Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM • Hacker News Board

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#611

Post by ygjb » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:14 PM UTC

tlss wrote: post #514

ygjb wrote: post #455

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Here's the primary problem with your argument: the current front-runner to win the next election is the Conservative Party of Canada, with Pierre Poilievre as leader, and pretty much a shoo-in for the next Prime Minister. Poilievre is a career politician who's only professional experience has been as a politician, has no work history to speak of (don't take my word for it, his wikipedia entry details only a job as a…

Justin Trudeau was a ski instructor before becoming Prime Minister. Ronald Reagan and Zelenskyy were ridiculed as an actor in their election campaigns. Poilievre is a career politician and unproven at the highest office, but that by itself should not disqualify him. Knowing who to delegate to is 90% the job of a good leader -- the other 10% is public speaking and being charismatic.

Sure, Trudeau was a ski instructor. You will also note that I neglected to mention that Poilievre had a paper route; that's because paper routes aren't professional experience.

Trudeau was also a secondary school teacher, acted in a tv movie. He also reputedly worked as a bouncer and worked in various (heavily politically affiliated) non-profits. He had a career before politics.

That said, my primary point is that Poilievre hasn't been a particularly effective politician, and his reputation is largely that of a blowhard who's main appeal is that he is not Trudeau.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#612

Post by UncleOxidant » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #459

sangnoir wrote: post #320

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The USA is great when you're working age and are healthy. Outside the 18-65 age range, not so much. I hope Canada will not morph into USA-lite.

Is it because people outside of 18 and 65 don't have to pay rent or a mortgage? Also one of the often touted benefits of Canada to US is the public healthcare system, but after 65 most people are on Medicare which is adequate and under 25 generally under your parents insurance. Genuinely curious whats better under Canadian system for the young and old.

As someone who is going to be 65 in a couple years and is researching Medicare options... it seems like a bit of a mess. The drug plans have been separated out so you have to buy those separately. If you get an "advantage" plan then you've got the same old "in-network" "out of network" BS to deal with and they can and do deny coverage. If you get plain old Medicare (probably what I'll opt for) you can theoretically see any doctor (but there are some that don't take Medicare) but you still have to buy a "Medigap" plan. Looking at the costs for my wife and I being on Medicare is still going to be something like $700/month so don't think that when you get to Medicare age that you won't have to pay any insurance premiums anymore. We're currently paying about $400/month for a silver plan and dental through the ACA so our premiums will actually go up under Medicare.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

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Post by maerF0x0 » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:15 PM UTC

catgary wrote: post #93

csense wrote: post #34

Patio11 has some good coverage of Trudeau's handling of the trucker protest against the government's handling of COVID-19 [1]. Whatever you think of the truckers' position or protest tactics, any punishment for their actions ought to go through the laws and court system. Trudeau instead essentially told the banking system "You can't do business with those people, they're terrorists." Patio11's words of what happened…

I think it’s worth noting that the weekend before this, local residents of Ottawa had basically “stormed” one of the trucker convoy camps to unblock a road. There were genuine concerns that the residents of Ottawa were ready to take matters into their own hands, and it would be a bloodbath. Not to mention the blockade in Alberta where they were found with guns and a pipe bomb, with their communications indicating the…

> concerns that the residents of Ottawa were ready to take matters into their own hands, and it would be a bloodbath

Similar concerns happened when Harper and Ottawa mayor at the time denied the rights and freedoms of protestors of the G20.

It's concerning how the "true north, strong, and free" is losing that last part.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

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Post by wbl » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:16 PM UTC

mardifoufs wrote: post #331

catgary wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are you talking about the militant separatists who had already committed mailbombings and escalated to assasinating a government official and kidnapping a foreign diplomat on Canadian soil in 1970? It’s also important to note that afterwards Quebec separatism continued to be a legitimate political movement without a terrorist wing, with parties represented in federal and provincial governments.

[flagged]

There was a literal British army deployment to Northern Ireland for decades.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#615

Post by cmrdporcupine » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

adrr wrote: post #578

Tiktaalik wrote: post #299

I never voted for Justin Trudeau and don't like him, but despite all the angry rhetoric right now in the long term I think he will be considered by history to be one of the better Canadian PMs. Amongst the Canadian PMs I've experienced, Chretien, Martin, Harper, Trudeau made the most impactful and positive policy changes (eg. legal cannabis, childcare) while navigating the country through the challenges of covid and…

Also record low unemployment. 4.9% in 2022 set records. For comparison Canada’s average unemployment rate is 7.5% over the last 50 years. https://www.cicnews.com/2022/07/canadas-unemployment-rate-dr...

The irony is that it was industry (especially small business) freaking out about that low unemployment rate and the pressure it was putting on wages that led to the bulk of Trudeau's demise.

They went crazy with the TFW program, LMIA, and immigration generally in order to reduce inflation. But this is not the kind of inflation that ordinary Canadians think of when we think of inflation -- grocery prices, etc. It's the inflation that business leaders freak out about: wage inflation.

And so the gov't acted, and increased the supply of skilled and unskilled labour, and here we are.

It's amusingly also the same inflation that led to Trudeau Sr. getting in a pile of trouble in the late 70s, too. In that case instead of immigration they tried the ill-fated "wage and price controls" legislation... which was... not popular.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#616

Post by rossdavidh » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

reverendsteveii wrote: post #539

Is it me or does it seem like the internet era has taken away incumbent advantage and actually put incumbents at a massive disadvantage? I'm not here to attack or defend what Trudeau has actually done, only to posit the idea that once you become a leader in the political landscape there is a very effective machine whose only job is to attack you, personally, as much as possible anywhere you're perceived to be vulnera…

It's an interesting theory, but there are other hypotheses out there. One I've heard a lot is that the post-pandemic inflation surge hit everyone, and made all incumbents unpopular. I suppose that if the anti-incumbent results across the globe continue for several more years, we will be able to rule that out?

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#617

Post by throaway89 » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:17 PM UTC

bko wrote: post #610

throaway89 wrote: post #569

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The social services are better in Canada though. The big downside is the lack of quickly available treatment for serious-but-not-life-threatening illness.

It doesn’t help if you can’t afford a house. If you just look at a simple crude statistic like gdp per capital US is 83% higher. You can’t make stuff appear out of thin air, there’s less resources to go around and people are objectively worse off

It actually does help, in fact it helps MORE if you cant afford a house, or are homeless, to have a strong social net. Not arguing that the US isn't richer or can offer more financial resources to its citizens.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#618

Post by kridsdale1 » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:18 PM UTC

dfdx wrote: post #526

A friend of mine recently finished his engineering PhD at the University of Toronto. He received employment offers from an American firm and a Canadian firm. The Canadian firm offered a total compensation package worth 80,000 CAD (~55,000 USD); the American firm offered him nearly 275,000 USD.

This was my experience too, scaled back in time to when I graduated in 2010 from UBC.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#619

Post by eli_gottlieb » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:18 PM UTC

jmyeet wrote: post #397

Nothing will change because no Canadian government will lower house prices and that's what absolutely needs to happen. 2024 was a banner year for voting against the incumbent governments worldwide. Globally we have a cost-of-living crisis, a housing affordability crisis and a years-long decrease in the standard-of-living. Generally speaking, each country has 3 forces that are in play: 1. Progressives; 2. Neoliberals…

>Voters, eager for change, will choose populism because they aren't being offered any alternative. But nobody wants to address the root causes here: housing unaffordability and massive wealthy inequality.

Well then, frankly, given your apparent learning, try encouraging progressives to actually address the root causes, rather than constantly spouting progressive-sounding apologia for them. Not to tell you in another country how your politics works, but I know that in the United States and in some other countries I'm acquainted with, the progressive base in major cities are, if anything, even more attached to their housing nest-eggs than the homeowner/smallholder classes in smaller cities and more conservative states. This preference is visible in the differences of housing policy and rents between, say, California and Texas.

Re: Justin Trudeau promises to resign as PM

#620

Post by nostromo » Mon, Jan 06, 2025, 9:18 PM UTC

wk_end wrote: post #520

nostromo wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of Canada is pretty poor now. From the Economist: https://archive.is/UdixF/ec46ebf7fe812cd5e9432f45f68bd142e6c... Their housing is more expensive than the US, but taxes are higher and wages are lower. If Canada’s provinces were states, the populated ones would be poorer than the poorest US states, along with higher taxes and expensive housing. https://brilliantmaps.com/us-vs-canada-gdp-per-capita/ British Columb…

You say "now" as though it's ever not been the case. These comparisons do a poor job of taking into account cost-of-living and quality-of-life; it's simply not the case that you're better off in Montgomery than Toronto.

The median wages for Toronto and Montgomery are actually quite similar:

Toronto: $84k CAD ($58k USD)

Montgomery: $55k

The person living in Montgomery can easily afford a house and a middle-class life. Can the person in Toronto?

Would I rather live in Toronto personally? Yes. But on a median salary, no way.

https://www.city-data.com/income/income-Montgomery-Alabama.h...

https://www.toronto.ca/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/9877-City-...