[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[Grey Fox]

Affordable housing has to be more than only home ownership for the lower middle class.

Right now, poor households are getting priced out of living almost in every city. Landlords are either looking to cash out or recently cashed in and need to recoup the high cost of the investment.

[Jacob]

Affordable housing has to be more than only home ownership for the lower middle class.

Right now, poor households are getting priced out of living almost in every city. Landlords are either looking to cash out or recently cashed in and need to recoup the high cost of the investment.

Agreed on both counts.

[crazy canuck]

Affordable housing has to be more than only home ownership for the lower middle class.

Right now, poor households are getting priced out of living almost in every city. Landlords are either looking to cash out or recently cashed in and need to recoup the high cost of the investment.

I agree, which is why I don't think high interest rates are the fix.

For low cost housing, the government has to get back into building purpose built housing for that purpose.  Municipalities have been trying to zone for mixed use and making developers plan "affordable housing" into their developments.  But it is too little and too expensive. 

We also need a lot more supply of all housing to meet the demands of increasing populations. 

Some of the steps regarding taxes on unused properties probably have to be increased to also help with the supply side.

[Malthus]

Housing is an area where a certain amount of socialism is increasingly necessary. Like healthcare, food, and physical safety, as a society we have an obligation to provide a decent standard for everyone. We can't just leave it entirely to market forces.

The question in my mind is how best to achieve that.

[Sheilbh]

I agree, which is why I don't think high interest rates are the fix.

I agree with your post - but I think while high interest rates are not the fix, the period of historically low interest rates has been a big factor especially in having property as just an asset class. I don't fully know what moving to a more normal interest rate environment will look like.

[Josephus]

One other thing on how this is a win for the NDP: Programs like dental care, pharmacare and low cost housing were the main points of their campaign platform of the last election. They did not win; yet will still be able to get these programs passed. How is that not a win?

[Jacob]

Seems like the Conservatives are going with "this is NDP-Liberal backroom deal is a betrayal of Liberal voters who hate and fear the NDP" for now, as well as "82% of voters did not vote for this NDP-Liberal government!" I guess they're going with the "NDP anathema + Justin Trudeau is despicable amirite" mix for their messaging.

It'll be interesting to see what Liberal and NDP voters think of this in the next little while. IMO Singh and the NDP can make a pretty good case to their voters that they're doing something decent. I think there's a good case for Liberal voters also. But it remains to be seen if the actual voters buy it.

It puts a different spin on the Conservative leadership race too, I guess, especially if this deal does last to 2025 as advertised.

[viper37]

The only alternative then is on the right - and the Conservatives are rarely flexible enough to enact anything but right wing policies.

So far, the Conservatives are the only party who named people from opposing views to the Senate or integrated them into their cabinet for special projects.

All that got them was mockery from the Libs.  The experience wasn't repeated.

[crazy canuck]

One other thing on how this is a win for the NDP: Programs like dental care, pharmacare and low cost housing were the main points of their campaign platform of the last election. They did not win; yet will still be able to get these programs passed. How is that not a win?

I agree, and my Twitter feed is exploding with how the NDP got the job done.  So they obviously thought through not just the deal but what they would do post deal to address the issues Jacob raised.

[crazy canuck]

Seems like the Conservatives are going with "this is NDP-Liberal backroom deal is a betrayal of Liberal voters who hate and fear the NDP" for now, as well as "82% of voters did not vote for this NDP-Liberal government!" I guess they're going with the "NDP anathema + Justin Trudeau is despicable amirite" mix for their messaging.

It'll be interesting to see what Liberal and NDP voters think of this in the next little while. IMO Singh and the NDP can make a pretty good case to their voters that they're doing something decent. I think there's a good case for Liberal voters also. But it remains to be seen if the actual voters buy it.

It puts a different spin on the Conservative leadership race too, I guess, especially if this deal does last to 2025 as advertised.

The moderates they have more time to fix the party before they have to go to the polls.  The only question now is whether they will be given the chance.

[Jacob]

The moderates they have more time to fix the party before they have to go to the polls.  The only question now is whether they will be given the chance.

Saw a piece on Charest in CBC recently. He was very clearly pitching to the moderate Conservatives, with a them of adult, responsible, experienced, progressive, able to win against Trudeau by getting centrist voters in the suburbs. The comments were about evenly split between "as a former Conservative voter I'd vote for Charest. I don't like Trudeau, but PP is worse" and "fuck that liberal fake Conservative, PP for the win!"

Were I to design a candidate maximized for winning, I guess I'd go with very conservative to win the leadership race but willing to effectively tack to the centre in the time before the next election. Not sure who that'd be though....

[Jacob]

Seeing social media reports that the NDP-Lib agreement came about partially due to the convoy occupation of Ottawa - it convinced Singh and Trudeau that they needed to act.

If so, that is delicious irony indeed.

[crazy canuck]

The moderates they have more time to fix the party before they have to go to the polls.  The only question now is whether they will be given the chance.

Saw a piece on Charest in CBC recently. He was very clearly pitching to the moderate Conservatives, with a them of adult, responsible, experienced, progressive, able to win against Trudeau by getting centrist voters in the suburbs. The comments were about evenly split between "as a former Conservative voter I'd vote for Charest. I don't like Trudeau, but PP is worse" and "fuck that liberal fake Conservative, PP for the win!"

Were I to design a candidate maximized for winning, I guess I'd go with very conservative to win the leadership race but willing to effectively tack to the centre in the time before the next election. Not sure who that'd be though....

That is what O Toole tried to do.

[Malthus]

The moderates they have more time to fix the party before they have to go to the polls.  The only question now is whether they will be given the chance.

Saw a piece on Charest in CBC recently. He was very clearly pitching to the moderate Conservatives, with a them of adult, responsible, experienced, progressive, able to win against Trudeau by getting centrist voters in the suburbs. The comments were about evenly split between "as a former Conservative voter I'd vote for Charest. I don't like Trudeau, but PP is worse" and "fuck that liberal fake Conservative, PP for the win!"

Were I to design a candidate maximized for winning, I guess I'd go with very conservative to win the leadership race but willing to effectively tack to the centre in the time before the next election. Not sure who that'd be though....

That is what O Toole tried to do.

The Conservatives have a big problem using this strategy. The hard core Conservatives are now too far out of the mainstream, they are too combative about it; appealing to them makes a politician too extreme to win federal elections.

[viper37]

The Beaverton
@TheBeaverton
·
44m
Backed into a corner, Liberals make deal to follow through on some of their election promises https://thebeaverton.com/2022/03/backed-into-a-corner-liberals-make-deal-to-follow-through-on-some-of-their-election-promises/

 

I love that kind of humor