I totally agree. I'm not sure I'd ever vote CPC, but a party that is less about imported anti-woke culture wars and more about taking care of what we have would be good.
I have a problem describing the parties that presided over the lead up to the cost of living and healthcare crises as "good (enough)".
I'm old enough to remember when advocates predicted healthcare staffing shortages "in ten or twenty years" due to the austerity of the 1990s. We've cycled through governments of all stripes provincially and federally, and we still ended up here.
Here in Canada we've been trying to keep tabs on Trump's tariff threats. At the start, our media was publishing headlines whenever posted about Canada/tariffs/etc. They seem to have given up on that (partially because Trump's been distracted recently), but I think readers tuned out.
Instead we're more focused on three current Canadian reaction, and the effects of whatever the current policies are. Tracking the day-to-day threats was almost information-free because Trump's whims are so variable.
I think that strategy makes more sense: track the long-term story, without doing constant breaking news about something that's likely to change soon.
how do you try to discern in real time what is misleading?
That's really hard. Unless you're in a position where your opinion will have an influence (ie, you're a judge, cop, or protestor who can take part in the event), you might as well wait a couple of days for more information to come out.
We've done ourselves a massive disservice by subjecting everything to constant, immediate analysis. Most of the time, we can afford to wait and learn more.
When asked why he's disclosing this information now, Singh said Canadians have shared stories with him during the campaign about their experiences with foreign interference.
Singh said those stories made it clear "that maybe sharing a bit of what happened to me would help highlight how serious this is" for others in similar circumstances.
"What about folks that are faced with these threats on a day-to-day basis? What about different community groups that constantly are living with the fear of threats to themselves, to their families?" Singh said.
tbf, when the internal report on foreign interference was shown to party leaders, he seemed to be really into it.
Or, like any other commodity where there's a market imbalance, you address supply issues and prices come down.
Our largest recent spike in home starts was during the pandemic, when housing prices skyrocketed, so there's clearly more to the price than just supply. A comprehensive plan to improve housing affordability would take that into account, and address the demand and financing parts of the equation.
There's nothing in the LPC plan to guarantee costs fall, so it seems we'll be left to the whims of the market. Again.
Eh. When I was living in Ottawa, developers were buying up $600k houses (that I could afford), knocking them down, and replacing them with two or three $900k houses (that I couldn't afford).
I'm all for densification, but if the purpose of this is to lower housing costs, it's too early to declare victory. We need to see house prices meaningfully decline before that.
Housing starts haven't really improved since 2021, and the LPC plan started late 2023, didn't it?
I'm not (generally) seeing a significant increase in housing starts or improvements in affordability (although rent in a few centers has dropped). Maybe once the existing LPC proposals make it a bit further (like the housing catalog you mentioned). But it isn't looking great so far.
It's a question of how likely a proposed solution is to reduce housing costs.
Just some back of the envelope math, a fee years ago the value of Canadian residential real estate was some 7.5 trillion, just call it 7. Even a 10% drop in value means a roughly 700 billion loss. For the 40ish percent of Canadian households which own their home, the plan evaporates a large chunk of their retirement wealth.
You've hit the nail on the head: it's hard to make housing more affordable without reducing the amount of money people charge for housing. If the goal is to build a few more houses, but keep the cost of housing the same, then the LPC plan will succeed - it's provides money to builders without a guarantee of price reductions.
But low income and young Canadians will continue to be priced out of housing with that approach. Unless CMHC the new government body builds houses, and rent/sells them to the next generation of Canadians below market rates. That's possible, but that Singaporean approach it isn't described in the LPC plan. And it will probably require more money than it promises for affordable housing.
We've been in a housing crisis for something like five years now, and it's helped fuel a push to the right. If the LPC plan is as you describe it, and the intent is to keep inflated housing prices for the next decade (perhaps until real wages catch up), then we're going to see a continued right-ward push.
That's shitty. I haven't looked too closely at the CPC platform, but it doesn't seem great. Their promise to build 2.3 million houses in five years seems unachievable, but I can understand people wanting it to be true.
I'm pretty far from 25 or 30, but I'd really like to see more coverage of what's happening with that demographic.
Like I’m sorry but these kids were in elementary school when Trudeau got elected and every day since their parents have been paying for less and less of their stuff.
The article interviews people in their 30s, and the poll is of Canadians under 35. I'm not sure about our demographics, but I'd expect many of the respondents have been in the workforce for a few years. They're generally priced out of home ownership and their rent has skyrocketed. Those are the same people who are reporting lower levels of happiness (as per the article), and probably having a harder time with the inflation we've seen since the start of COVID.
Blaming their concerns on "scrolling social media endlessly" doesn't address the problem that they are legitimately having a shit time. I don't think the Conservatives have the answers to these problems, but dismissing them out of hand sucks.
The article isn't really about support for the Conservatives, it's more about affordability issues (outside of housing) not really registering in the campaigns.
Hey, I'd love a pony too.
I totally agree. I'm not sure I'd ever vote CPC, but a party that is less about imported anti-woke culture wars and more about taking care of what we have would be good.