Canadian politics thread

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

Too bad there isn't a centrist right party with a likeable leader. The message is loud and clear though - the NDP is not doing enough on affordability, healthcare, housing, opioid crisis, and crime.

I just couldn't cast a vote for the party with such a weird, climate change denier, anti-vaccine leader.

I still don't know why Kevin Falcon shat the bed so badly.

I think the NDP has done a poor job on the drug and opioid crisis but I don't see how they could have (in the last few years) done anymore on the affordability and housing crisis. They've rolled out, by far, the most aggressive package of changes around housing of any jurisdiction in North America - they've taken all the best ideas out there, listened to actual experts in the field. This is in total contrast to what Doug Ford is doing in Ontario where housing starts are significantly lower than in BC per capita.

And it's not like the NDP policies were going up against a set of credible policies from the Cons - even ignoring the climate change denial, the racists, the anti-vax, the fake doctors, and the conspiracy theorists the actual policies were half baked and would make things worse.

Voters weren't voting for better policies with the Cons, they were voting in anger.

[Great68]

Actually I think NDP's housing policies hurt them in that they were too agressive for a lot of people.

I think taking zoning power away from municipalities and jamming SSMU down their throats worked against them here.

I also don't think Dweeby is as likeable as Horgan was. People who maybe were traditional BC lib voters but voted Horgan in the last election because Clark was shit, didn't vote NDP again this time.

[Hondaracer]

I had lunch on Friday with some big wigs in the construction industry, people who build thousands of homes a year. They all laughed at the assertion that housing starts are actually up year over year.

All of them said housing starts are the lowest they’ve been since 2017 and there is no incentive in the industry to step them up given margins and red tape.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by whitev70r

The message is loud and clear though - the NDP is not doing enough on affordability, healthcare, housing, opioid crisis, and crime.

I agree that the results of the votes are saying exactly just that -- that the NDP is not doing enough on these key issues that you've mentioned. What baffles me is -- what makes voters think the Conservatives under Rustad's leadership would do better in these portfolios?

Esp with affordability and healthcare, I find Rustad's plans to be totally unviable at all. The renter and mortgage rebates will put money into people's pockets, but at a huge expense to the province's financial revenues, and it shows in the Cons' higher costed platform than the NDP's despite Rustad cricitizing the NDP for being wasteful in their spendings.

And then there is healthcare. In our current healthcare crisis, the source of our problem is a lack of medical staff, not a lack of private healthcare options. Allowing for private healthcare will only erode the public system and make it more expensive.

So why would people think the Conservatives can do a better job than the NDP?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I had lunch on Friday with some big wigs in the construction industry, people who build thousands of homes a year. They all laughed at the assertion that housing starts are actually up year over year.

All of them said housing starts are the lowest they’ve been since 2017 and there is no incentive in the industry to step them up given margins and red tape.

Housing starts across the country are absolutely down but it's far worse in Ontario than here. We have far less restrictive zoning than Ontario and it shows even in shitty economic times for building housing.



Source: https://morehousing.substack.com/p/david-eby

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Great68

Actually I think NDP's housing policies hurt them in that they were too agressive for a lot of people.

I think taking zoning power away from municipalities and jamming SSMU down their throats worked against them here.

I also don't think Dweeby is as likeable as Horgan.

Totally true - Eby is closer to Dix than he is to Horgan. Horgan's folksy nature played well to rural voters while Eby is a nerdy urbanite. A healthy Horgan wins this election easily cause he makes Rustad look like a wimp.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by supafamous

Housing starts across the country are absolutely down but it's far worse in Ontario than here. We have far less restrictive zoning than Ontario and it shows even in shitty economic times for building housing.



Source: https://morehousing.substack.com/p/david-eby

Trust me when I say this, zoning isn’t the issue.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Traum

Rustad cricitizing the NDP for being wasteful in their spendings.

Which is laughable when he wants to run an 11B deficit and waste 8B on a second bridge in Kelowna that will do absolutely nothing.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Trust me when I say this, zoning isn’t the issue.

It's one of a long list of issues - the prior zoning ensured that almost no projects could make a profit. Labour, permits, approval processes, fees etc all play a part in slowing development. Even with the new zoning, some cities are being real shitheads and are putting in poison pills in so projects still can't make money (like ridiculously high development fees).

[JDMDreams]

I think ppl were tired of Ndp after the last 7-8 years did any of your lives improve after Corona? Made more money? Less tax? What was better in the last 7 years? Your commute? Living standards? Public safety? Healthcare? Did you get a bigger house? Everything went to shit in the last few years and things never improved. Gas price went up, Ndp was hell bent on keeping the carbon tax then they last minute flip flop on changing it. They did absolutely nothing on crime, ppl still getting random attacks, gang bangers still banging, drug crisis got worse and there were adamant on decriminalization. Stores locking up toothpaste now. They fucked over icbc so if you get into an accident there's no real coverage. Just like the West Van family wedding that had the China Lady crash into them, hit like 6 people and killed 2. Nothing they can do. And the China Lady got like $1000 fine.

[hud 91gt]

Every contract renewal I’ve seen in a workplace has seen huge increases from 10-40% lol.

So yes. Many people are making more money.

[Tapioca]

It's very much a different situation between public sector vs private sector workers. Private sectors workers have been slashed and had salary growth stall while wage growth and hiring have more or less continued unabated in the public sector.

High school kids can't even get jobs because fast food places only want to hire TFWs.

Even if your wages have gone up 20%, the cost of housing has skyrocketed beyond rates of wage growth since 2021. Yes macroeconomic conditions have impacted that, but let's be honest, most people don't read the NY Times or the Economist to rationalize why the political economy is making it harder to meet basic needs.

In the suburbs, you're seeing drug use and homelessness in the open, which wasn't the case about a decade ago. Most people who choose to live in the suburbs expect peace and quiet in exchange for the conveniences of living in the city, so it's not hard to see why people are upset and are looking to blame incumbents. And look where the Cons won last night - Richmond and Surrey. We all know how Chinese people, generally speaking, feel about drug use.

Look at the main operatives of the BC Conservative party - all under the age of 40. Yes, even though things have materially better for me personally over the past 7 years, I'm not ignorant enough to dismiss the concerns of younger folks who aren't having their material needs being met. Thats why the BC Conservatives got the results they did last night.

[hud 91gt]

He asked if people made more money. Most do. Minimum wage is like $16 isn’t it? That didn’t bump up every other salary on the low end?

I didn’t vote for NDP this round, but I’m not ignorant to the fact the reason my quality of life is better as of now is due to left leaning, worker centric governments with a guiding hand over the right wing. I can’t say the economy would be any better over the last few years on the right side either (looking at the world as a whole).

Btw I’m in the private sector and saw record increases. Although we had been held down by timing and conservative governments over the last several decades, so we were due for a bump. This didn’t really have much to do on the provincial side but it’s all a trickle effect.

[Hondaracer]

lol you think people making $20 instantly made a bump due to the min increasing? Yea right.

The people quivering at the thought of a con govt. shouldn’t consider this a win if Eby does ultimately win, this is just a showcase of how shit the general population thinks they are.

Every article people like manic post about how shitty these con candidates are or they made some racist posts previously, this isn’t about how shitty those people are, it’s about how bad the encumbant person is viewed. Of course the “racist” white rock guy won no problem.

All this shit about omg!! PP is such a shit person, career politician, he’s not gonna do anything!!!

Yea.. and that guy is going to get a sweeping majority with literally zero effort.

[hud 91gt]

Perhaps that was an ignorant thought, but I see bottom end jobs getting crazy wages everywhere I look. The previous poster asked if people are making more money. They are. Are living expenses substantially higher? Absolutely. Did the provincial government have much impact on that?

[Badhobz]

It’s seems like right now there are only two choices. Ndp for middle to lower class and the rich douche bags who vote conservatives. Lawl. That shrinking middle class is real man. There are so few middle class Canadians nowadays. Either you have a shit load of money or you’re evofire.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Badhobz

It’s seems like right now there are only two choices. Ndp for middle to lower class and the rich douche bags who vote conservatives. Lawl. That shrinking middle class is real man. There are so few middle class Canadians nowadays. Either you have a shit load of money or you’re evofire.

Dude is gonna be lining up at the Whole Food Bank to make ends meet.

[Traum]

Not sure if any of you guys have picked this up yet, but I am just totally mind blown at Ms Clark's suggestion that she would be interested in replacing Turd if Turd steps down

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/chr...down-1.7357740

I'm like -- how about a hard fxxking NO?! The whole BC have had enough of her garbage, and the rest of Canada needs to know that if the federal Liberals have a death wish to doom themselves into irrelevence, they should definitely elect Crusty Clark to be their next leader.

p.s. If it comes down to choosing between PeePee, Crusty, and Jagmeet, I'd rather shoot myself in the foot with Jagmeet than the other two.

[westopher]

Insanity for her to think she would have any support. She's so fucking delusional.

[Hondaracer]

She’s got bigger balls than Turd, that’s for sure

I also see Mark Carney thinking about getting into politics as pressure for Justin to resign mounts.

Yea.. if the ultimate goal was to replace him with the only person you could possibly find who is even more out of touch with Reality.

[Badhobz]

When’s the federal election ?!?? Hurry up and no confidence vote it in

[unit]

the bc liberals are the ones who had the chance to do something about housing costs and chose to do nothing instead, despite cries to put in vacancy taxes, foreign buyers taxes, etc.. they only announced the foreign buyers tax on the eve of their demise. basically they did nothing and allowed the snowball to roll down the hill, and it's been unstoppable ever since. at least with the ndp we have the foreign buyers tax, airbnb ban, vacancy tax, speculation tax, etc... none of these measures were even considered preemptively back in crusty's day, despite many calls for them.

[yray]

you think turd is bad, wait till its Freeland

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by unit

the bc liberals are the ones who had the chance to do something about housing costs and chose to do nothing instead, despite cries to put in vacancy taxes, foreign buyers taxes, etc.. they only announced the foreign buyers tax on the eve of their demise. basically they did nothing and allowed the snowball to roll down the hill, and it's been unstoppable ever since. at least with the ndp we have the foreign buyers tax, airbnb ban, vacancy tax, speculation tax, etc... none of these measures were even considered preemptively back in crusty's day, despite many calls for them.

So this is the big narrative with all the whiners on Reddit, however, wasn’t there extensive research after the fact essentially saying foreign buyers made up like 2% of the total transactions and weren’t having an overall effect on the market?

Also the Airbnb ban has been a total failure as there was no metric to measure the outcome by, and the govt, in typical fashion, has no data on whether or not it actually increased rental capacity.

So I wouldn’t be so fast to hang your hat on policies that have no way to measure their impacts.

[noclue]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

She’s got bigger balls than Turd, that’s for sure

I also see Mark Carney thinking about getting into politics as pressure for Justin to resign mounts.

Yea.. if the ultimate goal was to replace him with the only person you could possibly find who is even more out of touch with Reality.

Not a fan of JT but I'd vote for Mark Carney with his credentials and experience vs a populist lifer PP. Let's see, comes from a poor family but was smart enough to go to Goldman Sachs, bank governor in 2 countries and now Brookfield. Instead of recognizing his talents he's labelled as a WEF globalist from looney right wing media.