Canadian Politics Thread

[RupertKBD]

20 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

What is it that his friend deserves beyond what was offered? We're all some kind of statistic that some care about and others don't. Why is his friend deserving of special treatment?

 

TBH, I think the more pertinent question is whether this "friend" actually exists....

 

In my 20 years between here and CDC, I've never seen anyone with so many friends and acquaintances, who's experiences so often back up up their argument....

[Kootenay Gold]

44 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

Alf is just riffing on this well used meme:

 

 

It's part of his usual schtick....

The dude in the photo could use the very thing he is telling everyone else to get lol.

[JoeyJoeJoeJr. Shabadoo]

26 minutes ago, Kootenay Gold said:

The dude in the photo could use the very thing he is telling everyone else to get lol.

It's like raaayyyeeeeaaaain

[Coconuts]

On 4/8/2024 at 9:04 AM, 4petesake said:

 

On the nose.

 

 

 

Yup, things are shifting and they're going to continue to rapidly shift. The strain on existing resources, resources that have gradually been whittled away at, will increase. The need for health and social service professionals will increase, the need for folks to step in and fill the holes left by an aging workforce will increase. Factor in the fact that birth rates have been declining for a long while now and it's a complex issue. One could speak to the threat of privatization as well. 

 

On 4/8/2024 at 9:23 AM, Sapper said:

Also to add 

 

The majority of the first wave retiring without work pensions do have their own homes and most are likely fully paid off

 

Those seniors are selling their homes and moving Into rentals so they can live off that money ( this is also squeezing the rental

 Market ). In about 10.years we will start seeing the majority retiring without ever owning a home so no house equity to bank on

 

Stats Canada has been reporting that we passed critical mass a few years ago and stopped leaving our kids better off then what we had ... For the first time in our history.

 

This is decades In the making so can't be blamed solely on he current or former Harper government alone. It's been in this path since trudeau senior and Mulroney.

 

Seniors are having to live off their life's earnings and that lives little to no inheritance to pass on.  This in my view is the 2 biggest issues bringing havoc to our economy....... Poverty in retirement due to no work pensions or benefits and the next generation not getting the same level of nest egg passed on to start their lives 

 

Now it's not universal as some families are maintaining this and some are leaving even more as we have record numbers of millionaire and billionaires 

 

And that's a terrifying reality for many. I did an interview with one of my classmates the other day for my older adults, aging, and society class, one of the things that came up was their speaking about retirement aging being roughly 15 years away and their fears regarding what that'll look like economically, and in terms of the level of care they'll receive as well as what they'll be able to do physically. Given the current state of things I can see why they'd worry. They don't have kids, they're the primary caretaker for their mother, and all their siblings live out east. This person is in their early 50's. 

 

There's a lot that middle aged folks, the young old, and the old old are afraid of. It's not uncommon for them to be marginalized by care systems despite them being the ones who predominantly use them, and it's not uncommon for them to be viewed as lesser, invalid, or invisible by society. It's tricky, the boomer generation is collectively the wealthiest generation but that doesn't apply to everyone, a lot of folks will have to claw to survive as they get older. 

 

Intergenerational angst and wars exist, and frustrations on all sides can be valid, but while it's likely disputed it's has been reported that younger generations are worse off than their parents nowadays, as you've said. Wage stagnation, less attainable home ownership, and high education costs and student dept are examples of this. 

 

This is likely true for many seniors, having to live off of what may have once been an inheritance for their children, but it's also an unprecedented thing to a degree I'd imagine, folks have been living longer and longer and that's a unique reality for the past few generations. It makes things tougher for both aging parents and their children in a way likely didn't used to be as common. Don't get me wrong, I'd rather not see my parents suffer economically as they age and most children would probably say the same, but I also know that an inheritance is probably the one way one of my siblings will ever be able to afford a home. It's probably the case for many other grown children too. 

 

The other wrinkle to that is whether Canada's existing services are shifting to accommodate folks living longer, particularly in regards to older adults who need long-term care of some sort whether that's a care facility, a retirement home, or something else. Most folks would prefer to age at home, and these facilities are expensive, even on the lower end. It doesn't help that Canada's social safety net has seemingly been cut at for years and years, is Canada ready for the reality of it's aging population? Ready to adequately provide services and supports that aren't cookie cutter in nature? Cookie cutter won't work for immigrants who haven't had the tenure to build up for retirement, for those without immediate family support, for those with transnational caring relationships, and so on. They won't necessarily work effectively for those of different cultures (ethnic, gender identity, disability, and so on) either if services are designed with a majority in mind.

 

The growing gulf between the haves and haves not and neoliberalism certainly don't help either. 

Edited April 10 by Coconuts

[The Arrogant Worms]

Grocery inflation to fall below two per cent this spring, report predicts

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/grocery-inflation-to-fall-below-two-per-cent-this-spring-report-predicts-1.6841393

[Elias Pettersson]

2 hours ago, 112 said:

 

While I agree with you entirely in principle, I think EP is just saying that the benefits and recourse the government implemented fell short of saving his friend's business. Obviously a pandemic is something nobody could have controlled or prevented, but it's unfortunate that not enough was done to save many people's livelihoods. I don't think the appropriate response to someone experiencing such a situation and loss is to puff up what was done in measures to help; if there's one small operation for which the monies available in aid wasn't enough to cover the overhead, then I think it's proper to criticize the pandemic response. Overall I do think the government handled the event well, but obviously it wasn't enough for some people, and it doesn't make sense to deny them that.

Thank you for your response. You are bang on. Calling someone whose life has been ruined an unfortunate circumstance is pretty callous. I’m sure if the shoe was on the other foot he wouldn’t be talking this way. 
 

It’s great that we saved a lot of people during the pandemic, but it’s pretty cold simply to forget the ones who suffered the most. 
 

Things could have definitively been done better by all of our governments. Giving them a free pass to say they did everything correctly is just wrong. Maybe more money should have been given to small business owners versus giving CERB money to people living at home. There were people who literally quit their jobs because the CERB payments were higher than their wages. 
 

For all of the money that was printed during the pandemic, why not give more to the small business owners who needed it the most?  
 

That’s all I was really saying. Also, I didn’t even mention all of the people who suffered with their mental health. Doesn’t seem like much was done to help these people either. 

[Bob Long]

2 hours ago, 112 said:

I just think the benefits should have generally been about what's equitable rather than what's equal. Unless EP's friend was making massive mistakes in regards to the funds he received, then what he did receive wasn't enough for him to retain his restaurant. I guess my opinion is that it's not so much about special treatment for him as it is individual, case-by-case treatment at macro--which, however, obviously wasn't plausible when the idea was to get the money out as quickly as possible.

 

thats a good ideal to aspire to, and I'd say given things like the extended forgiveness on loans e.g., the government did try to make up for that need to get the money to fast without micro management, and even that decision NOT to micromanage should have made it easier on businesses since they didn't have any barriers to get the money.

 

As far as EPs friend goes, we have no idea about him. Maybe his restaurant was crap, maybe he was a poor manager, maybe he was just unlucky. But, luckily for him he's in Canada, with our awesome safety net and bankruptcy protection laws. If you're going to fail, this is a great country to do it in.

 

My question would be what kind of person was EPs buddy. Was he the kind that would have voted against things like our safety net that he may now be relying on?

 

Edited April 10 by Bob Long

[Bob Long]

1 hour ago, RupertKBD said:

 

TBH, I think the more pertinent question is whether this "friend" actually exists....

 

In my 20 years between here and CDC, I've never seen anyone with so many friends and acquaintances, who's experiences so often back up up their argument....

 

if his friend was a social con like EP, I'd have zero sympathy for him. I'd call it karma, if I were religious. 

[RupertKBD]

3 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

if his friend was a social con like EP, I'd have zero sympathy for him. I'd call it karma, if I were religious. 

 

I generally have zero sympathy for imaginary friends anyway....

[Bob Long]

1 minute ago, RupertKBD said:

 

I generally have zero sympathy for imaginary friends anyway....

 

mine do my work for me and I get to bill them as employees. 

 

I have sympathy in general for people negatively effected by the pandemic, which was almost everyone. As far as specific people go? dunno, tell me EPs friends story and what he supported.

 

[Gurn]

People are aware that restaurants are horribly unsuccessful, in general, right?

As my BFF, a cook for 40 years, and chef for 25 plus says-- 90% of restaurants die in their first year- and 90% of the survivors are dead by the end of year 2.

[Bob Long]

2 minutes ago, Gurn said:

People are aware that restaurants are horribly unsuccessful, in general, right?

As my BFF, a cook for 40 years, and chef for 25 plus says-- 90% of restaurants die in their first year- and 90% of the survivors are dead by the end of year 2.

 

Holy shit, Trudeau has been busier than I thought. 

[Chicken.]

6 minutes ago, Gurn said:

People are aware that restaurants are horribly unsuccessful, in general, right?

As my BFF, a cook for 40 years, and chef for 25 plus says-- 90% of restaurants die in their first year- and 90% of the survivors are dead by the end of year 2.

Definitely a tough space. Costs of doing business have gone through the roof.

More than half of Canadian restaurants are losing money
 

https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7018755

 

[Gurn]

12 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

 

Holy shit, Trudeau has been busier than I thought. 

Guy does a lot, for a dude many people think of as nothing more than "a nice head of hair'

[The Arrogant Worms]

16 minutes ago, Gurn said:

People are aware that restaurants are horribly unsuccessful, in general, right?

As my BFF, a cook for 40 years, and chef for 25 plus says-- 90% of restaurants die in their first year- and 90% of the survivors are dead by the end of year 2.

Especially in the bigger cities where rents are astronomical. 

[The Arrogant Worms]

[The Arrogant Worms]

[Bob Long]

@Master Mind if you want to join the discussion, please do so, but your little confusey face spamming is kind of lame. You usually have good things to contribute. 

[Sapper]

5 hours ago, Warhippy said:

Fuck this guy.....seriously.  What a turd

 

Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is asking MPs to compel Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to sit down with the premiers to discuss the federal carbon tax at a first ministers' meeting.

Poilievre tabled a motion in the House of Commons that demands Trudeau "convene a carbon tax emergency meeting" with Canada's 13 provincial and territorial leaders to address the "ongoing carbon tax crisis and the financial burden it places on Canadians."

It also asks that Trudeau accept "plans for provinces to opt-out of the federal carbon tax to pursue other responsible ideas to lower emissions" — an ongoing request of some premiers who maintain they can fight climate change in their jurisdictions through measures other than a tax.

Trudeau has so far rebuffed calls to meet with the premiers on the issue.

 

Last week, in an interview with CBC Radio's The Current, Trudeau said he met with the premiers in 2016 and a pan-Canadian climate change plan was agreed to then. The plan included a price of carbon designed to drive down the country's emissions.

He repeated that line in question period Tuesday, saying the provinces agreed to go ahead with a carbon pricing regime eight years ago.

The Conservatives countered by pointing out that Trudeau is the only leader from that long-ago meeting still in power.

"Pokémon Go, dabbing, Harambe — that's what was popular in 2016," Conservative deputy leader Melissa Lantsman said.

On air if I was Trudeau I'd call PP on his lies and demand before the cameras he answer in clear English ... Or french

 

PP has told everyone that axing the tax will reduce costs on everything 

 

Fair enough ... To be a true statement there will need to be a legal mechanism put in place that by order of law requires all levels in the supply chains to lower their prices.by the full amount saved by axing the tax. Without that it's unicorns and ferry tails and customers won't save a penny at the store 

 

SO either PP is outright lying to everyone or he has a plan to legislate a full head on communist price control legislation on business ( that may not be a bad thing lol )

 

So if I was Trudeau I'd ask him is he lying or is he planning a price control legislation to force by law the savings ?

 

Time to call this bullshit out .... PP knows axing the tax will not result in any real savings and he would never dare price control legislation 

 

He has no plan ... He is simply selling unicorns based on feeding into hate  

[Master Mind]

24 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

@Master Mind if you want to join the discussion, please do so, but your little confusey face spamming is kind of lame. You usually have good things to contribute. 

 

I thought the posts I reacted to were in poor taste, such as basing sympathy on someone's political beliefs.

 

It's also painful to read people question whether Petey knows these people, as if someone can't have a diverse group of people they engage with. Similarly with being dismissive over someone losing their business. While a lot of things were done right, there are valid gripes to be had by some, including some policies that didn't make sense even back then.

 

Poor arguments used so commonly here that I'm not always eager to join in.

[The Arrogant Worms]

6 minutes ago, Master Mind said:

 

I thought the posts I reacted to were in poor taste, such as basing sympathy on someone's political beliefs.

 

It's also painful to read people question whether Petey knows these people, as if someone can't have a diverse group of people they engage with. Similarly with being dismissive over someone losing their business. While a lot of things were done right, there are valid gripes to be had by some, including some policies that didn't make sense even back then.

 

Poor arguments used so commonly here that I'm not always eager to join in.

No one is dismissive over someone losing their business.  Petey complains we printed to much money to help people in need....but not enough to help his friend.

[Bob Long]

10 minutes ago, Master Mind said:

 

I thought the posts I reacted to were in poor taste, such as basing sympathy on someone's political beliefs.

 

well, thats how many felt when people decided to do things like not wear masks. The right wing decided to follow Trump and politicize covid, and many Canadians followed suit. 

 

10 minutes ago, Master Mind said:

It's also painful to read people question whether Petey knows these people, as if someone can't have a diverse group of people they engage with. Similarly with being dismissive over someone losing their business. While a lot of things were done right, there are valid gripes to be had by some, including some policies that didn't make sense even back then.

 

Poor arguments used so commonly here that I'm not always eager to join in.

 

but you are joining in, you know that emoji is designed to make a statement and its also used very often in poor taste.

 

I don't care if his story is true or not, its more the attempt to try to gain sympathy for a certain side of the political spectrum with a false narrative. If the Trudeau government didn't care about businesses, they never would have tried to bring in programs to help them in the first place. 

 

 

and its not really about politics per se @Master Mind.  If someone chooses to support "freedom" and not government programs, I wouldn't have a lot of sympathy for them if they lost their business due to covid, as they did nothing to try to help. Before I can decide if I care about Petey's friend or not, I'd like to know that info about him.

 

 

 

Edited April 10 by Bob Long

[King Heffy]

Just now, The Arrogant Worms said:

No one is dismissive over someone losing their business.  Petey complains we printed to much money to help people in need....but not enough to help his friend.

The way I see it, he seems to expect change from a free lunch.

[RupertKBD]

49 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

@Master Mind if you want to join the discussion, please do so, but your little confusey face spamming is kind of lame. You usually have good things to contribute. 

 

He does?

[Bob Long]

Just now, RupertKBD said:

 

He does?

 

I think so, yes.