Canadian Federal Politics Thread v5

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Maritime Q-Scout

Tim's Pizza is better than you'd expect.

It sucks, but it's better than you'd expect.

I just cant be bothered. Theres so many good Pizza places and even mediocre places that still deal a decent slice.

After what Tim's did to those sandwiches where they weaponized the bread? I'm not sure I have the inclination to see what they've done to pizza.

[Maritime Q-Scout]

Originally Posted by Locke

I just cant be bothered. Theres so many good Pizza places and even mediocre places that still deal a decent slice.

After what Tim's did to those sandwiches where they weaponized the bread? I'm not sure I have the inclination to see what they've done to pizza.

I had it in a bind. Went to a local pizza place to grab a slice last minute.

Pizza Place: We don't have any slices at the moment

Me: Oh, how long until they're ready

Pizza Place: A couple of hours

Me: What the faaaa... ughhh... ok, thanks

I needed to throw something into my stomach, and there weren't many other options, figured I'd give Tim's Pizza a try.

The true worst part about it is how long you wait in the drive-thru now. Unless there's one car, I won't go to any that serve food if I need a coffee.

[Firebot]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...s-outsourcing/

One billion dollars!

The breakdown covers the period from Jan. 1, 2011, until Feb. 16.

The records show Coradix received 541 contracts worth a combined $596.8-million; Dalian received 445 contracts worth $127.8-million; and Dalian and Coradix in joint venture received 122 contracts worth $189.5-million. That works out to more than $914-million for Dalian and Coradix combined.

GCStrategies received 105 contracts with a combined total value of $100.3-million. That brings the total value of contracts awarded to the three companies to just more than $1-billion.

Dalian, which describes itself as an aboriginally owned company, regularly partners with Coradix, a larger non-Indigenous company, for the purposes of applying for contracts under the federal Procurement Strategy for Indigenous Business.



Coradix Technology Consulting, Dalian Enterprises and GCStrategies have all been suspended in recent months from further government work as the three companies have faced questions over their involvement with the ArriveCan app for cross-border travellers. The government has not provided a detailed explanation for the suspensions, but the companies are the subject of several continuing investigations.

Two of the three companies – Dalian and GCStrategies – have just two employees each, while Coradix has said it has about 40 staff.

[GGG]

One thing to consider is that having a small aboriginally owned company act as PM and sub out to a larger non-aboriginal companies is a common practice in both public and private industry to meet the letter but not the intent of inclusion policies.

[chemgear]

This should worsen housing affordability some more.


https://www.theglobeandmail.com/inve...ket-questions/

Immigration to Canada surges in April, worsening outlook for housing affordability

National Bank economist Stéfane Marion warns housing affordability woes are set to worsen amid another surge in immigration levels,

The demographic shock is getting worse in Canada. The working-age population (aged 15 and over) rose by over 100,000 in April, bringing the total to over 410,000 after 4 months in 2024. As today’s Hot Chart shows, this represents a sharp acceleration (+47%) on the 278,000 increase recorded in the first four months of 2023. In Greater Toronto, where population growth reached a record 107,000 at the start of the year, the acceleration is 66% compared to the growth seen in 2023. Greater Montreal and Greater Vancouver have not been left behind since the start of 2024, with growth more than double that seen in 2023.

Housing affordability problems could worsen over the next few quarters, as we head for another record year of population growth.”

[chemgear]

The pinky promise was a lie?


https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nij...ndia-1.7205637

Man accused in death of Sikh activist appeared in court just 2 days before the killing

Amandeep Singh, the fourth man charged in connection with the killing of prominent Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar, was already caught up in the Canadian justice system at the time of Nijjar's death, CBC News has learned.

The Indian national, who entered Canada on a temporary visa, appeared in a Surrey, B.C. courtroom to answer charges on an unrelated matter just two days before, according to police, he lay in wait for Nijjar at the entrance to the Guru Nanak Sikh Gurdwara. Nijjar was shot multiple times and died at the scene.

Court documents show that his case came up before the court again 19 days after the killing, on July 7, and was proceeding through the system toward a trial, scheduled for later this year, when he was arrested on separate firearms and drug charges in Brampton, Ont. last November.

B.C. court documents from last June also show that Singh signed an undertaking agreeing to not possess firearms or ammunition, and to not be in the driver's seat of any motor vehicle.

[Harry Lime]

Is the government sticking to this insane population growth because of pride? Simply not caring? Standard of living is actually decreasing across the board.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Is the government sticking to this insane population growth because of pride? Simply not caring? Standard of living is actually decreasing across the board.

"Why, that sounds racist and uncanadian."

/s

But we have the "social capacity" so they'll keep the pace uncontrollably high (as Trudeau has described it).

https://twitter.com/user/status/1745513722574201112

[Fuzz]

Instead of focusing on the stupidity topic, there is value in what the government is telling us, very carefully. And that is that the economic value of immigrants is so great that it is well worth the cost on the housing inflation side. And it's not a wishy washy answer, it's that important to Canada. That's clear. Be concerned as appropriate about that part of the answer.

[Harry Lime]

Didn't our gdp per capita fall for the first time since WW2, or some nonsense. The problem isn't immigration, it's that there was no plan to scale up the population, and the result is chaos in housing, employment and infrastructure.

Lack of effective governance is effectively neutering the positive effects of growth.

[chemgear]

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

Didn't our gdp per capita fall for the first time since WW2, or some nonsense. The problem isn't immigration, it's that there was no plan to scale up the population, and the result is chaos in housing, employment and infrastructure.

Lack of effective governance is effectively neutering the positive effects of growth.

First time? It's declined five of the past six quarters.

https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/.../00001-eng.htm

Real GDP per capita has now declined in five of the past six quarters and is currently near levels observed in 2017. Recent reports by Porter (2024), Ercolao (2023), and Marion and Ducharme (2024) have all stressed the trend towards weaker per capita growth, highlighting its negative implications for living standards and wage growth. Recent declines in per capita output have also brought concerns over Canada’s weak productivity performance to the fore, since historically, much of the long-term growth in GDP per capita has reflected sustained improvements in labour productivity.

[Dunnyberg]

Calgary metro is now at 1.7 million.
We've been basically economically stagnant since 2015 and have grown by 400,000 people since then. Absolute madness.

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Instead of focusing on the stupidity topic, there is value in what the government is telling us, very carefully. And that is that the economic value of immigrants is so great that it is well worth the cost on the housing inflation side. And it's not a wishy washy answer, it's that important to Canada. That's clear. Be concerned as appropriate about that part of the answer.

Stop. They are letting in skilled workers only to deliver Uber Eats. There is no plan past the bare minimum. Let people in = economic growth.

This one is totally mismanaged and typical of the Liberals. There is good somewhere in there but the actions are self defeating.

[btimbit]

And it's definitely not unfair to criticize the fact that there's nowhere for anyone to live and we keep adding people

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Dunnyberg

Calgary metro is now at 1.7 million.
We've been basically economically stagnant since 2015 and have grown by 400,000 people since then. Absolute madness.

I think using 2015 as your bench mark year for Calgary is misleading based on the oil price crash. Due to the significant decline in oil prices in real dollars a significant GDP decline was likely especially given how much ahead Alberta was of the ROC in 2015. 2014 averaged $97 a barrel which is $125 in todays dollars whereas oil today is $80

[Erick Estrada]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

Instead of focusing on the stupidity topic, there is value in what the government is telling us, very carefully. And that is that the economic value of immigrants is so great that it is well worth the cost on the housing inflation side. And it's not a wishy washy answer, it's that important to Canada. That's clear. Be concerned as appropriate about that part of the answer.

I think that is highly dependant on the competency of the people making the decisions and given how this government has operated, it's highly questionable that they have done the correct math and properly weighed the pros and cons for Canadians. I just put my Aunt's house up for sale which I consider a dump and it's been a bidding war well over $100k more than our asking price. I actually feel a shed of guilt that someone is going to pay so much for that house. It's shockingly bad right now.

[chemgear]

Probably take (double digit?) years to fix this.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1782852962567532770

https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/t...rts-240419.pdf

This means that there is currently only one housing start for 4.9 people entering the working age population.

[opendoor]

Originally Posted by chemgear

Probably take (double digit?) years to fix this.

https://twitter.com/user/status/1782852962567532770

https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/t...rts-240419.pdf

This means that there is currently only one housing start for 4.9 people entering the working age population.

Only if it stays that way. As of now, that's a pretty narrow spike that was preceded by a spike the other way due to low population growth. Overall, in the last 3-4 years the housing start to working age population ratio has been about 2.6. So higher than historical averages, but not all that out of the ordinary.

It's also interesting that the lowest price growth for housing has been in eras that are mostly below the red line, while the fastest growth has been in periods above the red line. Here 's the annualized real property price growth in the below the red periods:

1979-1986: -1.3%
1990-2003: 0.0%
2017-2020: 2.2%
2022-2024: -10.8%

vs. the consistently above the red periods:

1986-1990: 9.3%
2003-2008: 8.2%
2010-2017: 5.7%
2020-2022: 12.8%

So they're inversely related; periods of fast supply increases relative to population growth see faster price appreciation, while periods of slow supply increases relative to population growth see prices stagnate or drop. Which makes some intuitive sense, as developers and investors will build more when they expect price appreciation in the near future. Which of course means that they're not anticipating price appreciation even in spite of fast population growth, and that's because that's not how it works. Look at US housing starts before and after 2008; they dropped by 80% to almost nothing for 4-5 years, and yet prices still kept dropping despite new supply drying up. Financial demand is what's important for price appreciation, not population growth.

[malcolmk14]

On the housing topic, I know of a situation where there was a house listed for about $525,000. The sellers received multiple offers, the highest of which was almost $100,000 over asking price, sight unseen, unconditional.

They decided not to take any offers and remove the house from the market instead. Without a doubt it will be relisted soon, and much higher.

In my opinion, asking prices should be binding. If someone unconditionally offers your ask with money on the table, you should be obligated to sell.

[DFO]

Originally Posted by malcolmk14

On the housing topic, I know of a situation where there was a house listed for about $525,000. The sellers received multiple offers, the highest of which was almost $100,000 over asking price, sight unseen, unconditional.

They decided not to take any offers and remove the house from the market instead. Without a doubt it will be relisted soon, and much higher.

In my opinion, asking prices should be binding. If someone unconditionally offers your ask with money on the table, you should be obligated to sell.

Sounds like a poor realtor to begin with.