He's really trying to distinguish himself, isn't he?
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Canadian PoliGAF - 42nd Parliament: Sunny Ways in Trudeaupia
- Thread starter matthewwhatever
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He's really trying to distinguish himself, isn't he?
TheRagnCajun
Member
This makes sense, but I don't think it will settle the market there. It just means more incentive to rent out your investment properties - on top of the incentive that is already there to cover the cost to carry that property.
TheRealTalker
Banned
privatization are for those who are too lazy to do adjustments and reform
Too many people are not renting though. I'm trying to find a place near downtown and its ridiculous. Prices are high because supplyis low. If you force people to rent, that creates a better market for the middle class people who can't afford it. Also, if the empty home tax is exhorbitantly high such that rich mainland chinese investors cant stomach the hit, that will deflate the market further for the betterment of local residents.
They've spoken about taxing empty homes at small business rates. I would be fucking thrilled to see a 13% empty home tax, realtors in the region? Not so much.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Fuck the realtors, bunch of crooks.
Realtors are no different than any other profession, a few bad apples spoiling the whole bunch. I'd say the bigger problem with realtors right now is the fact that the market is so hot that there is a glut of realtors, many of whom are not able to really make hay due to more established realtors controlling markets. At the sign of any downturn, particularly in the chinese investment communities, a lot of people are going to be out of jobs.
Pretty much like what the Liberals were thinking of selling major airports for short term cash lol
Well, it's short term cash for the sake of investing that money into things that will also have long term benefits. Hydro One would be making profit directly for the government, but better infrastructure could help the economy and increase tax revenue too. (Measuring something like this seems like an impossible task though).
The specifics of what's being sold and how the money will be spent are important, but I don't agree with the general idea that the government selling assets is always a bad idea.
At some point we also get into what the role of government ought to be. As a though experiment imagine instead that the government was considering buying businesses instead of selling them. Should the government to be going around buying businesses? We do have the CPP, which does have a big fund that invests in businesses and real estate all over the world, and some countries even have funds for general government expenditure in the future, instead of being purely a pension (Norways comes to mind).
The specifics of what's being sold and how the money will be spent are important, but I don't agree with the general idea that the government selling assets is always a bad idea.
At some point we also get into what the role of government ought to be. As a though experiment imagine instead that the government was considering buying businesses instead of selling them. Should the government to be going around buying businesses? We do have the CPP, which does have a big fund that invests in businesses and real estate all over the world, and some countries even have funds for general government expenditure in the future, instead of being purely a pension (Norways comes to mind).
If a market isn't or would not be serve all Canadians effectively due to 'profit margins', I'd be fine with such an idea. ie mail delivery.
TheRagnCajun
Member
That is a myth. Less than 5% of properties purchased in Vancouver involved foreigners
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2016/07/07/guess-what-4/
Anyone who owns a condo in Vancouver for investment and won't rent it out must hate money. The condo fees, property taxes, mortgage payments, insurance payments...I'm just not sure how many people in Vancouver are really leaving their property vacated.
My wife is chinese, has mainland chinese clients, and knows chinese realtors who deal with chinese clients. 5% is a joke and everyone in the industry knows it. My wife helped to sell a 4 million dollar house in vancouver westside, it was knocked over immediately and a new mansion was placed on top. There are condos where basically entire floors are empty because they are owned by shell corporations.
If it was only 5% of people leaving houses empty, we would not have the problems we are having. There are entire streets in Vancouver that have no trick or treaters because no one lives in the houses.
Edit: Here is a quote from Macleans most recent article on the matter: "It might also require a better understanding of who constitutes a “foreign owner.” The CMHC’s current definition—an owner who does not reside in Canada—excludes all kinds of domestic arrangements under which foreigners purchase homes abroad, suggesting the recent condo numbers understate the influx of outside buyers. It’s common for foreign-based buyers to send their children and spouses here while remaining in their home country. Should such buyers be lumped in with overseas owners of income properties? Or with Chinese Canadians who spend part of the year outside the country?"
http://www.macleans.ca/economy/econ...al-estate-investors-are-reshaping-the-market/
Or we can trust greaterfool.ca, your choice
gutter_trash
Banned
this is the main reason why I wouldn't ever of think moving to Vancouver (area). It does not compute. To the point that traveling for leisure disinterests me because I would have loved to have scoped BC to see if it would interest me to move.
But reality, the wages there don't compensate for the housing. So no god for me.
I will stay in dysfunctional Montreal where our lame political climate helps keep housing prices low because nobody wants to move here, lol
But reality, the wages there don't compensate for the housing. So no god for me.
I will stay in dysfunctional Montreal where our lame political climate helps keep housing prices low because nobody wants to move here, lol
TheRagnCajun
Member
If you would choose to believe in anecdotes over stats prepared and released by the government of BC that's your prerogative. The data has nothing to do with CMHC or their definition of a foreigner. The data is coming from government property transfer tax forms which require the buyers to disclose if they are Canadian citizens. This is fresh data based on new rules established on June 10th.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/b-c-real-estate-foreign-home-ownership-data-1.3668460
Its scapegoating plain and simple, and realtors eat it up. It tells a good story and creates a sense of urgency to join the buying frenzy 'before you're priced out of the market'. It helps dispel the notion that the market may be in a unsustainable bubble that is about to burst. The Chinese can buy property anywhere they choose. Somehow Vancouverites have convinced themselves that its different where they are and its the only place the Chinese want to live.
gutter_trash
Banned
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tony-clement-leadership-twitter-1.3675507
hey Ontario GAF, could you please explain to me Tony Clement? please?
why does a guy who keeps losing Party leadership races think that he has the mojo to be able to win on a 3rd attempt?
Please explain to me Tony. I don't get it
hey Ontario GAF, could you please explain to me Tony Clement? please?
why does a guy who keeps losing Party leadership races think that he has the mojo to be able to win on a 3rd attempt?
Please explain to me Tony. I don't get it
Bahahaha, if Tony Clement does win, he'll torpedo the CPC into third place in the next election.
Simon Belmont
Banned
If I could explain Tony Clement to people I'd have a lucrative job as his campaign manager. He's inexplicable.
Whenever I hear this guy on The House I want to groan for the duration of the interview. Such a dumbass.
Well lets take a look at the article you posted
As a starting point, foreign investors (primarily chinese), are spending even more than the average. That's why it is an average. Lots of people are buying condos, but foreign investors are not coming to Vancouver to buy Condos.
20 days of data, im sure that is representative. It's not like rich foreign investors havent been shooting the market through the roof for the last 5 years.
And this is one of the other big problems. I know people personally who live in multi-million dollar houses and who pay absolutely nothing in taxes. Once again, I appreciate that anecdotal evidence goes so far, but I have direct, first hand experience in multiple different venues and have seen first hand how chinese buyers are affecting the market. A personal friend of mine (from hong kong) had a fire alarm activate in her condo at 4am. 23 people came out; the condo has over 80 units.
The fear of chinese buyers has nothing to do with people being in a rush to buy houses. It has effectively prevented people from buying houses entirely. I have no dog in the fight, but its ignorant to ignore the affect chinese people are having on markets in Vancouver and abroad. They are a problem in Sydney, San Fransisco, Vancouver and more. It has nothing to do with chinese people being bad or unsuitable to own homes, its a simple function of rich mainland chinese making a safer investment abroad than they can make at home. Additionally, they are moving to places that have larger connections to the chinese community. If you read your article, Richmond is a 14% foreign owner concern, and it is all Chinese.
I appreciate that there is a fear of scapegoating, but the numbers are not telling the whole story, and a tax on foreign owners who are speculating is the only solution.
Most sane and credible potential candidates know that the chances of beating the Liberals next election are very unlikely and the chances of staying on as leader of the party until a legit shot at winning an election opens are equally slim.
Oh come on. I've lived in nothing but apartments my entire adult life in a city where there is no alleged foreign buying spree and this is pretty much normal. People don't like to leave their apartment at 4am, and apartment buildings have a lot of false alarms. A lot of people won't leave an apartment building until they see or smell smoke.
Pretty much this.
In fact, when I was living in an apartment, the unit directly below us caught fire and I had to bang on door of my roommate's room and yell at her to get the hell out because she either couldn't hear the alarm or was just ignoring it.
PumpkinSpice
Banned
I used to live in a place where the fire alarm would go off once a week or so in the winter. My biggest fear was that there would be a real fire and I would just ignore it, but fuck if I'm going to walk down and up 9 flights every time that false alarm goes off.
matthewwhatever
Member
I'll give Bernier credit: he tries to be ideologically consistent, and he seems committed to articulating a viewpoint that no one else will support publicly.
Admittedly, he's also an idiot, and he'd be a disaster as leader. But he's the only one of the candidates running so far who's generating any headlines. For a longshot candidate, that's what he's got to do -- Leitch and Cheng should be trying to do the same.
He's so baffling. You'd think a guy who's so into rock and indie music would have picked up at least some vaguely progressive ideas along the way, but, nope, he's just a neoconservative with a surprisingly good playlist.
Hey, Cheri DiNovo said she's good for the entry fee, eventually.
But yeah, we're two weeks in, and I don't think there are even rumours of people getting ready to jump in. I know it's a long way to their convention-voting month-thing, and that odds are good that whoever they pick, it'll be a sacrificial lamb, but still...I'd have figured someone would want to get into the race ASAP, just to position themselves as the front-runner.
I'm not sure 'sacrificial lamb' really makes sense with the NDP back in distant third. Mulcair was the only NDP leader ever elected with a reasonable prospect of being prime minister.
gutter_trash
Banned
but what is the lineup of confirmed NDP candidates? it seems to me that they have been getting less media coverage.
Cheri DiNovo one is the only that I know that is official
Cons have been getting more media attention
I want Max Bernier because he is good for internet jokes, memes and local radio spoofs
That's the whole shooting match at this point.
I expect Boulerice will run. If nothing else, they need at least one credible Quebecer in the running.
gutter_trash
Banned
who voted YES in the 1995 Referendum
This article complies all the recent attempts conservative politicans federal or provincial or conservative action groups have tried to destroy or hijack political parties in Alberta since December 2014. Jason Kenney's plan counts as two seperate hijack attempts in this article.
http://albertapolitics.ca/2016/07/c...ice-coincidence-three-times-got-enemy-action/
I'm surprised the Alberta Liberals were the only major political party in Alberta that did not have to deal with stuff like this since december 2014.
http://albertapolitics.ca/2016/07/c...ice-coincidence-three-times-got-enemy-action/
I'm surprised the Alberta Liberals were the only major political party in Alberta that did not have to deal with stuff like this since december 2014.
Nathan Cullen is playing his cards right. Going for the long game.
TheRagnCajun
Member
Like I said, it is fully within your rights to choose to ignore the data in favour of your personal experiences.
matthewwhatever
Member
But it's so much harder to scapegoat data!
They're picking someone knowing that the next leader is probably going to get slaughtered, and whoever they pick will be going in with the knowledge that their current seat total wasn't enough to save Mulcair's job. Isn't that practically the definition of a sacrificial lamb?
I'm not sure the Alberta Liberals qualify as a major political party...
To the substance of the article, I'm not a Kenney fan in the least (about 15 years ago, I was in a car with my mom and I saw him crossing in front of us; I urged her to speed up), but it seems a little hyperbolic. It's a little over-the-top to say that Kenney is violating financing laws when a) the campaign doesn't open until October, and b) Kenney has promised he'll disclose his donations between now and then. Whether he will or not remains to be seen, but it seems a little premature to declare that he's subverting democracy before he's even done anything. Then again, it is from Rabble, so...
They're picking someone knowing that the next leader is probably going to get slaughtered, and whoever they pick will be going in with the knowledge that their current seat total wasn't enough to save Mulcair's job. Isn't that practically the definition of a sacrificial lamb?
I'm not sure the Alberta Liberals qualify as a major political party...
To the substance of the article, I'm not a Kenney fan in the least (about 15 years ago, I was in a car with my mom and I saw him crossing in front of us; I urged her to speed up), but it seems a little hyperbolic. It's a little over-the-top to say that Kenney is violating financing laws when a) the campaign doesn't open until October, and b) Kenney has promised he'll disclose his donations between now and then. Whether he will or not remains to be seen, but it seems a little premature to declare that he's subverting democracy before he's even done anything. Then again, it is from Rabble, so...
I am pretty much counting political parties with 1 or more seats in the legislature as a major party.What Jason is planning to do is awful and it does piss people off and I don't really like what he's doing, but this indicates a really weird trend in Alberta politics where political parties especially ones like the Alberta Party have to worry about conservative action groups or polticians trying to take over their party or get rid of them. His plan is not as awful as some of the other hijack plots like the ones done on the NDP and the Alberta Party.He's also not really doing anything illegal right now, but at the same time people including high profile PC members don't actually like what he is planning to do especially after what the PC's did in 2014 to the Wildrose and after some of the other things mentioned in that article.
Nothing. I have serious doubts that Jean will remain in place by the next election. They're one incident away from a party revolt.
Yeah. Jean's going to get kicked out of the wildrose leadership eventually like Danielle Smith did(Technically she kicked herself out).I'm not sure if it will be before the next election.
This G&M article talks about the current uninspiring Tory leadership field (I quite like Chong, but he's way outside the current party mainstream -- those two things are probably related).
It mentions that Andrew Scheer is contemplating a bid, which I hadn't heard before. He'd be an interesting candidate. Credibly bilingual, for one thing, as a function of his earlier job. On that note, the Speakership has never been a stepping stone to leadership before -- in fact, I don't think any Speaker has ever even subsequently held ministerial rank. Of course, until the 1980s the Speakership was a patronage plum doled out by the PMO to some ally evidently deemed inessential for cabinet purposes. Having been Speaker (or Deputy Speaker) for the duration of the Harper government would to an extent insulate Scheer from being critiqued on their record (other than his rulings while Speaker, which, let's be clear, nobody in the general electorate would care even a little bit).
It mentions that Andrew Scheer is contemplating a bid, which I hadn't heard before. He'd be an interesting candidate. Credibly bilingual, for one thing, as a function of his earlier job. On that note, the Speakership has never been a stepping stone to leadership before -- in fact, I don't think any Speaker has ever even subsequently held ministerial rank. Of course, until the 1980s the Speakership was a patronage plum doled out by the PMO to some ally evidently deemed inessential for cabinet purposes. Having been Speaker (or Deputy Speaker) for the duration of the Harper government would to an extent insulate Scheer from being critiqued on their record (other than his rulings while Speaker, which, let's be clear, nobody in the general electorate would care even a little bit).
yanipheonu
Member
Every day I look at the American political situation and thank god I'm in Canada.
American conservatives with any sense deserve so much better.
I know this is a controversial statement, but I would also argue that our Conservatives are closer to US Democrats then our Liberals. Of course, its a big tent but I am mainly referring to the "establishment" fellows. But yeah, I could stomach another 4 years of Harper- I would go mentally insane if Trump would become President. Still, I quite like the Conservative Parties decline, if only so the NDP has a chance to rise, especially in the prairies where they hate the Liberals, so the NDP is the "other" option.
pr0cs
Member
Canadian Conservatives are much closer to American democrats than republicans. thou I'm sure that pains socialist leaning people on this forum
Silver Arrows
Banned
It's true, I will give you that. But the Canadian Cons still take tips from their brethren down south, especially when it comes to demonizing immigrants and war mongering.
killer rin
Member
Thats one of the reasons I am super glad that the Conservatives got kicked to the curb this time around. Despite how bad they were in previous elections it truly felt as if they were trying to incorporate some Republicanism into their party that hopefully they will have now learned will not fly up here.
Silver Arrows
Banned
Agreed. It certainly helps they decided to do it at the tail end of Harper's reign, ensuring that the Liberals stay on for at least two terms while the Conservatives go back to the cave to lick their wounds.
pr0cs
Member
Two very long terms that will likely cost a lot of jobs but at least we won't have to deal with Harper anymore
What kind of jobs?
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
So last week I learned that the RAMQ card is not a valid ID in US casinos/bars XD
gutter_trash
Banned
is that the Carte Soleil?
LOL
same thing happened to me in NYC in ten years ago
matthewwhatever
Member
Is that your health card? Those aren't even valid ID up here, for the most part.
What makes it awful? It's not like he's trying to do it secretly, like those other examples, or even like he's going back on his word, like Mackay did. He's a pretty loathsome person in most respects, but to his credit on this issue, he's being fully up front about what he wants to do: if Alberta PCs vote for him, they're voting for a united party. I can't say I want a right-wing party in power anywhere, but I don't see what kind of argument there can be against him openly trying to merge two parties.
"Trying"? They've been aping the Republican playbook for about a decade. There's a reason why they tried killing home delivery, refused to bargain with public sector unions, and partook in all kinds of other little things that wouldn't have been out of place coming from down south. They weren't as loud about it -- hence why so many CPCers try and claim that they're really no different from Democrats -- but the fact Harper went down to Vegas to take part in a GOP strategy session (which comes after years of similarities between Harper's campaigns and those of various GOP candidates) should tell you how close the CPC and the Republicans are.
I don't have a subscription so I can't read the story, but I've seen this sentiment a few other places, and I just don't get it. It kind of reminds me of all those people in the US who were touting what a deep bench the GOP had, right up until last year, when members of that that "deep bench" field actually made runs and they all got destroyed by Trump. Kenney would've been a terrible leader at the federal level. Mackay is/was a lightweight in most respects. No one has thought of Bernard Lord in over a decade. Charest has been around too long, and has way too many skeletons in his closet. Wall doesn't speak French. There are one or two people whose absence is a little conspicuous, or whose candidacies would be interesting -- i.e. Lisa Raitt, James Moore -- but for the most part, the CPC field is exactly what you'd expect from a party coming out from a decade in which their leader actively worked to cut down anyone who looked like they could be a threat.
I think the really surprising thing is how few viable candidates there are from out west. All the candidates that would've seemed like sure things five years ago either had their careers ruined (Jim Prentice, arguably Danielle Smith) or opted out for other things (whether political, like Kenney, or personal, like Moore). You'd think that decades of Conservative rule in the prairies would've yielded someone at least a little more impressive than Deepak Obhrai.
A few things about the BC Government's data release.
1. The data has been massaged to make the impact seem less than it is. It's "only" 5%, but if you look closer, individual areas of the region are much higher. It's 14% in Richmond for example.
2. The size of the number doesn't matter so much as the amounts of money involved and results of that inflow. It's "only" 5% and 5 is a small number so this must be no big deal right? Well that's still fundamentally a huge amount of external money flowing in. Importantly the government's limited amount amount of data showed the average investment amount by foreign purchasers was dramatically more than locals. The bottom line is that these "small" amount of buyers bidding up properties can have a dramatic disruptive impact on the entire market, just like how a splash in a pond creates waves that ripple outward. When someone sells their house at an inflated cost what do they do with that money? Well they go buy elsewhere a bit further out...
3. Foreign people isn't as relevant as foreign capital. This government study concerned non-Canadian investment, but the Canadian and Quebec governments have been selling Canadian citizenship to millionaires for years at this point. The issue isn't about foreign people it is the implications on the market of non-local capital inflows.
This article is a bit rambly but it's a very good round up of the situation IMO http://www.nationalobserver.com/2016/07/20/opinion/race-carding-elephant-room
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