Alberta Politics Thread v2

[GGG]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Then guess I'm lucky. I've never had a problem with lost packages. When I've missed delivery and had to go and get it, I've never run into lost packages.

My packages eventually got there but always some problem with UPS being incompetent not to mention their customs clearing racket.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by GGG

My packages eventually got there but always some problem with UPS being incompetent not to mention their customs clearing racket.

Its no coincidence that UPS pronounced phonetically is 'Oops.'

[Poster]

Originally Posted by GGG

My packages eventually got there but always some problem with UPS being incompetent not to mention their customs clearing racket.

Probably off topic but why is it a racket?

They provide a service and have every right to set the fee for their investment of providing the service of customs clearance.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Poster

Probably off topic but why is it a racket?

They provide a service and have every right to set the fee for their investment of providing the service of customs clearance.

Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t it an arduous process to NOT have them provide that service? I seem to remember basically not having a choice. They provide the service, but make it very complicated not to use it, and then charge a ridiculous amount for what amounts to very little effort.

[Poster]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Maybe I’m wrong, but isn’t it an arduous process to NOT have them provide that service? I seem to remember basically not having a choice. They provide the service, but make it very complicated not to use it, and then charge a ridiculous amount for what amounts to very little effort.

Tell them not to clear it and clear it yourself. It’s the same process for every importer and if it feels arduous it proves the value they are providing.

I charge $95-$125 USD to my clients for customs clearance , what does UPs charge? $35 cad?

[Dion]

Lorne Gunter given a sneek peak of the NDP campaign brochures for the spring election. Says the party is going to promote leader Rachel Notley as opposed to the party itself. They are gambling on Notley's approval ratings

Advanced copies of the New Democrats’ campaign brochures are out and, as predicted, they feature Rachel Notley and barely mention the NDP.

The premier is nearly twice as popular as her party. Notley’s personal approval rating is in the low 40s. Meanwhile, her party’s popularity is stuck, in most polls, in the low- to mid-20s.

So if I were crafting the Alberta NDP strategy, I would do exactly what the party’s war room is doing — upselling their strong point (Notley) and downplaying everything and everyone else.

The campaign brochures I received mention the NDP only once. In fine print, in a lower corner, it confesses “Authorized by Alberta’s NDP.” But it is in the smallest font on the page.

The brochures are customized for each NDP MLA and candidate. If the individual has an email address or Twitter handle that mentions the NDP, that’s on the brochure as well. But for those New Dems who don’t yet have a party address or Twitter feed, the tiny, discreet “Authorized” message is the one and only mention of what party is sponsoring the brochure.

The New Democrats are pretty sure they can’t get most Albertans to vote for them in the provincial election expected next May, but they are hoping you just might think about re-electing that nice Notley lady.

On the brochure for Labour Minister Christina Gray (and every other New Democratic candidate), it proclaims “I know Rachel Notley is fighting for you, me and all Albertans.” And it boasts that Gray is part of “the team” that is fighting for “a new pipeline and ensuring good jobs.”

But where the logo usually reads “Alberta’s NDP,” on the campaign brochures it says simply “Rachel Notley.”

Interestingly, the NDP brochures say not a word about the environment or Notley’s Climate Leadership Plan or hers and Trudeau’s “social licence” strategy for getting pipelines built.

https://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-2

[Poster]

Originally Posted by Dion

Lorne Gunter given a sneek peak of the NDP campaign brochures for the spring election. Says the party is going to promote leader Rachel Notley as opposed to the party itself. They are gambling on Notley's approval ratings


https://edmontonsun.com/opinion/columnists/gunter-2

I am an Alberta Party member but if you ask me, thats the right strategy by the NDP in Alberta.

[PepsiFree]

Originally Posted by Poster

Tell them not to clear it and clear it yourself. It’s the same process for every importer and if it feels arduous it proves the value they are providing.

Except not every importer charges you outrageous brokerage fees. Canada Post and Purolator charge what, $10? And UPS is at least 3x that while providing no added benefit? And you charge $90+? Jesus, without knowing what you’re shipping that sounds criminal.

And no, UPS making it difficult for you to decline their brokerage service does not prove its value in any way. That doesn’t make sense.

[GGG]

Originally Posted by Poster

Tell them not to clear it and clear it yourself. It’s the same process for every importer and if it feels arduous it proves the value they are providing.

I charge $95-$125 USD to my clients for customs clearance , what does UPs charge? $35 cad?

Canada post charges $10 UPS about 40 when I used to use them (10 years ago). They also screw up when you tell them you will clear it yourself. I believe they charge the fee they do not based on the cost of the service but based on the lack of their customers knowledge on the fee existing and that they could clear it themselves. There website, at least previously, was very poor at disclosing when customs charges and brokerage fees could apply and when breaking down the costs they had a single line item of customs fees rather than individual line items for Brokerage, GST, and tarrifs.

So in the personal shipping market it’s a racket because they take advantage of the lack of knowledge of the customer.

Clearing customs for your own goods is a very simple process. I assume you are clearing expensive items for corporate clients where the rules are much more complex therefore provide a valuable service.

[White Out 403]

Notleys approval rating of 40 something % is stunning to me in a super conservative province like Alberta. A real testament to her strong leadership.

[DiracSpike]

Smart strategy for the NDP, their brand in Alberta is toxic as it should be and she's struck all the right notes lately in the fight for our industry. I know she's certainly gone up a lot in my books lately, enough that I might actually have to think about who to vote for in the spring which I would have never thought possible in 2016.
My only issue in the election will be pipelines and who will do the best job getting us one. As much as I like the mental image of Kenney getting tough on Trudeau and ####face Horgan I'll admit I don't know if it's the best strategy to get pipe built, Notley seems to have a lot of capital with Trudeau. What I'm worried about is the double standard of judgement we're Notley plays the slow and steady game maybe without enough urgency to get noticed by Ottawa or the rest of the country, but then Kenney comes on the scene getting aggressive and suddenly Alberta is seen as "throwing a tantrum" or other bullcrap. Kenney has the high potential to piss off Trudeau and some premiers, but also a better chance at cobbling together a revolt coalition with Sask and Ontario. It'll be interesting, but with all the elections and uncertainty going in to next year I don't see any positive results for Alberta and the country, it'll be a ####ty year with no new pipelines and the same old song and dance.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by White Out 403

Notleys approval rating of 40 something % is stunning to me in a super conservative province like Alberta. A real testament to her strong leadership.

People might like Notley and have her approval in the 40%'s but they outright hate her party as the NDP party itself is in the 20's approval wise. From what I've seen looking at the polls, back at the start of November. That basically means that they might like Rachel, but they hate the government that she represents.



Unless she's willing to throw her party under the bus, she's going to lose historically in the next election. (I think that you're talking about the Edmonton Sun article when they talk about Rachel putting her name above the party)



Also it will be interesting to see how the polls reflect during an election campaign.


Though these polls might save her job as far as staying the leader of the NDP after the election if they lose.


Looking at the Abacus poll from Nov 9th, the NDP are losing across every age group and Gender. They are also losing throughout the province with the Rural lead by the UCP by about 40% and in Calgary by over 20%. They are leading in Edmonton by 8% but that's no surprise.


Frankly the only way that Notley is going to be premiere again is if between now and the election she makes a seriously bold action against the Federal Government on the Pipeline file, I don't think words are going to be enough.


At the end of the day though, I'm taking polls with a massive grain of salt, they seem to be built for failure over the last few years, and it seems that most actual election results have completely discredited poll methodology.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Smart strategy for the NDP, their brand in Alberta is toxic as it should be and she's struck all the right notes lately in the fight for our industry. I know she's certainly gone up a lot in my books lately, enough that I might actually have to think about who to vote for in the spring which I would have never thought possible in 2016.
My only issue in the election will be pipelines and who will do the best job getting us one. As much as I like the mental image of Kenney getting tough on Trudeau and ####face Horgan I'll admit I don't know if it's the best strategy to get pipe built, Notley seems to have a lot of capital with Trudeau. What I'm worried about is the double standard of judgement we're Notley plays the slow and steady game maybe without enough urgency to get noticed by Ottawa or the rest of the country, but then Kenney comes on the scene getting aggressive and suddenly Alberta is seen as "throwing a tantrum" or other bullcrap. Kenney has the high potential to piss off Trudeau and some premiers, but also a better chance at cobbling together a revolt coalition with Sask and Ontario. It'll be interesting, but with all the elections and uncertainty going in to next year I don't see any positive results for Alberta and the country, it'll be a ####ty year with no new pipelines and the same old song and dance.

Does she though? She's done everything demanded of her for social license, and Trudeau pulled the rug out from under her with BC (IE giving big infrastructure checks to BC, not declaring the pipeline in the national interests, not appealing the FAC ruling, dragging their feet until Kinder threw up their hands and quit). I see very little that shows that Notley has any kind of position with the Federal Governmet. Even last week Rachel sent people out to ask the Federal Government to change Bill C-69 and Bill C-48 and got nothing, she asked for the Feds to help with Rail traffic and got nothing in the fiscal update.


At some point Notley is going to have to go from words to actual action or she's going to get hammered in the election.

[iggy_oi]

Originally Posted by GGG

Iggy do you have stats on pay comparisons between Public Union positions and private union positions.

I remember seeing it somewhere but can't find it. I recall that private sector union positions make less than their public sector counterparts for comparable jobs.

There are factors beyond who the employer is that contribute to that gap. Any industry will be more likely to see increases in compensation at a faster rate where there is a higher density of union membership compared to one which has a lower density. Public sector employees have a significantly higher union membership rates than their private sector counterparts, this gives public sector workers an edge over private sector workers because when there are less comparables.

Using only hourly rates of pay doesn’t give a very accurate comparison either. An employee earning $24/hour may have a higher hourly rate than an employee earning $22/hour with a different employer, however if the $24/hour employee has to make a pension contribution of $3/hour to their plan and the $22/hour employee gets a similar pension but their employer makes all contributions on their behalf then the $22/hour employee is actually earning more take home pay then the employer making $24/hour. Private sector employees are also able to get different forms of compensation and work benefits that public sector employees cannot. An example of this would be employee share programs or stock options. While these types of benefits won’t have a direct impact on the hourly rate of pay for an employee, they certainly play a factor in determining an employee’s overall compensation.

So while unionization benefits the worker it shows that the government does not fight back hard enough in negotiations or that due to the lack of moral hazard the unions are more likely to negotiate harder.

Who would have thought that after 40 years of “fiscally conservative” governments someone would be saying the government didn’t do a good enough job of handling the province’s long term financial liabilities?

We’ve been over this before but a public sector job can be eliminated or privatized at any time. The more expensive any public service is, the more likely it will be targeted when public service cuts are being considered, so while how much of a moral hazard public service employees face may be debatable, whether or not they face any moral hazard at all is not.

[GullFoss]

As someone who once worked for the federal government, I can confirm that public sector workers also game the system to a huge effect - they slack like crazy, clock out at exactly 37 hours a week, take a lot of sick days etc. We also had tricks employed department wide to increase pay and slack off.

In my department, I honestly believed we could cut 50% of staff and still get all our work done in a 40 hour work week.

[DiracSpike]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Does she though? She's done everything demanded of her for social license, and Trudeau pulled the rug out from under her with BC (IE giving big infrastructure checks to BC, not declaring the pipeline in the national interests, not appealing the FAC ruling, dragging their feet until Kinder threw up their hands and quit). I see very little that shows that Notley has any kind of position with the Federal Governmet. Even last week Rachel sent people out to ask the Federal Government to change Bill C-69 and Bill C-48 and got nothing, she asked for the Feds to help with Rail traffic and got nothing in the fiscal update.


At some point Notley is going to have to go from words to actual action or she's going to get hammered in the election.

Agree with all of that. I guess I just meant more capital than Kenney. It's a dilemma of where we are at. Notley has done all the things asked and played nice and we get denied. We bring in Kenney with more piss and vinegar, Canada decides that we're throwing a tantrum and get denied. I seriously don't foresee a future where we get a pipeline. I think we're ####ed. Trudeau is gaslighting the #### out of this province right now where he keeps saying all the right things but not doing the rights things, it's making me mental.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by DiracSpike

Agree with all of that. I guess I just meant more capital than Kenney. It's a dilemma of where we are at. Notley has done all the things asked and played nice and we get denied. We bring in Kenney with more piss and vinegar, Canada decides that we're throwing a tantrum and get denied. I seriously don't foresee a future where we get a pipeline. I think we're ####ed. Trudeau is gaslighting the #### out of this province right now where he keeps saying all the right things but not doing the rights things, it's making me mental.

At this point being nice has done nothing in my mind. I also don't believe that Notley has all that much capital with Trudeau, if she did and Trudeau saw her as a valuable ally he would have done something to help her re-election prospects.

The concept of social license, of being the good neighbour hasn't worked.

When you have people coming out of the chamber presentation, saying, "Our prime Minister said some nice things, lets hope he actually takes some action" it makes me wonder if our Prime Minister thinks that we'll just continue to play nice and accept slack and slow action.

I think that Notley is earnest and she wants to make things happen, but I'm not convinced that she's willing to take that next step.

When she surrendered the wine ban with getting nothing, and stated that she wasn't on board with the national climate plan, and then instead of taking concrete action, she just kind of stopped talking about it, it rang my alarm bells in my head about how hard she's willing to actually go.

Its like I've said, if she doesn't take some kind of concrete action before the next election, all the tough talking in the world isn't going to get her elected. We're now beyond that point.

As soon as Justin and Horgan posed for that picture with the shyte eating grin on their face with Trudeau handing over a ton of money to BC for infrastructure, I knew that Trudeau wasn't taking Notley seriously, and he's not.

Saying in one breath its a crisis, while on the other hand telling the provinces representatives who were asking for help on C-69 and rail cars I knew that Trudeau was mouthing empty statements.

[Poster]

Originally Posted by PepsiFree

Except not every importer charges you outrageous brokerage fees. Canada Post and Purolator charge what, $10? And UPS is at least 3x that while providing no added benefit? And you charge $90+? Jesus, without knowing what you’re shipping that sounds criminal.

And no, UPS making it difficult for you to decline their brokerage service does not prove its value in any way. That doesn’t make sense.

Not to take this so far off topic, my clients are typical foreign industrial importers so the added value I am providing goes well beyond a clearance.

Take it to a new thread if interested.

[PsYcNeT]

Or then you have near-criminal groups like DHL that charge nearly 100$ in import fees even if the original shipper includes all customs and import costs initially.

[White Out 403]

Originally Posted by GullFoss

As someone who once worked for the federal government, I can confirm that public sector workers also game the system to a huge effect - they slack like crazy, clock out at exactly 37 hours a week, take a lot of sick days etc. We also had tricks employed department wide to increase pay and slack off.

In my department, I honestly believed we could cut 50% of staff and still get all our work done in a 40 hour work week.

Well, this is all the evidence I need.

In my own experience I've found quite the opposite.