The New Canaries (NC) candidate for the Tías City Council, Arminda Barreto, advocates for "a municipal model that incentivizes local commerce and promotes responsible consumption, as opposed to the pure consumerism we are accustomed to with upcoming dates such as February 14th."
The Tías City Council has recently launched a campaign for Valentine's Day to boost consumption, according to the municipal council, in local commerce. “No one doubts that we want our small businesses, those we can walk to, the so-called local businesses, those that allow the small business owner in the municipality or on the island to earn a living, to be promoted,” explains Arminda Barreto. “However, a campaign entitled 'I love shopping Tías' seems more aimed at encouraging unbridled consumerism among tourists and residents for Valentine's Day, than aiming for responsible consumption in local businesses,” argues the NC candidate in Tías.
“Consuming responsibly,” she says, “is one of the educational objectives that teachers have been working on for decades, but, far from improving in this aspect, it seems that consumption for the sake of consumption is getting worse.” In this sense, the Canaristas believe that "sometimes social networks and influencers aggravate this situation, but campaigns like this also provoke it, because education is not only a matter for the school and the family, but for the society around us and the institutions that govern us,” says Barreto.
In the opinion of the Canarian candidate for the Tías City Council, “local commerce, the one of a lifetime, the one that has the country's products, the one that leaves its profit among our friends and neighbors, must be supported and promoted with proposals that are lasting over time, with projects that place these businesses at the center of the municipality's economic action, that generate life.” In other words, she points out, “a network of restaurants and commerce that generates leisure spaces inviting, at the same time, to consume responsibly, with models such as those found in our Canarian geography, among which we can highlight the cases of La Laguna or Gáldar.” And, Arminda Barreto adds, “finding the balance between promoting commerce and consuming responsibly must be a commitment of those who govern us to improve our present, but also to project a better future.”
