Federal Election Called for Oct 19, 2015

[Fuzz]

Originally Posted by northcrunk

Didn't want to give any more money to a random fringe party. Besides I went during the day and it took 5 minutes. Voted for myself.

I thought Harper got rid of the per vote subsidy?

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Fuzz

I thought Harper got rid of the per vote subsidy?

Yeah, sorry, meant to say that's what I've done in the past. Can't do it in this election unfortunately. Another poor policy move by the Harper government. Also forgot about them scrapping the Court Challenges program. The Harper Conservatives have been an absolute disgrace to democratic discourse in Canada.

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by rubecube

Any of the O&G crowd want to weigh in on this? I'd heard the for the discrepancy is because the price of gas is set based on the costs associated with refining and not the cost of the oil itself, and that creates a bit of a lag between prices at the pump and barrel prices.

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/08...n_8006212.html

SAINT-JEROME, Que. — Bloc Quebecois Leader Gilles Duceppe called on the federal Competition Bureau on Tuesday to look into the price of gas at the pumps.

"On the one hand, the (price) of a barrel of crude oil drops, on the other side, gasoline increases," he said while campaigning in the Laurentians north of Montreal.

"Everyone knows there's something that's not working."

The Bloc leader said the falling Canadian dollar doesn't explain everything.

"You just have to look at the refining margins to see where the problem is," he said, referring to the difference between the wholesale value of the oil products a refinery makes and the value of the crude oil used to make them.

Duceppe urged the Competition Bureau to look at the practices of large oil companies, which he accused of gouging consumers.

Yeah the refiners are screwing us. What can we, as an open capitalistic country, do?

In my opinion, the gas stations themselves can't be blamed. Consider that even in calgary there is a 5-10c difference between the cheapest esso and the most expensive esso, depending on the location and availability of a costco or superstore gas. The competition between gas stations is there, it's just that they all have the same supplier.

It's basically the same as telecomms, $8.50 16oz pints of beer, or any other product in that it's clear that there is gouging, but people will still buy it. Unfortunately, gas is one of those things, and refiners have a monopoly on the supply of gas into calgary.

[Slava]

I thought that I should bring this thread to the top again to note that the Liberals have joined in the ridiculous boutique tax credit game. They are offering teachers credit on $1000 in spending that they do for their job. I have pilloried the CPC for their credits, so its only fair that I note the stupidity of this one as well.

[rubecube]

Originally Posted by Slava

I thought that I should bring this thread to the top again to note that the Liberals have joined in the ridiculous boutique tax credit game. They are offering teachers credit on $1000 in spending that they do for their job. I have pilloried the CPC for their credits, so its only fair that I note the stupidity of this one as well.

When are 28 year-old, single, lower-middle class white dudes, with no kids going to get our breaks, damn it?!

[Slava]

Originally Posted by rubecube

When are 28 year-old, single, lower-middle class white dudes, with no kids going to get our breaks, damn it?!

It depends. Do you work in an industry that is vote rich and might take kindly to pandering? Are you and people in the industry engaged in something that should be discouraged rather than encouraged? If those two qualities are met there's a chance!

[Hemi-Cuda]

As someone that's never bothered to vote before, but will in this election, what's the quickest way to find out what riding I'm in, and what the voting trend has been like over the past few elections? I don't like any of the party leaders, so my vote will be a purely strategic one

[EldrickOnIce]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

As someone that's never bothered to vote before, but will in this election, what's the quickest way to find out what riding I'm in, and what the voting trend has been like over the past few elections? I don't like any of the party leaders, so my vote will be a purely strategic one

Just look at one of the several hundred (thousand) ugly signs that litter every lamp post in your area?

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Slava

I thought that I should bring this thread to the top again to note that the Liberals have joined in the ridiculous boutique tax credit game. They are offering teachers credit on $1000 in spending that they do for their job. I have pilloried the CPC for their credits, so its only fair that I note the stupidity of this one as well.

Wouldn't this always have been deductible before as an employment expense?

Why can't we just have sensible policy. Dont really care what that policy is anymore just as long as its backed by research and isn't pandering and the government will evaluate if its successful after implementing

[YYC in LAX]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

As someone that's never bothered to vote before, but will in this election, what's the quickest way to find out what riding I'm in, and what the voting trend has been like over the past few elections? I don't like any of the party leaders, so my vote will be a purely strategic one

Ensure you are registered to vote here: http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

Then your voting card will come in the mail with the information where you go to vote - usually a church, community centre, or school near your house.

#VoteConservative

[LChoy]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

As someone that's never bothered to vote before, but will in this election, what's the quickest way to find out what riding I'm in, and what the voting trend has been like over the past few elections? I don't like any of the party leaders, so my vote will be a purely strategic one

Officially the Elections Canada website, and you can plug in your postal code:

http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

However, the a lot of information it seems is not ready yet, so your riding may not have all the candidates listed yet. However, once you know your riding, you can easily google your riding for further information

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by GGG

Dont really care what that policy is anymore just as long as its backed by research and isn't pandering and the government will evaluate if its successful after implementing

Why is exactly why it's important to have a long-form census. Data can be pretty powerful in clarifying a lot of issues and trends.

Of course keeping things dark and muddy on certain issues is not a bad thing if the data isn't telling you what you want to hear.

[Ashartus]

Originally Posted by GGG

Wouldn't this always have been deductible before as an employment expense?

Why can't we just have sensible policy. Dont really care what that policy is anymore just as long as its backed by research and isn't pandering and the government will evaluate if its successful after implementing

I don't think there was any mechanism for that. Something always felt wrong to me about teachers spending their own money on classroom materials and libraries, but I think there are better ways around that than a boutique tax credit (e.g. schools having some money set aside for that stuff as part of their budget).

[LChoy]

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/oil-...tion-1.3204437

Just a thought for CP policy analysts and economists, but shouldn't we expect the largest and most populace province to be a Have province? I always thought that Ontario being a Have Not province was something that the Ontario Province government should be ashamed of. I understand that the manufacturing collapse took out their economic might, but it always struck me as the smaller province holding up the larger and more popular provinces in Canada.

My 2 Cents
LChoy

[Regorium]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

I don't think there was any mechanism for that. Something always felt wrong to me about teachers spending their own money on classroom materials and libraries, but I think there are better ways around that than a boutique tax credit (e.g. schools having some money set aside for that stuff as part of their budget).

Totally agree. I think the system is pretty broken right now when we expect teachers to pay out of pocket for teaching materials. The school boards should have a per student allowance for teachers out of their budgets.

I hate tax credits too, but I find the $1000 credit to be an extremely reasonable proposal, so while it's vote-buying, it also seems like it'd be quite effective.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by Lchoy

Officially the Elections Canada website, and you can plug in your postal code:

http://www.elections.ca/home.aspx

However, the a lot of information it seems is not ready yet, so your riding may not have all the candidates listed yet. However, once you know your riding, you can easily google your riding for further information

Thanks for the link, but now that I see my district (Bow River, formerly Crowfoot) and how heavily it leans conservative, it's pretty much killed my motivation to vote

[GirlySports]

Newish poll numbers

NDP 37.4% (+3.6)
CPC 28.1% (-1.1)
LIB 25.9% (-1.6)
GRN 3.8% (-0.9)
BQ 3.7% (-0.2)

I don't think the conservatives can win this any longer, they are too far to the right. They can't take votes away from the leader, maybe take votes away from the Liberals? That's tough.

Liberals actually have a better chance at winning cause they are in direct competition with the NDPs. Could it happen? Unlikely.

[peter12]

Originally Posted by GirlySports

Newish poll numbers

NDP 37.4% (+3.6)
CPC 28.1% (-1.1)
LIB 25.9% (-1.6)
GRN 3.8% (-0.9)
BQ 3.7% (-0.2)

I don't think the conservatives can win this any longer, they are too far to the right. They can't take votes away from the leader, maybe take votes away from the Liberals? That's tough.

Liberals actually have a better chance at winning cause they are in direct competition with the NDPs. Could it happen? Unlikely.

People need to start realizing that principle has no impact on these contests anymore. The parties all practice a form of issue-based micro-sampling based on issues that are relevant to regionally advantageous parts of their base.

[Slava]

Originally Posted by Ashartus

I don't think there was any mechanism for that. Something always felt wrong to me about teachers spending their own money on classroom materials and libraries, but I think there are better ways around that than a boutique tax credit (e.g. schools having some money set aside for that stuff as part of their budget).

Originally Posted by Regorium

Totally agree. I think the system is pretty broken right now when we expect teachers to pay out of pocket for teaching materials. The school boards should have a per student allowance for teachers out of their budgets.

I hate tax credits too, but I find the $1000 credit to be an extremely reasonable proposal, so while it's vote-buying, it also seems like it'd be quite effective.

The thing that concerns me though is that lots of people spend their own money for various things for work and can't write it off. The reason this is done for teachers is purely for the votes. And more concerning is that if you are a teacher spending say $500/year, this encourages you to spend more and get a higher tax break as a result. It's pushing teachers to do more of something that we should be instead trying to eliminate.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Slava

The thing that concerns me though is that lots of people spend their own money for various things for work and can't write it off. The reason this is done for teachers is purely for the votes. And more concerning is that if you are a teacher spending say $500/year, this encourages you to spend more and get a higher tax break as a result. It's pushing teachers to do more of something that we should be instead trying to eliminate.

There's a pretty big difference though between teachers spending out of their own pocket to help educate kids vs you spending out of your own pocket to further your private business in someway. You (presumably) get benefit from doing that as it will help your business. Teachers see no benefit from spending their own money on other people's kids.