On the topic of building more affordable housing, I hope pre fab housing can help with this in the near future.
I don't know a lot about it, but that would be great if the cost of construction went down with more pre fab components. This would also help to keep things moving in cold/wet seasons.
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Engineered quartz is still the most common. I'm not up in the story dfrom Australia, but I believe it is simply a matter of bad/lack of proper protective gear for the underpaid workers cutting and polishing it. Like so many products, it is not inherently dangerous if you aren't turning it into dust and inhaling it.
Granite and marble are still part of the market place, and we are seeing granite with a recent resurgence.
Just went down the internet rabbit hole on this. Seems it's safe when it's in your house, just the workers that are cutting it, but even even when wearing PPE and suppressing the dust with water there are reports of silicosis. Engineered stone can contain up to 90% silica.
While it may not be inherently dangerous, it's pretty difficult to get it installed and cut to shape without turning some of it into dust and inhaling it. So regulation and PPE would help but probably not solve entirely. And if you get silicosis, you're looking at a lung transplant. Yikes.
Just went down the internet rabbit hole on this. Seems it's safe when it's in your house, just the workers that are cutting it, but even even when wearing PPE and suppressing the dust with water there are reports of silicosis.
While it may not be inherently dangerous, it's pretty difficult to get it installed and cut to shape without turning some of it into dust and inhaling it.
The US is looking at regulations as well: https://www.ucsf.edu/news/2023/07/42...a-workers-sick
Yeah it’s not that the product is bad at the end of the day, but the silicosis is a big problem.
I understand the economic argument that is being made that we MUST grow the population to cover the boomer age out. That'd not taking into consideration many other metrics like the housing crisis, food shortages, unstable employment numbers, overcrowded schools, strained Healthcare, and overwhelmed infrastructure. There is also the drop in per capita GDP which is a possibility with inflation outstripping wage growth.
I'm on the slow down train.
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I understand the economic argument that is being made that we MUST grow the population to cover the boomer age out. That'd not taking into consideration many other metrics like the housing crisis, food shortages, unstable employment numbers, overcrowded schools, strained Healthcare, and overwhelmed infrastructure. There is also the drop in per capita GDP which is a possibility with inflation outstripping wage growth.
Canada's fight against inflation didn't gain ground last month as the annual rate held steady at 3.1 per cent, but economists say the slightly disappointing figure doesn't change the Bank of Canada's interest rate plans.
Forecasters were widely expecting to see inflation tick down last month.
Sounds like an industry that would be good to completely automate with robots right away.
I believe most of the fabrication in a manufacturing facility would be automated, it is the installation in house that is the problem.
Often times there needs to be sanding, cutting, polishing, etc done in the customers home to make it fit.
Proper PPE and air filtration should remove any issue.
Not sure how banning any item is helping it outside of basically destroying a pretty massive industry.
I believe most of the fabrication in a manufacturing facility would be automated, it is the installation in house that is the problem.
Often times there needs to be sanding, cutting, polishing, etc done in the customers home to make it fit.
Proper PPE and air filtration should remove any issue.
Not sure how banning any item is helping it outside of basically destroying a pretty massive industry.
My wife's family was in the business, had quarries around the world, basically supplied the marble and granite for the building of Atlantic city.
Got to go to Carrara for gramps 80th birthday years ago. Super cool operations. But if people think open pit mines/oil sands alter the landscape, granite operations are a blight.
If we got quartzite/etc/junk, we would get excommunicated from the family.
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I believe most of the fabrication in a manufacturing facility would be automated, it is the installation in house that is the problem.
Often times there needs to be sanding, cutting, polishing, etc done in the customers home to make it fit.
Proper PPE and air filtration should remove any issue.
Not sure how banning any item is helping it outside of basically destroying a pretty massive industry.
From what I read the house installation is pretty minor as far as concerns. The main issue is in the factories, or workshops might be a more appropriate name. The couple I looked in when I got my bathroom counter made were not automated. They get a big slab and cut it, cut openings for the sink, and polish. This all makes dust. Sure, some can be controlled, but the articles I read basically say they can't really avoid exposure and are almost guaranteed to get silicosis.
Now, can all of these be automated? I'm not sure why not, and that will probably be what happens. But it does effect smaller shops that can't afford it.
This doesn't shut down an industry, it would just mean they use other substances like granite instead.
Canada's gross domestic product (GDP) remained unchanged for the third consecutive month in October, according to the latest data(opens in a new tab) released by Statistics Canada
When the population goes up 430k in the same period, that's really really bad. Lowered GDP per capita will make the boomer age out even more difficult to handle. I'm not sure why this nees and the stats can news weren't released in the same week.
edit : I should make it clear that the frustration comes from this being the bulk of the federal plan to cover the financial costs of an aging population. I'm pretty sure that their ongoing plan is just to ignore it, and hope that it rights itself.
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Last edited by Harry Lime; 12-22-2023 at 09:49 AM.
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Liberals, led by Steve MacKinnon and Mark Gerretsen, seemingly quite upset that Poilievre has done some interviews they deem too friendly, used the platform available to them at CPAC / parliament to hold a press conference simply to voice their displeasure of doing year end 'fuzzy' interviews and Poilievre's lack of plan.
It goes...poorly. 26:50 questions start.
Steve MacKinnon looked visibly upset multiple times.
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I don't know what they were thinking with this press conference, it just seemed so unhinged. But then again since they hired their new comms guy, their messaging has been this and a log of MAGA stuff.
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Of course, they did get all their talking points in and mentioned MAGA alt right republicans, Trump, Matt Gates and Marjorie Taylor Green in a press conference, which is clearly why they called this press conference in the first place. May as well add in "we think Poilievre is a poopoo head" at that point.
The journalists were quite annoyed to have to be there for...this.
I don't know what they were thinking with this press conference, it just seemed so unhinged. But then again since they hired their new comms guy, their messaging has been this and a log of MAGA stuff.
That really shouldn't come as a surprise considering that Gerretsen is involved because he is the biggest idiot in the Liberal party.
