Multiply this times other AB towns, Canadian towns and cities and you start to see the hit the economy is taking and will continue to take. It’s hard to imagine how sports venues will ever be full again and the exorbitant salaries of athletes will ever be afforded.
In terms of neighborhoods, I was driving around the city recently and everywhere there were stores, hotels, and food places closed. Now imagine only 40% of those ever reopening. I patronize a number of select small businesses, but I can’t imagine even now how they all of them will ever make a go of it.
What will happen to schools and post-secondary institutions is anyone’s guess. Some are already going bankrupt. There is no question that there will be major structural changes and reduced staffs later no matter what. The New Normal.
And what will happen to all these permanently leisured workers? What will happen to all the kids who no longer go to school? Hard times are definitely coming. Previously, I noted the world-wide figure of increased poverty to be 1/2 billion. How many of those will be usually employed people in Canada?
And what will happen to the millions of Canadians who no longer can afford to pay their rents, mortgages, and feed themselves and their families? No wonder the U.S. food banks are running out to feed all the needy lining up for miles. The same will happen here; it’s just a matter of time.
So, building and finishing LRT, let alone repairing all the damaged road infrastructure of Edmonton, how will that be done, let alone afforded? This city is in for a major decline, fall, and bankruptcy.