"Safely Packed by Robots"

A drive in the countryside (picking up election signs)

According to regulations, all election signs must be removed within two days of Election Day. It was a big enough job for the teams distributing them, over a period of weeks leading up to the March 4th Durham by-election; to collect them all again (hundreds of them), in the short time allowed, seemed an impossible task. Nevertheless, with list in hand, and a ‘patch’ assigned, I set out to scour the surrounding countryside.

Following the frenzy of the campaign, and the intensity of Election Day itself (see my March 4th Substack), driving up and down the highways and side roads of Durham Region was a relaxing change of pace. The job actually took three days (don't tell anyone), but finally we completed our rounds, and got all of the signs into storage. Everything that wasn't stolen will be reused next time (for those with concerns for the environmental impact of election signs), and I will touch on this again.

For now though, I wanted to share thoughts on the rapidly changing landscape, on the periphery of our growing towns. The forced march of 'sustainable development' is having more of an impact on the 'landscape' (for all those disarming words) than any period of growth I have experienced in my four decades in Canada; in part, because it is taking on a very different character, as global investors now ‘Build for the Future.’

New greenfield construction (top) and, ‘Diamond SDRD’ wouldn't be named after the head of Choice properties REIT by any chance, would it?

What is being constructed currently is the infrastructure for the 15 minute Cities (‘communities’) of the future... places such as Orbit-Vision, in Innisfil, Ontario. But to continue, closer to home:

As I ‘orbited’ the new ‘SMART’ roundabout north Oshawa, at Thornton Road and Conlin Road (I can’t even count how many connected SMART streetlights and sensors there are here), the development below came into view.

I pulled into the driveway (to take this picture) as a couple of vehicles were about to leave (end of day). The first of these cars pulled over and the driver rolled down his window. I'll not get into the whole conversation here, but the person I spoke to was a laborer brought in from overseas (apparently there are no local construction workers looking for work at the moment). Nevertheless, he had a reasonable command of the language and it turns out this building is to be the distribution centre for a European dairy firm.

Since we're busy paving over our best farmland, it would make sense (in the mind of a Technocrat at least) to bring in dairy products from the industrialized farms of Europe (perhaps from the land now being stolen from the Dutch Farmers?). ‘Wholesome’ products of the ‘highest European quality’ of course, the marketing campaigns will tell the residents of Durham; while the Globalist middlemen, owners of the industrial farms, owners of Distribution Centre REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts), will all extract a profit from these Globalist ventures.

With all the talk of public-private partnerships these days, it behooves us to examine the investment portfolios of our local Municipal Councillors. I'm sure there’s nothing untoward here, but our taxes keep going up (to pay for the forced expansion of our towns), so it is only prudent to look into these things. All of these REITs are traded publicly, and while the population of Durham has been preoccupied with day to day life, a few insightful insiders may have been investing ‘strategically.’

Perhaps a few new jobs will be provided for everyday people. Our Councillors always focus on this of course (highlighting what a great they've been doing), but we know more jobs will be eliminated in the automation process. The wages of the newly redundant ensure nearer-term profits for investors, while farmers too lose their livelihoods and traditional homes, as economic realities (and expropriations in some places) remove these people from their land. Longer-term profits will be ensured as global investors gradually monopolize food production and distribution (in these ‘necessity-based’ businesses), and prices can ultimately be increased.

While globalists talk about efficiencies, Henry Ford wrote in 1922, My Life and Work Chapter XIV ‘Tractor and Power Farming’ pg 205:

'Why a steer raised in Texas should be brought to Chicago and then served in Boston is a question that cannot be answered as long as all the steers the city needs can be raised near Boston. The Centralization of food manufacturing industries, entailing enormous costs for transportation and organization, is too wasteful long to continue in a developed community.'

An old story comes to mind, of tomatoes grown in Ontario being shipped to Spain, while tomatoes grown in Spain were being shipped back across the Atlantic to Ontario. This is globalism in a nut shell. Globalism, as it is being practiced now, is a most inefficient and resource intensive economic model; importantly though, it allows for the extraction of profits from domestic economies (at various steps along the way) much of which can remain offshore; or, at the very least, not in the Regions being ‘served.’ The examples above highlight the difference (a difference) between Globalism (now a dirty word) and Regionalism, a word much maligned by globalists (for obvious reasons). In recent years, the word 'localism' has been adopted by many groups; in order to stay below the radar, or maintain a PC image so as not to jeopardize funding.

I'll return to the ‘centralization of food manufacturing industries’ in moment, but let's now look at the new 1 billion dollar, food distribution centre in East Gwillimbury.

My friends and I have been watching this monstrous edifice take shape over the past few years, from ground breaking to present day (these pictures taken last Wednesday evening). The building is due to be completed in 2025, and the background is interesting. A couple of links included here, so you can read more (should you wish):

https://www.cornwallseawaynews.com/news/new-deadline-for-loblaw-distribution-centre-in-cornwall/ https://www.cornwallseawaynews.com/news/loblaws-will-not-build-a-new-distribution-centre-in-cornwall/

Suffice it to say, East Gwillimbury points to the permitting fees and taxes (important revenue for a town forced by the Province to expand at an almost unimaginable rate), and to the 1000 jobs promised, regardless of the automation boasted of to potential investors.

You may read (in the links provided) that smaller plants were closed in Quebec and Ottawa, to consolidate operations here. Actually, this facility was slated for Cornwall, then this deal fell through and East Gwillimbury became the lucky winner. New jobs, are highlighted, but 800+ jobs disappeared in the unfortunate communities that lost their smaller, Regional distributed plants. So jobs were not created, they were moved elsewhere (for reasons we'll probably never know, the result of back room negotiations). Based on the relative size of this facility, it could be said that jobs were actually reduced. Globalism pits region again region in a race to the bottom (for everyday people) as it moves forward with its technocratic agenda, enriching those fortunate enough to have invested in the scheme (or the 'future'. . . as they say).

At one time, the productivity of a community could benefit the community directly, now communities are low-balled and bought off, while outside investors and tech firms (coders, AI experts and robot manufacturers) extract an ever increasing portion of the profit.

Is anyone fooled? Well, yes. Lots of people, apparently.

Last year though, I helped a group canvassing in East Gwillimbury to collect signatures, and force more discussion by the Council of the Town's Strategic Plan. In the end, the exercise really only delayed the inevitable, but any project that gets people out into the community to talk to their neighbours is time well spent (in my opinion).

Going door to door in East Gwillimbury, people were well aware of this project, and they were not convinced by the promise of a thousand jobs. They spoke of the 'monstrosity' being constructed in the farm fields just outside town, employment for robots and self-driving delivery vehicles; all those technocratic ‘wonders’ described in The Fourth Industrial Revolution. Oddly enough, job losses to technology are a central theme in this work by Klaus Schwab and the WEF, but who actually reads such books?

Side note: Taking us right back to the First Industrial Revolution, I'm currently reading perhaps the most pertinent text of our times: The Highland Clearances More on this later of course. Inspired on St. Patrick's Day, by stories of the Potato famine, perhaps I can include a little Celtic theme music: ‘I'm Shipping Up To Boston’ - Dropkick Murphys

While East Gwillimbury gains a few jobs (the promise of at least), other locations lose out, and once the facility is up and running, if it doesn't provide a 1000 jobs, what is the Town going to do? “Once one [Distribution Center] settles in, it becomes a blueprint to others.” Other projects that can promise jobs, while centralizing the economy and create more job losses elsewhere.

The eagerness of one grocery chain to automate, not just its warehousing but the packing of products for individual customers, was demonstrated in the short-lived slogan: “Safely packed by robots.” . . . ‘Not dangerously, germ-ridden humans,’ was the obvious subtext (for those who read between lines) and perhaps this is why the above slogan wasn't heard for too long on the radio.

The company in question, of course, was moving this direction anyway, and didn't suddenly hire a swarm of robots, to meet a manufactured need. This dehumanizing portrayal of the technocrat’s Utopian future vision though, I found chilling... for obvious reasons.

At the time of my last my presentation to the Uxbridge Town Council, on surveillance (as a harbinger, possibly, of things to come), I went and took pictures of the newly erected barriers at the town’s supermarket.

I didn’t included these images as my presentation, ‘Predatory Capitalism' and the 'Invisible Environment’ was about surveillance technology in the public sphere, but in the age of public-private partnerships, all of these developments are related. In the new zero-trust society these gates are troubling, as it seems clear where all of this could go if there were another public health emergency, in conjunction with collapsed supply chains and food shortages.

Maybe I could get some handy AI app to generate an awesome picture of armed guards around the new facility in East Gwillimbury? I envision razor wire along the top of those imposing concrete walls, to keep out the neofeudal peasants when the next Holodomor happens. “Who controls the food supply controls the people,” Henry Kissinger is reputed to have said. Some contest this, but it doesn’t detract from the essential truth of the statement. It doesn’t take much imagination, in a future world where Canada’s own Minister for Nature and Nitrogen Policy has made all local food production illegal in order to meet the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

But this is all ‘crazy talk’ of course. . . pure flight of fancy. And there's no connection between those land clearances in Scotland, and the first Industrial Revolution either (none that we’re expected to make anyway). Modern Industrial farming practices and genetically modified food stuffs are the only way to go, naturally; and who wants beef, when we already have a shiny new cricket protein facility here in Ontario. I just can't get enough of that insect protein in my processed food!

Yes, it’s all just conspiracy theory. Make sure you have your digital ID ready though, when scanners are installed at those supermarket gates, and armed security guards brought in. When it's illegal to grow vegetables in your back yard, and you're so hungry that the a cricket protein burger starts to sound appetizing, the ‘necessity-based’ Technocrats will have it it all stitched up; you won't be getting past those gates until you flash your SMART phone, social credit, verification. . . Then ‘just open the app and get your offers.’ This week’s special: Lab-grown Cell-cultured chicken simulated food product.

Of course none of this need happen, but it is happening, while the world sleeps. None of this is a secret. Starting with The Fourth Industrial Revolution, and a flurry of activity that started in earnest during the lockdowns, this Brave New World is being rolled out right before our eyes.

If you think you have sufficient shares of food distribution centre REITs, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods, then don’t worry about any of this. Otherwise, maybe it’s time to get involved: check what’s in those funds you’re invested in, check out what’s in the processed food at your local supermarket, and start asking some serious questions of your elected representatives. A lot of stuff has been happening at those Council meetings that hardly anyone ever attends.

On this note, I hope it’s been a Very Happy St.Patrick's Day!

Thank you again for your interest, and support, and I will look forward to connecting again,

David