New BC Political Discussion - POST BC Election 2017

[Tourist9394]

Only a Zionist type movement for the Chinese in British Columbia will protect Chinese Canadian immigrants on this land. Way too much forced assimilation from the colonials. Time to change the narrative.

[Migrant_Coconut]

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Tourist9394

Only a Zionist type movement for the Chinese in British Columbia will protect Chinese Canadian immigrants on this land. Way too much forced assimilation from the colonials. Time to change the narrative.

You are way too blunt on your trolling.

Dont worry, with a few more years practice you will learn to be more subtle in your attempts.

[SFUVancouver]

Originally Posted by djmk

sure. And here is an article stating that 28,000 people over 3 decades ended up in Vancouver rather than in Quebec

https://globalnews.ca/news/3886743/quebec-immigrant-investor-program-vancouver/

28,000 people over 3 decades being absorbed into a metro region of over 2 million is not very many people

[...]

How many, I wonder, bought only a single dwelling? Anecdotal evidence over the years, primarily in newsmedia, paints the 'investor class' as prolific purchasers of dwellings, often purchasing multiple units in VIP presales.

Order of magnitude, the City of Vancouver has 300,000 residential dwelling units. If the 28,000+ Quebec investor class immigrants moved to Metro Vancouver accounted for the equivalent of one purchased dwelling per person, which lumps households with one dwelling for several people and property investors buying up scores of dwellings for themselves and on behalf of offshore family and investors, this accounts for something on the order of almost 10% of the dwellings in the largest city in the region. And that's just those who came via the Quebec investor program.

It's naive to think that collectively this hasn't created a significant market distortion.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by djmk

sure. And here is an article stating that 28,000 people over 3 decades ended up in Vancouver rather than in Quebec

https://globalnews.ca/news/3886743/quebec-immigrant-investor-program-vancouver/

28,000 people over 3 decades being absorbed into a metro region of over 2 million is not very many people

IMHO, i think one of the biggest stresses on housing over that time has been the kids of boomers leaving their parents home. And now senior citizen boomers getting a divorce (en masses if you believe the reports). that is a lot of housing needed

You mean 28,000 on top of the 130,000 people who used the federal program and also mostly moved to Vancouver (and to a lesser extent Toronto).

Between those two, that means that the program required a minimum networth of $252B dollars in 2014 Dollars for the migrants moving to Canada. I'd imagine of that, most ended up in Vancouver.

I'm sure adjusted the programs for inflation a couple times, but minimum net worth of $1.6M per applicant is a lot. BC on the other hand didn't get any of the interest free loans brought in by the program.

Lets just guess and say $100B of that networth ended up in the housing market of Vancouver. That's still a lot of money which could cause asset inflation. Since wages are less elastic than asset prices, the real wealth of working Vancouverites is now much less unless they were able to catch a windfall.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Tourist9394

Only a Zionist type movement for the Chinese in British Columbia will protect Chinese Canadian immigrants on this land. Way too much forced assimilation from the colonials. Time to change the narrative.

... Your trolling is pretty lacklustre.

A Zionist movement would mean that Chinese people here would move back to China to re-establish China (or presumably the RoC).

If you're going to butcher references to jewish culture, please at least look like you're trying to understand what you're saying. I'm not impressed.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

How many, I wonder, bought only a single dwelling? Anecdotal evidence over the years, primarily in newsmedia, paints the 'investor class' as prolific purchasers of dwellings, often purchasing multiple units in VIP presales.

Order of magnitude, the City of Vancouver has 300,000 residential dwelling units. If the 28,000+ Quebec investor class immigrants moved to Metro Vancouver accounted for the equivalent of one purchased dwelling per person, which lumps households with one dwelling for several people and property investors buying up scores of dwellings for themselves and on behalf of offshore family and investors, this accounts for something on the order of almost 10% of the dwellings in the largest city in the region. And that's just those who came via the Quebec investor program.

It's naive to think that collectively this hasn't created a significant market distortion.

Over 30 years, a good number of them would be now dead or even returned to their home countries. Or they have settled down and made proper roots in the city. Or they moved to Richmond.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

You mean 28,000 on top of the 130,000 people who used the federal program and also mostly moved to Vancouver (and to a lesser extent Toronto).

Between those two, that means that the program required a minimum networth of $252B dollars in 2014 Dollars for the migrants moving to Canada. I'd imagine of that, most ended up in Vancouver.

I'm sure adjusted the programs for inflation a couple times, but minimum net worth of $1.6M per applicant is a lot. BC on the other hand didn't get any of the interest free loans brought in by the program.

Lets just guess and say $100B of that networth ended up in the housing market of Vancouver. That's still a lot of money which could cause asset inflation. Since wages are less elastic than asset prices, the real wealth of working Vancouverites is now much less unless they were able to catch a windfall.

hey, I get what you are saying. And I agree with you that housing is completely messed up in this city; however, I'm not convinced it's entirely the fault of these investor immigrants.

I don't buy and sell businesses for a living, however, I often facilitate. You would not believe how many over inflated businesses there are/were waiting for a dumb/desperate immigrant wanting to invest.

If you stayed in a motel anywhere in this province, there is a pretty good chance that it belongs to one of these investors and his/her entire family (including grandparents) lives in the largest room at the end of the hallway.

(and often this deal is organized so it's tax free for the seller ... and that's my job to figure out)

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by djmk

Over 30 years, a good number of them would be now dead or even returned to their home countries. Or they have settled down and made proper roots in the city. Or they moved to Richmond.

That's not exactly what the changes in (greater) Vancouver's demograpics and wealth distributions tell me.

Would you say that the money has changed directions into commerical properties recently, or has that always been a thing?

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

How many, I wonder, bought only a single dwelling? Anecdotal evidence over the years, primarily in newsmedia, paints the 'investor class' as prolific purchasers of dwellings, often purchasing multiple units in VIP presales.

Order of magnitude, the City of Vancouver has 300,000 residential dwelling units. If the 28,000+ Quebec investor class immigrants moved to Metro Vancouver accounted for the equivalent of one purchased dwelling per person, which lumps households with one dwelling for several people and property investors buying up scores of dwellings for themselves and on behalf of offshore family and investors, this accounts for something on the order of almost 10% of the dwellings in the largest city in the region. And that's just those who came via the Quebec investor program.

It's naive to think that collectively this hasn't created a significant market distortion.

It's hard to say.

Certainly many of the cases that have hit the news because of legal troubles involve multiple properties. It's safe to be those who don't draw the attention of the courts also hold multiple properties, and not just multifamily units. Eg:

A new lengthy B.C. Supreme Court judgment reveals the complicated financial and real-estate legerdemain gatekeepers face trying to regulate ultra-wealthy Chinese investors in Canada.

Those on both sides in the litigation, who called each other liars, acted as if they cared little about financial transparency or honesty in record-keeping even in deals involving sums that would stagger ordinary Canadians.

As a result, the court concluded it was virtually impossible to “follow the money” to determine who paid what and who truly owned three multi-million homes on Vancouver’s west side...

....The Fu family, who arrived in Vancouver in 2010 after applying under the P.E.I. investor program, initiated the Supreme Court action as part of their efforts to recoup losses they blamed on their former friends.

The Xia family, the successful defendants, obtained approval from Manitoba and came as landed immigrants in Aug. 2012.

In good times, the families made astronomical profits in the republic, particularly in Hangzhou, known as China’s Gold Coast near Shanghai, between 2010 and 2012.

They transferred millions to Canada and purchased three properties in Vancouver: 3561 Mayfair Ave. in 2010 for $2,380,000; 3307 West 19 Ave., in 2011 for $2,850,000, and 4769 Elm Street in 2012 for $3,080,000...

http://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/chinese-legerdemain-taken-for-granted

[djmk]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

That's not exactly what the changes in (greater) Vancouver's demograpics and wealth distributions tell me.

Would you say that the money has changed directions into commerical properties recently, or has that always been a thing?

I would not know anything about the demographics or wealth distribution. Oddly, I only seem to work on files that had investors from India so I'm more familiar with them.

I grew up and now work in Burnaby and I absolutely love immigrants but I can see there is something going on.

Couple weeks ago I had a Croatian lady come into my office and told me she sold her house in the mid nineties for $750K CASH(!!!) to a Chinese guy. The guy just walked up to her door when her home could not sell and offered it to her.

IMHO, immigrants from investor programs don't do that. Gangsters do.

As for commercial properties, prices are just stupid now. Especially since the 15% PT tax

Full discloser: Im from an immigrant family, married into another, and earn about 95% of my income from immigrant families.

[whatnext]

Follow the money back to whose fighting the Speculation Tax:

The umbrella group campaigning to repeal the Speculation Tax introduced by British Columbia’s NDP government has enlisted the help of a controversial global public relations firm that gained notoriety for promoting big tobacco and asbestos industry interests...

...Hill+Knowlton Strategies became infamous for running campaigns to promote the interests of the tobacco industry[3] and asbestos industry[4] among many other controversial clients.

Interestingly, BC Liberal leader Andrew Wilkinson, who’s a strident critic of the Speculation Tax[5], has acted for multinational tobacco companies against the BC government, as the province sought to recover billions of dollars spent out of the public health-care budget to treat people with smoking-related diseases such as emphysema and lung cancer[6]...
https://thinkpol.ca/2018/04/14/scrap-speculation-tax-coalition-turns-big-tobacco-asbestos-pr-firm/

So Andrew Wilkinson fought the province on behalf of Big Tobacco, and the BC Liberals consider him leadership material?

[logicbomb]

Of course the corporate media will never leak that. Too many people at my workplace have turned against the NDP because of reasons related to GlobalBC.

[s211]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

Too many people at my workplace have turned against the NDP because of reasons related to GlobalBC.

I don't understand the connection you're trying to make here. What has Global specifically done to the NDP?

[logicbomb]

Originally Posted by s211

I don't understand the connection you're trying to make here. What has Global specifically done to the NDP?

Have you seen their coverage since the release of the BC Budget? You would think the speculation tax will hurt 95% of the population including renters. They have been relentless in their attack towards the NDP...You have had several media personalities state their editorials to the general public (Chris Gailus running down the NDP for "punishing investors" on AM980).

Furthermore...it's bleeding onto other affiliates as well. I want to listen to music but hear editorial rants on CFOX about how inept the NDP government is.

Keep in mind...I am a Centrist and neither a Liberal or NDP supporter but I think it's dangerous to see the media have such a bias in their reporting.

[s211]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

Have you seen their coverage since the release of the BC Budget? You would think the speculation tax will hurt 95% of the population including renters. They have been relentless in their attack towards the NDP...You have had several media personalities state their editorials to the general public (Chris Gailus running down the NDP for "punishing investors" on AM980).

Furthermore...it's bleeding onto other affiliates as well. I want to listen to music but hear editorial rants on CFOX about how inept the NDP government is.

Keep in mind...I am a Centrist and neither a Liberal or NDP supporter but I think it's dangerous to see the media have such a bias in their reporting.

I hear you, but unfortunately all media is biased in varying degrees. That goes for all stripes, left and right wing.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by logicbomb

Furthermore...it's bleeding onto other affiliates as well. I want to listen to music but hear editorial rants on CFOX about how inept the NDP government is.

Keep in mind...I am a Centrist and neither a Liberal or NDP supporter but I think it's dangerous to see the media have such a bias in their reporting.

As a centrist I have noticed the same as well. CFOX has been a joke for years though. "World Famous" is so cringeworthy.

[whatnext]

So, it looks like David Eby had to cancel a Town Hall after threats that muliti-millionaire Boomer property owners were going to hijack it, egged on by realtors

This Marie Antoinettesque quote made me laugh:

...“The final straw was the rescheduling of the protest for ‘angry people’ to ‘march in’ to the event an hour and a half before the event itself, making it impossible for us to secure the venue in advance,” Eby wrote. He added that his constituency staff and supporters “have now become the personal target of some individuals.”

Along with other realtors in the Sutton Group West Coast Realty Kerrisdale office, Phil Gustin took out an ad worth $4,000 in the Vancouver Courier. Gustin lives in Point Grey and has seen his home rise in value from $350,000 to over $3 million.

Although homeowners aged 55 or over can defer their property taxes indefinitely, Gustin said that’s unfair to the children of the property owners who could inherit, for instance, an $8 million house, but could be forced to sell it because they can’t afford to pay the extra $18,000 property tax...

..He said he had one client who owns a $5 million house and rents it out for $5,000 a month, but because of the tax increase, expects to realize only $4,500 of the rent.

Gustin’s fellow realtors chipped in for the ad, because, he said, they fear the tax increase will negatively impact their industry. “Would you buy a real estate asset that’s going to go down in value?” he asked....

https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/0...s-vancouver-mla-to-cancel-town-hall.html



PS, when did Torstar add a Vancouver section?

[240glt]

Ugh. I wish they wouldn't give realtors the time of day. They are leaches and parasites.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by whatnext

PS, when did Torstar add a Vancouver section?

Ever since Metro got rebranded to fit with their parent newspaper. Have you noticed that it's now StarMetro and in blue?