Moonbox

Nobody is disagreeing about when the contract expires, but I could give you a list of examples of work continuing after an expired CBA with negotiations happening over longer periods of time in the background. COVID was obviously not part of the plan, but it is the reality we're living with today and CUPE ignores that at its members' peril. The daycare situation is a separate issue and based more on precarious employment through COVID than anything, though some similar issues occurred in schools. Parents aren't going to have a lot of patience with job action going into a recession after just coming out of COVID lockdowns, and would be more than happy to see it just go away with back-to-work legislation. That ignores how public-sector bargaining works, with the negotiations with one union being used as a benchmark for the next. You can't use 2022 inflation numbers because they're temporary and extraordinary. The overall point isn't completely unreasonable, but the reality is that most of the private sector isn't getting 11.7% raises or anywhere close to that. September's 2022 numbers were 3.8% despite high inflation, and those numbers will probably be much lower next year. 2022's post COVID inflation spike is hurting everyone, and the attitude that public sector workers should somehow be immune to it is tiresome, especially considering the lifestyle of a ~200 day work year. ?‍♂️

In the private sector, presumably you can go and find a higher-paying job in an inflationary environment. Some people have, but these are weird times overall. There's a lot of nuance to these arguments. Typically yes, across all industries and sectors.

They certainly picked the timing of the strike. The contract expiring doesn't mean they stop getting paid or their jobs just end (like what happened to a huge portion of working class during COVID). Yes. That's not a lot, and paying them a bit more isn't outlandish. They are not exactly high-skill and short-supply professions with a lot of bargaining power, however. If they want any public support, yes. I don't know about a few years, but I'd argue 8-12 months would be wise. You're a lot better off asking for a raise when everyone isn't an unhappy combination of exhausted and anxious about what they've already gone through and what's likely coming. If these workers are squeezed to the brink with their current income, then they're not in much of a position to endure a long strike. The Ontario government and the Teacher's Union have played a very zero-sum bargaining game for the last 40 years. I'd argue that CUPE is just caught in the middle, and that the current negotiating/posturing is very much meant to be a signal for the Teachers Union (whose CBA IIRC has also expired or is expiring soon). The message: You'll get little/nothing. You'd have to explain that math to me. The overall effect of inflation since 2019 hasn't been anywhere close to 25% thus far, even counting for today's high rates. I'm guessing that's somehow forward-projected.

No. China has a long way to go before it's considered a proper world-reserve currency, and given how export-reliant they are, they probably don't want it anyways. I think this probably does signal the ending of the US' unconditional support for Saudi Arabia, and (hopefully) a transition away from any sort of ally/partner status.

I don't think that's as cynical as going on strike early in the first full school year since 2018-2019 and as we head for recession. If people knew what most of the support workers actually made, they'd probably be sympathetic under different circumstances. Striking right now is incredibly tone-deaf and is only going to align the public against them. It seems self-defeating to me. ?‍♂️

It'll be interesting to see how that one plays out. The notwithstanding clause has legal experts almost unanimously challenging its constitutional merit. Try to designate them essential workers. If that is successfully challenged, then too bad, you lose. Deal with the strike. The electorate is going to have little patience for it and I imagine Ford could come to a workable/favorable settlement with them. The bigger issue (I think) is that giving the support workers what they want is probably fair and deserved, but the Teacher's Union would use it as a comparable for future job action and (IMO) they're already very, very generously compensated. Regardless, trying to circumvent the Law with hamfisted legislation looks bad.

Striking when it will inflict max pain on working families. Read the room guys. You couldn't pick a time to get less support from the public.

Not really the part I was referring to. ?

Most of the cost comparisons are done in equivalent dollars. That’s too easy to chip at so critics will make less obvious apples to oranges comparisons.

This isn’t true. If the spending was on wider infrastructure programs, that might make sense. Public program spending is not a net driver of gdp. Excessive spending has a drag effect, as we saw in the 80’s and early 90’s. It can only lead to higher taxes and large companies do follow federal budgets when making decisions on where to invest their next dollar of capital or hire their next worker.

You literally could not provide a better example of oblivious projection than you did here. ?

It does not, nor can you explain how, refusing to do so anytime you’ve been prompted. You want Russia to win and for Ukraine to lose. You said so yourself ?

Here you go goof. There's your quote. The full paragraph doesn't change anything, nor add context. You've told us exactly where you stand on this issue. Try growing a spine and stand by your words, rather than dancing and equivocating around how you obviously feel. ?

Quit telling us one thing, after saying the other. At least stand by your own words. ?

What a joke. It would be a lot more fitting to say that you ignore the scientific consensus and then elevate the small handful of dissenters (1% maybe? I don't know) as the highest authorities on the topic. You don't care about 99% of the science. You only care about the doctors making the noises you want to hear.

Please explain this.

Ooooh! Okay then! Russia can't translate, I suppose? What were we thinking???

I care more about the Ukrainian cities being shelled than I do about gas prices in Europe. Yup. Fortunately it seems that most of Europe does too! We know where you stand and what you care about though!

Yep yep. Your truthiness and alternative facts are noted. ? Gosh I wonder how people ever survived before electricity. They made do, but Europe will freeze because gas is expensive. Mhmm. Russia hobbling the EU economy is about as likely as Canada being able to hobble the US, but less so, because the EU was not nearly as integrated with Russia. Almost 40% of both Russia's exports and imports were EU trade. In contrast, less than 6% of the EU's trade was with Russia. Russia was dirt poor to start with. This is going to hurt them more than the EU. ?

and the budget will balance itself! Say it with me people! ?

Because it doesn't only make the noises you want to hear. It's actual news. My views seem left wing to conspiracy clowns. For perspective, when Harper was in power (the guy I voted for) people used to call me a neo-con and I used to argue mostly with guys like eyeball. I'm a union-bashing, free-market capitalist working in finance and my #1 priority most elections is to vote for the candidate who's going to waste the least amount of money. Never in my life was I ever called a "lefty" until the conspiracy circus started with trash like Alex Jones, Donald Trump and their demented alternative-fact reality. This is the key distinguisher now. If you're not subscribing to alternate-reality, where all the news around the world is fake until it supports your viewpoint, you're a "lefty". ? Legacy media has (by and large) failed to adapt to the social media echo chambers and the moronic sloganeering of what you have now decided is "Conservative". The "elites" vs the "middle class" is a good example of this. The people selling you that tripe are elites themselves - dudes like Sean Hannity speaking up for "the smelly Walmart shoppers" as he calls them. It's a fiction that they're actually interested in helping you, but they make the noises you want to hear and point at people for you to get angry at and that's an effective distraction. It's painfully basic "us vs them" psychology. This is typically a topic in which I'd fall in line with you. Green policy has (so far) been an abominable waste of money, but that's not because climate change isn't real. It's because they're wasting money on dumb projects. That's one of the main reasons why Ontario has a PC government now. Woke politics have been pushed to absurdity as well. The problem is that whatever reasonable arguments you'd otherwise make on these topics are drowned in fake science, hysterics and ridiculous conspiracy theories.

The Star was always a far left rag. The Globe has been predominantly conservative for as long as I've been alive. The only thing that's changed is that the Globe is rational conservative, rather than conspiracy-clown conservative. Calling the National Post "centrist" is a joke. There are, however, no mainstream conspiracy clown newspapers because conspiracy clowns aren't interested in the news. They're interested in making and listening to the noises they want to hear and very little else.

That's what you want to have happen, as you've said in your own words. The idea that Europe will freeze and starve through the winter is comical. The EU economy is an order of magnitude larger than Russia's and therefore far better equipped to transition through the an east/west decoupling. You really don't seem to understand the numbers or the economics of scale at work here. Russia is a pretender. ? Who are we sacrificing, exactly? If you're worried about sacrificing, ask how the Russian army feels about being grinded down to pulp to achieve near-nothing. A referendum under armed occupation is not a referendum. It's pageantry. That you think it's anything but is comical. I actually believed you were smarter than that. Thanks for clarifying! ?

You'd maybe have an argument for the CBC, since it's had a very pro-Liberal tilt as long as I've been alive, but then there's so much else out there that's been anti-Liberal, and then so much outside of Canada that has no federal funding and thus no back to scratch here. The "MSM is fake news" song and dance ignores the fact that there is mainstream news across the world that doesn't give two hoots about Justin Trudeau and the Liberals. If you want to criticize a specific media outlet for bias or credibility, that's very fine. To make it a world-spanning monolithic conspiracy is something altogether different.

but there's the shoddy logic that underlines the whole conspiracy theory. The MSM is fake news...until it says something you agree with and then it's...not fake?