BC Political Discussion: Election 2024 & 43rd Parliament

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Not a bad way to put it.

When is the last time somebody championed the rights of victims?

Just like how opposing rent controls makes it look like you're siding with landlords over tenants, are you really going to take the side of business owners and well-to-do downtown residents over Vancouver's poorest residents?

[manny_santos]

Originally Posted by mezzanine

Thoughts on the debate:

-Surprised how dated the "people thinking of wanting to leave BC" line was. That was an issue 10-15 years ago. The vibe is now people wanting to stay, a similar, but way different sentiment and IMO more resonant

-Surprised, but not surprised, about the overall mendacity of the BC Cons. No costed platform? Still talking about Bonnie Henry? I get it - the pandemic took a lot out of us, but no one wants to really go back and rip off the bandaid spare for a few diehards. (paraphrasing Eby "i dont want to fire Bonnie Henry, I want to find more family doctors")

-A big drawback for the cons to get the libs/united to quit is for the Greens and NDP to connect them to the Christy Clark BC liberals. I suspect the NDP will get a lot of milage if they keep connecting rustad to the previous liberal govt ("hockey bags full of cash" )

I've voted for all sides of the spectrum, but the I really do think that the BC cons are a facebook page that somehow became a party

I was not impressed with Rustad in the debate. I was hoping he would provide something concrete that would make me want to vote for him, but he had nothing of substance, not even a costed platform. He is the dullest political candidate I've ever seen in this country - and that's taking Stephen Harper into account.

He comes across as a very dull, milquetoast version of Mike Harris, Ontario's premier from 1995-2002.

[Migrant_Coconut]

And both rent control and safe supply are supposed to be temporary stopgaps waiting for a permanent solution that's constantly "in progress." At least the housing market seems to be cooling off.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

And both rent control and safe supply are supposed to be temporary stopgaps waiting for a permanent solution that's constantly "in progress." At least the housing market seems to be cooling off.

I don't think you believe this, or if you do then you're painfully wrong. On a basic level, people like it when rent doesn't go up, and people like it when people don't die. Obviously if rents keep going up then there isn't enough rent control and if people keep ODing then the supply isn't safe enough!

I don't honestly believe there's ever a world where the BCNDP go, "Okay rent is cheap enough now, rent control is over!"

[seamusmcduff]

Rustad refused to answer almost any questions, instead pivoting to vague anecdotes about the topic. At least one of them is dubious at best, and I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case for most of them. Apparently VPD and EHS could not confirm that there was an OD death last night like he had claimed to witness:

https://www.nsnews.com/economy-law-polit...h-to-stall-surging-conservatives-9634510

One of his last stories was especially strange, where he claimed an indigenous woman gave him a gift and then thanked him for all he'd done for the community, instead of actually saying what he's done for them. He then compared the relationship between FN and the province as that of parent and child, which is a pretty 1960s way of thinking.

I suspect his team told him to focus on anecdotes and stories to draw attention from their lack of solutions. It's pretty telling that anecdotes are more important to him than actual statistics and research results into what works and what doesn't. He also has a lot of complaints, but not a lot of solutions, and as Eby pointed out, when he does have a solution, he pivots back and forth on it depending on the audience (are they going to provide safe supply and supportive housing or not?).

The cringiest moment for me was him describing a meme with someone snorting cocaine with a plastic straw and the caption being "only one of these is legal". Are we really bringing memes into debates and policy decisions?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I don't think you believe this, or if you do then you're painfully wrong. On a basic level, people like it when rent doesn't go up, and people like it when people don't die. Obviously if rents keep going up then there isn't enough rent control and if people keep ODing then the supply isn't safe enough!

I don't honestly believe there's ever a world where the BCNDP go, "Okay rent is cheap enough now, rent control is over!"

The only rent freeze extension in BC's recent history was for one year, and they had to use emergency lockdown measures to do so. Literally no provincial party is campaigning on permanent controls - even COPE stops at four years.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Just like how opposing rent controls makes it look like you're siding with landlords over tenants, are you really going to take the side of business owners and well-to-do downtown residents over Vancouver's poorest residents?

I think it's inaccurate to paint those people as the biggest victims. The biggest victims are the poor neighbours and members of the community that get victimized by these career criminals and have to live in close proximity to their antics.

Yaletown condo dwellers can afford security to kick these people off their property, and staff to clean up the mess they leave behind.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The only rent freeze extension in BC's recent history was for one year, and they had to use emergency lockdown measures to do so. Literally no provincial party is campaigning on permanent controls - even COPE stops at four years.

Rental increase limits have been below inflation for many years now, with no sign of catching up.

[Bcasey25raptor]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

Make your own Election 2024 map!

https://canadianpolling.ca/diy/bc

I would love to see people's predictions. This is mine. It is based entirely off vibes and the last two provincial elections. I do not have an encylopedic knowledge of every riding. The two independent ridings are toss ups imo. I think there is a slight chance Eby could lose his riding but win the election.

Hard to say 13 days out, since the debate could have a huge impact.

I have the NDP at 53 seats rn

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

I think it's inaccurate to paint those people as the biggest victims. The biggest victims are the poor neighbours and members of the community that get victimized by these career criminals and have to live in close proximity to their antics.

Yaletown condo dwellers can afford security to kick these people off their property, and staff to clean up the mess they leave behind.

I'm not saying you're wrong, but that's definitely the narrative right now. Rich Yaletowners being "inconvenienced" by the poor.

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Rental increase limits have been below inflation for many years now, with no sign of catching up.

Not to mention that we've had some form of rent control in BC since the 70s. Was there some housing crisis that needed to be temporarily handled back then? Cue, "But it wasn't reeeaaal rent control."

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by chowhou

I'm not saying you're wrong, but that's definitely the narrative right now. Rich Yaletowners being "inconvenienced" by the poor.



Not to mention that we've had some form of rent control in BC since the 70s. Was there some housing crisis that needed to be temporarily handled back then? Cue, "But it wasn't reeeaaal rent control."

The previous rent control scheme of "CPI + 2%" maximum increase was more than fair to everybody, and allowed landlords to increase rents while avoiding tenant abuse.

[Migrant_Coconut]

The point being that neither rent control nor safe supply were ever meant to solve their respective crises on their own.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The point being that neither rent control nor safe supply were ever meant to solve their respective crises on their own.

Alternatively, when they are applied alone with no other solutions, they only exacerbate the problem.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

The point being that neither rent control nor safe supply were ever meant to solve their respective crises on their own.

Again, was there some 1970s housing crisis that rent control was supposed to temporarily alleviate? The point I made is that rent control was never intended to be temporary, and currently is not intended to be temporary. There is no world right now where the BCNDP looks at the rental market and goes, "We are happy with rents increasing at a market rate now." Even if market rents suddenly freeze forever, I'm sure they would just say, "Why remove rent control? Rents are stable now, so landlords don't need to raise rents anyway!"

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Again, was there some 1970s housing crisis that rent control was supposed to temporarily alleviate?

And I wasn't talking about that one at all. Like safe supply, the recent provincial rent fixes weren't conceived as a silver bullet, nor are they likely to be kept long-term.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

And I wasn't talking about that one at all. Like safe supply, the recent provincial rent fixes weren't conceived as a silver bullet, nor are they likely to be kept long-term.

I am. I actually did a little bit of reading, and the 1970s rent control legislation was introduced by the BCNDP in response to the record 1970s inflation rates. Then inflation was brought under control. Was rent control removed? Was there a housing crisis? No, but the sacred cow was born.

The current arbitrary rent control amount wasn't even changed from CPI+2% for any particular reason. The NDP got elected and strengthened rent control. That's the story there.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by chowhou

The current arbitrary rent control amount wasn't even changed from CPI+2% for any particular reason. The NDP got elected and strengthened rent control. That's the story there.

Okay. So you're saying their lockdown freeze is likely to resume years after the lockdown (and said freeze) ended?

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Okay. So you're saying their lockdown freeze is likely to resume years after the lockdown (and said freeze) ended?

The current paradigm of sub-inflation increases has remained post-COVID, so yeah I guess so huh? Bear in mind that economically a 0% raise when inflation is 2% is equivalent to a 5% raise when inflation is 8%. Both are a real-reduction of 2%. Last year's was only 3.5% with 8% CPI increase, which is a real reduction of 4%... At least this year's is 3% on 3.5% CPI which is only a 0.5% reduction.

[Bcasey25raptor]

NDP will win because BC isn't Alberta

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Bcasey25raptor

NDP will win because BC isn't Alberta

I think you grossly underestimate how much of BC is Alberta. Half of BC lives in Metro Vancouver, but the other half doesn't. Going down Hwy 1, once you hit Abbotsford it's all pretty much Alberta until you hit Winnipeg.