Canadian Federal Politics Thread v5

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Rail transit has become too expensive and slow to build to make much of a difference anymore. The Green Line that was originally pitched back in 2015 was supposed to open for service this year; now it probably won't even begin major construction since the 30% design package was only looked at in January.

Depends where you live. Rail is a big part of the infrastructure here in southern Ontario, and constantly expanding.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

Depends where you live. Rail is a big part of the infrastructure here in southern Ontario, and constantly expanding.

Yes, but like in Calgary and Edmonton, some of those projects (and Ottawa's Confederation Line) have been delayed and gone over-budget. The Ontario Line is 50-75% over-budget and delayed by 4 years, Eglinton Crosstown was originally supposed to open in 2020.


And with WFH, the TTC still hasn't recovered back to 2019 ridership numbers.

[CaptainCrunch]

So the tally for GC Strategies since 2015 is they were awarded 238 million dollars in contracts. Bot bad for 2 guys in a basement that nobody knows what they do, and their invoices contain no detail.


There needs to be a really hard look at the use of consultants and especially shadow consultants at all level of government.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Yes, but like in Calgary and Edmonton, some of those projects (and Ottawa's Confederation Line) have been delayed and gone over-budget. The Ontario Line is 50-75% over-budget and delayed by 4 years, Eglinton Crosstown was originally supposed to open in 2020.


And with WFH, the TTC still hasn't recovered back to 2019 ridership numbers.

So delays in construction schedules means the death of train lines serving communities?

Does it mean less demand?

Vast majority of megaprojects like train lines go overbudget and get delayed. Doesn't make them less relevant.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/trans...s-time-budget/

[Firebot]

A reminder that the NDP has voted in coalition with the Liberals to suspend "scary" hearings last week.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/arr...port-1.7115203

How the #### does this only get revealed now, and by La Presse? What's worst is there's been pieces here and there revealed about suspicious contracts given to GC Strategies in the past couple years including ArriveCAN initially being implemented in 2019, but only now do we get a bit more clarity?

Liberals need to call an elections quickly to salvage something before they fall in oblivion at this rate and unable to recover for a decade. We can't even go 24 hours without a major new reveal or scandal anymore. The Guilbeault foot in mouth road cesspool has barely started to dry.

[accord1999]

Originally Posted by Ozy_Flame

So delays in construction schedules means the death of train lines serving communities?

I'm just saying that no practical amount of spending on trains in Canada will be able to affect the current modal share away from cars, the cost per km of track or per new rider has gotten too high.

And projects going over-budget and delayed have a knock-on effect on future projects, pushing them back and reducing the funding available for them.

The previously mentioned Green Line was first intended to be 40 KM long and 100K riders/day for <$5B. Now it's >$5B for 20 km (or less), with no more than 55K riders. Now instead of the next several billion dollars of transit funding being available for other transit extensions, it's needed to complete the Green Line to its original standard.

[Firebot]

You would also think that after 239$ million and 9 years of Trudeau governed contracts they could afford something bigger than a bungalow? The housing crisis is real.

[Ozy_Flame]

Sounds like delays, political will, and bureaucracy are inhibiting movement of people from growing cities.

Still, doesn't mean that demand is diminished. With the rising costs in car ownership, people's increasing taxes to afford roads to new communities that continually perpetuate urban sprawl, and a climate crisis ready to do serious damage to road infrastructure, I'm not sure the alternative is any more viable.

There are currently 18 rail expansion projects planned or under construction across the country. That doesn't include future projects like Cascadia Rail Expansion Phase 4 or HFR through Ontario. If the cost per km of track is so egregious, it's a major surprise why none of these have been cancelled for good.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by Firebot

A reminder that the NDP has voted in coalition with the Liberals to suspend "scary" hearings last week.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/arr...port-1.7115203

How the #### does this only get revealed now, and by La Presse? What's worst is there's been pieces here and there revealed about suspicious contracts given to GC Strategies in the past couple years including ArriveCAN initially being implemented in 2019, but only now do we get a bit more clarity?

Liberals need to call an elections quickly to salvage something before they fall in oblivion at this rate and unable to recover for a decade. We can't even go 24 hours without a major new reveal or scandal anymore. The Guilbeault foot in mouth road cesspool has barely started to dry.

GC Strategies first contract with the Federal Government was awarded three weeks after the Liberal's took power.


The Cons are now demanding an accountability audit of all work done by this company.


There are a lot more GC Strategies style companies out there.

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by GGG

This screams I don’t want to get elected. You don’t say this out loud to the voters in the Toronto suburb.

Just one more lane on the 401 will solve suburban Toronto’s traffic, I swear!

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Just one more lane on the 401 will solve suburban Toronto’s traffic, I swear!

This is Dougie's answer to everything. Just one more highway! Just one more lane!

[OldDutch]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

So the tally for GC Strategies since 2015 is they were awarded 238 million dollars in contracts. Bot bad for 2 guys in a basement that nobody knows what they do, and their invoices contain no detail.


There needs to be a really hard look at the use of consultants and especially shadow consultants at all level of government.

This reeks of pass through company when every contract has finder fee or commission on each dollar. Doubt they received nine figures, but likely in millions in fees to basically pass money from the government to a contractor.

Not illegal in any general sense unless, there is conflict of interest.

Which you never see the word Liberal and ethics violation right?

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by OldDutch

This reeks of pass through company when every contract has finder fee or commission on each dollar. Doubt they received nine figures, but likely in millions in fees to basically pass money from the government to a contractor.

Not illegal in any general sense unless, there is conflict of interest.

Which you never see the word Liberal and ethics violation right?

You have just really explained shadow contracting really well. And there are lots of them siphoning government funds for very little work done. Its odorous and looks bad considering the explosion in both the size of the public service and the explosion in the amount of contractors used by this government.


Every single contract to companies like GC Strategies have to be audited to the last penny.



The investigation is going to be hard now that the president of CBSA has admitted to documents being lost and the senior IT guy for the government admitting to deleting 1200 emails concerning the contract.


The government isn't innocent here, at the very least DM are in direct control here and have to brief the Ministers, who have to brief the senior ministers and PM.



There is no separation between public service and the government.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Just one more lane on the 401 will solve suburban Toronto’s traffic, I swear!

The 407 is the stuff of dreams. When given the option, I will always choose the 407 over the 401.

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The 407 is the stuff of dreams. When given the option, I will always choose the 407 over the 401.

I use it regularly. But you pay for the privilege of course.

I tend to find it's the stuff of dreams only because the 401 is so ####e.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Just one more lane on the 401 will solve suburban Toronto’s traffic, I swear!

I didn’t say I disagreed with it. It’s just politically stupid

[Roughneck]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

The 407 is the stuff of dreams. When given the option, I will always choose the 407 over the 401.

Seems like the 407 should be the funding and operational model for major new roadworks going forward, then?

[Ozy_Flame]

Originally Posted by Roughneck

Seems like the 407 should be the funding and operational model for major new roadworks going forward, then?

You don't want more Spanish-owned corporations owning Canadian infrastructure. The only reason why it's good is because it's much less busy in relation to the 401, and not everyone can take it because it can be a major hit to the pocket. If you commute the whole thing during high-demand hours, you're looking at close to 100 bucks a drive each way.

[calculoso]

Originally Posted by Firebot

A reminder that the NDP has voted in coalition with the Liberals to suspend "scary" hearings last week.

A reminder that the Bloc also voted to suspend the hearing, and it is suspended to not interfere with the RCMP investigation

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/poli...duct-hearings/
“Liberal, Bloc, NDP MPs suspend ArriveCan hearings after reading ‘scary’ secret report

Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP MPs suddenly suspended parliamentary hearings related to ArriveCan and contracting misconduct allegations Wednesday after reading what one Liberal described as a “scary” secret preliminary report by a federal investigator.

They say any further hearings could put at risk investigations by the Canada Border Services Agency, which produced the report, and the RCMP.”

Of course the Conservatives want to make this a political issue rather than a criminal one.

My stance: if the RCMP does not investigate or does not find any wrongdoing, then the committee should resume its investigation. This needs to be looked at seriously and urgently, but there is an order or operations here that must be followed (criminal then political, not the other way around)

[Brendone]

This is the kind of crap that makes me cringe when people say “raise taxes to support X”. No, get your fricken house in order first. Until that happens why should I feel any additional taxes would got to anything but more BS?

This applies to provincial and civic governments as well.