Canadian politics thread

[westopher]

The bank of canada operates independently of the sitting government and is doing an abysmal job of curbing inflation.

[EvoFire]

I asked a few pages back and you ignored me, I'll ask again honda, why are you still here? If it's such a shit hole then leave.

Voting in a different leader, different party isn't going to change 80% of what you are complaining about.

[westopher]

Originally Posted by Traum

https://toronto.citynews.ca/2022/12/...s-legislation/


As a practical example of how Canadian politicians are literally dismantling democracy, look no further than Onterrible's "strong mayor" policy. Checks and balances are put into place precisely to make sure there is some semblance of a due process. If only minority support is enough to enact and enforce a policy, how are we any different from authoritarian regimes and dictatorships???

No one in the position of (public) power is credible when they say they will only use the given power "in a limited and responsible" manner. The only way to ensure the power is not abused is to build in checks and balances to make sure he doesn't overstep.

Fuck Ford and fuck Tory.

Same thing in Alberta as well. The provincial government trying to grant themselves the power to pass bills without votes or support. For a party of limited government they sure do love fascism.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

I asked a few pages back and you ignored me, I'll ask again honda, why are you still here? If it's such a shit hole then leave.

Voting in a different leader, different party isn't going to change 80% of what you are complaining about.

I’m on the way out bro. I’ll have another passport within a year or two.

I don’t really understand this like… nothing I’m saying is wrong I’ve quantified everything I’ve said with actual statistics

Crime is wayyyy up.. downtown is littered with needles and piles of shit, homelessness, mental illness, etc. all out of control in the city I live in. And in comparison to virtually any other comparable city, these things are much worse.

I ask wtf is going on here, can we please do something, and the response is “well why are you still here?”

I can’t expect better for the country and city I’ve lived in my whole life? Lol ok

You say voting in different parties etc. won’t change anything, lol then wtf are we even doing. We are at a low point in Canadian society with a govt. that has been in power going on 9 years. If nothing else the opportunity for a change is enough to vote. You see change already in voting a different party in Ken Sim. In basically a month he cleared up the stupid Stanley park bike lanes, and increased the budget in the VPD.. things the previous govt. weren’t touching for fear of offending minority groups. So obviously a change in who is running things does have some effect on what gets done. Especially in municipal politics.

And that’s without mentioning all the taxes I pay for all this.

[68style]

Hondaracer: I fucking hate it here, all the policies are terrible and the government is a clown show, country is a damn shithole... I'm LEAVING!

Also Hondaracer: I'm shamelessly going to take all the profits I've made from the policies I hate that created massive wealth in my RE investments and move somewhere with all my money I've made living in such a privileged shithole country and can afford services in my new paradise that likely only wealthy people can afford because those services aren't provided to everyone and pay less taxes because there's more diversification between rich and poor at said destination as well

[Badhobz]

dont be so hard on the guy, he's right about crime going up. It comes with more social inequality. what can you really do about it? not much unless you go full on batshit stupid communism and even then when everyone is poor, there will still be issues.

Yeah he can move out, but thats not really something most people can do if they have roots/family here. It might be a shitty and unsafe place, but its still the best shitty unsafe place compared to the alternatives.

[Manic!]

Any place Honda moves to is going to be worse than Canada. He just won't see it because he will move to some white washed area made for people who call themselves expats. We will see him post on here on how he can't get good sushi. He could just movie to a place like whistler and have a simular experience but he's not that rich.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

Hondaracer: I fucking hate it here, all the policies are terrible and the government is a clown show, country is a damn shithole... I'm LEAVING!

Also Hondaracer: I'm shamelessly going to take all the profits I've made from the policies I hate that created massive wealth in my RE investments and move somewhere with all my money I've made living in such a privileged shithole country and can afford services in my new paradise that likely only wealthy people can afford because those services aren't provided to everyone and pay less taxes because there's more diversification between rich and poor at said destination as well

9 years of Trudeau builds ya a nest egg

I don’t use my home as an investment but the countless others that have rode this system to where we are at today are far more culpable than a person that owns a single home and lives in it. Nice spin though

[68style]

I’m not trying to be mean, but most people don’t shit on things that put them in a position to be extremely successful in life compared to most of the world.

I wouldn’t mind leaving Canada too, but it’s more because I’m just kind of bored here and would like to move somewhere with fresh places and more history to it… or that I could maybe afford a house instead of a condo… but not out of hate or spite.

[meme405]

Originally Posted by 68style

I’m not trying to be mean, but most people don’t shit on things that put them in a position to be extremely successful in life compared to most of the world.

I wouldn’t mind leaving Canada too, but it’s more because I’m just kind of bored here and would like to move somewhere with fresh places and more history to it… or that I could maybe afford a house instead of a condo… but not out of hate or spite.

Any gains I've made on RE in could easily have been way overshadowed (like I'm talking 3x) by my savings on personal income taxes/effective tax rate if I lived somewhere like Ireland, belize, the UAE, Caymans, etc.

That is to say if I didn't live in Canada or own real estate here, and just moved somewhere else I would likely be wealthier by several orders of magnitude. The gains on RE help even that slightly, but my home is my primary residence, I cant sell it and capitalize on that.

[Hondaracer]

It’s all just paper equity. It’s not like I’m owning multiple properties and leveraging the equity into wealth. It’s my primary residence

Pay out the ass for income and property tax to wait 6 months to see a doctor

There is like this vibe here where I’m the enemy because I think we could do better. I’m not some overseas student who owns three 5 million dollar homes lol

[68style]

You're twisting things now... nobody is against doing better...

What they're against is chicken little sky is falling commentary.

[CivicBlues]

Honda, not piling on the hate here but genuine question: how did you manage to get a European passport/residency? Also most of the people I know who have made the jump living in Europe are the digital nomad types. But from your other posts you it doesn't seem like you can do your job remotely. What do you intend to do for work?

[Hondaracer]

Through my wife who got hers via ancestry.

I have a skill set that can potentially be done remotely but currently I’m not setup for that. Honestly it’s probably more of a part time thing at this point but to do your masters in many EU countries is a fraction of the cost of doing it in Canada. So depending on our financial situation my wife may come to Europe to do her masters and I dunno.. I’ll tag along. I could easily get a job in construction etc. I think even with a language barrier as a stop-gap measure if that was the route we wanted to take

[CivicBlues]

Good luck, I really mean that. Which country are you thinking of settling in?

That being said I hope you honestly succeed in your move and brings you happiness you are searching for. Just be cognizant of the rose-coloured glasses and grass is greener syndromes. Also, wherever you go, there you are.

As someone who's lived abroad multiple times and always ended up returning here, I've realized at my age you can take the Canadian out of Canada, but you can't take the Canada out of the Canadian. I hope you take the time to reflect on the real source of your unhappiness (whether it's really just external things out of your control) and whether or not such a drastic turn to find it.

[Hondaracer]

Thanks.

Again it’s a bit of a dream still but not as much as it once was. Both of us seem to be in agreement that Portugal would be a likely destination.

I don’t think we’d give up owning something in Vancouver as a backup plan nor would we anticipate moving there forever but stranger things have happened. I do envy people who have got up and moved abroad and made it work if nothing else for having the balls to do so. It’s easy to become comfortable in your situation. And yea, at the end of the day Vancouver isn’t such a bad place to end up comfortable in, as long as you’re not lying to yourself

[westopher]

Hondaracer is going to be seatracer on revscene.pt spazzing about De Sousa’s drug policies next year

[68style]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Thanks.

Again it’s a bit of a dream still but not as much as it once was. Both of us seem to be in agreement that Portugal would be a likely destination.

Do you even need to wait or go through ancestry?

Anyone can get citizenship in Portugal if they invest 280k euros:
https://getgoldenvisa.com/portugal-golden-visa-program

[CivicBlues]

There's also the digital nomad visa:
https://visaguide.world/digital-nomad-visa/portugal/

Tons of people are moving to Portugal from the States/Canada. I personally know one guy working on his crypto business (wonder how he's doing these days heh) who moved to Porto a few years back.

I've only been to Lisbon and the Algarve and while nice, there's definitely large swathes of Lisbon that are borderline 3rd world. Crumbling buildings, sidewalks, full of immigrants from "shithole" countries. There's also growing pushback at foreigners there driving up housing prices for locals moving in with their N.American salaries. Sound familiar?

I hear Porto is nice tho.

[Hondaracer]

I’m in Porto now, Gaia actually, have been for a week. Before this was in the Duoro valley for 5 days and before that the Algarve for 10. Haven’t been to Lisbon but everywhere else so far has been great.

It may sound stupid given it’s geographical location but Portugal is by far the most “western” country I’ve ever been to in Europe, I’d say maybe even more than the Ireland or the UK in terms of the things I care about and the annoyances of daily life that come with most of Europe

Ie. having grocery stores that carry everything in one place, being able to buy things like tooth paste etc. in stores other than Pharmacies, variety of food

Although with that said I had, maybe the worst sushi of my life, at a place touted to have “the best sushi in Portigal”

I know a lot of sushi places in Vancouver have Korean chefs but I’ve never seen a black guy and a white guy behind the counter in my life I’ll take Fujiya’s sad excuse for sushi over this anyday lol.. the food would be tough to leave Vancouver.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by 68style

Hondaracer: I fucking hate it here, all the policies are terrible and the government is a clown show, country is a damn shithole... I'm LEAVING!

Also Hondaracer: I'm shamelessly going to take all the profits I've made from the policies I hate that created massive wealth in my RE investments and move somewhere with all my money I've made living in such a privileged shithole country and can afford services in my new paradise that likely only wealthy people can afford because those services aren't provided to everyone and pay less taxes because there's more diversification between rich and poor at said destination as well

It's funny about some of these libertarian types.

The bolded reminds me of a recent conversation I had with a friend of mine -- older Greek guy, his parents are old, him and his family own a bunch of houses/condos throughout the lower mainland.

He was complaining about taxes and those funds diverted to social services, and the capital gains taxes he'd had on his parent's properties.

He believes the classic libertarian idea that taxes and government should only be involved with policing (property protection) and basic services, everything else should be privatized and self-funded.

I looked at him and chuckled and I said well, "Dino, many of these taxes that go to social services are what keep this country stable from an economic standpoint, they allow confidence in governance, making this country a safe and stable place to invest in. It can be argued that such taxes carry a direct correlation to the profitability, and steady increases to the overall value of the same properties/land your parents purchased many years ago in this city."

He stood there for a moment and said "Hmm... I didn't really think about it that way".

It's fascinating how short sided we can be in our political opinions.

[inv4zn]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

It's funny about some of these libertarian types.

I looked at him and chuckled and I said well, "Dino, many of these taxes that go to social services are what keep this country stable from an economic standpoint, they allow confidence in governance, making this country a safe and stable place to invest in. It can be argued that such taxes carry a direct correlation to the profitability, and steady increases to the overall value of the same properties/land your parents purchased many years ago in this city."

He stood there for a moment and said "Hmm... I didn't really think about it that way".

It's fascinating how short sided we can be in our political opinions.

The problem is we are now at an age where critical and unbiased thinking is just too difficult for people, and it's much easier to shove your fingers in your ears and say "nah uh, you libtard fascist!!".

Nobody reads books anymore, let alone any form of text longer than a tweet. Things like tik-tok and 'shorts' which (IMO) are designed to whittle away at attention spans are the de facto form of "news", and the objectively stupid are allowed to not only have their stupid opinions heard, they're allowed to collectively group those stupid thoughts as if it somehow validates them, and it's merely a "difference of opinion" and not a right and wrong.

[EvoFire]

I was busy and didn't get to respond to you, so my apologies.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I’m on the way out bro. I’ll have another passport within a year or two.

Don't let the door hit you on the way out
I jest. (I've always wanted to say that to someone)

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I don’t really understand this like… nothing I’m saying is wrong I’ve quantified everything I’ve said with actual statistics

The problem is you often don't, or you quote statistics that none of us agree to

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Crime is wayyyy up.. downtown is littered with needles and piles of shit, homelessness, mental illness, etc. all out of control in the city I live in. And in comparison to virtually any other comparable city, these things are much worse.

I ask wtf is going on here, can we please do something, and the response is “well why are you still here?”

I can’t expect better for the country and city I’ve lived in my whole life? Lol ok

Crime is way up all over the world. Traveling to a city and living in one is very different.

We were in Barcelona. We loved it. We were told not to go past a certain street as we were guaranteed to be robbed.
We enjoyed our time there. Just so happens during our time there, one of the days there was an independence rally and protest and there was a huge crack down. We lucked out and didn't see it because we weren't in that part of town. We were just there the day before.

I'm from HK. HK is a 1st class city on the surface, and a 3rd world country and many parts. Behind all the fancy hotels in TST and Central, there's thousands living in 20sqft subdivided rooms. There are triads and gang warfare, and depending on which side of the coin you sit, either an amazing police force or triads in uniform.

Every city harbours a dark underside, you just know Vancouver better and know where to look.
Kingsway used to be shit from Knight all the way to Rupert. It's no longer the case. Is it amazing? No. But nor are there prostitutes standing on every corner. Things shuffle around. Strathcona and Chinatown used to be this bustling area as well before it became a bit of a slum. Chinatown is slowly cleaning up.

Wherever you move to, unless it's some tiny village, there will be a underside or some kind of systemic issue. The question is whether if it bothers you or not.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

You say voting in different parties etc. won’t change anything, lol then wtf are we even doing. We are at a low point in Canadian society with a govt. that has been in power going on 9 years. If nothing else the opportunity for a change is enough to vote. You see change already in voting a different party in Ken Sim. In basically a month he cleared up the stupid Stanley park bike lanes, and increased the budget in the VPD.. things the previous govt. weren’t touching for fear of offending minority groups. So obviously a change in who is running things does have some effect on what gets done. Especially in municipal politics.

And that’s without mentioning all the taxes I pay for all this.

This is my problem with some of your posts, you complain about one thing and then use a different example altogether to prove your point. You keep complaining about Trudeau and the federal liberal party but use municipal elections as an example that voting works. You also attribute a lot of the problems to the feds when it's not in their jurisdiction.

The issue of crime is one that, at this moment, I don't see either federal party having the political will to tackle. Trudeau isn't great, for one he promised elections reform that never came, but I definitely do not want the conservatives in power. I would however like it if someone else other than Trudeau led the Liberals. He's run his course but as long as the Cons are in shambles Trudeau will at the minimum win a minority gov't and there's no will to change unless he steps down.

Healthcare is a lot based on provincial gov't. Horgan and now Eby seems to be trying. What else is there?


I've honestly never felt unsafe in Vancouver, I'd be more concerned about the coyote that lives nearby or a bad driver than a high risk offender.

[sonick]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

This is my problem with some of your posts, you complain about one thing and then use a different example altogether to prove your point.

straw man
/ˌstrô ˈman/
noun
noun: strawman

A straw man (sometimes written as strawman) is a form of argument and an informal fallacy of having the impression of refuting an argument, whereas the real subject of the argument was not addressed or refuted, but instead replaced with a false one.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by EvoFire

The issue of crime is one that, at this moment, I don't see either federal party having the political will to tackle. Trudeau isn't great, for one he promised elections reform that never came, but I definitely do not want the conservatives in power. I would however like it if someone else other than Trudeau led the Liberals. He's run his course but as long as the Cons are in shambles Trudeau will at the minimum win a minority gov't and there's no will to change unless he steps down.

PeePee and the Cons seem to have been consistently polling a few percentage points higher than Trudeau and the Liberals have at the federal level lately. And generally speaking, when the economy isn't doing well, the incumbents get tossed out regardless of whether it is actually their fault or not.

In that sense, I am really kind of gloomy about the Liberals being able to pull out another win. Potentially, a change in leadership might draw some of the swing voters back, but I don't really see that happening for now.