Canadian politics thread

[unit]

i went to vote yesterday around 2pm in surrey, hardly any line.. there were 3 tables and almost everyone was in the same group with two other tables hardly used, otherwise would have been in and out in 2 minutes. took me about 10-15m, well worth voting early to avoid potential lines next monday

[BIC_BAWS]

4 min in and out at sun-god rec

Sent from my SM-G781W using Tapatalk

[Hondaracer]

Eby considering dropping the short term rental ban because.. surprise surprise.. it’s pricing out everyone from travelling within BC now that they are trapped north of the border

https://www.biv.com/news/commentary/...tions-10548251

B.C. rental rates have slowed, and in some cases fallen. Vacancy appears to have improved. How much of that is attributable to the short-term rental restrictions, or interest rates and other market conditions, remains a point of debate.

Some numbers come from a 2024 study by two housing academics from McGill University’s School of Urban Planning.

“The result is that municipal [short-term rental] regulations across British Columbia have reduced rents by 5.7 per cent, and saved British Columbia renters more than $600 million last year in lower rent payments,” they wrote.

The report, though, was commissioned and funded by the British Columbia Hotel Association, which has long fought against sites like Airnnb that have cut into their business and forced them to lower room rates. The researchers say the conclusions are their own.

and of course.. the only data to base their success on is funded by the hotel association

It’s so typical to do something, have no way to measure the outcome, and hang your hat on the success. Surely the “5% saved” has everything to do with the short term rental ban as opposed to sweeping, gigantic changes to immigration policies.

[68style]

Honestly though, I’ll take a government that tries something and then admits it’s not working out the way they hoped and changes course over whatever the fuck is going on lots of other places in the world right now.

[Hondaracer]

They had no data on this. They never did.

They then had no way to quantify the outcome.

As I’ve said time and time again, if you have no way to measure the outcome of your actions, it’s a failure.

[68style]

I know I thanked your post, but there are a lot of governments that would NEVER backtrack and change course no matter how much data showed it was not working.

[Hondaracer]

Well.. I think the biggest driver if it does get changed is people can’t take Eby’s “hold the line” in regards to not travelling to the states seriously when this legislation turned $300 hotel rooms in whistler and Kelowna into $700 rooms.

$50 rooms in Palm Springs or $550 in “west Kelowna”

[Manic!]

Anyone else like to vote the day of?


Our con candidate is super woke she even supports DEI.

https://www.nanaimoconsulting.com/te...ara-kronis?utm

Tamara’s drive to advance diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI), along with her passion for tackling issues related to the environment, social justice and governance (ESG) help organizations be and create the change they want to see in the world.

She also worked for the UN and was on the board of egale Canada a pro LGBTQ+ group.

[mikemhg]

I'm not sure what you're harping about.

The ultimate goal was to lower rental rates, which in this case has been successful thus far, we saw rental rates lower, and vacancies increase, that's a win.

Policy can't anticipate albatrosses -- that being a radical president that has enacted extreme policies resulting in massively diminished travel to the US, keeping people vacationing here at home.

[Badhobz]

Originally Posted by Manic!

Anyone else like to vote the day of?


Our con candidate is super woke she even supports DEI.

https://www.nanaimoconsulting.com/te...ara-kronis?utm



She also worked for the UN and was on the board of egale Canada a pro LGBTQ+ group.

pretty sure thats a man....

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

I'm not sure what you're harping about.

The ultimate goal was to lower rental rates, which in this case has been successful thus far, we saw rental rates lower, and vacancies increase, that's a win.

Policy can't anticipate albatrosses -- that being a radical president that has enacted extreme policies resulting in massively diminished travel to the US, keeping people vacationing here at home.

So you’re ok with the only data they had to quantify the short term ban was research done by the hotel association?

I said all of this back when it was first announced and now it’s come to fruition, I must be a genius!

[!LittleDragon]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

Well.. I think the biggest driver if it does get changed is people can’t take Eby’s “hold the line” in regards to not travelling to the states seriously when this legislation turned $300 hotel rooms in whistler and Kelowna into $700 rooms.

$50 rooms in Palm Springs or $550 in “west Kelowna”

Hasn't it always been expensive in BC? In my 20's, for the cost of a weekend in Victoria, I could spend 2-3 days in Vegas and I would go there 2-3 times a year. The days of $30 a night at The Luxor are long gone but I would still chose Vegas simply because of the hot weather.

[VRYALT3R3D]

Originally Posted by mikemhg

I'm not sure what you're harping about.

The ultimate goal was to lower rental rates, which in this case has been successful thus far, we saw rental rates lower, and vacancies increase, that's a win.

Who does that really help though? Why are we not thinking of the Landlord in this situation? Do lower rents help them?

Being a landlord is one of the most selfless acts one can make. Owning land and letting someone live on that land is a feeling of euphoria that is unmatched. Just last Christmas, I wrote a letter to my landlord. My thoughts raced from my mind and spilled out from the pen onto the paper as I found the proper words to express my gratitude. This is the person who sacrificed it all, purchased land, and found it in his heart to maintain it according to code.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by VRYALT3R3D

Who does that really help though? Why are we not thinking of the Landlord in this situation? Do lower rents help them?

Being a landlord is one of the most selfless acts one can make. Owning land and letting someone live on that land is a feeling of euphoria that is unmatched. Just last Christmas, I wrote a letter to my landlord. My thoughts raced from my mind and spilled out from the pen onto the paper as I found the proper words to express my gratitude. This is the person who sacrificed it all, purchased land, and found it in his heart to maintain it according to code.

Rent's have more than doubled in the last 10 years. What we had problems renting for $600 less than 10 years ago now rents for $1500 with a reno. The building is now worth more than 2x what we paid for it about 13 years ago.

There will be some landords who bought in the last few years that might not be happy but you can't make everyone happy.

Being a landlord is one of the easiest ways to make money these days.

[westopher]

Please someone think of the poor landlords! Don't forget to tip them!

[JDMDreams]

^^ if it's not for the poor landlords there's gonna be a lot more homeless people. Landlords are getting the short end of the stick here, never ending property tax increases, water metering fees, no property tax discount if you rent it out and additional capital gains tax, don't forget crazy high interest rates.

[Hondaracer]

For 2 decades the govt. at all levels told you, and encouraged you, that the best way to build wealth was to buy condos, townhomes, etc.

Tax incentives made it a great avenue for wealth, people took on high levels of risk to buy pre-sales etc. because everyone else was doing it. Developers and sales-centres were guiding people through the system everyone had been encouraged to partake in if you had some spare $$$

Then suddenly, the govt. realizes it fucked up and even with their rent controls in place, strict rules and regulations governing landlords and heavily favouring the tenants, they switched that thought on whim, without anything to back it up with, and forced people’s hands who up till that point had been told this is the way to get ahead.

I’m not overexposed in R/E like some but I don’t for a second think a lot of people took a huge hit because the govt. poorly executed, reactionary policies which ultimately can’t be quantified.

Once enough of these happens, it’s kind of like, “well at least they thought about reversing it!” Simply isn’t enough. Please enact policy based on actual data.

This shit is so tired like “hondaracer Fraser institute isn’t credible!!!”

Yet the fucking Hotel association releasing data on rent and vacancy rates is?!?!

As we’ve seen on the last few pages, we have developers advertising in China.. Suzy Twohomes with a bachelor suite in Kelowna was never the issue.

[Manic!]

Originally Posted by JDMDreams

^^ if it's not for the poor landlords there's gonna be a lot more homeless people. Landlords are getting the short end of the stick here, never ending property tax increases, water metering fees, no property tax discount if you rent it out and additional capital gains tax, don't forget crazy high interest rates.

If there where less landlords rents and houses would be cheaper. now everyone is a landloard. People taking an old house and renting it to 10 people at $600 a person in Nanaimo.

[Hondaracer]

Originally Posted by Manic!

If there where less landlords rents and houses would be cheaper. now everyone is a landloard. People taking an old house and renting it to 10 people at $600 a person in Nanaimo.

Who would own those homes then?

Simply if a landlord didn’t own a home the renter would?

Sound logic.

[JDMDreams]

I don't think homes with be cheaper, it's still a relatively free market, no one is holding a gun to your head to live in Nanaimo, it's still based on supply and demand, if demand doesn't go down prices won't. Their little rules once in a while is just like Trump's tariffs, it will cause more inefficiency than benefits.

[whitev70r]

I'd have to agree that all the landlord tenancy rules are now tipped too heavily on the tenant side. How much rent you can raise, how long notice you have to give to end tenancy agreement, rules of eviction, you can't even ask tenant to leave unless a family member is using the unit or condo, etc.

I understand that maybe 90% of all rentals go smoothly, both sides are reasonable, when it's time to end, usually done by all the rules. BUT the few stories that you do hear about tenants who find the loopholes, don't pay rent, go on the waitlist for hearing, meanwhile trashing the unit, and landlord is literally losing their shirt, their mind and tens of thousands of dollars in rent and damages. That's one story too many.

[VRYALT3R3D]

Originally Posted by westopher

Please someone think of the poor landlords! Don't forget to tip them!

[noclue]

BC/ON pro tenancy laws, headaches of dealing with professional renters combined with the entitlement that renters seem to have that they deserve to live in the west-end/olympic village/false creek area for below market rent are awful. It was worth putting up with it during the appreciating times on of 2010's but now condos are stagnating with rising condo fees/property taxes and insurance costs but of course you are labeled as a greedy landlord.

[westopher]

You guys are acting like if you don't like being a landlord there's no way out. Sell the fuckin place and have 1-500k in cash (or more) to invest in something else.
No one's losing money unless you didn't invest properly, and I don't know why people think that landlords should be immune from taking a loss. Business owners do it all the time, especially if they have no knowledge, skill, or hard work going into the business.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by Hondaracer

So you’re ok with the only data they had to quantify the short term ban was research done by the hotel association?

I said all of this back when it was first announced and now it’s come to fruition, I must be a genius!

Life isn't zero sum.

There are always winners and losers in any policy governance. Someone is bound to benefit, in this case it was the hotel association (which by the way carry many union jobs).

Guess what, when we brought in Uber guess who benefited, ride sharing companies and Silicon Valley, taxi lobby got fucked.

You can't please everyone.

Let me prefix this as well, I exclusively use AirBnb when I travel, and I know I'm part of the problem when visiting these cities abroad where locals are now getting sick of people like me fucking up their rent prices and access to homes. There is a reason why people are starting to attack travelers in places like Mexico City, Barcelona, Lisbon, etc.

Short-term rentals have been both a blessing and a curse.