Federal Government & Politics II

[trueviking]

^ the Green Party needs to go away.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ the Green Party needs to go away.

No.

1) - the lunatic fringe needs someplace to vent their spleen, and seek solace with like minded folk. Otherwise, they would infiltrate the mainstream parties more so than they do now. This causes all sorts of problems (look at our institutionalized two-party friends to our south).

2) - in times of duress, when the mainstream parties do not have acceptable candidates (JT, JS & PP), the fringe parties can serve as a place to cast your protest vote.

The Green Party is undisciplined, has some kooky policies, and, are in no way ready for power, but, they are a safe alternative for a protest vote since they are in no danger of winning the election. JT is the virtue signalling, economically illiterate socialist anti-Christ. JS is even worse. PP makes me feel a tad dirty and want to take a shower. I have not discounted voting Green in the next election.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by trueviking

^ the Green Party needs to go away.

Why?

If anything, in event that electoral reform proves elusive, it's looking like the left has to do what the right did and merge, if they want power in the future.

[ScreamingViking]

This situation deserves far more scrutiny and public discourse. But I appreciated this:
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...7dcf.video.mp4

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Why?

If anything, in event that electoral reform proves elusive, it's looking like the left has to do what the right did and merge, if they want power in the future.

Regional and special interest parties are bad for the country in my opinion. One of the reasons I don’t support proportional representation.

[casper]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

No.

1) - the lunatic fringe needs someplace to vent their spleen, and seek solace with like minded folk. Otherwise, they would infiltrate the mainstream parties more so than they do now. This causes all sorts of problems (look at our institutionalized two-party friends to our south).

2) - in times of duress, when the mainstream parties do not have acceptable candidates (JT, JS & PP), the fringe parties can serve as a place to cast your protest vote.

The Green Party is undisciplined, has some kooky policies, and, are in no way ready for power, but, they are a safe alternative for a protest vote since they are in no danger of winning the election. JT is the virtue signalling, economically illiterate socialist anti-Christ. JS is even worse. PP makes me feel a tad dirty and want to take a shower. I have not discounted voting Green in the next election.

Yes, they are undisciplined with a few kooky policies. But I would not call them fringe.

On most of Vancouver Island, I think the next election is going to be between the Green and NDP. Last election the greens were in self-destruct mode, went down significantly, and let the conservatives managed to do better than them in the popular vote on the island.

Yes, I know it is sad, the Liberals will likely not do well out here. That is despite being the only party with a rational and balanced approach to protecting the environment.

[Truenorth00]

90% of Canadian wealth is in the hands of homeowners.

https://www.thestar.com/business/can...92baa.amp.html

This country is nothing but a giant real estate ponzi scheme.

[harls]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

90% of Canadian wealth is in the hands of homeowners.

https://www.thestar.com/business/can...92baa.amp.html

This country is nothing but a giant real estate ponzi scheme.

Recent photo of Lio:



onepointfivemillionsuckers.com

[casper]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

90% of Canadian wealth is in the hands of homeowners.

https://www.thestar.com/business/can...92baa.amp.html

This country is nothing but a giant real estate ponzi scheme.

Click-bait article headline. Should we expect better from the Star? Perhaps not.

Some key quotes:

As of the fourth quarter of 2023, 90 per cent of Canadian wealth was in the hands of those that own a home. And while the richest Canadians had an average net worth of $3.3 million, the ones in the lower end of the distribution recorded debt that surpassed the value of their assets.

The debt service ratio, or total interest and principal relative to personal disposable income, fell slightly to 15 per cent, but was still above pre-pandemic levels. That’s largely because wages continued to grow despite pressure from higher interest rates.

So, yes. People who own their home tend to hold more wealth beyond their home. In fact home owners have 90% of the wealth in Canada.

Given 65.6% of Canadians are homeowners we should not be surprised should we?

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by MonctonRad

No.

1) - the lunatic fringe needs someplace to vent their spleen, and seek solace with like minded folk. Otherwise, they would infiltrate the mainstream parties more so than they do now. This causes all sorts of problems (look at our institutionalized two-party friends to our south).

2) - in times of duress, when the mainstream parties do not have acceptable candidates (JT, JS & PP), the fringe parties can serve as a place to cast your protest vote.

The Green Party is undisciplined, has some kooky policies, and, are in no way ready for power, but, they are a safe alternative for a protest vote since they are in no danger of winning the election. JT is the virtue signalling, economically illiterate socialist anti-Christ. JS is even worse. PP makes me feel a tad dirty and want to take a shower. I have not discounted voting Green in the next election.

I would vote for a Green candidate as long as that candidate is sensible. We've had some really good Green candidates here at times but also some who were very out of touch. Many of the strong environmental policies would make for a stronger economy but many people only want instant success rather than long-term thinking which is why the Green Party isn't attractive to most voters.

I'm really hoping that JT steps down soon. I agree that the virtue signalling from him and JS is wearing thin for even Liberal supporters. I'm not at all wanting to support PP even though the CPC candidate here is a really good person. But Charlie Angus is not running again and I don't think that the LPC or NDP will get decent candidates. So maybe Green if the candidate is good.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Regional and special interest parties are bad for the country in my opinion. One of the reasons I don’t support proportional representation.

I support the current system if we could have ranked ballots. The first past the post system can have MPs who were elected with less than a third of the votes cast which is ridiculous.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

90% of Canadian wealth is in the hands of homeowners.

https://www.thestar.com/business/can...92baa.amp.html

This country is nothing but a giant real estate ponzi scheme.

But what proportion of Canada's wealth is in the homes that homeowners live in?

Unless some Canadian multi billionaire rents the home(s) s/he lives in from a corporation s/he happens to own, they're very likely to be a homeowner. But most of their wealth will not be in real estate.

It's kind of surprising 10% of household wealth is owned by renters. The article is paywalled, but it appears to only be reporting household wealth, so corporate assets won't be included either.

[Tvisforme]

With respect to Poilievre's refusal to get security clearance, what is involved in that and does it limit his ability to speak just by virtue of having it? Or would it still only apply to specific situations? I'm just curious as to why he doesn't just get the clearance - so as to stop speculation about his ability to do so - and still refuse to read unredacted reports for whatever reason he chooses?

[casper]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

With respect to Poilievre's refusal to get security clearance, what is involved in that and does it limit his ability to speak just by virtue of having it? Or would it still only apply to specific situations? I'm just curious as to why he doesn't just get the clearance - so as to stop speculation about his ability to do so - and still refuse to read unredacted reports for whatever reason he chooses?

It would be surprising to discover he could not get it. I think he just does not want it. Depending on the level he needs to go up to it varies. Mostly it involves a security officer doing a background criminal records check, looking at his travel history, potentially credit records, who he associates with etc.

Material is classified at different levels. Any material that is classified he has to keep in confidence and can not disclose publicly or to others who don't have that level of clearance.

Just now he can comment on what others have said is in the report. He can comment on rumors in the press. He can even assume such rumors to be true. Politically it is to his benefit to be uninformed. Sad, but true.

[O-tacular]

Infrastructure is going to become a major issue in years to come. Not sure about other major municipalities but they must feel nervous seeing what’s happening in Calgary. The city just declared a state of emergency on day 10 of water restrictions after finding more sections of our main water feeder pipe were damaged. The new timeline for repair is 3-5 weeks.

To give some idea my family has been using disposable dishes every other day to run the dishwasher half the amount we normally do, holding off on laundry, as well as shorter showers and less toilet flushes. The new timeline isn’t sustainable for anyone, let alone a family with young children like mine. I don’t know what plan B is, except for the fact that we are likely to surpass the water limit at some point and mandatory indoor water restrictions will be brought in. The water main that broke supplies 60% of water to 1.6 million people and was halfway through its’ expected lifespan of 100 years. In addition to Calgary the cities of Airdrie, Strathmore and Chestermere are also on water restrictions.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7236361

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Tvisforme

With respect to Poilievre's refusal to get security clearance, what is involved in that and does it limit his ability to speak just by virtue of having it? Or would it still only apply to specific situations? I'm just curious as to why he doesn't just get the clearance - so as to stop speculation about his ability to do so - and still refuse to read unredacted reports for whatever reason he chooses?

The only obvious one to me would be a prior criminal conviction. There’d also be a credit check, maybe he’s got dodgy finances? I’m surprised he wouldn’t have had to get this clearance when in Harper’s government.

[Djeffery]

Originally Posted by Loco101

I support the current system if we could have ranked ballots. The first past the post system can have MPs who were elected with less than a third of the votes cast which is ridiculous.

I'm not sure being the second or third choice of x percent of voters should also be enough to get you elected either. I voted in a ranked choice election in the municipal election of 2018 in London and not one of the candidates who was leading after the initial ballots were counted lost after the redistribution of the bottom candidates.

I know the theory is supposed to be whittling it down to a choice between A and B but I don't think people put as much thought into their second, third etc choices as they would if they were only presented with those top 2 choices on a subsequent ballot. But I don't think there is an appetite for runoff elections here either.

The only real advantage I saw to ranked ballots was the ability to throw away your first vote on some fringe candidate if you wanted to, and still be able to cast your "real" vote second, knowing it would actually count. Some people said at the time that this would be good because it would show a good protest vote. Except that not once after that election did anyone again discuss the votes the wacko got.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

90% of Canadian wealth is in the hands of homeowners.

https://www.thestar.com/business/can...92baa.amp.html

This country is nothing but a giant real estate ponzi scheme.

Indeed. The local CBC had a story last year featuring a young woman born to parents who were lifelong renters. Basically the gist of it was she would never be able to attain home ownership even with a good job in Metro Vancouver because her parents had no home equity to pass onto her. We’re creating a landed class and a landless underclass.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by ScreamingViking

This situation deserves far more scrutiny and public discourse. But I appreciated this:
https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.town...7dcf.video.mp4

It needs a good explanation of why he perceives it to be politically advantageous to refuse to read the report.

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by O-tacular

Infrastructure is going to become a major issue in years to come. Not sure about other major municipalities but they must feel nervous seeing what’s happening in Calgary. The city just declared a state of emergency on day 10 of water restrictions after finding more sections of our main water feeder pipe were damaged. The new timeline for repair is 3-5 weeks.

To give some idea my family has been using disposable dishes every other day to run the dishwasher half the amount we normally do, holding off on laundry, as well as shorter showers and less toilet flushes. The new timeline isn’t sustainable for anyone, let alone a family with young children like mine. I don’t know what plan B is, except for the fact that we are likely to surpass the water limit at some point and mandatory indoor water restrictions will be brought in. The water main that broke supplies 60% of water to 1.6 million people and was halfway through its’ expected lifespan of 100 years. In addition to Calgary the cities of Airdrie, Strathmore and Chestermere are also on water restrictions.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7236361

Sounds like a really crappy situation. I hope there is some improvement soon.