Canada's 'housing bubble' deemed close to bursting - Page 782

le calmar · #**15621** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 12:55 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

... or else they thought the building they're tasked with selling is located in Cartierville (a borough of Montreal). That's the other possibility.

They have a brand new and shiny bathroom though.

Wigs · #**15622** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 1:25 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

There is a sound reason - profit.

CN and CP are not welcoming to Via. Change that and our country could have better intercity rail.

There's no reason for Via rail to not have dedicated track. Despite initial high cost (securing land, etc) it would pay dividends long term.

swimmer_spe · #**15623** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 1:40 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigs

There's no reason for Via rail to not have dedicated track. Despite initial high cost (securing land, etc) it would pay dividends long term.

Got a spare $12 Billion?

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/...-with-vias-high-frequency-plan-analysis/

That is just between Toronto and Ottawa.

Wigs · #**15624** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 1:46 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by lio45

The person who wrote that listing clearly hit the "0" key one extra time by mistake.

lio, I often forget what thread this is.
Probably because I just paid $300k to live in Smooth Brain Falls.

Wigs · #**15625** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 1:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Got a spare $12 Billion?

https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/...-with-vias-high-frequency-plan-analysis/

That is just between Toronto and Ottawa.

The Feds have the money if they want to prioritize it. Lord knows the Federal government wastes tons of money.

Anecdotally when my brother's friend from Carleton started out working for an unnamed government department, the IT guy hooked him up with brand new workstation computer with large new monitor, and new laptop for "doing work from home".
Why?
"It's not our money we're spending"

swimmer_spe · #**15626** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 1:57 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigs

The Feds have the money if they want to prioritize it. Lord knows the Federal government wastes tons of money.

Anecdotally when my brother's friend from Carleton started out working for an unnamed government department, the IT guy hooked him up with brand new workstation computer with large new monitor, and new laptop for "doing work from home".
Why?
"It's not our money we're spending"

That is about 200km. Which works out to about 15 km/$1 billion. Vancouver to Halifax is roughly 6000km. That would be about $400 billion. Mind you, with the challenges of the mountains, this would be more closer to $1 Trillion. As big of a fan or passenger rail, I am not that big of a fan. But, that does not mean service shouldn't be improved/added.

As far as spending money, no one is rewarded for not spending money.

Wigs · #**15627** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 2:02 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

That is about 200km. Which works out to about 15 km/$1 billion. Vancouver to Halifax is roughly 6000km. That would be about $400 billion. Mind you, with the challenges of the mountains, this would be more closer to $1 Trillion. As big of a fan or passenger rail, I am not that big of a fan. But, that does not mean service shouldn't be improved/added.

As far as spending money, no one is rewarded for not spending money.

I meant the Toronto to Montreal corridor, not the entire nation

swimmer_spe · #**15628** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 2:05 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigs

I meant the Toronto to Montreal corridor, not the entire nation

It'll likely be done by the 2040s.

theman23 · #**15629** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 2:50 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigs

The Feds have the money if they want to prioritize it. Lord knows the Federal government wastes tons of money.

Anecdotally when my brother's friend from Carleton started out working for an unnamed government department, the IT guy hooked him up with brand new workstation computer with large new monitor, and new laptop for "doing work from home".
Why?
"It's not our money we're spending"

Someone I'm close to has worked for 3 different federal departments in the last two years, having just made their most recent transfer. Each one of them set them up with equipment for a home office, including chair, desk, monitor, phone and laptop. They had to return the laptops and phones, but the rest were left to keep. We're probably talking about a few thousand dollars worth of equipment each time.

I know its a cliched story, but the waste (and probably graft) in our government bureaucracies is astonishing.

Wigs · #**15630** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 4:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by theman23

Someone I'm close to has worked for 3 different federal departments in the last two years, having just made their most recent transfer. Each one of them set them up with equipment for a home office, including chair, desk, monitor, phone and laptop. They had to return the laptops and phones, but the rest were left to keep. We're probably talking about a few thousand dollars worth of equipment each time.

I know its a cliched story, but the waste (and probably graft) in our government bureaucracies is astonishing.

Exactly. So much unnecessary waste in just two anecdotal cases, yet the general public complain when big sums are spent that would actually progress Canada forward into the 21st century.

niwell · #**15631** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 5:05 PM**

I dunno what's going on with the Feds - working for the Ontario Provincial government we get a laptop and phone that travels between work and home and will have to be returned. And that's it. Anything else to work at home is out of pocket - I had to buy an extra monitor (necessary for my work), desk, chair and other office supplies myself during COVID.

My wife on the other hand - who works for a rather large tech company - has received over $10k in supplies, including almost brand new laptops that don't have to be returned.

Wigs · #**15632** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 6:06 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

I dunno what's going on with the Feds - working for the Ontario Provincial government we get a laptop and phone that travels between work and home and will have to be returned. And that's it. Anything else to work at home is out of pocket - I had to buy an extra monitor (necessary for my work), desk, chair and other office supplies myself during COVID.

My wife on the other hand - who works for a rather large tech company - has received over $10k in supplies, including almost brand new laptops that don't have to be returned.

since I'm way off topic

Wigs · #**15633** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 6:14 PM**

I've been following Niagara's real estate market fairly closely since 2014.

Anecdotally, when the market was hot the city I live in had between 40-60 listings at any given time. Now there's 183. Subtracting probable duplicate listings it's 160 ish

So roughly 3-4x the homes for sale as prices decline and sales decrease

casper · #**15634** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 6:58 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

I dunno what's going on with the Feds - working for the Ontario Provincial government we get a laptop and phone that travels between work and home and will have to be returned. And that's it. Anything else to work at home is out of pocket - I had to buy an extra monitor (necessary for my work), desk, chair and other office supplies myself during COVID.

My wife on the other hand - who works for a rather large tech company - has received over $10k in supplies, including almost brand new laptops that don't have to be returned.

Thr attitude in the tech industry is more likely to be do what you need for your staff to be productive. Most don’t have warehouses to store and staff to process office furniture. If someone want to return a desk or office chair they needed for a home office the cheapest thing to do is call 1-800-junk and let them deal with it. No need to spend money on storage and labour matching it to another employee.

Truenorth00 · #**15635** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 7:15 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by theman23

Someone I'm close to has worked for 3 different federal departments in the last two years, having just made their most recent transfer. Each one of them set them up with equipment for a home office, including chair, desk, monitor, phone and laptop. They had to return the laptops and phones, but the rest were left to keep. We're probably talking about a few thousand dollars worth of equipment each time.

I know its a cliched story, but the waste (and probably graft) in our government bureaucracies is astonishing.

Sounds like your friend is skilled at playing the system. I'm running on a laptop that sounds like a jet engine at takeoff. I've got nothing else from work at home. But then again, I'm not all that concerned with exploiting the system.

le calmar · #**15636** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 8:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Sounds like your friend is skilled at playing the system. I'm running on a laptop that sounds like a jet engine at takeoff. I've got nothing else from work at home. But then again, I'm not all that concerned with exploiting the system.

Same here. Nothing beside a old laptop and a couple of monitors, which I’m not allowed to keep. And I worked in two different departments. Nobody I know has benefited from what is being described here either, so I would not exactly describe this as common practice.

kwoldtimer · #**15637** Posted **Sep 14, 2022, 9:13 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wigs

I've been following Niagara's real estate market fairly closely since 2014.

Anecdotally, when the market was hot the city I live in had between 40-60 listings at any given time. Now there's 183. Subtracting probable duplicate listings it's 160 ish

So roughly 3-4x the homes for sale as prices decline and sales decrease

The average price of a detached home in Waterloo Region was up 1.1% in August, compared to July but, at $851,000, was down $335,000 from the peak in February.