Federal Government & Politics II

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Oh please, like Millennials and Gen Z are busy every single second of the day. Yet there's still time for craft beer or beach volleyball.

At least stick to the stereotype with avocado toast.

You actually sure you know what age a Millennial is? The oldest Millennials are over 40 today. I doubt there's many Millennials fitting in a ton of beach volleyball between driving their kids to Karate and soccer practice.

[whatnext]

Justin Trudeau's laughably bad international student scheme in action:

Conestoga is a foreign student mecca. Is its climb to riches leading it off a cliff?
By Nojoud Al Mallees The Canadian Press
Posted April 30, 2024 5:48 am

...Everywhere you look at the main campus of Conestoga College, there’s ample proof of an explosion of international students.

The school has become a poster child for aggressive international student recruitment.

Its efforts have brought in a flood of new money — a stark contrast to the financial pressures students themselves face — but also raised questions within the institution about the sustainability of that growth, and the motivations behind it.

And as the federal government seeks to stem international student flows with a two-year cap on study permits, even the immigration minister has singled the college out.

The southwestern Ontario college had 37,000 study permits approved and extended in 2023 — the most in Canada — which marks a 31-per-cent increase from the previous year.

Its student population has more than doubled in four years to about 45,000, and international students now vastly outnumber domestic ones. The main campus in Kitchener, Ont., alone is now home to more than 20,000 students...

...instructors are complaining that many students lack fundamental skills, which in turn makes their jobs more difficult, said Koff.

“They don’t have the basic three Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic,” he said.

Making matters worse, Koff said students have been too busy working to focus on their studies. He singled out Ottawa’s decision during the pandemic to temporarily allow international students to work more than 20 hours a week....

... Financial statements show the public college had a $106-million surplus for the 2022-23 year. That’s up from just $2.5 million in 2014-2015.

Conestoga declined a request to interview its administration....

....The immigration minister said the new cap reflects the fact that the overwhelming majority of international students work more than 20 hours a week. At the same time, it keeps students from prioritizing work over school, he said.

“We know from studies as well that when you start working in and around 30-hour levels, there is a material impact on the quality of your studies,” Miller said.

For international students such as Powathu and Benny, it’s going to mean working about 16 hours less every week — a significant financial impact.

Prior to the announcement, Powathu and Benny both said a return to 20 hours would be untenable.

Asked if they’d survive, both said: “No.” (bold mine)

https://globalnews.ca/news/10459197/...t-off-a-cliff/

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

The NIMBY Boomer thing is real. And it's not so much that they vote. It's that they are the only folks showing up in the middle of the work day to all these hearings. They get to be the vocal minority while the prime who need that housing are at work.

Let's circle back to this and avoid the generational dispute because there is a larger problem going on here. We want information from people who want or need something but not effective in getting that information, and the shoddy information we do get is used to make that decision. If we know that our planning decisions is based on information provided by contrarian layabouts, and we don't do anything to fix it, then can we just admit that the information we're getting is useless and either seek out better means of getting that information or just move on from these performances. Cities are simply just slowly eliminating these performances because they can't think of a way of getting useful information out of them. That's good.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

At least stick to the stereotype with avocado toast.

You actually sure you know what age a Millennial is? The oldest Millennials are over 40 today. I doubt there's many Millennials fitting in a ton of beach volleyball between driving their kids to Karate and soccer practice.

This Millennial just got shingles.

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Justin Trudeau's laughably bad international student scheme in action:

Conestoga is a foreign student mecca. Is its climb to riches leading it off a cliff?
By Nojoud Al Mallees The Canadian Press
Posted April 30, 2024 5:48 am

...Everywhere you look at the main campus of Conestoga College, there’s ample proof of an explosion of international students.

The school has become a poster child for aggressive international student recruitment.

Its efforts have brought in a flood of new money — a stark contrast to the financial pressures students themselves face — but also raised questions within the institution about the sustainability of that growth, and the motivations behind it.

And as the federal government seeks to stem international student flows with a two-year cap on study permits, even the immigration minister has singled the college out.

The southwestern Ontario college had 37,000 study permits approved and extended in 2023 — the most in Canada — which marks a 31-per-cent increase from the previous year.

Its student population has more than doubled in four years to about 45,000, and international students now vastly outnumber domestic ones. The main campus in Kitchener, Ont., alone is now home to more than 20,000 students...

...instructors are complaining that many students lack fundamental skills, which in turn makes their jobs more difficult, said Koff.

“They don’t have the basic three Rs: reading, writing, arithmetic,” he said.

Making matters worse, Koff said students have been too busy working to focus on their studies. He singled out Ottawa’s decision during the pandemic to temporarily allow international students to work more than 20 hours a week....

... Financial statements show the public college had a $106-million surplus for the 2022-23 year. That’s up from just $2.5 million in 2014-2015.

Conestoga declined a request to interview its administration....

....The immigration minister said the new cap reflects the fact that the overwhelming majority of international students work more than 20 hours a week. At the same time, it keeps students from prioritizing work over school, he said.

“We know from studies as well that when you start working in and around 30-hour levels, there is a material impact on the quality of your studies,” Miller said.

For international students such as Powathu and Benny, it’s going to mean working about 16 hours less every week — a significant financial impact.

Prior to the announcement, Powathu and Benny both said a return to 20 hours would be untenable.

Asked if they’d survive, both said: “No.” (bold mine)

https://globalnews.ca/news/10459197/...t-off-a-cliff/

Good thing the intake number will take a 50% cut in September.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

Good thing the intake number will take a 50% cut in September.

Yep. Conestoga was the hardest hit public college in Ontario I believe. And since most of these college programs are 12-16 months, there should be a noticeable reduction in the number of students in these communities by September 2025 at the latest.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Let's circle back to this and avoid the generational dispute because there is a larger problem going on here.

You're pretending this is simply an urban planning and planner comms issue. It isn't. NIMBYism is just one piece of a much larger problem. I discussed OAS on here. That's a federal program that is now more than double the defence budget or child benefits. You have the actual federal government talking about generational fairness. It was the literal theme of their budget. The Finance Minister bought shoes from a business run by two Millenials to highlight this theme. So why pretend this is just a little bit about NIMBYism and who attends planning presentations?

Housing is the largest problem. And NIMBYism is a facet of housing. But housing is not the only problem. Millennials are also the generation that reached the workforce with the highest student debts and started families with the highest child rearing costs ever. They've also had to endure two major economic shocks (GFC + COVID) over barely half their working lives. Watching COVID punt housing to the moon was the cherry on top (or in the case of the LPC the straw that broke the camel's back).

[Xelebes]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

You're pretending this is simply an urban planning and planner comms issue. It isn't.

Well not simply urban planning, but planning in general from all three levels of government. They don't know what they need physically need, so they can't go out and strive to provide for it so they end up cutting cheques to see if that will do the trick.

[Truenorth00]

Originally Posted by Xelebes

Well not simply urban planning, but planning in general from all three levels of government. They don't know what they need physically need, so they can't go out and strive to provide for it so they end up cutting cheques to see if that will do the trick.

The federal government alone has a budget of $535B and a workforce of over 357k. That's just the federal government. We're not including provincial or municipal government here. If they can't figure out what programs and services are needed, then all our governments are seriously doing something wrong. But I actually don't believe the problem is a lack of information. I think it's a lack of political will to do the right thing.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

Junkies aren't sitting on million dollar assets.

I've met some who were, but never for long.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by OldDartmouthMark

Why wouldn't they pick on you? (by your self-professed profiting from the housing situation)

I never said they shouldn't pick on me. From a "greater good" point of view, the rules by which I've been (successfully) playing are quite bad, but they are what they are.

I'm the first one to admit that it's ridiculous, and that changing the rules would be smart, even though the current rules benefit me so I'm not complaining. I wouldn't go as far as MonkeyRonin in labeling it completely unethical though...

[casper]

Originally Posted by Truenorth00

At least stick to the stereotype with avocado toast.

You actually sure you know what age a Millennial is? The oldest Millennials are over 40 today. I doubt there's many Millennials fitting in a ton of beach volleyball between driving their kids to Karate and soccer practice.

Millennials are a fairly wide demographic. They go the reputation they have about 10-15 years ago and it was simply not deserved.

Back them, the smart analysists understood you need to divide the demographic in half. The ones that were on their own and still had not married were eating the avocado toast and going to bars. The ones that settled down were starting to look at having kids and the suburban life behaved like every other generation before them.

The same happened to the generations that came after them.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by lio45

I never said they shouldn't pick on me. From a "greater good" point of view, the rules by which I've been (successfully) playing are quite bad, but they are what they are.

I'm the first one to admit that it's ridiculous, and that changing the rules would be smart, even though the current rules benefit me so I'm not complaining. I wouldn't go as far as MonkeyRonin in labeling it completely unethical though...

Of course you realize that I couldn't live with myself if I passed up on that opportunity to jab you in the ribs...

Seriously, though, you and all other honest developers/business investors are just doing the best you can playing by the rules that are set forth for you. My opinion has always been if you have the smarts and the capital available, then you have every right to make a lot of money if you're playing by the rules. It's how our country has worked for a long time, and frankly what keeps the economy running.

If supply/demand means that your assets are suddenly worth more, then you are just benefiting by the market, and since it's your business, you can sell or develop, or whatever you need to do to keep your business rolling along.

Back to Granny - if she just wants to live in the house that she's been in for 40 years, its sudden increase in value is of no advantage to her. Just like if supply/demand fluctuations suddenly cut the value in half, she would notice nothing but perhaps a small decrease in property taxes, etc, whereas it could be devastating for your business (provided you didn't have a plan to deal with it).

So I'm not sure why it's a legit idea that we should harass Granny and kick her out of her house. There are others (the masters of the grand ponzi scheme, for example) who perhaps should be kicked out, but this horse is dead from all the kicking.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by casper

Millennials are a fairly wide demographic. They go the reputation they have about 10-15 years ago and it was simply not deserved.

Somebody on SSP actually gets that a demographic can be wide and diverse. And that all demographics' ideas, needs, wants, and desires change as they age. And they will age, if all goes as it is supposed to.

In other words, they are... ready for it?... people. Individuals. Ever changing and not all the same. Quite a concept, eh?

Some treat demographics like a brand, where the products are uniformly the same, and never change, and therefore can be treated/judged as a monolithic entity... but that's impossible because we are talking about people. We humans are so much more complicated than that.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Hecate

His sentiment is genuinely what most people feel.

What happened in the house today was pathetic and the bias of the speaker is clearly on display. Pierre questioned Justin about his party’s radical drug laws which have led to a massive increase in overdose deaths. He also outlined the crime and unsightliness it brings to our communities and asked the prime minister what he was going to do.

Then Justin responds by calling Pierre a racist white supremacist, blah blah blah.

To which Pierre responds “who you calling’ racist captain blackface.”

Im proud of Pierre for not backing down.

All Justin had to do was answer the question. He couldn’t fucking do it. Just blah blah blah science…

Well Justin, errrr ummmm your science is killing people.

He really is the worst prime minister ever.

It was a huge loss for PP today. He couldn't apologize, withdraw his words and move on. He made a real fool of himself.

Then there is the issue of him willingly and pro-actively vising with extremist people associated with Diagolon. What the hell was he thinking? His party has a huge lead in polls so he decides to visit with them? I've mentioned before that he could end up being over-confident and cocky to the point that he will turn off many people. And in question period he wouldn't even denounce the group. Very bizarre since that group made some horrible remarks about PP's wife.

PP clearly used unparliamentary language by calling JT a whacko. The word is already in the list of words that are not allowed to be used to describe another member. And he wouldn't properly withdraw what he said. He could have simply withdrawn the word and moved on but he instead was trying to look tough and play games. The speaker did the right thing. It's too bad that PP had to behave that way because the topic of the question was actually really good but PP doesn't like to be called out on things and freezes when he is in the wrong.

[theman23]

Originally Posted by Loco101

It was a huge loss for PP today. He couldn't apologize, withdraw his words and move on. He made a real fool of himself.

Then there is the issue of him willingly and pro-actively vising with extremist people associated with Diagolon. What the hell was he thinking? His party has a huge lead in polls so he decides to visit with them? I've mentioned before that he could end up being over-confident and cocky to the point that he will turn off many people. And in question period he wouldn't even denounce the group. Very bizarre since that group made some horrible remarks about PP's wife.

PP clearly used unparliamentary language by calling JT a whacko. The word is already in the list of words that are not allowed to be used to describe another member. And he wouldn't properly withdraw what he said. He could have simply withdrawn the word and moved on but he instead was trying to look tough and play games. The speaker did the right thing. It's too bad that PP had to behave that way because the topic of the question was actually really good but PP doesn't like to be called out on things and freezes when he is in the wrong.

Interesting perspective. From what I saw, PP did withdraw his words but was kicked out anyways. For what it’s worth, Tomas Muclair is hardly PP’s biggest fan but was on Power Play and was calling for the Speaker’s resignation over this. I guess we’ll see what the polls show in a few weeks, but if PP managed to get the former leader of the NDP on his side I would guess he won’t be hurting too badly.

[acottawa]

It is probably a political rorschach test. People that like Trudeau will be happy Pollievre got spanked by the speaker. People who don’t like Trudeau will see it as another partisan move by the speaker who has a track record of partisanship.

[OldDartmouthMark]

Originally Posted by Loco101

It was a huge loss for PP today. He couldn't apologize, withdraw his words and move on. He made a real fool of himself.

Then there is the issue of him willingly and pro-actively vising with extremist people associated with Diagolon. What the hell was he thinking? His party has a huge lead in polls so he decides to visit with them? I've mentioned before that he could end up being over-confident and cocky to the point that he will turn off many people. And in question period he wouldn't even denounce the group. Very bizarre since that group made some horrible remarks about PP's wife.

PP clearly used unparliamentary language by calling JT a whacko. The word is already in the list of words that are not allowed to be used to describe another member. And he wouldn't properly withdraw what he said. He could have simply withdrawn the word and moved on but he instead was trying to look tough and play games. The speaker did the right thing. It's too bad that PP had to behave that way because the topic of the question was actually really good but PP doesn't like to be called out on things and freezes when he is in the wrong.

Originally Posted by theman23

Interesting perspective. From what I saw, PP did withdraw his words but was kicked out anyways. For what it’s worth, Tomas Muclair is hardly PP’s biggest fan but was on Power Play and was calling for the Speaker’s resignation over this. I guess we’ll see what the polls show in a few weeks, but if PP managed to get the former leader of the NDP on his side I would guess he won’t be hurting too badly.

It's very interesting to read these two perspectives, each containing merit. I'm left wondering how this will play out.

IMHO, stuff like this shows that PP is still a bit of an unknown quantity, and still has some stuff to work on if he ever aspires to be a good PM (or knows what it means to be a good PM). Time will tell, I suppose.

[Hecate]

Originally Posted by acottawa

It is probably a political rorschach test. People that like Trudeau will be happy Pollievre got spanked by the speaker. People who don’t like Trudeau will see it as another partisan move by the speaker who has a track record of partisanship.

Watch what happened. Justin Trudeau caused the entire event. Rather than answer a question about what his government was going to do to support the B.C. premiers request to reverse the ridiculous drug law. JUSTIN resorted to personal attacks on the leader of the opposition. When pierre responds back about how Justin himself has funded hate organizations and had his own history of blatant racist behaviour, along with wacko drug policies that are causing deaths. The loser liberal speaker of the house tosses Pierre out. This speaker is an embarrassment to our democracy.

Good on the conservatives for walking out.

[MonctonRad]

Originally Posted by Hecate

Watch what happened. Justin Trudeau caused the entire event. Rather than answer a question about what his government was going to do to support the B.C. premiers request to reverse the ridiculous drug law. JUSTIN resorted to personal attacks on the leader of the opposition. When pierre responds back about how Justin himself has funded hate organizations and had his own history of blatant racist behaviour, along with wacko drug policies that are causing deaths. The loser liberal speaker of the house tosses Pierre out. This speaker is an embarrassment to our democracy.

Good on the conservatives for walking out.

I see that the Speaker did not censure JT for calling PP "spineless", but had no difficulty tossing PP for calling JT a "wacko."

Could the Speaker perhaps not be entirely impartial????