Canadian politics thread

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by bcrdukes

Should federal politicians be ineligible for a pension? We seem to be pretty butt hurt about it.

We don't pay our politicians enough. We basically make it so that only people who are well-off can afford to run for office. We're getting the government we pay for and the rich are loving it.

[68style]

Elected officials are nothing, every single RCMP officer (not to pick on them specifically, but it's easier to access their information) who puts in their 35 gets 75% of their highest rank as a pension and pretty much all of them double dip into related indusries (municipal police or BC Hydro for example) afterward. That's max pension too, you can take full pension at 25 for a bit less.

A Sgt is nothing special at RCMP and that's $138,000 a year... so your pension is $103,500 a year. Even if you were a Cst and did nothing but write traffic tickets will get $86,000 a year at current rates.

Imagine how much is getting paid out annually for retired Cst/Cpl/Sgt? Leader of a whole country only get 2x the pension of a Sgt at the police? That's kinda crazy cheap when you think about it.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by 68style

Mark Carney has been making the rounds and calls with all the Liberal elites, I somewhat expect him to throw his hat in

Freeland probably will too but she's deeply unpopular in the public despite a lot of her peers seemingly thinking she's solid. I feel mixed on her, she's said some really tone deaf things but Trump hates her so she can't be that bad.

I dunno why Honda is being intentionally dense about Turd's plans, or what his successor might do. His plans are as clear as daylight, just as 68 has fully spelled out above. In fact, every political commentator in the country has been tooting more or less the same line -- they want to buy time to do a shorter, but still proper leadership race, not that it matters who will come out to lead afterwards, because they are still gonna suffer a landslide defeat.

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

If whoever comes in as Liberal leader can blow jagmeet hard enough there won’t even be a non-confidence vote. That’s the point in dragging this out. So we could be almost a year into Trumps presidency with yet another lame duck PM governing Canada until the election can be formally called.

There is no way Jagmeet will go back to dance with the Libs again for now, because he has been labelled as the co-conspiratory / Liberals-enabler. The NDP's poll numbers are already poorer than ever, and his job since break off from the supply and confidence agreement has been to distanct himself / the NDP from the Liberals -- a job that he has been failing rather miserably so far. 2025 is our federal election year regardless of whether the opposition parties vote down the government. If Jagmeet brings the NDP back into dancing with the Libs until Oct, they are only going to get punished even harder then.

Much to my dismay, it is gonna be a landslide victory for PeePee and his wackos. Jagmeet's job now is to fight off the Libs (and maybe also the BQ) to become the Offical Opposition party, and I am not sure who is gonna win that 3 horse race.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by 68style

Canada is no fault for divorces, it doesn't matter if there's infidelity.

It does if there’s a pre-nup. Don’t know Sophie’s background but I would assume Turd was infinitely more wealthy even back when they got together

[Hondaracer]

In regards to pensions I feel like politicians should be just paid more upfront and not given pensions. This would incentivize actual service rather than clinging to a seat in order to get that golden ticket then ultimately it doesn’t matter what happens after that.

As someone who has a defined benefit pension I’ll likely never realize, pensions outside of maybe policing and nursing are for losers. The vast majority of people I know who aren’t in those aforementioned fields who have defined benefit pensions are the George Constanza type of employee who would work for a decade in a broom closet in order to keep that pension because they have no prospects otherwise. Especially in municipal service imo.

[Traum]

Originally Posted by 68style

Elected officials are nothing, every single RCMP officer (not to pick on them specifically, but it's easier to access their information) who puts in their 35 gets 75% of their highest rank as a pension and pretty much all of them double dip into related indusries (municipal police or BC Hydro for example) afterward. That's max pension too, you can take full pension at 25 for a bit less.

A Sgt is nothing special at RCMP and that's $138,000 a year... so your pension is $103,500 a year. Even if you were a Cst and did nothing but write traffic tickets will get $86,000 a year at current rates.

Back in 4th year (ugrad) when I was looking at career paths, I shunned the different police forces that came to recruit on campus. At the time, I naively thought that it was only a grunt work job that starts at $40k/yr, when I was kind of expecting something in the $60k range in the IT sector. Little did I know that there was a nice fat pension behind it, and how favourable the terms of the pension was, esp how you can cash out relatively early for a police officer when you are in your early to mid 50's, and then double dip with a perky new career.

Of course, I probably would have failed the physical part of the entrance exam LOL~

[Hondaracer]

The problem even with those police pensions etc. is what do you do for the 3 decades it takes to get a pension? You’re making peanuts. Cops are not so bad because as outlined above you do have the potential to make a decent living eventually, but for civil servants you’re making -nothing- in the lead up to your pension.

I have a friend who makes like 65k a year who’s family has convinced him the pension is the be all end all, the guy has nothing he can barely pay rent drives broken down vehicles etc. but he’s a total block head with the pension as the end goal

I asked wtf is the point of a pension when you’ve been broke AF the entire time leading up to it? Can’t afford to buy anything, live a life doing nothing in terms of travel etc. so you can MAYBE get 50k a year when you retire? That barely covers your rent for 3 decades of work lol.

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

In regards to pensions I feel like politicians should be just paid more upfront and not given pensions. This would incentivize actual service rather than clinging to a seat in order to get that golden ticket then ultimately it doesn’t matter what happens after that.

What clinging? They qualify for their pension as soon as they hit 6 years of service which is two elections worth of service and it's the same amount whether they serve 6 years or 16 years or 36 years.

https://www.canada.ca/en/treasury-bo...sion-plan.html

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

I have a friend who makes like 65k a year who’s family has convinced him the pension is the be all end all, the guy has nothing he can barely pay rent drives broken down vehicles etc. but he’s a total block head with the pension as the end goal

I asked wtf is the point of a pension when you’ve been broke AF the entire time leading up to it? Can’t afford to buy anything, live a life doing nothing in terms of travel etc. so you can MAYBE get 50k a year when you retire? That barely covers your rent for 3 decades of work lol.

65k a year is an average salary in Canada. Combined with a guaranteed pension he's actually doing pretty well.

[noclue]

hondaracer what celebratory drink are you having tonight? Johnnie walker conservative blue?

I like how the capital gain increase got punted by the proroguing of parliament. Hopefully federal luxury tax next!

[RevYouUp]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

The problem even with those police pensions etc. is what do you do for the 3 decades it takes to get a pension? You’re making peanuts. Cops are not so bad because as outlined above you do have the potential to make a decent living eventually, but for civil servants you’re making -nothing- in the lead up to your pension.

I have a friend who makes like 65k a year who’s family has convinced him the pension is the be all end all, the guy has nothing he can barely pay rent drives broken down vehicles etc. but he’s a total block head with the pension as the end goal

I asked wtf is the point of a pension when you’ve been broke AF the entire time leading up to it? Can’t afford to buy anything, live a life doing nothing in terms of travel etc. so you can MAYBE get 50k a year when you retire? That barely covers your rent for 3 decades of work lol.

It's also good for people that can't save or don't have the discipline to invest. If your friend makes like $75k or something else where, he'd still be broke and living pay cheque to pay cheque with no pension when he retires.

[Badhobz]

Can one of you mods change Honda's avatar to PP now?

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by RevYouUp

It's also good for people that can't save or don't have the discipline to invest. If your friend makes like $75k or something else where, he'd still be broke and living pay cheque to pay cheque with no pension when he retires.

In my experience, the private sector pays between $18-$35,000 more for similar “advanced” positions where you’re not getting a pension

While I do agree that people in general are bad at saving/investing, for anyone with half a brain money now is typically much better than money later

As I’ve said before here, if you make 65k or less in Canada, in any sort of major city, you’re essentially hopeless. 65k a year you’re spending almost half your income on rent alone. It would likely take 15-20 years to save up enough to buy almost anything. So yea.. while it’s the average Canadian income that isn’t saying much, and the pension doesn’t really give you anything besides extending your below average lifestyle into retirement. (Assuming a single person)

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by 68style

He might have to talk about *gasp* his own policies… which should be impossible because he has zero that make any sense, but I’m sure he will find a way by just saying he’s going to fix everything but never how.

axe the tax, build the homes, and bring it home

actually i have no idea what he's going to talk about now

[JDMDreams]

#Bring Trump home

[Traum]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

While I do agree that people in general are bad at saving/investing, for anyone with half a brain money now is typically much better than money later

Following your line of reasoning, when these people who are bad at managing / saving / investing their money receives their money now (as opposed to having them saved up in their defined pension), what do you think they are going to do with that money?

Of course they are going to think that having the $$$ now is much better than having the same $$$ later bcos they are going to spend that $$$ now! That is literally why having the money automatically deducted now, and having them paid out later as monthly pension payments are good for these people, bcos it'll ensure them having at least a bit of money later in their lives.

Of course, they can still choose to squander them in their pension collecting days.

Having the money now only works best for those who would have at least some degree of money sense and discipline.

[Hondaracer]

That’s why I said anyone with half a brain is better with money now than later. If making more = spending more then you’re doing it wrong

The more I make, the more I pump into my investments while living the same lifestyle. I might splurge occasionally on things I wouldn’t otherwise like better classes of flights, clothes, etc. but my priority is gaining wealth VS changing my lifestyle.

As I’ve said previously, making 10/20/30k more a year does almost nothing for me outside of contributing more to RRSP and TFSA because it’s not like that allows me any sort of change in my lifestyle. I’m not dumb enough to go out and buy a Rolex because I got a new job, but I know many people are.

In regards to the gambling part, I have some friends who are basically full blown addicts, like undiagnosed compulsive addicts when it comes to gambling. When I was just down in Vegas a friend won 30k USD playing baccarat in an 8 hour span, and I can almost guarantee he’s lost that same amount since we’ve been back. It’s no different than a heroin addict, unless you lock them in a cage it’s futile.

[underscore]

Originally Posted by GLOW

axe the tax, build the homes, and bring it home

actually i have no idea what he's going to talk about now

He'll spend all his time blaming the previous government while quietly fucking us all over.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by Traum

Back in 4th year (ugrad) when I was looking at career paths, I shunned the different police forces that came to recruit on campus. At the time, I naively thought that it was only a grunt work job that starts at $40k/yr, when I was kind of expecting something in the $60k range in the IT sector. Little did I know that there was a nice fat pension behind it, and how favourable the terms of the pension was, esp how you can cash out relatively early for a police officer when you are in your early to mid 50's, and then double dip with a perky new career.

Of course, I probably would have failed the physical part of the entrance exam LOL~

You would pass the physical fine.

I was an RCMP auxiliary for a few years and did the PFA a few times.

It's fairly easy to pass if you aren't a total and complete fat ass.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by underscore

He'll spend all his time blaming the previous government while quietly fucking us all over.

so like every other government then?

[supafamous]

Originally Posted by GLOW

so like every other government then?

It's the 3 Envelopes joke:

A new CEO was hired to take over a struggling company. The CEO who was stepping down met with him privately and presented him with three numbered envelopes. “Open these if you run into serious trouble,” he said.

Well, three months later sales and profits were still way down and the new CEO was catching a lot of heat. He began to panic but then he remembered the envelopes. He went to his drawer and took out the first envelope. The message read, “Blame your predecessor.” The new CEO called a press conference and explained that the previous CEO had left him with a real mess and it was taking a bit longer to clean it up than expected, but everything was on the right track. Satisfied with his comments, the press – and Wall Street – responded positively.

Another quarter went by and the company continued to struggle. Having learned from his previous experience, the CEO quickly opened the second envelope. The message read, “Reorganize.” So he fired key people, consolidated divisions and cut costs everywhere he could. This he did and Wall Street, and the press, applauded his efforts.

Three months passed and the company was still short on sales and profits. The CEO would have to figure out how to get through another tough earnings call. The CEO went to his office, closed the door and opened the third envelope. The message said, “Prepare three envelopes.”

[yray]

liberal party should adopt common sense slogan

slash the tax, whos gonna pay for your shit... its just common sense

[danned]

[Tapioca]

People roll their eyes at the sloganeering of the current Conservatives, but in the end, it has obviously worked as most people can't understand more than a few statements in our low attention world.

We have one of the most educated populations in the world, but we have politics reduced to simple sloganeering in this country. It's a shame.

[68style]

Yup, tonnes of "AXE THE TAX -PP" stickers around Calgary lol

That $10 a month or whatever it works out to per person is sure gonna save Canada. nevermind the mathematical gymnastics required to explain how a government cuts its deficits by reducing taxes, which are their only source of income.