Canadian politics thread

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by sonick

Yep its a longstanding thing not just an observation.

to quote John Adams one of the american Founding Fathers:
“If a person is not a liberal when he is twenty, he has no heart; if he is not a conservative when he is forty, he has no head."

But let's be honest, the term 'conservative' has changed significantly since John Adams' time, especially in the US.

[underscore]

Most of the liberals I know have gone further left as they've gotten older but sure.

[westopher]

In modern times that basically reads “if you don’t stop giving a shit about others by the time you’re 40 you’re stupid.”

[Hondaracer]

Empty shelves where Children’s medication should be

Insane wait times for cancer patients/testing

24 hour ER wait times

People can’t afford groceries.

Please, defend your all loving PM.

After seeing first hand how other countries have been fairing after Covid, I’ll say without a doubt, Canada is in a dark, dark place.

[westopher]

What’s Bernier going to do about it?

[Hondaracer]

Dunno, it’s not his job.

For how many years must the provincial govt. call on additional federal funding with no response?

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2022/1...e-funding/amp/

When you have govt. from every province, representing every party, saying the issue is the fed, I don’t know what else to say.

Maybe worry about your own citizens before landlines in rural Cambodia?

[68style]

Well, that's the protectionist way right?

Close off from the rest of the world under the guise of putting (insert country name here) first!

This nonsense where Trudeau (or whoever the PM is) is responsible for every situation and decision made needs to stop. Doesn't anyone on here remember that if education was bad, you went after the education minister? Or heath care was bad... you went after the health minister?

The celebrity status given to the position of PM is both misleading and negligent. And dangerous in a manner of speaking, because we give that power to that position, that position will eventually take it and use it.

It makes absolutely zero sense to list off 10 issues and say "What are you going to do about it Justin?" when in fact there's 10 diff ministers with those portfolios and they are the ones you should be complaining to...

It's such a bad vibe... like a toxic workplace where instead of asking the person responsible to fix it and giving them a chance to do so, you just go straight to their boss... or in this case, make assumptions about the entire situation and post accusations online because you know perfectly well there's no fear of it being responded to.

People like Maxime Bernier and others like him are the most divisive and toxic personalities in the political space. Even frickin Dr. Oz, who I absolutely abhor, had the balls to say "Hey I lost, but things aren't going well we should learn to work together despite our differences" when he got defeated.

[Hondaracer]

Every issue I ever attack is a federal issue

Repeated felony crime that goes unpunished, and is pretty much encouraged at this point

Out of control inflation with no other answer than to raise interest rates, destroy that middle class!

And health care funding.

It’s obviously not JT who is individually responsible yes, however it is the direct responsibility of his party and his supporters.

I don’t think it really matters anymore what you think of the liberals or this constant apologist attitude towards them (yay! I’m broke af but at least the libs are still in power!!!) the writing is on the wall that the next govt will be a conservative majority. You can only spit in the mouths of your average Canadian for so long before they decide anything is better than the status quo.

There is no defending of the position Canada is in right now.

[MarkyMark]

Trudeau will explain his plans for Canada, just tune in to the next episode of Canada's Drag Race

[CivicBlues]

So you were in Europe for a few weeks in the summer and now you think Canada's a shithole?

There's literally 1+ hour lineups in France to get gas (I was in one)
The UK is a total basketcase economically and politically.
Italy elected a fucking Fascist government(!)
Germany and Central Europe is going to see huge increases in heating oil due to the war.

Yeah sure everything is hunky dory for you as a tourist (gotta admit it was for me too except when I tried to get gas). But maybe try moving to one of these other places and living there a few years before you make a sweeping judgement about your home country?

[Hondaracer]

Funny you say that, drove 900+ KM’s over the last few days from Lyon. Didn’t wait more than 5 minutes for gas at any of the 4 stations I filled up at.

Spent 4 weeks in Italy before that and between Rome, Venice, Sorrento, and Naples, I’ve seen less homeless people in all those cities combined than 30 sq feet of Vancouver.

Like.. comparatively to a lot of these places, and I say this with no hyperbole, Vancouver is turning into a fucking shit hole.

What a refreshing change of scenery to walk for 5 minutes and not see a huge pile of human shit or a pile of used needles. I can honestly say this entire time, haven’t seen one syringe laying discarded. What a low bar. In a few of these place we’ve also stayed with friends and family who have lived here for 10+ year, if not their entire lives. And I’ll tell ya, these people are not the miserable, struggling, individuals Canadians have become. Not by a long shot.

[68style]

Hold on... you think cities in Europe are by and large cleaner than Vancouver?

Uhm.......... I mean I love Europe, but that's borderline comedic

You mention France specifically, you're aware the entire suburbs of Paris literally rioted over their heinous living conditions / treatment right?

https://www.thelocal.fr/20171020/mor...ple-in-france/

The places you are going to are beautiful... because you're a financially well-off tourist.

[Traum]

Empty shelves where Children’s medication should be
https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/11/...store-shelves/

Health Canada says it’s importing a foreign supply of children’s pain and fever medications that will be available on retail shelves in the coming weeks.

The agency had previously announced it was importing children’s acetaminophen and ibuprofen to be distributed to hospitals.

Also, Tylenol and Advil have been available in adult form. They can be administered to children as well, although the dosage needs to be matched to the child's weight.

Insane wait times for cancer patients/testing
Dude, the whole world has been under COVID since 2020. Omicron didn't appear until about Nov 2021, and only really became dominant in the Jan/Feb 2022 time frame. Before that, delta, alpha, and the original wild type were all kind of serious.

Granted, cancer treatment wait times weren't good before COVID, but it wasn't disastrously bad either. If you want to find someone to blame, I think it is far more appropriate to blame all the idiots that mistreat our medical staff.

24 hour ER wait times
See above. Also, healthcare is both a federal and a provincial issue.

People can’t afford groceries.
This is actually something I kind of agree with. Our current inflation problems are not being well addressed -- I have mentioned elsewhere on RS that I think it is a mistake to mostly only rely on BoC and interest rate hiking in attempt to rein in inflation because much of our inflationary problem is caused by supply chain issues.

At the same time, food inflation is also caused by labour shortages and climate change. I can't remember how many times I've read from the news this year that the farmers don't have enough farm hand to help with harvest, and then they had to let some of the crops go bad. Climate change is a much bigger issue than just federal -- it is both local and global. For example, it baffles me that (Doug) Ford is wanting to fast-track carve land out of the Greenbelt to build housing when those lands are ecologically important, and it baffles me that Ontarians aren't in a bigger uproar than they are to protest the suggestion.

Policing and our revolving door court system is more of a local + provincial issue. And while I totally agree with the courts having judicial independence, I also think our politicians are too cautious in not meddling with our judicial system when it has been clearly failing for some extended period of time.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Every issue I ever attack is a federal issue

Repeated felony crime that goes unpunished, and is pretty much encouraged at this point

Out of control inflation with no other answer than to raise interest rates, destroy that middle class!

And health care funding.

It’s obviously not JT who is individually responsible yes, however it is the direct responsibility of his party and his supporters.

...

There is no defending of the position Canada is in right now.

The system is broken, and it is clear that Turdeau is not the answer to fix it. However, I'd say that to think Poilievre is the answer, or even just a better problem than Turdeau -- that would be a major mistake. As bad as Turdeau is, Poilievre is only going to make things worse, and I am speaking as somebody that leans right of center.

[68style]

The world is going through a shitty time... that's the sad reality of the situation. And we're the ones eating shit being on the lower end of the financial spectrum (yes I know RS is all ballers... but comparatively speaking)...

I am legitimately concerned about the future myself despite being a pretty positive minded person, but I do NOT think the government is the problem honestly. I think certain groups of people enjoy and benefit heavily from us arguing about the government and thinking they are the problem, but in my mind they are not.

Class and monetary system is the problem and it's only getting worse.

[CivicBlues]

Europe (France, UK and Italy specifically) warehouses their poor and destitute in suburbs outside of anywhere a typical tourist would visit.

Dunno when you were in France but it was a total shitshow in October:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...extend-strikes

miserable, struggling, individuals Canadians have become.

Who are these people? Not me. No one I know personally. You? Not so if you can travel to Europe for months. And it's likely those who you stay with in Europe are of the same socio-economic strata if they can offer to put you up.

Yes things cost quite more and most people are a job-loss away from being miserable (knock on wood). Things look shabbier than before COVID but don't sit there and pretend people are miserable because of Trudeau.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

Hold on... you think cities in Europe are by and large cleaner than Vancouver?

Uhm.......... I mean I love Europe, but that's borderline comedic

You mention France specifically, you're aware the entire suburbs of Paris literally rioted over their heinous living conditions / treatment right?

https://www.thelocal.fr/20171020/mor...ple-in-france/

The places you are going to are beautiful... because you're a financially well-off tourist.

Without listing all the places I’ve been I will say that overwhelmingly, these places are FAR cleaner and with virtually zero homeless people, no drug addicts begging for change etc. and a vast majority of these places are not these popular tourist hotspots filled with foreigners. I am staying in suburban areas off the beaten trail where people live normal lives. Where police etc. would have no reason to “hide” people away from tourists. And again, I’m not stepping in needles and shit. So you can post all the articles you want, when you have to literally drive to specific areas or seek out homeless people as opposed to them being strewn across public streets and in the entry way if your businesses I’ll take that any day, sorry.

I’ve been to all the main spots, I’ve been to the large cities. And now that I’m seeing all these new places post Covid and expected them to resemble Vancouver and they are literally the polar opposite, it’s opened my eyes to the sorry state Vancouver is in.

Another thing I’ll say is where on earth are we living in 2 million dollar homes with neighborhoods crawling with junkies and homeless? The only places are these far left liberal shit holes like Oregon, California, etc. and we as the residents just accept this shit. The govt. at all levels has failed everyone for so long, until you actually go and see some balance you don’t realize truly how bad it’s gotten.

Canada also is still just grasping at Covid this Covid that. I watch the news back there occasionally and see articles pinning all this shit in Covid still, children in the ER, “demand mask mandates again!!!” Etc. Jesus Christ, the rest of the western world has moved on. -no one- talks about Covid in Europe anymore. No one is using it as this crutch to push their problems back onto. The idea of restrictions or any sort of discussion about this is non-existent because people here are not push overs. The ER is filled with children who have been wearing masks for 2 years in social isolation and checking into an already crippled and terribly underfunded healthcare system? Crazy.. who could have seen that coming??

If Canada doesn’t right itself in a timely manner we are all in for a very rough ride. I’ve had a lot of time to think and reflect on life in both Canada And Vancouver and I think at the very least my time in the lower mainland might be coming to an end, If not Canada all together.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

What a refreshing change of scenery to walk for 5 minutes and not see a huge pile of human shit or a pile of used needles. I can honestly say this entire time, haven’t seen one syringe laying discarded. What a low bar.

When I've been in Vancouver lately as a tourist I haven't seen any of that. It's always different for tourists than locals.

[inv4zn]

^man, while you are of course entitled to your opinion, I will say your hyperbole is all stemming from ironically, being coddled in a reasonably safe haven that is Vancouver. But you've become all encompassed in the idea that Vancouver is a shithole, now anyone that argues it really really isn't is just 'sheep'.

Hear me out.

Suburban areas off the beaten trail, in Vancouver, is also not riddled with homeless people or needles. In fact while yes, there are multiple 'hotspots', I also have to literally drive to specific areas to encounter what you're describing is apparently the entire lower mainland.

The whole covid thing, have you thought to consider that our problems here, while numerous, pale in comparison to what others around the world are facing. A fucking war in Europe, for example, or complete social lockdown in Asia, drought in certain countries or torrential flooding in others, etc. We have it so fucking good here that if Covid can still remain a headline, then it's not because of some conspiracy, it's literally because there isn't much else. You know why people don't talk about covid in Europe anymore? Because they're about to go into a full blown war while dealing with all sorts of bullshit. To take that and conclude that Canada is a shithole because of it, is convoluted at best and just frankly stupid at worst.

This isn't me spewing Canaduh Canaduh, it's me trying to pull you out of an echo chamber you seem to have created by yourself, as you continually convince yourself that Vancouver is shitty. By literally all reputable accounts, this is a good place to live.

I have friends in Europe who lived there for 10 years that are moving back to raise children here. I spent 3 weeks in Korea recently and I returned extremely grateful to live here, despite all the issues you described.

Seriously. You were far more reasonable a year ago; travelling the world is supposed to open your mind, but it honestly looks like all it did was close yours.

[Manic!]

So Honda what country are you moving to?

Also your wife's cousin and me got shittered last weekend. Good times.

[CivicBlues]

Europe houses their poor IN suburbs, not every suburb. Of course there are nice suburbs (where you stayed) and shitty ones like anywhere else. Next time you visit ask your host to drive you into the shittiest Parisian banlieue like Seine-Saint-Denis and see what their reaction is.

I was told by a friend from Marseille to visit a place called Les Goudes which is outside of Marseille but supposed to have nice coastal scenery. When I told my host that we were staying out in the country with that we were going there he unequivocally said not to go because my car would be broken into as soon as I stepped away from it. People have skewed perceptions everywhere.

[westopher]

Last month I went to Vegas and I only saw a bunch of people that were upper middle class pop punk fans between the ages of 20-45 so that must be the only people that exist there. I’m sure if I move there it will be exactly the same as that weekend.

[Hondaracer]

Ah yes the old, it’s not so bad because we’re not China argument.

This is just going to go around in circles but I will say that if you actively have to drive long distances in order to be concerned for personal safety and well-being due to the proximity of drug addicts and the homeless, id say that’s vastly preferred to the current situation in Vancouver.

So where do I have to go to not encounter needles and piles of shit? Like Oak and 50th? The downtown core I guarantee you I could find a handful of needles in 5 minutes. As I’ve said before my wife’s company moved due to personal safety from homer and pender.

So the “no go” zone is basically from waterfront station to Clark and Hastings and then from Hastings to like what.. 16th and main going north south? Lol sweet!

Like legitamitely i swear to god, in all these recent travels across what’s been 6-7 countries the cumulative number of homeless people I’ve encountered is under 30. And you can say whatever you want bla bla bla about cities Vs suburbs etc. and all that. However anyone that’s travelled Europe knows well that train stations, bus depots, etc. are all the hot spots for the undesirables. And we, as people living in the lower mainland look at the DTES and the downtown core in general and be like “oh yea well Covid was pretty rough and got us to this point”

This is simply not the case in many other cities with similar climate, similar circumstances, not by a long shot.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by westopher

Last month I went to Vegas and I only saw a bunch of people that were upper middle class pop punk fans between the ages of 20-45 so that must be the only people that exist there. I’m sure if I move there it will be exactly the same as that weekend.

Your 2 days in a cab back and forth from the strip to the airport do not represent actuality, you’re correct.

Sorry I can’t spend even more time to be completely engrained in the culture, multiple weeks within the same homes situated in residential blocks and neighborhoods considered to be “non-touristy” is the best I could do.

Perhaps when I finally do move here on a more consistent basis then I can report back. But for the time being, my extended stays in these places, for the 6th time I’ve travelled to the continent will have to suffice.

I’m not trying to be this giant dick about it. I’m just saying that things are actually MUCH worse than I had even thought comparatively. You don’t have to do some giant dive down this socioeconomic path to be like “actually hondaracer, things really aren’t that bad”

They kinda are..

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Ah yes the old, it’s not so bad because we’re not China argument.

This is just going to go around in circles but I will say that if you actively have to drive long distances in order to be concerned for personal safety and well-being due to the proximity of drug addicts and the homeless, id say that’s vastly preferred to the current situation in Vancouver.

So where do I have to go to not encounter needles and piles of shit? Like Oak and 50th? The downtown core I guarantee you I could find a handful of needles in 5 minutes. As I’ve said before my wife’s company moved due to personal safety from homer and pender.

So the “no go” zone is basically from waterfront station to Clark and Hastings and then from Hastings to like what.. 16th and main going north south? Lol sweet!

Like legitamitely i swear to god, in all these recent travels across what’s been 6-7 countries the cumulative number of homeless people I’ve encountered is under 30. And you can say whatever you want bla bla bla about cities Vs suburbs etc. and all that. However anyone that’s travelled Europe knows well that train stations, bus depots, etc. are all the hot spots for the undesirables. And we, as people living in the lower mainland look at the DTES and the downtown core in general and be like “oh yea well Covid was pretty rough and got us to this point”

This is simply not the case in many other cities with similar climate, similar circumstances, not by a long shot.

Wtf are you even rambling on about. Ah the old "we're so terrible because my wife's company had to move from what has been the epicenter for 50+ years" argument?

Of course the DTES is fucked up, as is Metrotown, and New West station, Surrey Central, Maple Ridge etc. Do you know how far apart those are? And how miniscule those areas are in relation to 'Vancouver' as a whole?

Also, your experience as a traveller is not going to be remotely close to what a local experiences. You bring someone over from Europe for a month to live here and we'll see if they leave with a positive or negative impression.

And for someone who's so sick of hearing about Covid, you sure do seem to bring it up a lot, far more than anyone else here.

[sonick]

LoL "I drove from the Monaco to Lyon and I didn't see human shit on the ground or piles of needles ANYWHERE, therefore Vancouver is a shit hole."

Find your wrong way thru Paris you'll find the shit you're looking for.

Take Google maps route from the Fairmont Lake Louise to Fairmont Chateau Whistler and tell me if you see any shit on your way there.