Support for Trudeau remains high

[63midnight]

Step 1 - fund a Terrible tv channel until its literally a soviet tier propaganda machine for your perverted agenda

Step 2 - Look how popular they say I am

Step 3 - tax doctors, act like a millenial and become a living joke

,

See I think we should all say we'll all vote for him if Soros pays us to, then when we all bleed the money to us , kick this simpleton out , he's such a joke

[Chyren]

I didn't vote for him but here's the facts:

1) The economy is growing.
2) People are going back to work in the West.
3) Canada is becoming a larger player on the world stage.

All good things.

[hobbyguy]

Looks like the Liberals are quite chastened by fouling up the tax changes. At least they seem to be listening and are changing them to respond to the unfair parts of the original proposals.

Quietly, and I haven't hardly seen any coverage on this, mortgage rules got tightened up again. One of the most obscure agencies in the government did it - the OSFI. The change makes sense, as it requires uninsured mortgages to to be stress tested for a 2% rise in interest rates. It will, however, mean that some buyers who are "pushing the envelope" get squeezed out of the market.

It makes me think that more interest rate increases are on the way...

[Catsumi]

Looks like the Liberals are quite chastened by fouling up the tax changes. At least they seem to be listening and are changing them to respond to the unfair parts of the original proposals.

Quietly, and I haven't hardly seen any coverage on this, mortgage rules got tightened up again. One of the most obscure agencies in the government did it - the OSFI. The change makes sense, as it requires uninsured mortgages to to be stress tested for a 2% rise in interest rates. It will, however, mean that some buyers who are "pushing the envelope" get squeezed out of the market.

It makes me think that more interest rate increases are on the way...

Yes, backpeddling is the exercise du jour, trying not to lose more voters.

The additional stress test is a double edged blade: while it "protects" underfunded Canadians from buying in over their heads, it does not stop foreign ownership from entering the market and driving up prices further beyond the reach of ordinary working class folk who would like to own a home. Yes again. Interest rates will be going up ... They are using this to quietly signal their intentions.

Did you catch the media scrum on TV where reporters wanted to ask questions of Morneau (probably about his forgotten property in France) but JT shot back, "well, you can ask questions of me, the Prime Minister of canada!"

He finally relented and let Morneau speak, but all the while, JT had his eyes fastened on Morneau like a mongoose on a cobra. I detect a falling out amongst the bretheren......

Morneau's days are numbered.

[hobbyguy]

Possibly. Morneau is decent at what he does, but politically dumber than I am (and that's saying something).

The tax changes are indeed something that needs to be looked at, but the ones he chose to attack first were too far down the food chain. IF you are going to go after changes in tax code structure, start at the very top - and preferably with ones that affect the Minister himself. That burns off a lot of political fire.

I guess that's what happens when you aren't really connected with average Jack and Jill. Doing something that needs to be done backfires because you can't see it through their eyes.

The backpeddling is better than barging ahead. From what I have seen, the new rules will be more carefully constructed to get at the very top of the heap only, and that's not a bad thing. And a cut in small business taxes is not a bad thing either, even if, as this case, it was done in an attempt to sugar coat the foul up.

In the end, we hopefully see good and balanced policy come out of this - and that's the outcome we should all be rooting for.

Housing prices are a tough issue. What is happening is that Canada's larger urban centers got caught not being ready for maturing into metropolitan centers. Every major city in Europe and around the world is pretty much unaffordable for the average bloke, but the cities can't function without the average bloke. Places like New York have have 69% of the population in rental housing. Pretty much all of the major cities have significant social housing (Singapore is 80% social housing).

Vancouver is a really good example of exactly what NOT to do. Vancouver has had a policy of 20% social housing since 1988 (and mechanisms to fund it). Yet under NDP Gregor and the Vision fools, the social housing stock in Vancouver fell to 8%. At the same time they permitted the destruction of rental housing to make way for "for sale" condos. That lack of rentals automatically pushes up the demand/prices for condos. Right next door in Burnaby, NDP Derek has done so much rental destruction/conversion to "for sale" condos, he has the nickname "demovictions" Derek. Demovictions Derek, when asked about social housing? "Not my responsibility".

Making matters worse, building permits in the city of Vancouver take 8 months. Meanwhile in Surrey? 7-10 days. That raelly creates a supply/demand problem that pushes prices even higher.

Those two NDP clowns and their buddy in Richmond (who continually takes cash in lieu of social housing - and then spends it on pet projects instead) are actually at the root of the problem. Of course, being slippery pols they blame the provincial government, the federal government, anybody but who is at the root of the problem - themselves.

Then those 3 stooges idiocy spills over into other communities. Sell a 2 bedroom shack in Vancouver for $2-3 million and move to Victoria or Kelowna. What do you care if the prices are nutso? $1 million for decent place - no sweat, you still have a bundle in your pocket.

The federal component is super low interest rates. The balance has been upset by loosey-goosey mortgage rules and super low interest rates that were continued for far too long. Flaherty started backpeddling on the mortgage rules, but didn't go far enough. And the BOC has been chasing inflation with low rates while measuring inflation incorrectly. The BOC should have been monitoring the cost of living, not the goofy CPI (which is virtually meaningless).

That stuff matters because an awful lot of folks measure what they personally can afford by whether or not they can make the payments. Somebody asks $500K for a house worth $400K, and it doesn't "fizz" because the payments, due to loose rules and super low rates can be made. So consumer A pays that. Seller B sees that and says my house must then be worth $600K and consumer B says "I can make those payments" and an upward price spiral starts rolling.

Aside from all of that, if you go to London, or Amsterdam, or Rome, or New York or Singapore - wherever - the average stiff ain't gonna afford a single family home - not even to rent. So in many ways we are just seeing the markets mature as they have elsewhere.

In every case "foreign" ownership is part of that mix. Lots of different mechanisms to deal with it, but the effective ones seem to be at the city level. "Rental housing must be replaced with rental housing", social housing etc. So it really goes back to the likes of Gregor Robertson and Derek Corrigan - who just seem to constantly duck their responsibilities.

Long term, single family home ownership in the big cities will follow the trends elsewhere - and be out of the question for the average working family. Sad, but it seems inevitable.

[Catsumi]

Hobbyguy...I totally disagree with you on this: you state you are "not as smart" as those in charge but then in paragraph one you prove otherwise.

All else I agree with.

As many others do, I deplore the loss of those lovely old homes that are being demolished in order to satisfy demands for ugly condos and monster homes. Once gone, never to return. We are losing our history and heritage in a blink of an eye.

Vancouver willl be a repeat of Singapore, NYC, etc. Gone are the days of heritage homes with wide sweeping lawns and old trees, with those living in them with the means for upkeep

[Catsumi]

6:00 pm CBC Newshour:



The ETHICS COMMISSIONER advised and allowed Morneau to hold such a sensitive office without putting his own holdings into a blind trust ??


Really???


We are being sold a bill of goods (aka B.S.)

[hobbyguy]

Blind trusts are bs.

When setting them up you can direct the trust which assets you wish to hold long term etc. Morneau can't "undo" knowing what he owns, any more than Trump can.

The only solution if a wealthy person like Morneau or Trump wants to hold public office is sell everything, then give a blind trust cash only, and general directions as to what kind of investment portfolio you expect. But even that is subject to some conflict of sorts, e.g. if you know you are owning bonds, you can make moves that pump the bond market.

There just isn't an easy answer. In Trump's case, it would probably take 4-6 years to unwind his properties at fair prices. By then he might not even still be president.

[Veovis]

Blind trusts are bs.

When setting them up you can direct the trust which assets you wish to hold long term etc. Morneau can't "undo" knowing what he owns, any more than Trump can.

The only solution if a wealthy person like Morneau or Trump wants to hold public office is sell everything, then give a blind trust cash only, and general directions as to what kind of investment portfolio you expect. But even that is subject to some conflict of sorts, e.g. if you know you are owning bonds, you can make moves that pump the bond market.

There just isn't an easy answer. In Trump's case, it would probably take 4-6 years to unwind his properties at fair prices. By then he might not even still be president.

It won't change the fact he can grant contracts worth a lot to his company in "blind trust". He simply hoped people wouldn't notice blatant funneling to personal interests. Smart politician removes themselves from those items and allows review outside of party decisions.

[hobbyguy]

^^ which takes us full circle - because isn't that what the ethics commission is all about?

Not an easy issue. I can recall such questions and suspicion being aimed at Paul Martin, and it is hard to think of a more effective Finance Minister.

That said, Morneau makes a mistake in being too insulated from the "common folk". Not sure he can resolve that, but somehow he has get more in touch. That's a talent/skill that Jim Flaherty had, and even though I wasn't thrilled with Flaherty's performance in the job, it was easy to cut him more slack. No politician is mistake proof, part of the art is having that "slack" - which comes from a sense of connection - to get the public to accept a lack of perfection. We live in an imperfect world.

[Ka-El]

Yes, backpeddling is the exercise du jour, trying not to lose more voters.

I am certainly not very impressed with this government right now, but I do prefer “backpeddling” and some acknowledgement of error to arrogant denial; and/or “never mind, I know what’s best for everyone and I’m now going to prorogue parliament”. Of course, give this government any time and I am sure they will become as arrogant as the last.

[Catsumi]

"May become arrogant"? Ka-el, that ship sailed a long time ago !

[sobrohusfat]

.."remains high"? Then clearly too many La-La-Land dwelling Canadian morons happily F***ing up our home and native land.

Guess we deserve what we get in our Countrymen - we must have aborted too many of the good ones.

...take the shame.

[The Green Barbarian]

I am certainly not very impressed with this government right now,

finally something we can agree on. Though I would say that some of us called this a long time ago, before the election, as there was no way this brainless Airhead should have been handed a majority. He wasn't ready, and he's just too dense.

[The Green Barbarian]

3) Canada is becoming a larger player on the world stage.

what the hell are you talking about?