I’m also an NDP voter that voted LPC over CPC. I knew we wouldn’t get Value(s) Carney, but I do believe that if anyone is going to shift capitalism in a better direction it would be him.
As a former bouncer I completely disagree that silence is a sign of weakness or subservience. That’s just good tact. Never argue with an idiot, they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Elbows Up doesn’t mean you should draw a penalty. You’re supposed to hit them hard and get away with it.
As far as the DST. I find it interesting that a tax we never collected is being framed as a loss we deserve compensation for.
A month ago I thought bills C-2 & C-5 were overreach, and their lack of oversight definitely is… I wrote several letters to that effect. But given the continuation of Trumps annexation rhetoric, I now recognize those bills were designed for a political environment that is still burgeoning.
Based on Trumps usage of ICE I believe it’s inevitable that the USA will use domestic crossings to affect some form of hybrid war against Canada. Russia & China will certainly occupy northern Canada if we don’t rapidly expand our national infrastructure.
These threats, I believe, do justify deprioritizing environmental concerns, to a degree.
I think the silver lining is that Carney’s energy expansion in to oil/gas is not mutually exclusive with expanding renewable energy.
I also sold mortgages for a short time and saw the industry change more in 24 months than 24 years. I agree that the least harmful economic solution to housing is to freeze housing prices where they are until cost of living and supply normalize. The alternative of housing prices drop would have a net negative effect. The CMHC in 2014 & 15 made major changes to reduce Canadian borrowing power to avoid a post mortgage crisis of mass defaults like what we saw in the USA.
I think the world is too volatile right now to expect concrete plans that aren’t heavily hedged. Carney is playing the game correctly by holding Canada’s cards close and not telling his bluffs.
As far as the DST. I find it interesting that a tax we never collected is being framed as a loss we deserve compensation for.
I can explain that. While on the one hand I don’t really have a problem with attempting to level the playing field between international tech companies that don’t pay any corporate taxes in Canada and local Canadian companies who do, the big problem is that ultimately the pocket that those taxes will come from is “all of us” (at least those of us who use American online services). The companies weren’t going to take a loss — they were just going to jack up the prices they charge to Canadians.
And because the payment was intended to be retroactive to 2022, we’ve likely already been paying it. Again, big tech companies weren’t going to take a loss, and they’ve known about the payment date for years now, so they’ve been collecting it from us in the form of higher subscription fees and rates. And now that the DST is cancelled — they get to keep it. Oh, and as we’re now all used to paying the higher rates, they get to keep that too.
So that’s where the loss is. IMO the DST wasn’t all that great an idea to start with (taxing those companies sounds great until you realize they’re just jacking their prices up on us to pay for it), but having told companies to plan for it all these years and then yank it back has just put a ton of Canadian dollars into their coffers they don’t have to give back. And they’ll keep charging us the jacked-up rates we’re now used to and keep that as well.
Housing prices rose because we brought in 1.4 million people in a single year and tripled immigration, blaming capitalism for that seems a bit silly. Trying to implement price controls is great but how do you decide who gets the cheaper house, you’ve done nothing to improve the supply while the demand continues to increase.
You shouldn’t blame the immigrants or the Feds for that cockup. That is ENTIRELY on the Provinces.
We need more people, especially young, working professionals who produce high-value products. We have an aging population that is barely having babies at replacement level, and we need younger taxpayers coming into the system to help keep it propped up. We’re currently top-heavy in terms of demographics (thanks to the Boomer generation being the largest generation in at least the last two centuries), so we need those people otherwise the shit is going to hit the fan WAY worse than a housing crisis.
The Provinces knew the Feds were going to bring in more people. They knew we needed more housing. But many of them listened to the NIMBY’s of this world (or thought they could stick it to the Feds and make them look bad) and so did little to nothing to improve the housing situation.
Housing is nearly 100% a Provincial affair in Canada. You should absolutely be angry about the situation — but the bad guys here aren’t the Federal Government, and it isn’t the immigrants themselves. It’s the Provinces (and through their jurisdiction the Municipalities) who have been ham-stringing housing development.
Oddly enough, the situation will eventually work itself out as more of the Boomer generation die off (or downsize). Although I suspect it’s going to be a long, slow ramp-up with a smaller cliff at the end (unless immigration is raised again to match the death rate).
I don’t disagree that they share blame however things were going fine prior to tripling immigration, was it not?
It was the Feds that changed the status quo in a rather static ecosystem, and I have a propensity to blame the direct catalyst that lead to the shortage rather than those who failed to adapt at breakneck speeds. Surely building the homes first would be the rational order of operations.
It would be colossally stupid to put out a press release that tells the other players what cards you’re holding
There are public commitments that indicate betrayal of Canadians, though:
Defense pact with Philippines is direct support for US war on China.
G7 statement on “Iran must not have nuclear weapons”, while a platitude, is direct support for all Israel hasbara (weeks/months away since 1980s) and war on Iran. By extention, support for US and their strikes.
Ukraine aid is simple continuation of US proxy war on Russia, even as US “forces” colonies to pay for it, including most recent proposal of NATO buying US patriot missiles to gift to Ukraine. Dividing EU from Russia is US policy. Gaslighting people that US is a better ally than Russia is US domination of NATO.
Fortress Can Am and banning Chinese investment is further tying/subjugating Ontario/Canada to US without alternatives, and resulting in punishments instead of enthusiasm for the subservience.
When Trump negotiates publicly with lies and public punishment based on those lies, the private negotiations seem not just pointless, as something Trump won’t listen/abide with, but more than likely a US trick to pacify us, while we get destroyed with full complicity.
I’m also an NDP voter that voted LPC over CPC. I knew we wouldn’t get Value(s) Carney, but I do believe that if anyone is going to shift capitalism in a better direction it would be him.
As a former bouncer I completely disagree that silence is a sign of weakness or subservience. That’s just good tact. Never argue with an idiot, they’ll drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.
Elbows Up doesn’t mean you should draw a penalty. You’re supposed to hit them hard and get away with it.
As far as the DST. I find it interesting that a tax we never collected is being framed as a loss we deserve compensation for.
A month ago I thought bills C-2 & C-5 were overreach, and their lack of oversight definitely is… I wrote several letters to that effect. But given the continuation of Trumps annexation rhetoric, I now recognize those bills were designed for a political environment that is still burgeoning.
Based on Trumps usage of ICE I believe it’s inevitable that the USA will use domestic crossings to affect some form of hybrid war against Canada. Russia & China will certainly occupy northern Canada if we don’t rapidly expand our national infrastructure.
These threats, I believe, do justify deprioritizing environmental concerns, to a degree.
I think the silver lining is that Carney’s energy expansion in to oil/gas is not mutually exclusive with expanding renewable energy.
I also sold mortgages for a short time and saw the industry change more in 24 months than 24 years. I agree that the least harmful economic solution to housing is to freeze housing prices where they are until cost of living and supply normalize. The alternative of housing prices drop would have a net negative effect. The CMHC in 2014 & 15 made major changes to reduce Canadian borrowing power to avoid a post mortgage crisis of mass defaults like what we saw in the USA.
I think the world is too volatile right now to expect concrete plans that aren’t heavily hedged. Carney is playing the game correctly by holding Canada’s cards close and not telling his bluffs.
I can explain that. While on the one hand I don’t really have a problem with attempting to level the playing field between international tech companies that don’t pay any corporate taxes in Canada and local Canadian companies who do, the big problem is that ultimately the pocket that those taxes will come from is “all of us” (at least those of us who use American online services). The companies weren’t going to take a loss — they were just going to jack up the prices they charge to Canadians.
And because the payment was intended to be retroactive to 2022, we’ve likely already been paying it. Again, big tech companies weren’t going to take a loss, and they’ve known about the payment date for years now, so they’ve been collecting it from us in the form of higher subscription fees and rates. And now that the DST is cancelled — they get to keep it. Oh, and as we’re now all used to paying the higher rates, they get to keep that too.
So that’s where the loss is. IMO the DST wasn’t all that great an idea to start with (taxing those companies sounds great until you realize they’re just jacking their prices up on us to pay for it), but having told companies to plan for it all these years and then yank it back has just put a ton of Canadian dollars into their coffers they don’t have to give back. And they’ll keep charging us the jacked-up rates we’re now used to and keep that as well.
Housing prices rose because we brought in 1.4 million people in a single year and tripled immigration, blaming capitalism for that seems a bit silly. Trying to implement price controls is great but how do you decide who gets the cheaper house, you’ve done nothing to improve the supply while the demand continues to increase.
You shouldn’t blame the immigrants or the Feds for that cockup. That is ENTIRELY on the Provinces.
We need more people, especially young, working professionals who produce high-value products. We have an aging population that is barely having babies at replacement level, and we need younger taxpayers coming into the system to help keep it propped up. We’re currently top-heavy in terms of demographics (thanks to the Boomer generation being the largest generation in at least the last two centuries), so we need those people otherwise the shit is going to hit the fan WAY worse than a housing crisis.
The Provinces knew the Feds were going to bring in more people. They knew we needed more housing. But many of them listened to the NIMBY’s of this world (or thought they could stick it to the Feds and make them look bad) and so did little to nothing to improve the housing situation.
Housing is nearly 100% a Provincial affair in Canada. You should absolutely be angry about the situation — but the bad guys here aren’t the Federal Government, and it isn’t the immigrants themselves. It’s the Provinces (and through their jurisdiction the Municipalities) who have been ham-stringing housing development.
Oddly enough, the situation will eventually work itself out as more of the Boomer generation die off (or downsize). Although I suspect it’s going to be a long, slow ramp-up with a smaller cliff at the end (unless immigration is raised again to match the death rate).
I don’t disagree that they share blame however things were going fine prior to tripling immigration, was it not?
It was the Feds that changed the status quo in a rather static ecosystem, and I have a propensity to blame the direct catalyst that lead to the shortage rather than those who failed to adapt at breakneck speeds. Surely building the homes first would be the rational order of operations.
That’s what the “just tell us what you’re doing in the negotiations” crowd seems to miss.
It would be colossally stupid to put out a press release that tells the other players what cards you’re holding, and what your planned strategy is.
There are public commitments that indicate betrayal of Canadians, though:
When Trump negotiates publicly with lies and public punishment based on those lies, the private negotiations seem not just pointless, as something Trump won’t listen/abide with, but more than likely a US trick to pacify us, while we get destroyed with full complicity.
Those people also don’t appreciate that in the context of Trumps unpredictability no publicly made plans would remain unchanged.