Federal Government & Politics II

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Mean testing OAS won't save much. Unless you bring the threshold really low. The bulk of those getting OAS now are way way below current thresholds.

Which starts at $86,912 with full claw back at $134K.

I definitely think that there is some room to move there.

[shreddog]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Eventually the increase in CPP will see the OAS phased out.

First I have heard of this .... do you have a link somewhere?

[YOWetal]

Originally Posted by shreddog

First I have heard of this .... do you have a link somewhere?

No it's not planned but current OAS rates eventually collapse the whole budget and conveniently higher CPP rates will start to kick in. It of course would have been hard to sell increaed CPP rates without a carrot.

The max CPP is around $1400. Max OAS is around $700. The new max CPP enhancement increases the max by 50% so at current rates exactly $700. Of course that is phased in so 35 years away to maximum. But hell of a coincidence they end up with just about the same payout.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

I disagree. PP is going to have a massive majority to work with and I don't think he will have a problem taking on some "sacred cows" like First Nations funding.

It's always the Chiefs who refuse to make changes in the current funding formulas because they are the primary beneficiaries and allows them to run "their" reserves like Feudal landlords. Canadians are tired of throwing good money after bad at Native causes with nothing to show for it. Currently we treat Natives in a highly paternalistic way.........here is your money, now go away. I think PP feels the same way about Natives as most Canadians. He recognizes the issues the communities have but throwing money at them like kids at a candy shop does nothing. He, like many, feel it's time to start treating Natives like adults with the benefits and responsibilities that come with it.

If he become PM then PP will have a very difficult time with many First Nations but you can't portray First Nations as all or even many as being similar. There are so many variations and differences in conditions and their management.

I'm pretty sure that PP knows that new resource projects can't happen unless Indigenous consultation and involvement is included so the last thing he will want to do is anger Indigenous peoples and First Nations.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Originally I mean newcomers. I was agreeing that migrant means anybody who has moved which is also very common. A lot of the homeless population in Vancouver was not born in Vancouver. They come from across the province and indeed the country. But for the most part that is irrelevant other than the fact that Canada's cities have to deal with the addiction and mental health issues that small town Canada does not. They claim it's because they take care of their own which is true to some extent but when the 30 year old addict or mentally ill resident of Timmins mom dies and can't pay the rent anymore they often move to a city.

Timmins is a city and a regional centre. And unfortunately we have a large homeless population with a lot of addicts. We attract a lot of people from the region and from larger cities throughout the province. On a per capita basis we are probably one of the worst in Ontario for homelessness and opioid addiction.

[Truenorth00]

This is where federal spending went in the 2023/2024 budget. There aren't actually many places that can be cut straight up. Transfers to provinces are tough to cut. Operating expenses and Elderly Benefits are the two largest items by far. Behind those CCB and EI. Maybe "other transfer payments" can be cut too. I assume these are things like transit funding. If the $40B comes out of just those items, it implies a 12% cut to each. Keep the cuts to just Elderly Benefits, Operating Expenses and other transfers and it's about 17% across the board to balance the budget. Of course the cuts won't (and shouldn't be) evenly distributed.

https://hillnotes.ca/2023/04/06/the-...t-at-a-glance/

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by YOWetal

Eventually the increase in CPP will see the OAS phased out. They will mostly get similar pensions but will just pay for it. As well as pay taxes for those getting it over the next 25 years too.

None of that is happening in any time period that is relevant to solving current budget problems. You're talking about something that could happen in the 2040s or beyond. The budget has to be balanced long before that.

Originally Posted by YOWetal

De indexing is the third rail. Mulroney backed down and he was fine with ripping up rail lines, closing post offices and taking away the baby bonus from the middle class.

Politicians in the 80s had rail lines to rip up and post offices to close. Today's governments have far fewer of those. So they will have to make difficult choices.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Politicians in the 80s had rail lines to rip up and post offices to close. Today's governments have far fewer of those. So they will have to make difficult choices.

There have been tens of billions in new spending under Trudeau. Some of it is inflation and some of it (such as OAS and health transfers) automatically increases, but the vast majority of the spending increases have been for new programs that Canadians got along without for decades. Doing nothing else but returning staffing and programs to inflation-adjusted 2015 levels could solve a big chunk of the fiscal problems. Means testing OAS could solve the rest.

Trudeauism was a giant social experiment that massive deficit spending while still coddling the affluent could improve Canada. The social experiment failed.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Loco101

If he become PM then PP will have a very difficult time with many First Nations but you can't portray First Nations as all or even many as being similar. There are so many variations and differences in conditions and their management.

I'm pretty sure that PP knows that new resource projects can't happen unless Indigenous consultation and involvement is included so the last thing he will want to do is anger Indigenous peoples and First Nations.

Why are we giving one small segment of the Canadian population veto rights over prosperity for all of us?