This just tells me that you don't know what fucked is.
Interest rates topped 21% , while mortgage rates topped 18% in 1981. Inflation was over 11% at the time. We'd just gone through two massive oil shocks, where the price of gasoline was almost double what we have now when adjusted for inflation, while cars struggled to get under 20L/100km and were rotted through by their third year.
Strikes were rampant, but so was high unemployment, at times topping 10%. A lot of industries just closed up shop, only accelerated as the Canada-US FTA came into effect.
By 1990, a lot of that had settled down due to the high interest rate treatment, but the accumulated debt of the Trudeau and Mulroney years had us facing a debt crisis just as we fell into a deep recession in 1991-92.
Tax and service cuts are the only fucking ideas these morons have. Then they'll turn around and beg Ottawa for increased transfers, and expect Ottawa to take them seriously.
The federal Liberals are seeing a dive in popularity among younger voters, once the core of their base, falling 23 points behind the Conservatives by the end of August, according to new polling from Nanos Research.
Almost everything you've listed is provincial jurisdiction. We don't have a national securities regulator because the last attempt at one was struck down by the SCC. Most business regulation is provincial, zoning is provincial, property taxes are provincial etc.
The BoC controls interest rates, but they act independently, the PM has no control over what they do beyond who they appoint to run it.
The only way they can get involved is with federal-provincial agreements. The provinces have deep connections with developers, so they're not going to do anything about the real issues of restrictive zoning and so on. Just look at Doug Ford and the Green Belt fiasco.
If you want to fix housing, go after the province. Agree or not with what they did, interprovincial pipelines are a federal responsibility.
It is interesting when you think about how some of the most beloved sci-fi TV shows of all time never even got the chance to tell their story to completion. Indeed, among the many great series cancelled far too soon, one of the most oft-referenced examples is Firefly — a unique take on space odyssey stories by incorporating...
Over half of Goldwing sales are DCTs. Most NC750s were being sold with the DCT, so the manual was dropped, at least in Canada. IIRC ~40% of Africa Twins are sold with a DCT.
They work very well now, unlike the old Hondamatics, which were awful.
Edit. With everyone and their dog offering quick-shifters, even the manuals aren't really that manual anymore.
Just like assuming a perfectly spherical cow, or a frictionless surface, you can completely ignore the economics, the massive cost and schedule overages to make nuclear work.
Flamanville-3 in France started construction in 2007, was supposed to be operational in 2012 with a project budget of €3.3B. Construction is still ongoing, the in-service date is now sometime in 2024, and the budget has ballooned to €20B.
Olkiluoto-3 is a similar EPR. Construction started in 2005, was supposed to be in-service in 2010, but finally came online late last year. Costs bloated from €3 to €11B.
Hinkley Point C project is two EPRs. Construction started in 2017, it's already running behind schedule, and the project costs have increased from £16B to somewhere approaching £30B. Start up has been pushed back to 2028 the last I've heard.
It's no different in the US, where the V.C. Summer (2 x AP1000) reactor project was cancelled while under construction after projections put the completed project at somewhere around $23B, up from an estimate of $9B.
A similar set of AP1000s was built at Vogtle in Georgia. Unit 3 only recently came online, with unit 4 expected at the end of the year. Costs went from an initial estimate of $12B to somewhere over $30B.
Note that design, site selection, regulatory approvals, and tendering aren't included in the above. Those add between 5-10 years to the above schedules.
To be clear, this is American thermal coal from Wyoming that's being routed through the Westshore coal terminal for export to Asia. US coal terminals are at capacity and projects for new terminals have not been getting regulatory approval.
It doesn't mean we should be accepting coal imports, even for transit though.
I'd oppose any system that doesn't tie members to single seat ridings. "Councillors at large" are the bane of any system they're in: they float in the background beholden to none of the voters, almost impossible to remove, and loyal only to the party. More than one member per district and you end up with two or more people playing hot potato and pointing at each other claiming the other was supposed to handle it, whatever the "it" happens to be.
The Gallagher Index is not the be-all, end-all of fairness. The last Canadian election had an index of 12, the last US election had an index of 5. I don't think very many would say the US system is better.
The CPC were going to oppose any change, and got their way on having a referendum which was absolutely going to fail, especially with the CPC framing it as a Liberal power grab, regardless of the eventual method chosen.
Internal polling, not the dog and pony online poll, showed that while 50ish% of voters might support a change, support fractured once the different options entered the mix. A high number of voters were absolutely tied to their preferred method and would oppose the others.
The Liberals read the writing on the wall, cut their losses and abandoned the project. If nothing else, it's killed any chance of electoral reform for the foreseeable future.
We have absolutely no idea if the system will be STV, MMP, the bastardised STV-Urban/MMP-Rural system, open or closed party lists or something else entirely, because everyone and their dog has their preferred system. With the pols making the final decisions, it's safe to assume that the parties will do what they must to benefit the respective parties. Also Germany, Portugal, Spain, Italy, NZ, etc use closed lists, so it's hardly unheard of.
Fortunately, it's not something we'll have to deal with for a very long time. The Liberals are feeling hard done by for the backlash they got, the CPC were absolutely not on board from the beginning and were going to fight it tooth and nail, the beleaguered NDP are as close to power as they'll likely ever be, but nowhere close enough to force the issue. The Bloc will continue to be agents of chaos and do what they can to be disruptive.
Random polling of the electorate over the years has satisfaction with the current system bouncing between 50 and 70%, mostly dependent on the state of the economy. When asked whether is should be changed from FPTP, you can get up to 60% support, but as soon as you put forward specific systems, support fragments, and FPTP becomes the default. That's been born out by the numerous aborted attempts for change at the provincial level.
As far as what other countries are doing, uh, so what? Are they better run? Most of Eastern Europe is dominated by fascist or fascist adjacent governments. Much of Western Europe is leaning in that direction. Much of Germany is still beholden to the friggen coal industry of all things. And Italy, basically in constant political turmoil, has outdone themselves by putting the actual fascists back in power.
Canada had long provided subsidized housing for people who couldn’t afford to pay market value: for workers and returning veterans after the Second World War, for example, and in the 1970s and early 80s as pressure mounted for Ottawa to intervene during a series of recessions....
The article isn't wrong, but it's missing context. It does provide a smokescreen for the failings of the provincial governments though.
The constitution was repatriated in 1982, limiting what the federal government could do in provincial jurisdiction. Agreements with the provinces for subsidized housing programs were allowed to lapse over time. The feds were fine with that because, as stated, they were dealing with a bit of a debt crisis.
In the GTA, housing prices flatlined at the end of the 1980s, and stayed essentially flat through the 1990s. The developers and the construction industry have a lot of sway at the provincial level, so they weren't interested in new, low cost housing. That meant the provincial government wasn't interested, especially during the Harris years.
The issue is provincial. Just because the provinces are failing to address it, doesn't mean the feds can force the issue. Under the constitution, the federal government isn't the senior government, it's equal to the provinces, the only difference is the distribution of areas of jurisdiction. The feds have more than enough things in their own jurisdiction that they're failing at.
Business regulations are, with few exceptions, provincial; zoning is provincial; property taxes are provincial. Although there are a national building and electrical codes, the provinces are free to modify and add their own rules, ignore others etc.
That is a decent history. As noted by the author, the provinces have always been ready and willing to come up with creative reasons why they need more money. Sometimes they actually need it, sometimes they're gilding the lily.
It has happened more than once, where an increase in the transfer was negotiated, and a number of provinces turn around and cut taxes, and put their hand out for more.
It's the problem with the system we have. Some ministries, like health, are very expensive, especially so for smaller provinces. Once the feds get involved though, accountability gets muddied, and you get both the feds and provinces pointing fingers at each other as to who is responsible for the mess we're in.
I should point out that debt originated with the Trudeau government dealing with the economic chaos that was the 1970s. Mulroney certainly exacerbated the problem with irresponsible tax cuts, much as Regan and Thatcher at the time. His government did partially contribute to the solution with the introduction of the GST as a more broadly based replacement for the old Manufacturer's Sales tax, but too late to get any credit for sorting the debt problem.
As a disabled person, I face ableism and ableist language every day. Some people use ableist language without even knowing that it is ableist. I thought it would be good for folks to take a look at the attached BBC article and expand their perspectives a bit.
Canadian traffic fatalities dropped from 2415 in 2001 to 1591 in 2020. It's a continuation of a trend starting in the 1960s when the first auto safety standards were adopted.
Of those 1591 fatalities, fully 1/3 weren't wearing seatbelts, so 530 people essentially chose death. That's not an industry problem.
Okay. The feds decide to build the old '70s style three story walk-ups they used to fund back in the 60s and '70s. The city has no appropriate zoning. That's the end of the project. The feds can't overrule the zoning regs. The province could, but so far they haven't.
So the feds give money to the province to build housing. Province thanks them, and builds a new highway in the premier's riding , or cut provincial taxes or whatever other pet project they decide on. And there's sweet f-all the feds can do about it.
The big difference between the 1970s and now is the ratification of the constitution in '82. It makes it much more difficult for the feds to intrude into provincial jurisdiction. They and the provinces let most of the old housing construction agreements lapse in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The feds by and large haven't been involved since, aside from some energy efficiency programs and CMHC.
Canada is great at high-speed rail studies — but not at actually building high-speed rail. So why is it the only country in the developed world considering a new conventional-speed passenger network?...
"Speed costs, how fast can you afford to go?" Doesn't matter if it's cars, motorcycles, trains or sailboats. It's not a linear increase either.
Having said that, what I'd love to see is all fixed rail infrastructure turned over to a non-profit corporation. Private or public rail companies with the rolling stock would pay fees to run trains on given schedules controlled by the infrastructure company, with priority given to passenger trains. The fees would be enough to cover the costs of rail maintenance and expansion.
With railways open to anyone with rolling stock, competition is increased. Exclusive routes would be eliminated, which would help reduce freight rates.
Over time, separate passenger rail lines would be developed, at least partially subsidized by fees on the freight companies, as passenger rail typically has very thin margins.
Nope, haven't seen it. I will now though.
I have a soft spot for trains in general. Dad (marketing director) and my grandfather (sales agent) worked for railways. Some of my ideas come from them.
They talked me out of following suit. It's a pretty tough business these days.
The unpainted bodies of the Deloreans were a pain all around. Pain to form, pain to fit/handle, and once in the hands of consumers, a pain to maintain and repair. They get dull over time, tended to stain and of course showed any sort of fingerprints or such.
It got to the point where they started painting them, which lead to a whole other level of problems.
Real answer? SaskPower is going to do whatever they can to avoid nuclear power. They're not working in a vacuum. They've seen the project delays and massive cost over-runs in other jurisdiction and don't want any part of it.
They might not eventually have a choice, but by that time some of these small reactor projects may have a track record.
Politically, it's better if they just leave it ambiguous.
SaskPower took a pasting for the $1.5B fiasco that was the CCS project at Boundary Dam. It was late, over-budget and so far underperforming, to put it charitably. The Parliamentary Budget Office estimated that it has essentially doubled the cost of electricity generated by Unit 3, the only unit currently running with the CCS system.
It also added about 25MW of parasitic load to what is a small unit (~140MW). At the time of construction (2009-2013), the napkin math suggested that they could have installed somewhere around 300MW (nameplate) of wind for that amount of money, while hugely reducing overhead costs. Costs for wind and solar have both dropped enormously since then.
Senior management, even those friendly with the SaskParty, are pretty reluctant to be on the bleeding edge again. On the plus side, some fairly large wind projects have come online already, bringing them up close to 700MW of wind capacity.
Yup. Just like any new market/product. A pile of people rush in, a pile fail, and the rest consolidate into a few well established players and dominate the market.
In a previous career, I was involved in salmon aquaculture in the Bay of Fundy. When I first got in, along with dozens of other companies, we were getting $8.50/lb at the farm. Five years later, we were struggling to get $2.50/lb, which wasn't enough to cover production costs. Thirty years later, there's basically one company dominating in the area. Profitability is still dodgy.
StatsCan has been doing a fair amount of surveying on cannabis in general. They found that 69% (nice) of users buy from legal storefronts or legal websites. Another 25% was home-grown, or from friends/family. The remaining 6% was from dealers or illegal shops/websites.
"I don't care for chocolate. I keep trying and trying, but I just don't like it. I see people liking it, but it's just gross. I ask them to explain why they like it, but they can't. I go into every baking shop and complain about all the chocolate, but they keep serving it. I guess my palate is just too sophisticated to be duped like all these other people."
If you don't like the strip, move on. Let people like the things they like. It's completely unnecessary for you to like them.
Canada ranked as 2nd best country in the world. (www.cicnews.com)
Despite what Canada’s nation hating extreme right would have you believe.
Money talk expected to dominate Day 2 of Manitoba's provincial election campaign (winnipeg.ctvnews.ca)
The Progressive Conservatives are scheduled to make an announcement on affordability in south Winnipeg, one day after promising to lower taxes....
'Getting squeezed on both sides': Liberals a distant third among younger voters (www.ctvnews.ca)
The federal Liberals are seeing a dive in popularity among younger voters, once the core of their base, falling 23 points behind the Conservatives by the end of August, according to new polling from Nanos Research.
Why Did Firefly Get Cancelled?: What Happened To The 2002 Sci-Fi Series (www.msn.com)
It is interesting when you think about how some of the most beloved sci-fi TV shows of all time never even got the chance to tell their story to completion. Indeed, among the many great series cancelled far too soon, one of the most oft-referenced examples is Firefly — a unique take on space odyssey stories by incorporating...
Update on Can-Am Pulse and Origin Electric Motorcycles (www.motorcycle.com)
Young climate activist tells Greenpeace to drop ‘old-fashioned’ anti-nuclear stance (www.theguardian.com)
B.C.’s dirty little secret: it is ramping up thermal coal exports | Ricochet (ricochet.media)
Sleep can be most restful for older adults when nighttime temperature range is between 68 to 77°F, study finds (medicalxpress.com)
New research finds that sleep can be most efficient and restful for older adults when nighttime bedroom ambient temperature ranges between 68 to 77°F.
Abrupt Late-Summer Shift: Polls Now Put CPC in Majority Territory (www.338canada.ca)
The federal government used to build social housing. Then it stopped. How is that going? (www.cbc.ca)
Canada had long provided subsidized housing for people who couldn’t afford to pay market value: for workers and returning veterans after the Second World War, for example, and in the 1970s and early 80s as pressure mounted for Ottawa to intervene during a series of recessions....
The harmful ableist language you unknowingly use (www.bbc.com)
As a disabled person, I face ableism and ableist language every day. Some people use ableist language without even knowing that it is ableist. I thought it would be good for folks to take a look at the attached BBC article and expand their perspectives a bit.
Skate Canada says former Olympic figure skater Alexandra Paul killed in car crash (www.cbc.ca)
The federal government can lead on housing (www.theglobeandmail.com)
How Canada got stuck building low-speed rail | CBC Creator Network (youtu.be)
Canada is great at high-speed rail studies — but not at actually building high-speed rail. So why is it the only country in the developed world considering a new conventional-speed passenger network?...
Musk unhappy with Cybertruck’s poor quality, calls for Lego-like precision (arstechnica.com)
No revelations here, just continued Cybertruck woes.
Feds offering up to $74M in funding for SMR development in Saskatchewan (www.ckom.com)
Ottawa is prepared to send up to $74 million in funding to support small modular reactor development in Saskatchewan....
Dropping prices and heavy tax burden will mean cannabis industry bankruptcies, warns producer (www.cbc.ca)
With high taxes, a saturated market and few options, some of Canada's legal cannabis producers are struggling.
NASA propulsion technology brings 'flying cars' closer to reality (www.space.com)
Will the Epiphany Transporter finally bring us the flying taxis of the future?
Picnic (64.media.tumblr.com)
A post from Pizza Cake Comic
Where's the Beef? (youtu.be)
This is the oldest meme I remember during my life. I never even saw the commercials, but people were saying the line everywhere.