cannuck

Always wondered about that. I imagine a lot of people have owned their homes long enough for their cost to be based in some realistic time frame vs. income. BUT, the houses and condos keep selling, and I can not imagine that they are all going to Chinese immigrants fleeing Beijing or Shanghai pollution with bulging pockets full of cash. Some of my HS friends have retired, sold their Van homes and moved into Canada with a very nice nest egg and a nicer home in a sane place.

Mine only goes back a half century or so, but I can not think of the US EVER having a President who let the whole world know nearly 100% of what he was thinking - rightly or wrongly. What I find so refreshing is that Trump's ego is so huge he seldom let's any handler censor his thoughts or behaviour. We may or may not agree with him on any particular subject, but we know pretty well where he stands on just about any issue including the attractiveness of certain parts and persons' female anatomy. Now, if he would just keep on putting America first and draining the swamp, he could well turn out to be the BEST President the US ever had.

I could not agree more. ANYONE who puts religious beliefs ahead of rational thought is not playing with a full deck and has no business leading any democratic country The mess we have today is very much the product of PET's|"just society": (that is, a country that cares not about business, defence, etc., just society). I suppose this explains why he named one of his spawns "JUSTin" - the one who is able to understand and respect nothing but his view of society. Geez, in SIngh we have a socialist, and in Trudeau we have a socialite. Pretty shallow field.

Two things, most glaring: anyone who goes into business or a business deal to avoid tax is an idiot. Sorry, but it is exactly the wrong reason to be either in or exposed to business. Which brings us to the axiom I have developed over the years: we reward the least productive people the most. Secondly: I really don't consider $200 or $250 a year "rich" by any standard. top1%, yes, but hardly rich. Think about it this way: ANYONE who owns a house in Hogtown or Hongcouver are shelling at at least a mil. Tens of thousands of them have housing worth several mil - but modest holdings by the standards of much of the ROC. Do you think you could afford the mortgage payments on a mil on a gross of only $17k/mo? If that is sallaried earnings, your net would be under $10k and $6k of that gone just for the mortgage. My point is: there are a LOT of Canadians earning well up in the $100k-$200k range, or they could not live in the cities and homes in which they live.

That's a cop-out. Don't sell age short - with it comes some wisdom (with any luck). Think about how we killed off the CWB - all old guys and gals, pretty well, and the Wheat Board is GONZO! BTW: your earlier comments about nukes are right on. Problem is: the nuclear industry in North America took a horrible beating at the hands of communist governments in USSR and their sympathizers - such as one PET - who made it a bad word within our culture of technical ignorance. Sub-critical mass reactors and thorium fuels are definitely what SHOULD put the nukes back in the groove.

$200k is just below what specialists start at here ($250 - I was referring to the employed version, not those who bill - considerable difference). Yes, the target of the Liberals is the self-employed (actually personal service company MDs and specialists) as when you have only one actual customer, you are just a contract employee, hardly an entrepreneur. BTW: that is the reason IMHO why so many MDs lose their ass in business: they THINK they are in business, but they are really just employees of a system that is cartellized - even monopolized by provincial CPS. You/they need to step into the shoes of a DVM to find out what competition, billing, receivables, comebacks, etc. are all about - i.e. risk management in BUSINESS. The government can't make such fine distinctions, and has drawn a target on the back of the only real engine of the economy in their moronic rush to finance importation of more terrorists and welfare recipients.

agreed on the 1%, but they ARE down at the "entry level" mostly sub $200k for GPs and half mil for specialists. That is not big coin. I know a few medical types in the chips, but they sure as hell didn't get there from their practice

I am going to take a wild guess that you have never spent any time inside of a penal institution? If you had - or have any friends of family members who have - you would know that the ethnicity of the majority of detainees is hugely dissproportionately non-white, non-European. Even when "we" observe that, the genuine "white guilt" culture conspires to blame the Euro-centric population. https://www.jstor.org/stable/1147637?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents https://torontoist.com/2016/04/african-canadian-prison-population/ the usual...it's all Whitie's fault. Here is a nice, clear study showing results of incarceration in Canada. Again, much higher for blacks and aboriginals relative to population, lower for caucasians and asians http://www.csc-scc.gc.ca/research/r144-eng.shtml Putting all of the politcaly correct racism talk aside, the fact is that non-caucasian minorities actually commit a lot more crime, then bitch about being treated like criminals. Within the Caucasian component, I believe you will find recent non-anglo immigrants also represented in much great proportion. What are "we" "doing" about it? (as one article above asks). Simple: actively recruiting far, far more immigrants with no cultural attitude of assimilation from places where crime is the status quo for small business. and you don't see a problem there?????

No, I think in Canadian parliament and provincial legislatures as well, they all sit on the left of the speaker. Kidding aside, good post.

With all due respect: we have never HAD a "right wing" government in Canada. Just a lot of Red Torries pretending they have a clue what conservatism means.

I am enjoying this. Watching the Libs and NDP compete to see who can be the most politically correct and closest the left fringe is just going to give the new kid over at the PC office a much easier job.

was carefully considered. I don't believe there is any modern equivalent in Canadian history to the "Angie-baby" policies of the Liberal government to allow virtually unqualified entry into this country. Back that with (as Taxme explained in post above yours) the slower border leakage from all politically correct administrations in the recent past (see content of jails in Ontario to fully appreciate) and I can see no benefit and considerable downside to Canada from the "flavour" of such source countries. Can we have successful refugees? Check out the results of Vietnamese refugees, especially second generation and see a fantastic example of assimilation and success.

Yeah, I can see how only the finest Caribbean drug dealers and Chinese triad members have been getting in.

1. Self explanatory, I would have thought. Bottom line is the money wasted on "refugees" (some ARE legitimate, I don't challenge that, but many are economic refugees - wrong reason to let them in here) could help at least 10x as many families displaced into camps and allow them to return to their homes after the issues that displaced them are resolved. 2 & 3: you asked for examples, I provided. Not intended to be on topic, just replying. 4. Again, I would have thought that was sufficiently self-explanatory. Moving sharply left always results in failure, some immediate (Venezuela, Mao's China) but others taking a long time to crash (Cuba, USSR) as there is some store of resources (Russian in case of these examples) to pay for the stupidity of socialism before bankruptcy rears its head. Best example is two terms of Obama cost the US more than all of the Presidents and wars that went before him...COMBINED. We have been paying for Tur....TRUdeau #1 for decades past and will pay for the stupidity of the Liberal (and "Conservative") adminitrations leftward drift for many generations. The T#2 and his sidekicks have Euro-mirrored us into a far steeper decline than we should ever have to experience.

IDIOTIC policy of removing refugees from their own land and culture and resettling where they are neither welcome nor good fit climate change ineptitude (lack of ability to understand carbon cycle) Worst of all: believe that an economy can run on purely speculative investment (yeah, you might say that is American, but in reality the push comes from Europe) generally just drift mindlessly to the left. It ALWAYS fails, so why do we allow it to happen?

the only way forward involves dumping the government of the day that is so inept it simply wakes up every morning and checks in on what screw-ups they Euroweenies have made today, and simply do the same thing.

Canadians weren't asking for it, Liberal/liberals were.

Will be interesting to see how the Liberal government deals with this one. Since he didn't actually KILL anyone, I guess his $10mm is down the tubes, but maybe $1mm a head for every citizen he could maim.

We already have complete freedom to direct our tax dollars to the Catholic system in many provinces. secular schools have not collapsed yet. What makes you think that charter schools would be religious schools? Some people out there still think schools should have a significant academic component, and those would be significant. Others believe in different learning methods (Montesori, SELF, etc.). All are now chosen freely by our taxpaying citizens, but I repeat: why should they pay for your (and my) kids' education?.

1. We have them now, and it is not any kind of problem of which I am aware. Difference is, a family must pay tax for your kid to go to a public school, and then shell out once again to pay for the education they chose for their kid. Not fair. 2. Of course, I do not agree. Until you have seen that "system" up close, you can't appreciate how close to impossible it is to work intelligently within. 4. Plan B is that you use the existing public system. Plan A is simply that I chose where I want my tax dollars to go. 5. Far too many issues and too little time to choose any one. If you worked in a tech field, though, you would know in an instant what I mean. Most of the engineering done at the highest level simply applies higher math to what was taught in primary and secondary school. When you ask someone to explain what is being observed, for instance, on a capacitance based power factor test, they can not recall the simple physics from HS it is based upon. Post secondary institutions DO have the ability and facilities to teach science properly, but most of the students have no interest - just want to pass the test and get the degree. BTW: one of my kids did her research in a synchrotron and when discussing one of her beam line experiments, a ME post doc did not even know how a simple cam and follower in automobile engines worked or what it was. We're not talking rocket science (OK, we actually are...but).

How do you think you qualify to get engineering jobs at Hydro or government jobs in Ottawa! answer: You have your family go down the IIT (Indian Institute of Technology) for engineering or Tata school of social sciences for Ottawa and buy a degree (same one used to drive taxi cabs).

Drummindiver: Kaizen "works" only to the extent that it re-introduced the kinds of management that were practiced when business was run by business owners to a generation of IDIOTS trained by universities as "MBA"s etc. It is hardly something invented by or practiced only in Japan. It works there and in limited situations here because of the inability for personal initiative to prevail or survive within Japanese culture. You simply can't dictate something to a group, you must first go in endless circles until the group reaches some kind of consensus - which can never be challenged. It suits manufacturing well, as decisions have already been made (equivalent of consensus being reached) and you merely have to have some mindless group-think to administratively keep things moving. It is literally what cost them the war - essentially believing your own bullshit when you as an inividual know it is wrong.

Michael: I am not so sure that charter schools would result in any more separation and disunity than we have now with both parochial and catholic school boards, divisions and schools. What is missing is an alternative that DOES listen and respond to parents' desires, as they are also clients of the institution. Believe me, I live within a world of many teachers, and complaining/communicating to public education authorities is pissing into the wind big time. More like pissing upwind in a level 5 hurricane. While our kids were younger, I enjoyed access to the Minister and frustration with the massive creature that we have created (with public education) comes from both ends of the spectrum. The way I look at it: you really don't know what the problems are until your children are "in the system", so then you want to bitch and improve. However, the monster has so much inertia, by the time a good idea/criticism can make any impact at all, your kids are out of the system, so you go away. Giving a monopoly on ANYTHING to government (other than governing, regulating and enforcing) is a huge mistake. I can not think of much that government does that anyone else could do far better - the exception being social services. And, that does NOT necessarily include education. While there are those who are content to use public education as socializing experience and babysitting service there are also those who expect to get some educational bang for their tax buck. Note: we do NOT include ourselves in the latter - had no expectation at all of much from public side of kids education, but certainly understand that many who can not afford the time and effort or have the skills to educate their children themselves but want them well rounded constitute a significant portion of the population. Oh: on the math and science scores thing: I work in a very technical world and believe me, you have a tough time finding young people who are professionals that really understand the science behind what they have been trained to do. Saw this big time when our eldest taught bio-chem at University. She left academia because she was sick to death of dealing with people who just wanted to pass the tests, not understand the science. BTW: she teaches pre-schoolers now both inside the public system and in private institutions - and she couldn't be happier. Raising her own kids but enjoying the experience that kids of that age group have endless curiosity, enthusiasm and capacity to learn.

Mom and apple pie at its best.

So, you expect to re-incarnated in Mumbai?