Federal Government & Politics II

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Both parties have compromised images, definitely a bad time in the age of hyper polarized politics. This next election will be very telling.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by Marshsparrow

So from a party that says they will do better, stand for democracy, no interference/influence, blah, blah, blah - NOT a good look. Do better.

Hmmm what’s worse… petty bullying or bussing loads of Chinese foreign students, who are not citizens, to vote in liberal party candidates with ties to the Chinese communist party.

[savevp]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Hmmm what’s worse… petty bullying or bussing loads of Chinese foreign students, who are not citizens, to vote in liberal party candidates with ties to the Chinese communist party.

... the refusing to investigate until public pressure becomes unbearable. And then installing your buddy to look into it, until he is forced to resign, and then doing nothing with the hope it'll all blow over. And then after more disturbing allegations come to light, making plans to potentially let the person who was nominated by CCP-supported foreigners back into your caucus.

[ssiguy]

Originally Posted by lio45

In the news yesterday (pretty much all outlets covered it) was the confirmation that Justin Trudeau's Pet Scheme is working as intended: homelessness up nearly 400% in the Gatineau area and up over 100% in Sherbrooke.

https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/2...s%20campements.

Personally I think Trudeau has done a lot to help the homeless.

Living on the streets use to be strictly the domain of hardcore drug addicts but now it entails all groups. Trudeau has made sure that all socio-economic groups are now represented. From the disabled to drag queens to gender and sexual minorities to the working class to all religious groups to every racial and ethnic backgrounds of all ages................Trudeau has created a street life that is an equal opportunity employer.

Trudeau proudly proclaims that diversity is our strength and no other PM in our history has done more to make our sidewalks, alleys, and parks more livable, inclusive, and reflective of contemporary Canadian society than he has.

[theman23]

.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by acottawa

I think in some ways it is the worst of both words. We have significantly phased out in-person services, yet our remote services are still cumbersome and dependent on things like a passport official's opinion of a paper photograph.

I would think the best option would be an app-based solution (to take advantage of the fact that everyone carries a high-resolution camera in their pocket) but I am sure it would be another cesspool of corruption and incompetence like ArriveCan.

It's not an opinion when an agent reviews passport photos, it's parameters that the agent has to follow. I've worked in the processing of different applications before. Some people feel as though we enjoy rejecting/denying things but definitely in not the case. Statistics are kept on the number of applications processed by employees and you only get stats from completed items. So when there is an issue such as a not valid passport photo, the application gets put on hold and you don't get a completed item for your stats. Denying also means more computer and paperwork and sending out a specific letter depending on the situation.

I'm hoping that there will be improvements for passport applications to speed things up and I'm all for photos being done on site at passport and Service Canada locations.

[Truenorth00]

The Plain Bagel is a great Canadian finance YouTuber. He interviewed Trudeau. I think it's a good view into the PM's mindset. And also interesting to me how the LPC is finally figuring out how to reach those Millennials and Zoomers without resorting to traditional media.

• Video Link

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Loco101

It's not an opinion when an agent reviews passport photos, it's parameters that the agent has to follow. I've worked in the processing of different applications before. Some people feel as though we enjoy rejecting/denying things but definitely in not the case. Statistics are kept on the number of applications processed by employees and you only get stats from completed items. So when there is an issue such as a not valid passport photo, the application gets put on hold and you don't get a completed item for your stats. Denying also means more computer and paperwork and sending out a specific letter depending on the situation.

I'm hoping that there will be improvements for passport applications to speed things up and I'm all for photos being done on site at passport and Service Canada locations.

All of this sounds to me like a great opportunity for AI. Should be able to have photo booths with immediate AI acceptance or rejection at Service Canada locations.

[acottawa]

CTV article about immigrants wanting out.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-th...ium%3Dsharebar

[casper]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The Plain Bagel is a great Canadian finance YouTuber. He interviewed Trudeau. I think it's a good view into the PM's mindset. And also interesting to me how the LPC is finally figuring out how to reach those Millennials and Zoomers without resorting to traditional media.

While I do like the idea of replacing him as party leader, he is good at telling the story and it is a strong positive story to tell.

Originally Posted by acottawa

CTV article about immigrants wanting out.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/why-th...ium%3Dsharebar

Three examples.

- A family of 5, dad makes $120k in tech industry wants to stay. His wife want to move. Most pandemic mom fells there is a rise in crime, road rage and general law breaking. Also dealing with the high cost of living. Not happy with the quality of care from her gynecologist.

- Husband and wife looking for a chance. They want some place quieter than Toronto. They chose New Zeeland.

- Mother (72 year old) looking to move to the Netherlands to be care giver to her 53 year old son who is in a care home in the Netherland.

While interesting stories not certain this broader information to gain from these three stores.

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by casper

Three examples.

- A family of 5, dad makes $120k in tech industry wants to stay. His wife want to move. Most pandemic mom fells there is a rise in crime, road rage and general law breaking. Also dealing with the high cost of living. Not happy with the quality of care from her gynecologist.

- Husband and wife looking for a chance. They want some place quieter than Toronto. They chose New Zeeland.

- Mother (72 year old) looking to move to the Netherlands to be care giver to her 53 year old son who is in a care home in the Netherland.

While interesting stories not certain this broader information to gain from these three stores.

You're right that these are just anecdotes, but they're also indicative of a broader trend of increasing emigration rates and declining immigrant retention rates.

Canadians Flee The Country In The Fourth Highest Volume In 73 Years

Stephen Punwasi
December 19, 2023

Canada may have record population growth but what happens if immigrants see the mass exodus of citizens? Statistics Canada (Stat Can) data shows Q3 2023 emigration, or reverse immigration, surged to an unusually high level. Canadians fled the country for a new home in such a large number, a 3 month outflow has only been larger 3 times in the past century. Yikes.

Canada Sees 4th Largest Outflow of Residents In The Past 73 Years

Canada is losing more and more residents to foreign countries. The latest data shows emigration rose 3% higher to 32,026 people in Q3 2023. That number is astronomical, and hard to appreciate just on its own. Over the past 73 years of data only three years have seen larger quarters—2016, 1967, and 1965.



Canadians Are Fleeing At An Unusually Rapid Rate

Canada is set to have a banger of a year when it comes to resident outflows. There were 74,017 emigrants year to date (YTD), already hitting 79% of the total last year. The final quarter of 2023 can come in lower than the previous two years and still print one of the biggest years ever for outflows.

Canada’s outflows have largely been ignored since record population growth obfuscates it. Most policymakers would point to the net increase as reason to ignore the issue. However, this dismisses an important point that is beginning to surface—if the people most familiar with a country don’t see opportunity, how long can it attract immigrants?

https://betterdwelling.com/canadians...e-in-73-years/

High numbers of immigrants choosing to leave Canada for greener pastures: study

Megan DeLaire
Published Oct. 31, 2023 2:00 p.m. PDT

As the federal government prepares to unveil its immigration targets for the next three years, new research finds immigrants to Canada are increasingly leaving this country for opportunities elsewhere.

The number of immigrants who left Canada surged in 2017 and 2019, according to a study(opens in a new tab) conducted by the Institute for Canadian Citizenship and the Conference Board of Canada. Those spikes represent an increase of 31 per cent above the historical average.

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/high-n...tudy-1.6625208

[Dartguard]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

You're right that these are just anecdotes, but they're also indicative of a broader trend of increasing emigration rates and declining immigrant retention rates.




https://betterdwelling.com/canadians...e-in-73-years/




https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/high-n...tudy-1.6625208

That chart is very interesting for the outflow of folks back in Q3 2015.Huge amount of people gone shortly after the change of Government. Hmmm.
Oh I know, it was Texans goin back home.

[1overcosc]

What was up with that huge spike in emigration in that one quarter in 2016? Seems odd.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

All of this sounds to me like a great opportunity for AI. Should be able to have photo booths with immediate AI acceptance or rejection at Service Canada locations.

That might happen down the road.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Loco101

That might happen down the road.

Given how broken our system is and how long it takes to make changes, the government should start planning on how to make this happen now. Passport selfie booths with automatic qualification should be possible and would substantially cut down on reviewer workload. Should at least eliminate the need to go find a photographer for a lot of people and could take out generic faults like photo tint.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Given how broken our system is and how long it takes to make changes, the government should start planning on how to make this happen now. Passport selfie booths with automatic qualification should be possible and would substantially cut down on reviewer workload. Should at least eliminate the need to go find a photographer for a lot of people and could take out generic faults like photo tint.

I'm quite sure that having an agent review the application and photo will still be part of the process it will be much quicker in the future. Anything monetary or dealing with security such as passports always will require human review to a certain degree but without the wait times we see today. A lot federal applications have much quicker processing times today than 5 years ago. But you never hear about them because it doesn't make the news. And online options have sped things up but not everything has an online option.

I'm all for having passport photos being done like you mentioned. There will be some pushback from the private sector but technological changes should be adopted for something like that.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The Plain Bagel is a great Canadian finance YouTuber. He interviewed Trudeau. I think it's a good view into the PM's mindset. And also interesting to me how the LPC is finally figuring out how to reach those Millennials and Zoomers without resorting to traditional media.

I've been watching Plain Bagel for a few years now, so I was very surprised to see that video pop up in my feed a few days ago.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I'm quite sure that having an agent review the application and photo will still be part of the process it will be much quicker in the future. Anything monetary or dealing with security such as passports always will require human review to a certain degree but without the wait times we see today. A lot federal applications have much quicker processing times today than 5 years ago. But you never hear about them because it doesn't make the news. And online options have sped things up but not everything has an online option.

I'm all for having passport photos being done like you mentioned. There will be some pushback from the private sector but technological changes should be adopted for something like that.

The way I see it, doing something like AI enabled passport photo booths removes a ton of inconvenience, especially for renewals. One stop shop. And it eliminates really obvious errors like off axis positioning, really bad lighting, etc. There will still be human review. But in theory, with better quality photos, we should see improvements in processing time.

[ericmacm]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The Plain Bagel is a great Canadian finance YouTuber. He interviewed Trudeau. I think it's a good view into the PM's mindset. And also interesting to me how the LPC is finally figuring out how to reach those Millennials and Zoomers without resorting to traditional media.

• Video Link

I watch the Plain Bagel and was quite surprised to see this video. Even more surprising was how well the interview was conducted by both Richard and how JT responded. JT sounds a lot better and can get his points across when he is allowed to just talk. No real dodging of any questions and a lot of great answers.

Trudeau is not my cup of tea, but this was well done.

[J81]

Originally Posted by ssiguy

Personally I think Trudeau has done a lot to help the homeless.

Living on the streets use to be strictly the domain of hardcore drug addicts but now it entails all groups. Trudeau has made sure that all socio-economic groups are now represented. From the disabled to drag queens to gender and sexual minorities to the working class to all religious groups to every racial and ethnic backgrounds of all ages................Trudeau has created a street life that is an equal opportunity employer.

Trudeau proudly proclaims that diversity is our strength and no other PM in our history has done more to make our sidewalks, alleys, and parks more livable, inclusive, and reflective of contemporary Canadian society than he has.

LOL. Nailed it!