Federal Government & Politics II

[MolsonExport]

Compared to the disaster that is Canada, things are great down in the United States. If only our provincial capitals would be as vibrant as those in the booming sunbelt. Yep, those Americans have figured things out, whereas Canada is a country in terminal decline.

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[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by shreddog

Reagan once told this joke ...
In JT's new Canada, parents may have to start reserving a day care spot right after the honeymoon!

Pretty much the case now. Seriously.

And bad as daycare is, after school care is somehow worse. My kid is in Grade 1. Still doesn't have a spot at the daycare attached to the school. Had to rely on a charity (Boys and Girls club) to cover a 1 hr gap between end of school and my wife finishing work. Honestly, I would pay higher taxes to just have daycare built into the school system. There should be one place to drop the kids off from age 2 to age 10 from 8am to 6pm.

[Innsertnamehere]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Another discussion was interesting. Peter Mansbridge had a panel on over the weekend. They raised the point about the Liberals and NDP merging. They pointed at the Durham byelection and pointed out that it was a similar byelection in the early 2000s that convinced Harper and Mackay to merge.

NDP would never allow it as the left wing of the party would want nothing to do with the centrist policies which the party would have to field to get the support of the vast majority of liberal voters.

Much like how the Conservatives quietly court far-right members within their party, the NDP do the same on the opposite side of the political spectrum. And that wing would never allow a merge.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

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Ça ne fonctionne pas, monsieur.

[Build.It]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Compared to the disaster that is Canada, things are great down in the United States. If only our provincial capitals would be as vibrant as those in the booming sunbelt. Yep, those Americans have figured things out, whereas Canada is a country in terminal decline.

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The US allows poor people to put roofs over their heads. It's not gonna look nice, but it's better than a tent, which you don't tend to find in Southern cities.

And you realize that Nick Johnson is a conservative right?

[MolsonExport]

Originally Posted by Build.It

And you realize that Nick Johnson is a conservative right?

yes, which should make his video journalism all the more credible to other conservatives, right?

I've been to the deep South many times. As well as the worst parts of the Rustbelt in the Midwest and Northeast. The poverty is absolutely grinding; much deeper and on a far wider scale than just about anywhere in Canada (aside, perhaps from some of the First Nations reservations, and maybe North Winnipeg).

[niwell]

While I haven't been to these cities, a cursory google search shows that there are big homeless encampments in Phoenix, Las Vegas and Atlanta at the very least. Apparently there are over 9,000 homeless in Maricopa County, about 5,000 of which are unsheltered. I am more familiar with New Orleans having been multiple times, and you can find tents everywhere - the homelessness issue and general poverty there is extremely acute and still makes anything here pale in comparison.

Not trying to sugarcoat the situation in Canada which is continually getting worse, but some perspective helps.

[Build.It]

You are correct, let me clarify - tent cities which you don't tend to find as much as in in the more liberal cities such as San Francisco, LA and Portland.

Homesless people exist everywhere.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Compared to the disaster that is Canada, things are great down in the United States. If only our provincial capitals would be as vibrant as those in the booming sunbelt. Yep, those Americans have figured things out, whereas Canada is a country in terminal decline.

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I'm goin' to Jackson, I'm gonna mess around
Yeah, I'm goin' to Jackson, look out Jackson town

[Acajack]

For people frustrated with the subsidized daycare system in the ROC, I'd caution against throwing out the baby with the bath water.

The Quebec system had similar growing pains when it was created, and there are still some access issues with it today.

It's still been an extremely worthwhile endeavour for Quebec society.

Don't let the keep-em-barefoot-and-pregnant social conservatives trick you into scrapping it!

[Build.It]

$10 daycare is the only reason I voted LPC in 2021. As long as private daycare is still allowed to exist it should end up being okay.

[niwell]

I know it varies considerably by location but my friends with young children in Toronto have benefitted greatly from the daycare program. To the point where it's been close to a decision point between staying in Toronto or moving somewhere more affordable.

[Truenorth00]

It's great if you can get it. But if you can't, it actually screws you over even more than before.

[Innsertnamehere]

My understanding is that access to $10/daycare varies massively by location. In Hamilton I've heard stories that downtown it's basically impossible to get, but out in the suburban areas its a lot easier. Still long wait lists but wait lists that are short enough you will get your kid in a program if you put them on the lists when they are born and assuming you have a 1-1.5 year mat leave.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

It's great if you can get it. But if you can't, it actually screws you over even more than before.

Not sure if it's happening in Ontario or the ROC just yet, but in Quebec the flooding of the daycare market with 5 dollar a day (at the time) spots had a depressing effect on private daycare fees.

Quebec's system was also set up to not kill the privates off completely. So you had very good full refundable tax breaks if you used a private daycare provider. Coupled with a federal tax break (at least at the time) it was OK for a lot of people to remain with their private daycare provider. A bit more expensive maybe, but not so much that most people already committed would switch.

This took some of the pressure of the public subsidized system in its early days.

We used the tax breaks to have a private stay-at-home nanny for the first years when our kids were youngest. They eventually switched over to a pre-school that was 5 dollars a day.

As for after-school daycare access problems in Ontario, that's news to me as every elementary school in Quebec has a before and after school daycare in the building, and all kids registered in the school are guaranteed a spot. They are also open on many stat holidays and during March Break when there is no class.

[1overcosc]

The problem with the $10 daycare program is that for ideological reasons they forced provinces to shut private daycares out of the system and restricted the vast majority of the included spots to be public daycare centres only.

My preferred option would be to keep the program but give provinces greater latitude to allow private operators to deliver subsidized spots.

And as Acajack pointed out, the Quebec system succeeded because there's generous tax credits for parents who choose other options outside the government daycare system, so that there isn't a huge financial penalty for parents who choose to use non-government daycare.

The failure of the Trudeau program to include either of these things, out of an ideological obsession with the public sector, is the root cause of why it's failing so hard.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

The problem with the $10 daycare program is that for ideological reasons they forced provinces to shut private daycares out of the system and restricted the vast majority of the included spots to be public daycare centres only.

My preferred option would be to keep the program but give provinces greater latitude to allow private operators to deliver subsidized spots.

And as Acajack pointed out, the Quebec system succeeded because there's generous tax credits for parents who choose other options outside the government daycare system, so that there isn't a huge financial penalty for parents who choose to use non-government daycare.

The failure of the Trudeau program to include either of these things, out of an ideological obsession with the public sector, is the root cause of why it's failing so hard.

What Quebec did in addition to funding and building a ton of CPEs (centre de la petite enfance) which are the public daycare centres (run by a board of parents though) is that they created a clear path for home daycare providers to join the 5 dollar a day system. They were required to comply with a bunch of stuff like nutrition, first aid, etc. and many chose to do so.

Of course, there were a number who were getting paid cash and not declaring so some of them were not too keen on having to declare the income if they joined the public system. But as I mentioned before the public system pushed down average private daycare fees in Quebec, so their clients were likely pressuring them on costs too. At one point it's no longer worth it.

[someone123]

Originally Posted by P'tit Renard

Team Justin also realizes what a catastrophic property bubble they have created especially after COVID, and they're trying to keep the bubble inflated as much as they can before they punt the balloon to the conservatives. When this mother of all bubbles does pop, all the Caspers and their boomer landlord pals will be storming the country with pitchforks that will make the convoy look tame in comparison, and the Liberals don't want to be blamed for the bubble popping.

As a random citizen and voter I don't actually mind these political hot potato games much and I'm not sure it matters when the explosion happens. Maybe I'm wrong but I get the impression this Liberal government is so old and unpopular that there has to be some internal remaking of the party as a result, and I'm not in love with the Cons either so don't mind if PP gets elected and then quickly booted out.

I tend to think there will be some housing correction at some point as interest rates remain elevated and there seems to be a lot of strain around immigration. But you never know.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Build.It

Dental Care and Pharmacare is gigantic waste of money as well.

Why? We shouldn't fund dental care for kids who can't afford it?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Build.It

Capital gains tax in Canada is very low, not just on housing (obviously it's zero for principal residence, but even for rentals it's very low), but also for businesses.

If you sell a business in Canada, that meets certain "Canadian" requirements, the first ~$800K of capital gains is tax-free.

And the capital gains tax after that only works out to 15% I believe.

Corporate tax rate in Ontario is also very low - also works out to 15%.

I'm actually quite surprised that these low rates have survived the current government.

Corporations are undertaxed.