Canadian Politics

That does sound pretty bad, and on top of that she seems like the kind of incompetent politician that would get otherwise good ideas discredited through their incompetence. I get the feeling that is the fate that's going to befall the Basic Income program.

At least you guys get options. In Quebec we're stuck with the provincial liberals whos popularity is also plumetting, but who are also ridiculously corrupt. And they are still likely to be re-elected coz all the opposition options have found ways to suck more by either being separatists, or laughingly incompetent. By basically cornering the vote on being the only fully non separatist party, the liberals are basically assured to win thanks to how divided the opposition is. And it's not like independence is such a popular option - it's at below 30% approval.

There's no provincial NDP. No provincial conservatives (Their closest equivalent, Coalition Avenir Quebec has been staggeringly incompetent).

edited 28th Apr '17 10:07:06 AM by Ghilz

Wynne also inherited Dalton McGuinty's mess and gets a lot of the blame for his incompetency. This isn't to say she hasn't screwed up herself, but a lot of what she gets hit for is stuff that realistically goes back to her predecessor.

God forbid the Conservatives win here. They've been insane since Harris, and are only getting worse, not better. Tim Hudak was a madman, and while Patrick Brown's been talking a good game on social policy lately, I still remember what he used to sound like.

As for the basic income project, it'll probably fail because of where they're trying it out. I mean, my hometown? The utter hellhole that is my hometown? It'll crash and burn.

She kind of sounds an amalgamation of the right-wing stereotypes about liberal economics. Which I guess goes to show that believing the "right" way doesn't matter if you have no idea how to effectively implement policy.

At least you guys have some variety in which political parties screw you over. The big three here in Nova Scotia are so similar (mostly because they are restricted by the annoying little fact that province is broke and will stay way unless the ship building thing really picks up) that I really don't think it matters who wins in the upcoming election (writ is probably getting dropped within days). On the other hand, having three very moderate parties has advantages.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Also, there was mention of the Ontario housing market being terrible, why is that exactly? Is it mostly because of Toronto?

Toronto's housing market is completely insane right now, and the neighbouring cities and towns are beginning to spiral up too. The rental side of things is getting really bad too. I knew someone who commuted from London, which is over two hours on a good day and involves two separate rush hour zones because that was genuinely cheaper than living downtown. I think he way overdid it though. He probably would have been okay commuting from Grimsby.

You have to either get up into York Region, which is really spread out, or down into Niagara, which is just far enough to be an annoying commute, since the only viable route goes right past Hamilton, to avoid the wonky housing markets, and the prices are still higher than average. Although in Niagara, the really expensive houses are mostly concentrated into Niagara-on-the-Lake or a specific area of Niagara Falls. Maybe Welland a bit, too.

Ottawa's having some problems too, but that's mostly because of a combination of extremely strict green belt laws and the fact that it's right on the border with Quebec. Lots of people don't want to live in Hull (city on the other side of the border).

I guess it ultimately comes down to the fact that about a third of Canada's population lives in southern Ontario, and that number's going up.

edited 28th Apr '17 8:04:07 PM by Zendervai

Not Three Laws compliant.

Honestly the spiralling housing costs are not unique to Ontario. All the big urban centers are getting it across the country. Toronto gets it worst by virtue of being the largest of the cities, but Montreal's also experiencing the issue, as is Vancouver.

edited 28th Apr '17 8:53:03 PM by Ghilz

As someone who recently had to find a place to rent in Toronto at short notice... yeah, it's not fun. Typical rent prices there are about double what I was looking at in Ottawa, and almost triple what I saw in London. ^note I'm from London and have friends who have dealt with the rental market there, and I nearly got an internship in Ottawa before ending up in TO, so that actually dovetails neatly with half the places Zendervai mentioned. Had I not gotten very lucky, I was considering just living in hostels come the fall. U of T will host students from other universities for the summer at pretty reasonable rates, but you have to move out in the middle of August.

Commuting all the way from London is really extreme, but I've known of profs (who teach at multiple universities) and students who do it.

Just to be clear, are we talking about just any old London, or that London?

edited 29th Apr '17 7:37:06 AM by kkhohoho

Doctor Who — Long Way Around: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13536044/1/Doctor-Who-Long-Way-Around

London, Ontario, I assume.

Disgusted, but not surprised

Ah. Honestly, that gives Werewolf Of London a whole new meaning...

edited 29th Apr '17 7:43:34 AM by kkhohoho

Doctor Who — Long Way Around: https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13536044/1/Doctor-Who-Long-Way-Around

An election will be held in Nova Scotia on May 30th. My prediction is that Mc Neil and the Liberals will win again, but they'll lose seats and possibly get knocked down to minority status. Maybe the Progressive Conservatives stand a chance if they do well in rural areas and the Liberals lose enough seats in HRM to the NDP.

I won't be voting Liberal (I did in the last two provincial elections), Mc Neil has been cutting the wrong things and screwing over a lot of people for minimal gain, this government has had no ambition. He's also got the Nurses', public service, and teachers' unions in the province out for his skin (and the latter of the three is historically apolitical and non-militant for an education union), so there's a lot of opposition to him with capacity to make noise.

I'll probably vote NDP, they are the only non-Liberals that are competitive here in Dartmouth. I won't rule out the P Cs, but I'd need to look at their platform and somehow bring myself to vote for a party led by a chartered accountant.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/nova-scotia-election-2017-announcement-mcneil-government-1.4087578

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Canadians and their First-World Problems. I'll have you know that when our state leaders want to boost their popularity, they don't waste money coming up with a new social program, they throw a few more people in prison^note  Yes, I remember that 12% approval, her subpar management, and everything said about her on the economics thread, but that interferes with the joke!.

You make it sound like you can comfortably choose between any party and not be in fear for your future up there...
If I may, another question: What do your public officials tend to run on, if there are archetypal cases? ^note Like, in GA, you here alot of ads stressing that X "is a true conservative," and even Ossoff's is running ads on how "both parties spend too much," working with anyone, etc.

edited 30th Apr '17 5:21:38 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives

In Nova Scotia, provincial politics revolve around the economy. The province has been in an economic slag pit since the 60s or 70s and is only just starting to improve (ship building died for a few decades, and is coming back. The cod fishery collapsed due to over fishing and is probably never coming back, and we can't compete industrially with the rest of the country let alone the world. So we need small industries and hope that Ottawa doesn't cancel the whole "rebuild the entire RCN" thing).

Its all about jobs, keeping people from moving out west, encouraging people to stay in rural areas (easier said than done), sometimes about electing a premier who can stand up to Ottawa (not an issue since Harper was gone), and a balanced budget/reducing the debt are the big issues lately. Also, we haven't been able to go a few years without some sort of dispute with public or parapublic labour unions (Halifax transit, nurses, teachers, public servants, etc), to the point that the general public is actually starting to lean towards the labour unions now.

You don't see politicians running to hard on ideology, and social issues are rarely brought up these days. Its all spending, social programs, jobs, and development. In many ways, Nova Scotia is one of the most moderate parts of the country, which helps in that there are no maniacs to elect but hurts in that the province is still stagnating. So why elections are hardly life and death, things won't improve (we're still dependent on transfer payments, and young people head west for work) either. Its not a left or right issue, its an economic reality.

Fun fact of the day: Nova Scotia is the only province in Canada without fixed election dates.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

I don't know if there are archtypical cases though here (in BC) the Liberals (who are Conservative) tend to run on a "debt free future" and "bringing in jobs".

I mean, "its the economy, stupid" applies almost anywhere. Its always the main issue, barring a scandal coming up. And provincial politics doesn't even have the foreign policy arena to serve as a distraction.

The whole "provincial Liberal party is actually conservative" thing is generally limited to BC and Quebec to my knowledge though.

edited 30th Apr '17 5:42:26 PM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Oh, yes I meant the BC Liberals.

Yeah that's true.

In Ontario, it's mostly "Hey, we can fix the mess the previous government left behind". And yes, the Ontario Liberals used that line all the way from 2003 to now. It really is that dumb.

The provincial election next year is probably going to be: Liberals; "I swear I won't suck so much this time around!" Conservatives; "Hey, we can fix the mess the previous government left behind." NDP; "We have no idea what our platform is, so lets give money to the automotive workers unions." That last part will guarantee St. Catharines will stay NDP, because GM has an apparently pretty successful factory here. I drive past it on the way to college.

Not Three Laws compliant.

This is sadly a pretty legit slogan to stand on in Ontario. The Liberals have spent a decade and a half trying to clean up the disaster that was the Mike Harris administration, with no real idea of how to do it, and no obvious place to start.

I mean, don't get me wrong, Dalton McGuinty was dumb as a box of rocks (a fact I have known since he couldn't answer a question I asked him when he visited my high school), and did very little to improve the situation. But I honestly don't know how much anybody could have achieved after the trainwreck of all of Harris' cuts.

I will forever feel sorry for Kathleen Wynne. She inherited a disaster from McGuinty who in turn inherited Harris' nuclear meltdown of a province. She never had a chance.

So I heard that Canada doles out residence permits according to many criteria, and that it's much easier to get a permit for, say, Manitoba, than, say, Quebec.

What unpopulated areas of Canada would be good places to move in as an engineer?

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.

What type of engineer?

There are places in the northern territories that are in dire need of infrastructure updates (or infrastructure period), to the point that the conditions up there are basically 3rd world and a national disgrace.

The Prairies always need development because of their booming populations and (until recently) economies.

The Canadian Navy is being replaced almost entirely over the next few years, so Nova Scotia and British Columbia are hoping for an employment boom. I know tons of people here in Halifax who are taking welding courses and praying that it employees them for most of their working lives.

Also, it depends on the kind of permit. The temporary foreign workers ones? Absolutely it is easier to get them in some places. But once you get permanent residence (or are a refugee and have spent a few months here/are independent mostly) status you can go anywhere you want.

edited 1st May '17 7:24:53 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

Double post for some more news: Saskatchewan premier Brad Wall is invoking the Notwithstanding clause *, with regards to a recent court ruling. The courts decided that it was unconstitutional to allow the government to pay for non-Catholic students to attend Catholic schools (other faiths would also be impacted, but the Catholic system would essentially be gutted), which may force tens of thousands of students into the public system as early as this September.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/saskatchewan/sask-notwithstanding-catholic-1.4093835

• For non-Canadian readers, this is the clause in the Charter of Rights & Freedoms that allows a government to temporarily override it and put through measures that might violate certain rights.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.

I can't speak specifically to the situation on the East Coast, but typically the trades are a pretty good bet, especially with people increasingly training for white collar jobs. I say this as someone from a family of electricians.

Another thing to note with the Arctic - they're going to be hit hardest by global warming. Northern latitudes are very likely to warm faster, there's a ton of exploration companies chomping at the bit to get access to resources up there - which might bring a bigger population, and judging by some of the internships I was applying for, increased military presence - and with permafrost melt their infrastructure problems will get a whole lot worse. Living expenses are higher though, food especially, which is another pressing social problem up there. Also, I think if you're from out of the country you might have an easier time getting a permit if you live there since a lot of people from down south are unwilling to.

Personally, with the Prairies I might be wary of anything related to oil development, just because of how fragile that system is. When there's a downturn (which will happen periodically, oil prices being what they are), a lot of people get laid off. 'Course, that effects the entire economy here, not just out West...

edited 1st May '17 4:24:52 PM by Pseudopartition

Trudeau wants to bring in more cheap Chinese workers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kRBCT-mzg14