City Must Get Smart In ByWard Market

The criminal and social problems in the ByWard Market are just other examples of what happens when insufficient thought is given to the consequences of decisions.

With the best of intentions, the city made a decision like many other cities in Canada to break the criminal code section regarding providing illegal substances. A so-called greater good. The police services were instructed to ignore these obvious breaches of the criminal code.

A likely outcome of these decisions is the trading of narcotics or narcotic substitutes. That the trade in illegal substances involves people who willingly flout the criminal code in public is also on the list of likely outcomes.

That open criminal behaviour on the streets has a negative impact on the businesses and organizations, their employees, shoppers, the residents and tourists is another likely outcome. All of these likely outcomes appear to have come as a complete surprise to the decision-makers. Which speaks to the critical thinking skills that so many tout as the primary benefit of their education.

The greater good is an interesting concept. The greater good to who? At what cost? How does one weigh the broader costs? Complex questions, to which there is no simple answer. Yet simple answers are what we get. Again and again and again.

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