31–40 of 50 posts
Canadian here, working out of our downtown Toronto office today. I'll meander with this reply - the topic itself has a nebulous, uncertain quality to it. The situation is pretty bad but, as usual, it's very difficult to actually put a proper description and anecdote on some of the things that have been happening. Reddit et al as usual have been calling for protests, and have for some time - see r/canada, r/ontario, r…
Canadian here, working out of our downtown Toronto office today. I'll meander with this reply - the topic itself has a nebulous, uncertain quality to it. The situation is pretty bad but, as usual, it's very difficult to actually put a proper description and anecdote on some of the things that have been happening. Reddit et al as usual have been calling for protests, and have for some time - see r/canada, r/ontario, r…
I don't quite understand, are you saying that inflation is *checks notes* 500% in Canada right now? The article says something like 6.8%?
Not being Canadian and having never lived there, I apologize for my ignorance. (I have been there several times, and not just Toronto & Montreal & Vancouver, either.) I'll refrain from any mentions of hockey, poutine, eh, or Gordon Lightfoot. Canada strikes me as more than ripe for a split. Quebec goes one way, Ontario another, Manitoba - Saskatchewan - Alberta another, BC a fourth, and I don't know about the other p…
Not being Canadian and having never lived there, I apologize for my ignorance. (I have been there several times, and not just Toronto & Montreal & Vancouver, either.) I'll refrain from any mentions of hockey, poutine, eh, or Gordon Lightfoot. Canada strikes me as more than ripe for a split. Quebec goes one way, Ontario another, Manitoba - Saskatchewan - Alberta another, BC a fourth, and I don't know about the other p…
I think this is partially why separatism isn’t as prominent as it is today. A province would need an incredible benefit from splitting and most of the motivations are more cultural/ideological than economic.
Canadian here, working out of our downtown Toronto office today. I'll meander with this reply - the topic itself has a nebulous, uncertain quality to it. The situation is pretty bad but, as usual, it's very difficult to actually put a proper description and anecdote on some of the things that have been happening. Reddit et al as usual have been calling for protests, and have for some time - see r/canada, r/ontario, r…
> Even if you're well off, if you were making a million/yr before now you're making 200k/yr. I don't quite understand, are you saying that inflation is *checks notes* 500% in Canada right now? The article says something like 6.8%?
Saw a video on Reddit where some MP brings this up and the other MPs laugh and ridicule him :(
They were laughing at his proposal [1], which seems like it would increase inflation in the same way that stimulus checks and rock-bottom interest rates did - by giving people cheap/free money. Jagmeet Singh likes to characterize businesses as blood sucking institutions making money hand over fist. But competition in a healthy market makes it so that you can't just increase profit margins, because a competitor will e…
Interestingly, that's something fairly common in Indian politics: trying to squeeze out the vote from certain ethnic groups with handouts. It's just that some Indian politicians are a little more direct (It was once explained to me that a race was won after one party declared they would give out flat screen TVs should they win...).
> Close friends who are entrepreneurs in Canada tell me that starting/operating a business in Canada is really difficult compared to the US (a lot more regulations, a lot less capital, and investors are really conservative).
That's something a Canadian founder echoed to me long ago. He was trying to raise with a friend from Switzerland and basically couldn't get anyone to take him seriously (I think the only offer he got in Canada was for a loan if he could make something like 10K in profits per months?). Even getting a meeting took several months.
He was about to shelve the project when he came down to the valley (heading out to Yosemite to go climbing) and tried to schedule a meeting or two with some VCs. To his surprise, he was able to pitch to three different investors in a span of two days.
Long story short, he eventually decided to move to the valley and that's where he and his co-founder secured funding.
Not being Canadian and having never lived there, I apologize for my ignorance. (I have been there several times, and not just Toronto & Montreal & Vancouver, either.) I'll refrain from any mentions of hockey, poutine, eh, or Gordon Lightfoot. Canada strikes me as more than ripe for a split. Quebec goes one way, Ontario another, Manitoba - Saskatchewan - Alberta another, BC a fourth, and I don't know about the other p…
It's worth remembering that this problem is structural. Canada is what the US would look like if it had no Constitution, all votes were party line, and the House was supreme: the only votes that would ever matter are the ones in NYC (Toronto/Montreal), DC (Ottawa), and San Francisco (Vancouver), and because they vote as a bloc the vast majority of the time their governance would be entirely unaccountable to the rest of the nation.
The fact that this would rip the US apart is due to its unique kind of citizen; Canadians tend to be more passive-aggressive and as such would need a lot more to go wrong before they consider it. Quebec is a special case since their language and culture really do need the kind of protection they say it does or it's going to die out- which is why they're more separatist than the rest of the nation (and it's very revealing that the only region of Quebec to vote against separation was Montreal, their largest city, and most Anglicized part of the province: had they the foresight to exclude Montreal, the nation would look very different today).
As such, the only time any opposition can gain a foothold is if the voting bloc these cities comprise is destabilized. Out of control healthcare spending (of which the massive spike in living costs and inflation is a direct result) may be enough to do this, but only time will tell.
Not being Canadian and having never lived there, I apologize for my ignorance. (I have been there several times, and not just Toronto & Montreal & Vancouver, either.) I'll refrain from any mentions of hockey, poutine, eh, or Gordon Lightfoot. Canada strikes me as more than ripe for a split. Quebec goes one way, Ontario another, Manitoba - Saskatchewan - Alberta another, BC a fourth, and I don't know about the other p…
>Their "conservatives" are about as worthless as California Republicans. It's worth remembering that this problem is structural. Canada is what the US would look like if it had no Constitution, all votes were party line, and the House was supreme: the only votes that would ever matter are the ones in NYC (Toronto/Montreal), DC (Ottawa), and San Francisco (Vancouver), and because they vote as a bloc the vast majority…
Canada has a (written) Constitution. You are probably confusing Canada with the UK, which does not. Same ceremonial monarch (and more purely ceremonial in Canada than the UK), different (though broadly similar, both are Westminster-style systems) system of government.
> and the House was supreme:
Canada has a Senate that can reject and initiate legislation. You are probably confusing Canada with the UK, where the Lords can only delay legislation that has been passed by the Commons.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>Their "conservatives" are about as worthless as California Republicans. It's worth remembering that this problem is structural. Canada is what the US would look like if it had no Constitution, all votes were party line, and the House was supreme: the only votes that would ever matter are the ones in NYC (Toronto/Montreal), DC (Ottawa), and San Francisco (Vancouver), and because they vote as a bloc the vast majority…
> It's worth remembering that this problem is structural. Canada is what the US would look like if it had no Constitution, Canada has a (written) Constitution. You are probably confusing Canada with the UK, which does not. Same ceremonial monarch (and more purely ceremonial in Canada than the UK), different (though broadly similar, both are Westminster-style systems) system of government. > and the House was supreme:…
It is functionally useless in a way that the US one isn't.
>Canada has a Senate that can reject and initiate legislation.
The operative word being "can"; but in practice the overwhelming majority of legislation makes it through with no change. It's functionally a ceremonial role.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Even if you're well off, if you were making a million/yr before now you're making 200k/yr. I don't quite understand, are you saying that inflation is *checks notes* 500% in Canada right now? The article says something like 6.8%?
It's the same logic that allows him to suggest that the "Freedom Convoy" was-- fake, or something. Disinfo? On my HN? It's more likely than you think!
Re 200k/yr down from 1mil was a bit hyperboic, but he literally referenced buying power. Ie what one million got you before has essentially been cut to 1/5. Again hyperbolic but not wrong.
Funny that a comment that didn't even properly read the one its refencing is itself disinformation.