Moonbox

That's the point I'm trying to make. Currency stability is based on both internal and external factors, and you can't talk about one without the other. Also, there are lots of simple reasons to devalue your currency. Some popular ones are to encourage exports and to artificially reduce fixed-rate debt. Predictability is important to everyone. If it affects businesses, it can affect workers as well. Rapid/unexpected currency appreciation can run companies out of business and thousands out of their jobs.

How about you spend 30 seconds looking it up yourself before you start swearing at him champ. Regardless, wind and solar power are SIGNIFICANTLY more expensive and we're being ripped off with the wind and solar farms being build all over the place now. Guaranteed profit for farmers and rip off rates for us and the gov't? Obviously this is good for Ontario........

The China bubble will burst. The rate of growth there can't continue forever. Eventually they'll be the next Japan.

I know that. I've written mortgage deals with close to 50% TDSR's and GDSR above 40%. There was enough equity in a good looking property to do it. The clients' credit history was great and they have a proven record of responsibility. 40% TDSR is no problem, even CMHC insured. 42%+ however and the mortgage app is dead on arrival at CMHC if it's high ratio. This was not the case in the USA and that's why so far we're looking a lot better than them. That's fine, but that doesn't really account for all the other factors that help decide a mortgage application. Not really. It happens in Guelph as well. If you can find a CMHC-insured mortgage with a +45% TDSR then I'd be impressed, because it's not allowed.

That's not necessarily a bad deal. 6-8x their gross income would mean TDSR/GDSR's of +40%, which means that CMHC wouldn't even look at the mortgage, which means that your self-employed clients have 20% equity in the property. With 20% equity, the banks are much more willing to make income exceptions, because housing prices would have to go down 20+% for the banks to be screwed. Someone with 20% down payment is also likely to be a much better borrower in the first place. As a fellow professional, you might also be aware of the fact that many clients bullshit and lie to you all the time, or have no idea what they're talking about. Mortgage brokers have to send copies to the lender. This is more a question of fraud than anything. Good on you for not doing it. Unfortunately the majority of mortgage brokers are both stupid and unprincipled. My experience (work as an FA) is that most self-employed individuals have their tax returns prepared in such a way that they declare FAR less income than they're actually living on. Sometimes that's because accountants work their magic but most of the time it's because CRA is practically impotent and most self-employed people are brutally ripping off the system. I've had clients in $500,000 (mortgage-free) houses bitch me out because I won't lend (unsecured) to them with $17,000/year income on their tax returns. You'd think that CRA would get wise to this but unfortunately this is a COMMON problem in Canada. I'd probably have been able to convince the bank to give them a $200,000 mortgage, however, because there's sufficient equity in the house to cover the mortgage and thus the potential loss is limited. The bank would also probably understand that the dude is a tax cheat. Not their problem though, that's CRA's.

Topaz man...you don't normally write stuff THIS dumb.

Smallc sometimes I forget that you're actually a young guy, because you're so opposed to change within our government I'd almost think you're eighty years old. There's enough precedent in Canada and outside that we should be cynical and suspicious of our politicians. That's not to say they're all bad, but enough of them are that we should care. We've seen for a long time that Canadian politicians (not just Liberals) have a sense of entitlement and it would be interesting, I think, to see what sort of expenses they claim. I imagine there are a lot of expenses that, while they may be commonly claimed by MP's from all parties (and thus acceptable/common practise amongst then), are actually just giant craps on the collective taxpayer's head.

That's true, but those 3800 sq ft aren't what's pushing the debt/asset ratios to 1.4:1. Those houses, at worst, still have 5% of equity in them, so there's a buttload of Canadians out there who are holding fully unsecured credit out there. It's the middle class holding this debt I'm imagining. Canadians have terrrible spending habits and it's going to catch up to us eventually. We don't save and we'll fall behind eventually. I'm guilty of it myself. Hopefully I wake up sooner rather thatn later

Exactly my point thanks Moonlight you rock.

In this the Baby Boomers have pretty much screwed themselves. The deficits they ran over the last 30 years have pretty much made it impossible for provincial and federal governments to look after them comfortably and if they haven't saved money themselves (most of them haven't) they may be in a fair bit of trouble....unless of course my generation is prepared to pay 60% income tax....

Guergis is a liability to the party. She's unpopular throughout Canada, she's married to a scumbag amd it's easy to doubt whether she'd win her seat back or not. I agree Bernier should have also been kicked out, but Harper's nothing if not pragmatic and Bernier is a perennial shoe-in for his riding.

Good luck. Most of them are stoned on their couch collecting EI...

She was democratically elected and she'll remain an MP. Harper can't take that away from her. There's nothing undemocratic about not wanting to associate with her though. She's an embarrassment to the party and she'll cause more harm than good. What else is there to know? Honestly? She's married to an absolute deadbeat (reflects heavily on her). She embarrasses the party at airports. That is enough itself to question why the Tories would want her around. Add even SUSPICION of corruption to the mix and you've got one big fat liability on your hands. Good riddance.

Agreed! Khadr has no business in Canada - a bunch of convenient Canadians with no interest in Canada at all other than the health care and protection it offers.

Emery is a victim of his own choice to break the law. The rhetoric in this thread though is absolutely hilarious. Please keep it up guys

The Liberals cut most of their expenses through transfer payments. They left the provinces hanging so guys like Bob Rae and Mike Harris looking like the villains. They were the ones who had to make the difficult decisions. Much of the Liberal's success in the 90's and 2000's is also due to a pretty much 10 year long unprecedented economic boom. I'll give them credit for at least not blowing all the extra revenues, but let's be honest in our praise towards Paul Martin and Chretien. A monkey with his thumb up his butt could have made the books look good back then.

I bet 5 years...with the chance of parole after 2 weeks. Seems that's how justice works in this country.

Hey neighbour I was going to bring up this example as well but you beat me to it. I admire Michael Chong's principled stance. His popularity increased because of it. He was immensely popular prior to that choice, however, and I believe his situation was rather unique because of that. If the CPC would have disciplined him, he could have easily won as an independent and Harper would have one seat less than he does today. Most MP's, however, have much more precarious holds on their seats and as such can't afford to be such free thinkers.

One of the few occasions that I'd have to agree with you 100%

If I was the dead kid's parents, this boy wouldn't survive long.

She's made HERSELF to be a liability. Nobody else did that for her. She married a scum bag (and an argument could be made of how that reflects on her) and she's done little but embarrass herself over the last few months.

Let's say for the sake of argument that its a heavily right wing magazine too....maybe that will provide some perspective to you guys...

Abortion is a last resort even here in Canada. It's generally an "oh shit" reaction to a mistake. Maybe you got too drunk to make a good decision, maybe the condom broke...whatever. In the third world, contraception and birth control are so far behind that abortion would not do nothing to actually fix the problem. People would just get pregnant over and over.

I'd love to see what sort of demographic CBC radio is pulling in. We're paying taxes to support the idealogy and entertainment of a select few. The CBC, in my opinion, is one of the most useless wastes of money I can think of.

This is how you should talk here if you don't want to get mocked. At least here it looks like you're actually interested in debating Canadian politics.