Jamie Lloyd-Smith

Social Planning | Community Development | Policy & Research

Tweets are mine - she/her

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

📢 Hot off the press! I am thrilled to be featured in Vol. 13 of the McMaster Journal of Communication. My paper takes a critical look at how youth w/ lived exp of #homelessness are represented in online spaces of hashtag activism.
Check it out!
@McMasterU
https://t.co/TodM2ok2Ye

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Merry Christmas! #NFLonNetflix with the family all the way from Malakwa, BC 🇨🇦

Puppers is cheering for the @Chiefs! 🎄

@Netflix_CA

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

freckle stars do u like dem 💫 @taylornation13 @taylorswift13
#VancouverTSErasTour

[Rob Shaw @RobShaw_BC]

The grand experiment with a dedicated mental health and addictions ministry (aka the "Ministry of Air") has ended, with the realization a ministry on a critical file without any budget, or policy-making power, was not getting it done.

[Jason Hickel @jasonhickel]

All the takes are correct and yet they also miss the point.

Yes, it was insane for the Democrats to think they could win by running a soulless candidate, without a shred of progressive policy vision, pursuing endorsements from neocon war-hawks everybody hates, while arming and funding a genocide, and belittling and crushing those who have enough morality to protest it.  It is enraging that the Democrats are so smug and blind to this.

But these are all just symptoms.  The deeper reality is that liberalism has failed, liberalism is dead, and people urgently need to wake up to this fact and respond accordingly. It is a defunct ideology that cannot offer any meaningful solutions to our social and ecological crises and it must be abandoned.

Democrats have proven over and over again that they cannot accept even *basic* steps like public healthcare, affordable housing, and a public job guarantee - things that would dramatically improve the material, social and political conditions of the working classes. And they cannot accept a public finance strategy that would steer production away from fossil fuels and toward green transition to give us a shot at a liveable future.

Why? Because these things run against the objectives of capital accumulation. And for liberals capital is sacrosanct. They will do whatever it takes to ensure elite accumulation, it is their only consistent commitment.  At home, they suppress and demonize progressive and socialist tendencies. Abroad, they engage in endless wars and violence to suppress input prices in the global South and prevent any possibility of sovereign economic development.

The Democrats have done all this purposefully and knowingly, for my whole life, not as some kind of "mistake" but in full consciousness that it is in the interests of capital.

And because liberalism cannot address our crises, and because it crushes socialist alternatives, it inevitably paves the way for right-wing populism.  They know this pattern, and yet they risk it every time - this election being only the most recent example. They did it in 2016, when they actively crushed the Sanders campaign and sent Trump to the White House. They do it because ultimately they (and I mean the liberal ruling class here) don't really mind if fascists take power, so long as the latter too ensure the conditions for capital accumulation. They 100% prefer this to the possibility of a socialist alternative.

So, progressives have to face reality. The dream of "converting" the Democratic party is dead. This is now a fact and it must be accepted. The only option is to build a mass-based movement that can reclaim the working classes and mobilize a political vehicle that can integrate disparate progressive struggles into a unified and formidable political force and achieve substantive transformation. This will take real work, actual organizing, but it must be done and that process must begin now.

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Thanks @CanningsNDP for being a great host at Parliament Hill today! Was great to see what you get to do for constituents behind the scenes.
#penticton #parliamenthill #houseofcommons #mp

[Richard Cannings @CanningsNDP]

Great to meet up with Jamie Lloyd-Smith and other homelessness advocates from Penticton in the House of Commons! We need the energy and ideas from activists from across the country to fix this difficult problem.

[First Evening Star @OnaagoshinAnang]

I thought carefully if I was going to write share anything today. Recently, I’ve had discussions with friends and community members on how our relationship with this day has changed.
#OrangeShirtDay #NationalDayForTruthAndReconciliation
📷 : @/morning.star.designs (Alana Jewell)

[RCYBC @RCYBC]

RCY's new report highlights series of significant missteps resulting in a child’s death – Representative for Children and Youth calls for both urgent and transformative change in systems of care.

Read the report: https://t.co/Be2YRxLk6n

#bcpoli

[Rob Shaw @RobShaw_BC]

Government showing off its new mobile services van, which travels to remote areas, seniors homes and other locations to help renew driver’s licenses and 300 other government services for people who can’t access gov office.
Tried it. Very useful.
Pilot project stage for now.

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Always fun to be the trailblazers! 🙌

Proud of our Social Development team at @cityofpenticton for leading this work alongside our partners & youth themselves to meet a need.

#pentiction #youth #socialdevelopment #transit #freetransit #accessibletransit #supportingyouth #safety

[Global BC @GlobalBC]

Penticton residents younger than 24 years old will get free access to BC Transit services throughout the city, courtesy of a new pilot program.

READ MORE: https://t.co/lAU3iZQypX

https://t.co/lAU3iZQypX

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Thanks @AlinaITurner for supporting Penticton!

Great next steps ahead as we use our local data to drive forward our Social Development Framework with conensus-driven principles, priorities, processes & goals with our partners⭐️

@HelpSeekerOrg #penticton #bcpoli #socialchange

[Dr. Alina (Tanasescu) Turner @AlinaITurner]

watching the amazing @JamieLloydSmith Present the @cityofpenticton new Social Development Framework https://t.co/biHqerJins > #dataled #systemschange #municipalities #smartcities

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Wait....what?

"Government assisted death as the solution to abject poverty" did not make my 2023 bingo card.

@AngusReid knows this is a ridiculous question to ask, and it totally politicizes and mocks our social crises. #cdnpoli #angusreid #maid #affordablehousing #cdnpolitics

[Polling Canada @CanadianPolling]

"MAID should be available for those who can't find affordable housing"

Disagree: 82%
Agree: 10%

Angus Reid / September 22, 2023 / n=1872 / Online

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

One #Penticton childcare centre opened, but the work isn't over. Also announcing another 80 new spaces w/ @ymcasibc! None of this possible w/o our local orgs & govt partnerships ❤️

#childcare #bcpoli
@GraceALore @BCGovNews
@RachnaSinghNDP @cityofpenticton https://t.co/MkdfDPRo2t

[City of Penticton @cityofpenticton]

The Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen, its member communities, First Nations and the RCMP have issued a joint statement asking people to use caution in nature areas such a trails, parks and…
https://t.co/OojXZ302MJ

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

A huge win for #Penticton - our 1st pragmatic Accessibility Plan that identifies accessibility barriers & actions, informed by *meaningful* engagement w/ #livedexperience voices.

#accessibility #inclusion #equity #disabilityinclusion
@DisabAllianceBC @s_malcolmson @Stephanie4BC

[City of Penticton @cityofpenticton]

Council has approved an Accessibility Plan that contains 20 actions to break down barriers and make Penticton a more liveable and accessible community for all residents and visitors.
https://t.co/Vg8qjv7LHZ

[World Gold Council @GOLDCOUNCIL]

Agile and liquid. A proven protector. An ever-evolving enabler of bold decisions.

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Congrats to @OneSkyCommunity and @OkanaganCollege on the new #ECE program being offered in the South Okanagan:

✓ Free tuition
✓ Hybrid learning model
✓ Practicum placement opportunity

#childcare #penticton #childcareworkers
https://t.co/Rr2x6uWOOm

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

No one will deny that adding to the housing supply is good, but we should reconsider what "affordable housing" means when qualifying salaries range from $82k-128k to meet market rates.
#AffordableHousing #bcpoli #princegeorge #bchousing #bc @BC_Housing
https://t.co/L96cIcznLv

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

BC's charitable sector needs reform: instead of govt adequately funding essential public goods, we have an arrangment where NPOs - many which rely on the labour of those living in poverty - have precarious govt contracts from diff ministries creating fragmented services.
#bcpoli

[Jamie Lloyd-Smith @JamieLloydSmith]

Positive to see the feds combine the housing portfolio w/ infastructure (which incl. Reaching Home $) under @SeanFraserMP. The prevention of #homelessness is #affordablehousing and resources for both need to be aligned.

#cabinetshuffle #cdnpoli #housing
https://t.co/BUL7o4wkya