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#1

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 06:57:40 PM

Since i was copied i'll reply this one time. Capital gains  effects items beyond property, like stocks.

Yep, and that's why I had other paragraphs if you went on to read it that dealt with that issue

I'm back out thanks.

#2

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by HVC - Today at 06:55:38 PM

Since i was copied i'll reply this one time. Capital gains  effects items beyond property, like stocks.

#3

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by Grey Fox - Today at 06:41:51 PM

It could maybe make sense if they just had small, single slices you can buy as that's something that a chain here in the UK does (Greggs). Agreed that I don't know who would want full pizza from their coffee/donut place.

Turns out they are flatbread pizzas. That sounds more manageable for a fast frozen food place.

https://kitchener.citynews.ca/2024/04/16/tim-hortons-launches-pizza-nationally-to-stretch-the-brand-to-afternoon-night/

So I went to Tim's to just get a coffee, but saw the pizzas were already available.  I stepped up and ordered one.  I suffered so you don't have to.

I mean - it's what they say about pizza - even really bad pizza is okay pizza.  And this was bad pizza, but I mean it still has crust, sauce, cheese and pepperoni.  It had the basic test you'd expect.  But I feel like my assessment that it'll taste like frozen pizza was born out - and not even very good frozen pizza.

Apparently the pizza is prepared fresh, but on a frozen dough.  The dough did seem very bready and like you'd get from a grocery store.  The coverage of the toppings was not great - the corners in particular led to some very bready bites (to be fair this was their first day).  There was not a particular wait for it though which was surprising.

No one will ever go "I feel like pizza - lets go to Tim Horton's!", nor should they.  For lunch I would much rather get one of their sandwich options.  But if you find yourself at a Tim Horton's for supper, with no where else to go, the Pizza is a tolerable option.

Your sacrifice will be remembered.

#4

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by crazy canuck - Today at 06:25:28 PM

He no doubt knows more then I don't. But I dont see how this effects individual foreign investment. We have tax treaties, and foreigners only pay a certain percentage here (and the rest of their tax at the rate of their home countries rate). Wont effect their taxes. And citizens are still going to invest since CG is still a better return then most other incomes.

Great - so the $19 billion is coming from Canadian small and medium businesses then?

As I understand it, yes. Tax treaties aren't being changed as far as I see. Withholdings aren't changing. Again, this is at the individual level. No idea how it works at the foreign corporate level.

Stopped by for this discussion.


Tax treaties are mainly about income taxes.  The tax owed on The disposition of assets with jurisdiction are generally unaffected by treaty.  For example, if a foreign owner of property in BC wishes to sell that property, they must pay a hefty withholding tax out of the proceeds of that sale.

This isn't the problem that the Former finance minister was addressing, but it's an example of why reference to tax treaties is not particularly relevant.

And speaking of property, The people who are going to be hurt by this are the people who are going to be inheriting their parents property in the next 10 years or so.  The property in their hands will be taxed at the full gain realized by the estate and the price of that just went up.

Also, this is a really odd policy for a claim that they are taxing the wealthy.  The wealthy aren't going to be touched by this at all.  As we discussed in another thread, the wealthy have other tools available to them to have a very lavish lifestyle without ever selling any of their stock.

This is really going to hurt the development of the middle-class and those who are already in the middle class.

Almost as if they wanted to make a broad claim that they were addressing generational injustice, but didn't really know what they were doing or didn't think that the people they are trying to appeal to won't know What these tax changes really mean.

Take for example, a small business person who has used a small business corporation as their retirement vehicle. I to note that all governments have always encouraged small business people to do exactly this.  Now, The person who was expecting to be able to retire on the assets accrued in their corporation will have to pay more as the corporation those shares so that the money can be taken out to fund the retirement.

That's really sticking to the big corporations isn't it?

I am all for taxing corporate profits, and particularly adding a higher rate of taxes after reaching certain rates of profitability.  it seems to me that is good public policy as it will encourage money to be spent by corporations to increase productivity rather than simply being stated as profit on the bottom line.

But This is the reverse.  it's penalizing corporations for becoming more valuable.  If you penalize something for becoming more valuable you create a disincentive for research and development and gains in productivity.

Now there is an incentive to simply pull money out by way of dividends and forget about increasing the value of the shares.

#5

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by HVC - Today at 06:01:37 PM

He has a creepy fake smile.

*edit* the politician, not Colbert

#6

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Tamas - Today at 05:31:12 PM

[Mark Menzies, the Conservative MP for Fylde and a government trade envoy, rang an elderly local party volunteer at 3.15am in December saying he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of "life and death". The sum, which rose to £6,500, was paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from campaign funds raised from donors.£14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities had previously been transferred to Menzies's personal bank account and used for his private medical expenses.]

#7

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 05:00:08 PM

In other news, the Times has an absolutely cracking gay Tory MP scandal.

What in the world? The dog intoxication bit is...

Everything feels 1990s. It's all very Cones Hotline and "Tory MP chokes to death in freak auto-erotic asphyxiation accident":

Revealed: Tory MP allegedly demanded campaign cash to pay 'bad people'
Mark Menzies, MP for Fylde, used thousands of pounds raised by donors for private expenses. His party had been aware for three months and took no action

Billy Kenber, Senior Investigations Reporter
Wednesday April 17 2024, 9.30pm, The Times


A Tory MP is under investigation over allegations that he misused campaign funds and abused his position after making a late-night phone call saying he'd been locked up by "bad people" who were demanding thousands of pounds, The Times can reveal.

Mark Menzies, the Conservative MP for Fylde and a government trade envoy, rang an elderly local party volunteer at 3.15am in December saying he was locked in a flat and needed £5,000 as a matter of "life and death". The sum, which rose to £6,500, was paid by his office manager from her personal bank account and subsequently reimbursed from campaign funds raised from donors.

£14,000 given by donors for use on Tory campaign activities had previously been transferred to Menzies's personal bank account and used for his private medical expenses.

The Conservative Party has been aware of the allegations of potential fraud for more than three months and has taken no action. The MP was accused of paying for sex from a male escort in 2014.

Locked up by 'bad people'

The phone call came in the dead of night.

"Are you on your own?" the man said, with urgency in his voice. "I've got in with some bad people and they've got me locked in a flat and they want £5,000 to release me."

The caller was Mark Menzies, 52, the Conservative MP for Fylde in Lancashire.

He had rung his 78-year-old former campaign manager, a woman who The Times is not naming, waking her from her sleep to ask her to hand over thousands of pounds from a bank account containing donations to the MP's campaign.

She told Menzies that it was 3.15am and she couldn't transfer any money without leaving the house. He became angry, allegedly telling her it was "a matter of life and death", and demanding she instead lend him the money from her own savings, according to an account she has subsequently given to friends and the Conservative Party.

The woman refused and told the MP that she would speak to his long-time constituency office manager, Shirley Green, in the morning. A few hours later, Green stumped up the money, telling local Tories that she had cashed in her Isa to do so. By then, the sum demanded had risen to £6,500.

Later that day, having been rescued from the flat in which he had been detained, Menzies rang the 78-year-old again.

He told her that he had summoned one of his staffers to London to collect him from the flat. On arrival, the junior staffer handed over his own money, a sum thought to be a few hundred pounds, which Menzies said he owed to two other men.

Asked if he was concerned he could be blackmailed again, Menzies said he would change his phone number.

The following day, on another call, Menzies said that he needed another £35,000 for medical bills.

Told there was no more money in the campaign funds bank account, Menzies was unperturbed. "Oh, we'll raise some more," he allegedly replied.

A source close to Menzies said the MP had met a man on an online dating website and gone to the man's flat, before subsequently going with another man to a second address where he continued drinking. It was falsely claimed that he had been sick at one point and several people at the address then demanded £5,000, claiming it was for cleaning up and other expenses.

The source said Menzies decided to pay them because he was scared of what would happen otherwise, but did not have the funds to transfer the money from his own savings. His aides gave him money "as friends who wanted to help".

Thousands in campaign funds

Green was reimbursed the £6,500 she gave Menzies in December from funds donated by local supporters to cover the MP's campaign expenses.

The money was in an account with the name Fylde Westminster Group and was set up as a local business group to allow supporters to donate to Menzies.

A source close to Menzies said that he had offered to repay this sum, but claimed local Tories controlling the account said he did not need to.

The practice of setting up a local business group is common among MPs because donors do not have to declare a donation to the Conservative Party in company accounts, and donors are not publicly declared at all until they reach a certain threshold. It was used to raise funds for his campaigning activities and was administered by his former campaign manager and by Green, his office manager.

The money used to repay Green was not the first time that this campaign fund was used to cover Menzies's personal expenses.

Four years ago, shortly before the outbreak of the pandemic, Menzies called his former campaign manager seeking £3,000 from the campaign funds, she has told friends.

He claimed to have personal medical bills due urgently that he could not pay and promised to sell some shares in order to repay the money. The former campaign manager and Green authorised the transfer and Menzies received it.

But the MP is understood never to have repaid the money. Instead, he asked for and received a further sum of £4,000.

A source close to the MP disputed this account and said the former campaign manager had been the one who suggested Menzies use funds from the business account to pay his personal medical expenses. She is understood to deny this.

The source claimed that donors would have been happy to donate for this purpose but, in order to avoid disclosing details of Menzies's health, they were not asked to. They argued that paying the medical bills helped to keep Menzies functioning as an MP and were a legitimate use of the funds.

Several years passed before Menzies again received funds from the account, in November. By then, Green had been replaced as an administrator by another local party member. The sum received amounted to £7,000.

Menzies has not repaid any of the £14,000 he has received from the business group fund — money that had been given by donors for campaigning and not for his personal expenses.

One donor, who gave a four-figure sum to the business group, said he had donated after being told by Menzies that the money would be used for campaigning. He wanted the police to investigate the alleged misuse of the funds.

Senior Tories alerted

In the aftermath of the 3.15am phone call in December, Menzies appears to have tried to keep those who knew about it onside, although this has been denied by those allies.

He asked his former campaign manager if she would run his campaign during the next general election, telling her it was "going to be a dirty election, I don't want any gossip and scandal". On another occasion, he gave her a large bunch of flowers.

Nevertheless, at the start of January, she reported what had happened to the Conservative chief whip, Simon Hart, detailing Menzies's misuse of donors' money and the alleged "abuse of privilege" in pressuring staff into handing over their own savings for his personal use.

An investigation was opened, with the case subsequently transferred from the whip's office to Conservative Campaign Headquarters (CCHQ).

When Menzies became aware that the male staffer who picked him up had confided in a friend about what had happened, he took steps to try to prevent the allegations becoming public, allegedly saying he would "deny everything" if the press got onto him.

Sex, drugs and a drunk dog

Menzies was born in Ayrshire and was raised by his mother after his father, who worked in the Merchant Navy, died a month before his birth.

He studied economic and social history at the University of Glasgow and worked in the retail sector at Marks & Spencer and Asda before entering politics.

The unmarried MP has never publicly confirmed his sexuality but has appeared on a list of gay MPs produced by the website Pink News.

He was first elected as MP for Fylde in 2010 as one of David Cameron's "A-list" candidates and was earmarked for a rapid rise, quickly taking up a post as a parliamentary private secretary.

However, his ascent up the ranks was halted in 2014 when he was at the centre of a sex-for-money scandal. Rogerio Santos, 19, a Brazilian "rent boy", told the Sunday Mirror that the MP had paid him for sex and asked him to buy an illegal drug. Santos claimed that Menzies had taken drugs on previous occasions.

Menzies, then 42, resigned as a ministerial aide but insisted that some of the allegations were untrue and claimed he would be "setting the record straight in due course". He has not held a ministerial role since.

Three years later, Menzies was interviewed by police over bizarre accusations that he had deliberately got an acquaintance's dog drunk and, when challenged over his actions, started a fight with the friend. The dog reportedly required emergency veterinary treatment for "intoxication" and "poisoning".

Menzies told the press at the time that the allegations were "false and malicious" and police had dismissed the claims. A source close to the MP denied that Menzies had any involvement in the dog drinking alcohol. They claimed the dog had drunk alcohol that had been placed on the grass when the friend fell asleep, and that the friend had given alcohol to the dog on previous occasions.

More recently, Menzies's Lancashire constituency has been abuzz with gossip about a drunken incident at a Last Night of the Proms concert featuring Katherine Jenkins, held in the grounds of Lytham Hall in August.

Menzies, who was invited to the event by the local mayor, is said to have turned up intoxicated and got into a row with other patrons after discovering that seats had not been reserved for his party within the VIP section.

One attendee said the MP "started kicking the chairs and poking the people on the front row", creating a disturbance for ticket holders who had paid £150 each for the event. He was spoken to by security and appeared to be heavily intoxicated by the end of the concert. A source close to the MP acknowledged that he had had too much to drink but said he hadn't intentionally poked anyone and may have done it by accident when waving a flag.

Failure to discipline

The allegations against Menzies were reported to senior Tories more than three months ago, but the wheels of party justice have turned slowly.

Menzies's former campaign manager has given her account multiple times and has sent evidence including bank statements to CCHQ.

The MP has been interviewed by the chief whip and has admitted that he was locked up and that he used campaign funds for private medical bills, although he claims that because this was authorised by the signatories on the bank account it was fine.

The 78-year-old who received the phone call is a devout Tory who has for decades been heavily involved in the party's efforts in the constituency. She has told friends that she feels betrayed by the way the matter has been handled, and believed CCHQ was content to "brush it under the carpet".

In the meantime, Menzies has continued with plans to stand at the next election. The true-blue seat has been in Conservative hands for decades and Menzies enjoys a majority of more than 16,000.

The constituency borders Blackpool South, where the former Conservative MP Scott Benton recently resigned after he was exposed by The Times offering to lobby ministers in exchange for money. It remains to be seen whether Sunak faces another by-election headache in the same region.

In a statement, Menzies said: "I strongly dispute the allegations put to me. I have fully complied with all the rules for declarations. As there is an investigation ongoing I will not be commenting further."

A Conservative Party spokesman said: "The Conservative Party is investigating allegations made regarding a member of parliament. This process is rightfully confidential.

"The party takes all allegations seriously and will always investigate any matters put to them."

[email protected]

#8

Off the Record / Re: Israel-Hamas War 2023

Last post by Razgovory - Today at 04:51:25 PM

But that's just it. I think the only way to evaluate is in the specifics of the transgression. And if the transgression is not targeted at one's own identity, it is easier to wave it by as not warranting any reaction.

Yeah for sure.

Nonetheless, the dynamics by which one transgressor gets subjected to long term consequences while (most) others do not,  often seemingly independently of the seriousness of the transgression, seems arbitrary and problematic to me.

I'll note here that I'm not speaking exclusively about social justice and political related topics but also things like (alleged) animal cruelty, crappy customer and other social behaviour, (alleged) petty crime, road rage, and the like.

That said the main driver of my current ambivalence on the topic is seeing how elements on both sides in the current Israel-Palestinian conflict are attempting (sometimes successfully) to deploy this kind of social media "fuck around and find out" consequence-visiting on their opponents. And since I'm not in a place where I have the moral conviction that "everyone on this side is evil, and everyone on that side stands with truth and justice sufficiently that whatever wrongs they commit are acceptable" I find that the problematic elements of the dynamic stand out much more starkly.

You can posit that that position is informed by privilege, but honestly I think it's more informed by the fact that I don't strongly identify with a side in this particular case and can see the humanity of most of the people involved (and maybe that's a privilege). Normally I do identify with one of the sides (and typically I believe we're on the same side in most things, privilege notwithstanding), and I'm reasonably prone to indulge in "and fuck you, and you... and you deserve what you got you fucker. This is justice being served and it's oh so satisfying", much like many people.

It would be so much easier if the person looked like this

#9

Off the Record / Re: The AI dooooooom thread

Last post by DGuller - Today at 04:23:29 PM

Saw another article on a place where AI is making things crappier - Amazon self-publishing. It's always had a problem with content that was essentially (at best) wikipedia articles uploaded as books for suckers to buy. But now - according to the article - that market place is completely flooded with shoddy AI generated content. This shuts down a venue for aspiring and unrecognized authors to publish their work.

I guess more generally, AI is likely going to render non-curated or lightly curated places for content non-viable as the return on investment from flooding them with low effort derivative AI generated content is going to be significant enough that non-AI generated work will tend to be drowned out (or not submitted at all).

Looking on the bright side, maybe the return of curation is exactly what we need.  Social media with its lack of curation may have sounded great in theory, but it put democracy on the ropes.

#10

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Gups - Today at 04:02:09 PM

No you didn't. Cuts in corporation tax and income tax applied countrywide. Not just to the City (who had a hugely adverse reaction to something you claim benefited them)

I was expecting you to come up with some kind of bonfire of financial regulations.

Obviously taxes are national. Do you really think it possible a tax could be set just for part of the country?

What she was able to do in her five minutes in power is just a fraction of what she wanted to do. "Unshackling the city", "if London does well Britain does well", "Singapore on Thames".
It's just wrong to suggest she didn't very much have a intent grounded in neoliberalism and trickle down economics that put the city at the core.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Just double down instead of admitting you might possibly have got something wrong. Yawn