Canadian Politics Thread

[Boudrias]

Something is wrong big time in Canada. Our club helps with food hampers. Yesterday there were trucks and vans taking food hampers to drop off centers where people come to pick up their hampers. The scale is nothing like what we have seen before. Then I drive down mainstreet in the afternoon and there are many parking spots. It is noticeably less busy. I don't know how these small businesses will survive? Many will be gone come January. Hard to enjoy Christmas when you see broken dreams all around. 

[24K]

1 hour ago, Boudrias said:

Something is wrong big time in Canada. Our club helps with food hampers. Yesterday there were trucks and vans taking food hampers to drop off centers where people come to pick up their hampers. The scale is nothing like what we have seen before. Then I drive down mainstreet in the afternoon and there are many parking spots. It is noticeably less busy. I don't know how these small businesses will survive? Many will be gone come January. Hard to enjoy Christmas when you see broken dreams all around. 

It is the same everywhere. Online business are taking off and brick and mortar shops are closing down. 

 

People don't like getting out of the comforts of their own homes anymore. The way things goes, adapt to changing consumer preference or face elimination. 

[Boudrias]

10 minutes ago, 24K said:

It is the same everywhere. Online business are taking off and brick and mortar shops are closing down. 

 

People don't like getting out of the comforts of their own homes anymore. The way things goes, adapt to changing consumer preference or face elimination. 

I am sure that applies to some. I suggest there are many people without the money to spend. The people I know don't buy food on line. 

[King Heffy]

11 minutes ago, 24K said:

It is the same everywhere. Online business are taking off and brick and mortar shops are closing down. 

 

People don't like getting out of the comforts of their own homes anymore. The way things goes, adapt to changing consumer preference or face elimination. 

I'd rather research a product in the comfort of my own home than listen to someone try to pitch yet another extended warranty. I can also find something on a website a lot quicker than I can wandering around the aisles. Local businesses need to find a way to add value to the experience to justify the higher prices because most people aren't going to pay more money for an inferior experience out of the goodness of their hearts.

[bishopshodan]

Wonder how many people that are concerned about the environment also order online?

If read due to packaging and driving/delivery that it is bad for the environment, I have also read the opposite in some studies... (Can anyone seet me straight?)

 

For our culture though, I like Bill Maher's point...Make Malls Great Again.

 

Get out there and be around your fellow Canadians. We might get along better.

 

[24K]

25 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Wonder how many people that are concerned about the environment also order online?

If read due to packaging and driving/delivery that it is bad for the environment, I have also read the opposite in some studies... (Can anyone seet me straight?)

 

For our culture though, I like Bill Maher's point...Make Malls Great Again.

 

Get out there and be around your fellow Canadians. We might get along better.

 

The west can learn a lot from countries like Japan and China on how to make great malls. 

 

As for the environment, my pov online package delivery is cleaner than retail as you skip some middle man delivery.

 

In retail you have to get items delivered to the store from a warehouse adding additional emissions in that step. The amount of emission from warehouse to your home is pretty much a wash when including the emissions coming from you going to and from the retail shop. 

 

That calculation can change if we assume you going to and from the retail shop using mass transportation but since we are so car centric in NA, that is not often the case. 

[24K]

38 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

I am sure that applies to some. I suggest there are many people without the money to spend. The people I know don't buy food on line. 

I don't know about Canada but in the US consumer spending is still very high despite crumbling of US brick and mortar retailing. Nothing to suggest it would be different in Canada.

 

Also some people prefer to not dine out or do delivery due to excessive tipping these days.

[bishopshodan]

4 minutes ago, 24K said:

As for the environment, my pov online package delivery is cleaner than retail as you skip some middle man delivery.

But dont people order online... one package or two at a time? I know my damn mum ( lives in my granny suite) does. Every scond night there is a blinking amazon truck making my dog go bonkers. I thought they had more packaging too?

 

People that go to a mall tend to shop in a few places and load up on a few items...

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by bishopshodan

[24K]

2 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

But dont people order online... one package or two at a time? I know my damn mum ( lives in my granny suite) does. Every scond night there is a blinking amazon truck making my dog go bonkers. I thought they had more packaging too?

 

People that go to a mall tend to shop in a few places and load up on a few items...

 

Yes but not with the malls we have in NA. Our malls generally don't have a wide variety of products. Mainly just clothing rendering most to have to hop to different stores anyways. 

 

I think the main environmental concern with online shopping is the returns. When it is easy to order something online with easy free returns, it tend to drive up impulse orders and returns causing more emissions with items going both ways now. 

[Bob Long]

2 hours ago, Boudrias said:

Something is wrong big time in Canada. Our club helps with food hampers. Yesterday there were trucks and vans taking food hampers to drop off centers where people come to pick up their hampers. The scale is nothing like what we have seen before. Then I drive down mainstreet in the afternoon and there are many parking spots. It is noticeably less busy. I don't know how these small businesses will survive? Many will be gone come January. Hard to enjoy Christmas when you see broken dreams all around. 

 

we don't view ourselves as manufacturers anymore. Even though we actually do have a pretty strong base of it. We have all the resources, skills, etc. to be a pretty major manufacturing country but we've dropped the ball on it. I don't believe that its lost forever by any means. 

 

Are the CPC's going to revive that? I can't tell, they spend so much time whinging about Trudeau I don't know what else they stand for. 

 

[bishopshodan]

1 minute ago, 24K said:

Yes but not with the malls we have in NA. Our malls generally don't have a wide variety of products. Mainly just clothing rendering most to have to hop to different stores anyways. 

 

I think the main environmental concern with online shopping is the returns. When it is easy to order something online with easy free returns, it tend to drive up impulse orders and returns causing more emissions with items going both ways now. 

Thanks. I know my mum used to buy everything from the mall until a couple years ago, then she discovered her Ipad. Woodgrove in Nanaimo is pretty good. Has a Walmart so people can get groceries etc too.

 

On that note I looked up the carbon foot print of Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Cant find the article now but Amazon was the worst by quite a bit. as I quickly looked for those stats I have come across a lot of articles saying they ( amazon) are getting worse...

 

[RupertKBD]

One of the trade offs for living 5 minutes away from work is that we don't have a lot of choice when it comes to retail. At Christmas, my shopping tends to be pretty much split 50-50 between local stores and online.

 

We also make the drive to Terrace, about 90 minutes away to do the Black Friday sales at Canadian Tire. While we're there, the wife and daughters usually hit Winners as well.

 

Other than our tiny Wal-Mart (which took over an existing Zellers location several years back) we don't have any other big box choices, unless you count the fairly large Shoppers Drug Mart location, in what passes for a Mall here in PR.

 

We do shop at some of the small businesses, but it's not easy to find everything you need that way. So Amazon it is.....

[24K]

2 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

we don't view ourselves as manufacturers anymore. Even though we actually do have a pretty strong base of it. We have all the resources, skills, etc. to be a pretty major manufacturing country but we've dropped the ball on it. I don't believe that its lost forever by any means. 

 

Are the CPC's going to revive that? I can't tell, they spend so much time whinging about Trudeau I don't know what else they stand for. 

 

Problem with manufacturing is labor cost. Business will always choose countries like, I guess now, India and Cambodia over Canada as cost of labor is significantly lower than that of Canadians even when higher shipping cost is taken into account. 

 

There is no way to fix that but I guess manufacturing may comeback given heavy automation and AI requiring less labor to run factories. That however probably not gonna have a boom in employment. 

[bishopshodan]

3 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

Are the CPC's going to revive that? I can't tell, they spend so much time whinging about Trudeau I don't know what else they stand for. 

 

And when they get in they will spend ther time blaming JT for what they cant do....due tothe mess he left them. Not unlike we hear about nhl gms.

 

They will carry that into the election after the next one. 

 

I think two terms for the Cons then we swing back the other way, getting nowhere really.

[24K]

3 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

Thanks. I know my mum used to buy everything from the mall until a couple years ago, then she discovered her Ipad. Woodgrove in Nanaimo is pretty good. Has a Walmart so people can get groceries etc too.

 

On that note I looked up the carbon foot print of Walmart, Target, and Amazon. Cant find the article now but Amazon was the worst by quite a bit. as I quickly looked for those stats I have come across a lot of articles saying they ( amazon) are getting worse...

 

Not surprised with Amazon's heavy push into clothing. Clothing is the one thing that would drive up purchase and return cycle. 

 

If something doesn't fit, just return it so it cause excessive ordering and return. 

[Bob Long]

1 minute ago, 24K said:

Problem with manufacturing is labor cost. Business will always choose countries like, I guess now, India and Cambodia over Canada as cost of labor is significantly lower than that of Canadians even when higher shipping cost is taken into account. 

 

There is no way to fix that but I guess manufacturing may comeback given heavy automation and AI requiring less labor to run factories. That however probably not gonna have a boom in employment. 

 

it doesn't have to be a race to the bottom to add in more to our own value chain. We're too used to selling off raw resources. 

[Bob Long]

2 minutes ago, bishopshodan said:

 

And when they get in they will spend ther time blaming JT for what they cant do....due tothe mess he left them. Not unlike we hear about nhl gms.

 

 

I think we know that they will do that. 

[24K]

Just now, Bob Long said:

 

it doesn't have to be a race to the bottom to add in more to our own value chain. We're too used to selling off raw resources. 

What these should have taught us is companies will always be racing to the bottom to drive up profits and stock prices. 

[Bob Long]

2 minutes ago, 24K said:

 drive up profits and stock prices. 

 

whats wrong with that? I assume you want to have a pension. 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Bob Long

[24K]

26 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

whats wrong with that? I assume you want to have a pension. 

Lol I am pretty sure I won't ever gonna get a pension or social security. 

 

But that was not the point. The point is companies ain't gonna come back to NA for manufacturing just because it would be good for the country. 

 

The cost of labor alone out prices cost of import and export of raw materials and the involved shipping and cutting through of regulations. 

[JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo]

I thought amazon was supposed to introduce the option to ship things in their retail packaging as opposed to an additional box that's often twice the size of the actual product, sometimes bigger. My recycling bin is way too full these days. 

[Boudrias]

46 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

I think we know that they will do that. 

More the question is will it be true? It isn't like the status quo is working. How about we force politicians to talk straight. When you have no moral qualms about misinformation (lying), then it is a free for all. A couple of weeks ago there was a story of a town administrator collecting $226,000 per year + expenses (unknown). This person was paying family members another $65,000 per year on service contracts. My fear is the level of corruption that probably exists in government and industry. 

[The Arrogant Worms]

I refuse to use Amazon as Bezos has enough money and the employees get treated like shit.  I only use Walmart for toilet paper and paper towels.

 

I certainly understand why people use them though because of money being tight.

 

I went to Woodgrove Mall the other day and it was packed......same as Canadian Tire and Rona.

 

Restaurants are all packed also.  Bayview Brewery in Ladysmith is full from about noon til 7pm.

 

My son is off today and went shopping and said it was a gong show everywhere in Victoria.

[Bob Long]

27 minutes ago, 24K said:

Lol I am pretty sure I won't ever gonna get a pension or social security. 

 

But that was not the point. The point is companies ain't gonna come back to NA for manufacturing just because it would be good for the country. 

 

The cost of labor alone out prices cost of import and export of raw materials and the involved shipping and cutting through of regulations. 

 

I work in medical device manufacturing and can tell you that you are not correct on this for many high tech areas.

[24K]

18 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

I work in medical device manufacturing and can tell you that you are not correct on this for many high tech areas.

For small level production like medical devices it is another equation as you won’t be able to take advantage of economic of scale woth offshoring.

 

High tech also as low cost area lack the expertise needed but that is changing with the amount of engineers China and India pump out. 

 

You gonna need a heck ton of small run products to have a meaningful boom in manufacturing in NA.