’t being made by our elected officials, but instead by bureaucrats who have no accountability to those of us who are compelled to pay their ridiculously high salaries. Bureaucrats who don’t hesitate to do all they can to silence those of us who disagree with their decrees, yet who don’t have the courage to face voters. The tail is wagging the dog.

At tax time, we are being absolutely gouged, not to fund vital services such as roads and sewers, but to fund the bureaucratic behemoth at City Hall that is governing with an iron fist. So it is not surprising that so many feel deeply resentful at being nickel-and-dimed for parking when they want to visit Lakeside Park. A park they’re already paying through the nose for.

This was not a bunch of kids who sprayed graffiti at the pavilion or smashed up some toilets in the washroom.

This was not an act of malice.

This was an act of defiance.

And as governments become increasingly heavy-handed, don’t be surprised to see more of this.