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[subrock]

some delicious man-baby vigilante sign hijacking by a poor downtrodden construction worker. Right across from a polling station no less.

 

[Mailbox]

some delicious man-baby vigilante sign hijacking by a poor downtrodden construction worker. Right across from a polling station no less.

"Smart".


Uhhuh...

 

[dragonfart28]

Who will Turn Heel on Election night?

Whoever they replace Harper with.

 

[killer rin]

I agree that to some extent dental care should be covered (2 cleanings a year, 1-2 fillings a year).

For Vision: Agreed that 1 visit every 2 years should be covered. The issue is glasses. Should only lenses be covered? Should frames be included up to a certain dollar value?

For vision it should be 1 visit every 2 years, Glasses only subsidized up to $150. If you want something fancier, or you want contacts; that's out of your own pocket

 

[Dazzler]

There's a guy with a wooden cross standing at the intersection of Water st and Cordova in downtown Van shouting for the Conservatives

wow

 

[firehawk12]

I waited 10 years until I could afford to get my wisdom teeth out. Ten years of pain.

Dude.
I was lucky that I was still in school then. I still had to pay a lot to get mine pulled, especially since I needed to go to a oral surgeon, but at least the insurance covered some of it.

My last root canal had to come right out of my pocket though. But those things are such painful fuckers that a dentist could make you sign away your life and you'd do it just to end the misery.

 

[jokkir]

Just voted. Looked like not many people in my area voted yet from the attendance sheet they had. I only saw 5 other names circled

 

[Mr.Mike]

some delicious man-baby vigilante sign hijacking by a poor downtrodden construction worker. Right across from a polling station no less.

But they're construction workers and the Liberals are going to be constructing things...

Also lowering all of their taxes, but whatever.

 

[Inquisitive_Ghost]

Damn good post, Stump.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Added Elections Canada, CBC/ICI and CTV to the OP.

Guess it depends on your neighbourhood. No cooks in Toronto-Danforth or Guelph it seems.

Toronto-Danforth has the Animal Alliance Party and the Progressive Canadians! Guelph has a Marijuana candidate, plus the Communists and the Libertarians.

If you skipped the all-candidate debates, it sounds like you missed out!

 

[firehawk12]

Added Elections Canada, CBC/ICI and CTV to the OP.

Toronto-Danforth has the Animal Alliance Party and the Progressive Canadians! Guelph has a Marijuana candidate, plus the Communists and the Libertarians.

If you skipped the all-candidate debates, it sounds like you missed out!

I only voted there, but I live in Guelph. lol

I probably should have voted in Guelph, but I've voted in T-D for my entire life and didn't really want to change.

 

[Stumpokapow]

Lack of dental access also explains much of the health gap between Canada's north and the rest of the country. Inadequate life opportunities and health outcomes for aboriginal Canadians were explicitly cited as the reason why Canada tumbled down the UN Human Development Index. It's a national tragedy. While solving every aboriginal issue is not easy, and I'm definitely not one of those "throw more money at it, that'll solve everything" people, health outcomes are very much within the power of the federal government to ameliorate through spending. Dentistry is one of the best possible starting points.

For vision it should be 1 visit every 2 years, Glasses only subsidized up to $150. If you want something fancier, or you want contacts; that's out of your own pocket

$150 would be enough to pay for any pair of glasses if there were better regulation and more competition in the lens and frame market. Optometry is an exceptionally crooked industry and the close relationship between optometrists and sellers of glasses, as well as ownership concentration in both industries, are a very severe problem. At the bare minimum we should compel optometrists to disclose PD measures when doing eyesight checkups so that consumers are able to more easily buy glasses at a different place than they get their eyes checked.

ClearyContacts.ca is a cheaper, better option for most Canadians.

 

[Razorskin]

That reminds me. Dental care should be a part of our universal healthcare plan.

Government should just try to regulate the costs of dental care.

 

[shacklesmcgee]

some delicious man-baby vigilante sign hijacking by a poor downtrodden construction worker. Right across from a polling station no less.

Is it irony that a construction worker is telling me what the "smart" choice is?

Also, fan-fucking-tastic post by Stump, thanks for that.

 

[firehawk12]

Lack of dental access also explains much of the health gap between Canada's north and the rest of the country. Inadequate life opportunities and health outcomes for aboriginal Canadians were explicitly cited as the reason why Canada tumbled down the UN Human Development Index. It's a national tragedy. While solving every aboriginal issue is not easy, and I'm definitely not one of those "throw more money at it, that'll solve everything" people, health outcomes are very much within the power of the federal government to ameliorate through spending. Dentistry is one of the best possible starting points.

I just wonder how we pay for it, considering everyone seems to want to live in a "no deficit" fantasy world.

 

[Mr.Mike]

I just wonder how we pay for it, considering everyone seems to want to live in a "no deficit" fantasy world.

Taxes eh?

Tbh I'm not really a fan of the middle tax bracket being lowered. The Canadian middle class are also a pretty rich group of people in the grand scheme of things.

 

[Stumpokapow]

I just wonder how we pay for it, considering everyone seems to want to live in a "no deficit" fantasy world.

Well, I don't know enough about the economics of dentistry to be able to comment on whether it could be spending-neutral, but my general sense would be there's a massive cost control brought on by national single payer. Why do braces cost $5,000? Not because they need $5,000 worth of work to put them in, but rather because they have you over a barrel. National dental care covering basics would inherently lower prices. We compensate dentists by delivering them a larger customer base coming more frequently. More frequent dental care leads to fewer emergency outcomes later, many of which do place a cost burden on our healthcare system. Service provision in healthcare is a virtuous cycle. Again, not saying it'll be free. Just saying that perhaps it'll cost less, and certainly less for what we get, then we might expect.

 

[Tapejara]

Put it in my vote for the Liberals today.

Also, goddamn stump, amazing post.

 

[firehawk12]

Taxes eh?

Tbh I'm not really a fan of the middle tax bracket being lowered. The Canadian middle class are also a pretty rich group of people in the grand scheme of things.

Tax increases seem like a recipe for disaster, particularly now that everything can potentially become a campaign issue. Gotta think about 2019-2020 after all.

 

[RevoDS]

Lack of dental access also explains much of the health gap between Canada's north and the rest of the country. Inadequate life opportunities and health outcomes for aboriginal Canadians were explicitly cited as the reason why Canada tumbled down the UN Human Development Index. It's a national tragedy. While solving every aboriginal issue is not easy, and I'm definitely not one of those "throw more money at it, that'll solve everything" people, health outcomes are very much within the power of the federal government to ameliorate through spending. Dentistry is one of the best possible starting points.



$150 would be enough to pay for any pair of glasses if there were better regulation and more competition in the lens and frame market. Optometry is an exceptionally crooked industry and the close relationship between optometrists and sellers of glasses, as well as ownership concentration in both industries, are a very severe problem. At the bare minimum we should compel optometrists to disclose PD measures when doing eyesight checkups so that consumers are able to more easily buy glasses at a different place than they get their eyes checked.

ClearyContacts.ca is a cheaper, better option for most Canadians.

I don't think regulation is necessary here, just better information. People should expect and demand upfront to have a copy of their prescription before taking eyesight tests (many if not most will give it out when asked).

As for prices, you don't even need to go online if you don't want to. Costco is already around $150 in most cases; I recently got myself 2 pairs for less than $300, $150 of which was covered by my private insurer.

If people were better informed about their options when shopping for an optometrist and for buying glasses, we wouldn't need regulation because customers would turn to those who aren't crooked, and the crooks would in turn try to actually compete.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, I don't know enough about the economics of dentistry to be able to comment on whether it could be spending-neutral, but my general sense would be there's a massive cost control brought on by national single payer. Why do braces cost $5,000? Not because they need $5,000 worth of work to put them in, but rather because they have you over a barrel. National dental care covering basics would inherently lower prices. We compensate dentists by delivering them a larger customer base coming more frequently. More frequent dental care leads to fewer emergency outcomes later, many of which do place a cost burden on our healthcare system. Service provision in healthcare is a virtuous cycle. Again, not saying it'll be free. Just saying that perhaps it'll cost less, and certainly less for what we get, then we might expect.

I would imagine that braces would be covered under elective procedures and not covered at all. But I guess if they could drive down the cost of more standard procedures (a root canal is several hundred iirc) then maybe that would be a start.
I seem to remember that doctors were PISSED when health care was introduced though, so I assume you also have to deal with dentists going on "strike" or whatever.

But I just don't know if anyone has the stomach for a massive expansion of a program like health care. It could be an interesting legacy project though - the Canadian equivalent of "Obamacare".

I don't think regulation is necessary here, just better information. People should expect and demand upfront to have a copy of their prescription before taking eyesight tests (many if not most will give it out when asked).

As for prices, you don't even need to go online if you don't want to. Costco is already around $150 in most cases; I recently got myself 2 pairs for less than $300, $150 of which was covered by my private insurer.

If people were better informed about their options when shopping for an optometrist and for buying glasses, we wouldn't need regulation because customers would turn to those who aren't crooked, and the crooks would in turn try to actually compete.

My optometrist doesn't sell glasses so I had no idea that this was even a problem. Every time I need my old prescription I just go in and they give it to me.

 

[Zombie James]

some delicious man-baby vigilante sign hijacking by a poor downtrodden construction worker. Right across from a polling station no less.

This has already been reported, iirc. Can't wait to see some serious crack downs on this garbage.

 

[Mr.Mike]

Tax increases seem like a recipe for disaster, particularly now that everything can potentially become a campaign issue. Gotta think about 2019-2020 after all.

Well, I think there might be a few ways to save some money without hurting anything, maybe even improving things too.

One idea I've been kicking around is mandatory screening for things like cancer. Treatment is expensive and if we can catch more of these earlier we can save a lot of money AND lives.

 

[killer rin]

There's nowhere near enough money to do that, based on the current dental fee schedule. Government intervention with regard to fees would be nice, however.

Dentist's have been running their racket for far too long. Their fee schedule is far too expensive for the average Canadian. Insurance is even fucked too because you may notice when dealing with dentists that most have a cash price and an insurance price (which is of course more expensive). The price should be the price. Last time I was at the dentist, it was several hundred dollars just to find out what work needed to be done. Why the fuck am I paying so much for a consult?! Even surgeons in Ontario can't bill that much for a consultation! And when I inquired about the price, they just point to the fee schedule.

I want Dentists to be well paid, but they don't need to be driving exotic sport cars while people are deciding between putting food on their table and getting that sore tooth fixed. It's insane and very un-Canadian.

I think there can be a simple compromise on this. Realistically, we just want people to be able to go without worrying about how they will pay. For this, we have a simple solution. The government can easily cover Wisdom teeth removal, because those are a one time thing unless you have a freak mutation. Now we can move onto full dental.

Dental is hard because it is a frequent thing. You are supposed to go several times a year, and usually when you go your in for half an hour, and you may or may not have a cavity which will need to be fixed... but our goal in this is to just ensure everyone can go; so what if we capped it to 1 or 2 visits a year (Xrays and cleanings) and we only cover up to say 4 fillings.

This solves the issue of people putting off dentist visits for years and years until it becomes a major problem, and if we wanted, we can easily incentivize good behavior. Imagine if we gave everyone a small tax credit for not needing fillings, something which would be backed up by you needing to submit a letter from your dentist which you would request at tax time. The amount doesn't need to be large, something like $100 or half of what the government would have paid if you were to use your fillings. (also if we're going this route, we should also do something similar to incentivize people to stay in shape). If we did this, then I bet you parents would be on their children like hawks on mice ensuring their kids brush, and adults would be making sure they are flossing every single tooth like a madman.

It wouldn't be a full on free-fest, but rather something to ensure people are atleast paying attention to their teeth

 

[MikeyB]

I'm all for tax increases. What er it takes to get the Feds even more back into municipal infrastructure spending.

 

[Bam Bam Baklava]

Does Canada do exit polling?

 

[Kinitari]

Sounds like you need to change your priorities and lifestyle because it's killing you. A tax cut isn't what you need. You need some personal time and the ability to interact with real people.

Anyway, I was curious about this so over lunch I threw together a quick MATLAB script to calculate your effective tax rate. I'm not even Canadian so I don't know why I bothered but here it is.

If you lived in Nova Scotia (which according to this site has the highest provincial tax rate, you would need to make more than 700k before your effective rate hit 50 %. If you're making more than 700k before tax and struggling, not only do I not have sympathy for you but I question the judgment of everyone who has hired you because you are obviously not responsible.

I'm having trouble uploading the plot so here's the source code.
Here's the source code:

close all
inc = 1000:1000:1e7;
% Src: https://www.liberal.ca/files/2015/05/Fairness-for-the-Middle-Class.pdf
bracketsFed = [0 44701 89401 138586 200000];
trL = [.15 .205 .26 .29 .33];
% Src: http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
bracketsON = [0 40922 81847 150000 220000];
trON = [0.0505 0.0915 0.1116 0.1216 0.1316];
bracketsNS = [0 29590 59180 93000 150000];
trNS = [0.0879 0.1495 0.1667 0.175 0.21];
taxedL = inc*trL(1);
margin = 0;
for i=2:length(trL)
    idx = find(inc > bracketsFed(i));
    margin = margin + trL(i-1)*(bracketsFed(i)-bracketsFed(i-1));
    taxedL(idx) = (inc(idx)-bracketsFed(i))*trL(i)+margin;
end
taxedON = inc*trON(1);
margin = 0;
for i=2:length(trON)
    idx = find(inc > bracketsON(i)); 
    margin = margin + trON(i-1)*(bracketsON(i)-bracketsON(i-1));
    taxedON(idx) = (inc(idx)-bracketsON(i))*trON(i)+margin;
end
taxedNS = inc*trNS(1);
margin = 0;
for i=2:length(trNS)
    idx = find(inc > bracketsNS(i)); 
    margin = margin + trNS(i-1)*(bracketsNS(i)-bracketsNS(i-1));
    taxedNS(idx) = (inc(idx)-bracketsNS(i))*trNS(i)+margin;
end
figure;subplot(2,1,1);loglog(inc,taxedL+taxedON,inc,taxedL+taxedNS, ...
    inc,0.5*inc,'LineWidth',2)
set(gca,'FontSize', 16)
xlabel('log(Income)', 'FontSize',16)
ylabel('Taxes', 'FontSize',16)
legend('Liberal+ON Taxes','Liberal+NS Taxes', 'Income/2','FontSize',16)
grid on
subplot(2,1,2);semilogx(inc,(taxedL+taxedON)./inc, ...
    inc,(taxedL+taxedNS)./inc,'LineWidth',2)
set(gca,'FontSize', 16)
grid on
xlabel('log(Income)', 'FontSize',16)
ylabel('Tax Rate', 'FontSize',16)
legend('Liberal+ON Taxes','Liberal+NS Taxes','FontSize',16)
axis([0 1e7 0 0.6])

This code gives me sexual feelings.

 

[Azih]

The dental industry would fight this tooth and nail (lol).

Seriously they would threaten to pound nails in their patient's teeth to keep this from happening.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Does Canada do exit polling?

Nope. No reporting on poll results starting at midnight on election day.

 

[LakeEarth]

Is it irony that a construction worker is telling me what the "smart" choice is?

Also, fan-fucking-tastic post by Stump, thanks for that.

While you shouldn't generalize, this particular construction worker doesn't seem to be the brightest considering he's voting against the party who's plan includes an increase in construction.

But then again, getting people to vote against their best interests is what Conservatives do best.

 

[Shaanyboi]

Just got back from the poll station, and now am at work. There was an adorable husky there... made the wait in line infinitely more bearable.

 

[jstripes]

Does Canada do exit polling?

Nope. But they've mastered the art of quickly extrapolating the winners as polls results slowly start to roll out.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Any chance we'd see the fixed-date election law repealed? Seemed to just make an unofficial start to the campaign months in advance.

 

[firehawk12]

Well, I think there might be a few ways to save some money without hurting anything, maybe even improving things too.

One idea I've been kicking around is mandatory screening for things like cancer. Treatment is expensive and if we can catch more of these earlier we can save a lot of money AND lives.

I know my parents get told to do colon cancer screening every two years now, because they're past 70.

That said, I've only done a physical once in my life, mostly because I can't be assed to make five different appointments and run around the city to do it... but at least it's "free" I suppose.

Does Canada do exit polling?

I don't remember that being a thing last time. The results usually come in fast enough that it doesn't really matter anyway, particularly because in Canada we just vote for one thing and don't need machines to count votes for dog catcher and county judge.

Any chance we'd see the fixed-date election law repealed? Seemed to just make an unofficial start to the campaign months in advance.

The idea was that people couldn't exploit election dates to try to catch opposition parties off guard. It was a response to what Chretien did to the Conservatives back in the good old days. lol

 

[killer rin]

Nope. But they've mastered the art of quickly extrapolating the winners as polls results slowly start to roll out.

There is two ways that little line in the law is going to go... either they will repeal the Fixed Election Date, or they will introduce a Fixed Starting Date to compliment the Fixed Ending Date

 

[FreeQuebec86]

Nope. But they've mastered the art of quickly extrapolating the winners as polls results slowly start to roll out.

Lol so true, the race of "Who will declare the winner first"

In Quebec i vote for TVA lol.

 

[Impeccable]

Well, I think there might be a few ways to save some money without hurting anything, maybe even improving things too.

One idea I've been kicking around is mandatory screening for things like cancer. Treatment is expensive and if we can catch more of these earlier we can save a lot of money AND lives.

Government assisted weight loss would be my angle for people who want help.

Equipment and gym memberships can be expensive and offputting but the cost upfront of getting a person healthy would pay off in the long term. You'd have to have it doctor ensured somehow but... seems like something we should look at.

 

[PumpkinSpice]

Government assisted weight loss would be my angle for people who want help.

Equipment and gym memberships can be expensive and offputting but the cost upfront of getting a person healthy would pay off in the long term. You'd have to have it doctor ensured somehow but... seems like something we should look at.

Maybe we could just build cities that discourage driving and encourage active transport (walking + biking) as part of everyday life instead of trying to subsidize gross gyms.

 

[gabbo]

Does Canada do exit polling?

There isn't a blackout this year if that's what you mean.
So voters out west will know the results out East and in Ontario/Quebec before their polls close this time around. CBC mentioned it this morning in their coverage

 

[Syf]

Just voted. Please let this be the end of Harper.

 

[Impeccable]

Maybe we could just build cities that discourage driving and encourage active transport (walking + biking) as part of everyday life instead of trying to subsidize gross gyms.

Something but seems like a place for smart investment.

.

 

[matthewwhatever]

Any chance we'd see the fixed-date election law repealed? Seemed to just make an unofficial start to the campaign months in advance.

Even if it makes sense to do that -- since it's not really compatible with our system, let alone our Constitution -- I doubt anyone would want to waste political capital on doing that. They'll probably just implement a fixed start date, too, and then ban political advertising outside that period.

 

[Switch Back 9]

Just voted. Please let this be the end of Harper.

Me too!

Girlfriend is unhappily confident that the Cons are gunna win though.

I'm nervous.

 

[firehawk12]

Even if it makes sense to do that -- since it's not really compatible with our system, let alone our Constitution -- I doubt anyone would want to waste political capital on doing that. They'll probably just implement a fixed start date, too, and then ban political advertising outside that period.

What do you do with those shitty ads that talk about how the Government of Canada is awesome though? Those were basically campaign ads without being campaign ads. lol

 

[massivekettle]

Government assisted weight loss would be my angle for people who want help.

Equipment and gym memberships can be expensive and offputting but the cost upfront of getting a person healthy would pay off in the long term. You'd have to have it doctor ensured somehow but... seems like something we should look at.

Not everyone has the patience and will power to go to the gym to get better.

Also, where are you going to get the funding to give 40 million Canadians equipment/gyms/gym memberships?

 

[Impeccable]

Not everyone has the patience and will power to go to the gym to get better.

Also, where are you going to get the funding to give 40 million Canadians equipment/gyms/gym memberships?

Your paycheque.

But seriously, thought we were throwing ideas out not running for prime minister.

 

[And_Gignac]

Lets hope and pray this is the end of Harper´s Canada. Sending you good vibes Can-GAF.

 

[Azih]

What do you do with those shitty ads that talk about how the Government of Canada is awesome though? Those were basically campaign ads without being campaign ads. lol

CANADA ACTION PLAN. PUTTING CANADIANS TO WORK. CANADA ACTION PLAN. CANADA ACTION PLAN. CANADA ACTION PLAN.

And Harper had no problem running attack ads outside of a campaign which still blows my mind.

HE'S JUST VISITING.

 

[Stet]

Not everyone has the patience and will power to go to the gym to get better.

Also, where are you going to get the funding to give 40 million Canadians equipment/gyms/gym memberships?

40 million? Is that including the 5 million Syrian refugees that the Liberals will invite to institute Sharia law?

 

[Mimosa97]

You wouldn't guess it's election day here in Montreal.

Do you think people will celebrate in the street if Harper loses ?