Open Topic

Saturday – let’s do a Free-for-all!

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626 Comments

It’s the end of another week and that means it’s time for another free-for-all open topic discussion thread. Normally these are posted on Friday, but eh, we’re only human!

Here are a few recent links to kick off the chat:

–Housing critic see not conflict in developer cash
–Poor millionaire homeowners revolt
–Canadians drive up prices, blame foreigners
–Money laundering collective system failure

So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below and have an excellent weekend!

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bullwhip29

Vancouver going beyond conserving buildings in Chinatown
https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/vancouver-going-beyond-conserving-buildings-in-chinatown

>>> so, as the saying goes… “what’s your’s is mine and what’s mine is mine…”
well played indeed…

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bullwhip29

After a local barbecue fell under social media scrutiny for initially marketing the event as a fundraiser for Richmond First, the slate is now speaking up about the event…
http://www.richmond-news.com/election-2018/we-have-not-received-any-money-richmond-first-responds-to-farmland-owners-bbq-1.23365033

>>> whatever…

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bullwhip29

More than $2,000 a month for a co-op unit in Vancouver — what gives?
http://www.vancourier.com/real-estate/more-than-2-000-a-month-for-a-co-op-unit-in-vancouver-what-gives-1.23364759

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bullwhip29

$3.5 million US to be dispersed to investors hit in B.C. Ponzi scheme, but hundreds of claims rejected
https://vancouversun.com/business/local-business/3-5-million-us-to-be-dispersed-to-investors-hit-in-b-c-ponzi-scheme-but-hundreds-of-claims-rejected

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trackback

[…] southseacompany: this survey claims that more than a quarter of Canadians think that another rate increase would […]

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Oracle

So the bulls here like Sida and the naive have joined forces here against me. Good for you guys. The market has been laughing at the naive the last decade and now the bulls are laughing at the naive going off task. I do you guys a favour and enlighten you guys as to what’s going on. If you don’t want to know and wish to screw your kids lives then go for it. For those that have kids here and are renting, you are to blame for your situation. No on else. Take a look in the mirror and maybe take other people’s opinion into account for once. In a year when low end prices are higher and rents higher and you guys still renting, then look at your kids and say ‘wait, the crash is just around the… Read more »

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Spec

^ Off the deep end. LOL

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Your opinions are never superior to facts, crybaby.

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bullwhip29

A Beach Drive property in Oak Bay that has been flipped three times in the last 5 years and severely damaged by fire twice is for sale for $1.4 million
http://www.timescolonist.com/real-estate/fire-sale-beach-drive-property-up-for-1-4m-1.23363803

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oncebittwiceshy

Shut It Down Already (original)
It may not impact existing owners a huge amount but another chunk of would-be buyers now fail the stress test. Time to close that credit union loophole.

Actually, my friend, it probably will affect a fair amount of existing owners as they try to renew their mortgages and refinance their “lifestyle”. Vacations, new cars and brand new electronics were always a credit card away in the last 10 yrs. Then you simply dumped it into your heloc and refinanced the mortgage. Way too many homeowners were living the life of the “rich and famous”. Ooops.

As soon as the bank sees that they are trying to refinance their mortgage, rather than simply renew, then the B20 rules kick in and reality hits and boy will it bite.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

At renewal time it may be possible to switch lenders, refinance, and pass the stress test with an extended amortization. Of course you can’t kick the can down the road forever.

Put it’s possible as rates increase banks start to taker a closer look at the risks of the helocs they’ve been handing out to anybody with a pulse during a rising market. They’re demand loans, after all.

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oncebittwiceshy

Quite possibly, but they still have to qualify again under B20 legislation unless they find an alt lender and they aren’t offering cheap mortgages. Refinanced or new … still the B20 to deal with.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Payments decrease with extended amortization therefore making it easier to meet them under higher interest rates. No alt lender required.

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Oracle

Banks will want a backstop from taxpayers. Someone in gov will get paid off, and bamm!! Gov insurance for helocs.

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Oracle

Why do you think mortgage brokers exist? IMO, they are giving out liar loans.

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bullwhip29

Four years after the B.C. Liberals sold 14 parcels of land in the Burke Mountain area of Coquitlam for a fire sale price, Auditor General Carol Bellringer weighed in Tuesday with an account of what went wrong…
https://vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/vaughn-palmer-incompetence-left-b-c-government-millions-short-in-land-sale

>>> in other words, business as usual…

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Spec

“Incompetence”. That’s fairly generous of Mr. Palmer to frame it that way….

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bullwhip29

this is small potatoes and happens all the time. we’re gonna find out soon that the same “incompetent” gov’t accidentally on purpose botched the rollout of the FBT leaving the NDP with no choice but to unwind this whole clusterf$(k, return millions to all these buyers while compensating many others both for opportunities lost and emotional damage

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Name

what the NDP did wrong with the FBT was they made it take effect immediately instead of having a grace period. That is where it may break down in a lawsuit.

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Name

I meant the Liberals not NDP…

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Name

I was around when the BC Socreds sold the Expo lands for basically next to nothing. It seems to be a hallmark of “free enterprise” BC governments to botch these types of mega-property sales.

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bullwhip29

if only they would stop with the annoying charades and just be straight I might buy it….friends in high places doing favors for other friends and family, nothing more. this has gone on since the beginning of time. the idea that they somehow “botched” things accidentally is insulting

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kabloona

It’s not a botch…it’s about transferring Public Assets to Private hands and then receiving a kickback in return…

Gordo Campbell’s modus operandi when he worked for Artie Phillips, back in the Day….

🙂

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kabloona

Meanwhile, down under…..

“Up to 1 million households ‘on the edge’ of mortgage default by September, analyst warns. That is the warning from one independent analyst if the big four banks do what many fear they will do and increase their standard variable rates rise by as little as 0.15 percentage points over the next few months.”

http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-11/up-to-1-million-households-may-go-into-mortgage-default-by-sept/9976268?pfmredir=sm

Luckily, that could never happen here….

😉

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Oracle

That’s BS.

If 1 million households are 0.15% away from failure, then their country’s economy should already be in chaos.

THis is all propaganda trying to alter the people’s habits.

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Name

Tim Hortons plans to open 1,500 stores in China over the next ten years.

https://www.news1130.com/video/2018/07/11/tim-hortons-to-open-1500-stores-in-china/

on the heels of Canada Goose, TH wants to expand into mainland china. Yet another company to whore themselves out to the chineese.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

You’re totally right. Businesses should complete ignore a fifth of the world’s population. It makes perfect economic sense. Who needs more than 36m potential customers anyway?

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bullwhip29

current ownership/mgmt are simply turning this into another subway, which serves nothing but a list of unsatisfying, engineered crap. they were also at least 10-15 yrs too late for an expansion into china which would have needed a major revamp of business even in the best case scenario. if they think gathering up all those newly minted middle to upper class asians seeking delicacies from the West will be as easy as tossing some asian chili sauce on the sandwiches (which chinese don’t eat anyway) and slapping green tea icing on those previously frozen doughballs, then they are in for a rude awakening. this pos stock is a sell imho…and will never get back to the old highs.

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Laibach

China is big, they can set up shops in ghost cities and some rural shitholes without need os a major revamp of business.

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bullwhip29

as starbucks has figured out, catering to those who enter your stores strictly for the free wifi, condiments, napkins, A/C and public washrooms and not for anything they actually have to pay for is a bad idea. timmys is just another johnny-come-lately thinking chinese expansion will translate into overnight riches. the stock has run up in the last few weeks on this news and has given shareholders one last opportunity to take money off the table before the SHTF for good

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Except Starbucks just opened their bathrooms to everybody.

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Doomcouver

Tim Horton’s is a mediocre donut company with 2nd-rate coffee. Their expansion into China will fail just like their expansion in the USA.

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southseacompany

“Bank of Canada raises benchmark interest rate to 1.5%”, CBC

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-of-canada-rate-decision-1.4742063

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Simple Solution

.25% on $1M is $2500 a year… $200 a month…. whomever cannot handle that deserves whatever is coming their way…

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Shut It Down Already (original)

It may not impact existing owners a huge amount but another chunk of would-be buyers now fail the stress test. Time to close that credit union loophole.

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Spec

Agreed on closing that loophole. Not convinced it makes that big a difference, but to be consistent, and in the spirit of closing all loopholes, it needs to be done. As does the bare trust loophole. Still waiting for that one….

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Oracle

Won’t be closed. Take a look on who’s on the boards of Vancity, Coast Capital, and Prospera. Then link them with relatives on the legislature. Hahaha

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Oracle

The article is meant for minions who can’t think for themselves.

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Joe Money

Love that graph.

96-00: interest rates rise
01: tech bubble bursts – economy in recession – turn on the juice- interest rate down to 1%
02-06: cheap money! – let’s buy real estate!
07: rates slowly rise to 4.5% – I can’t pay the mortgages on my five homes!
08 – bubble bursted – economy in recession – interest rate down to 1%
09-18: cheap money! – let’s buy real estate!
18-: rinse and repeat?

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bullwhip29

central bankers are only priming the pumps for inevitable rate cuts that are just around the corner. following this, they will take a page out of the BoJ’s playbook. obviously this isnt a real solution, but will only drag out the slow bleeding for a decade or two. many will end up falling off the hamster wheel or dying of old age before their financial picture turns around. those with means will have plenty of cheap money at their disposal for possibly an entire generation. those currently operating on the fringes still won’t be able to buy that dream home in 5, 10 or 20 years

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bullwhip29

and the loonie dumps almost to a new low on this news…

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Screwed

And UP she goes!

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bullwhip29

The family of Changbin Yang, who was the victim of a homicide, is suing his accused killer, Long Ni, for the millions of dollars it claims he borrowed from the victim to buy properties in Metro Vancouver
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-real-estate-murder-1.4741135

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Best place on meth

What do you call a businessman, a homemaker and a student living in Vancouver with multiple properties?

The typical Norweigan immigrant family, of course.

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Name

Mainlanders: anything for money; even murder.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Nobody of any other nationality has ever murdered for money, right? Dumbass.

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Oracle

Langley #1 in country for annual price increase. 23% year over year.

Windsor #2.

Thanks NDP. They had chance to make it go -20% but nope. Now a 40%+ swing needed to get pieces where they could have been.

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Best place on meth

Damn, the NDP fucked up Windsor too.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Must be the foreign buyers taxes and direct flights from China pushing speculators to Windsor, amiright? Who wouldn’t want a decaying store of value in Windsor?

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Oracle

God. You just don’t get it.

Ever hear of ‘inaction’?

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Spec

“Ever hear of ‘inaction’?”

Like promising to leave and continually posting?

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Oracle

Why don’t you get your panties untied.

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Joe Money

Year over year is ancient history.

https://www.langleyadvance.com/news/sales-plummet-continues-in-langley-real-estate/

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Best place on meth

3425 Celtic Ave was listed for 10.8 and sold for 7.5…basically a land sale but at 2.3 acres it seems way below what land had been recently valued at.

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bullwhip29

Chinese edition of Vancouver-area newspaper sparks resentment on social media
https://www.thestar.com/vancouver/2018/07/09/language-is-about-power-chinese-edition-of-vancouver-area-newspaper-irks-some.html

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Name

I thought new immigrants had to pass an English test before they arrived… or do thy cheat on that too ?

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Oracle

You are so naive. Learn how the immigration system works. Only about 50,000 of the 340,000 immigrants actually speak English. The result are family members coming in.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Link?

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Simple Solution

There is NO link…. just another thing Oracle pulls out of his ass

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Oracle

Do you have a link for your sentence?

God you kids sound so naive when everything needs a ‘link’?

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Shut It Down Already (original)

You’re right. We should let your Fox News and Daily Mail fuelled intuitions override facts just because you protest.

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Oracle

Anyone that posts ‘Link?’ Is either simply a moron or a troll.

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Spec

No, they (reasonably) expect evidence…. The burden of proof is even higher for you because you’re such a prolific poster of pure shite. Your presence on this site (irrespective of promises to leave) constitute a textbook case of Brandolini’s Bullshit Asymmetry Principle. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bullshit “Bullshit asymmetry principle Publicly formulated the first time in January 2013[12] by Alberto Brandolini, an Italian programmer, the bullshit asymmetry principle (also known as Brandolini’s law[13][14]) states that: The amount of energy needed to refute bullshit is an order of magnitude bigger than to produce it. It became especially popular after a picture of a presentation by Brandolini at XP2014 on May 30, 2014, was posted on Twitter.[15] Brandolini was inspired by reading Daniel Kahneman’s Thinking, Fast and Slow right before watching an Italian political talk show with journalist Marco Travaglio and former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi… Read more »

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Shut It Down Already (original)

So no link then? Is that what you’re saying?

https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/as-sa/98-200-x/2016017/98-200-x2016017-eng.cfm

“Although a large proportion of the 7.5 million immigrants reported neither English nor French as their mother tongue, the vast majority (93.2%) of them were able to conduct a conversation in English or French. In other words, 6.8% of immigrants reported being unable to conduct a conversation in either official language.”

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paulb

New
260
Price Change
113
Sold
114
TI:12664

http://www.clivestevepaul.com

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Screwed

Wow! +5 from yesterday! Growing slowly but surely!

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Oracle

Inventory peak

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Shut It Down Already (original)

It’s about that time….

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Best place on meth

Wake me up when it “actually” peaks.

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Oracle

The market is driven by Asians and south Asians now. Those days of it being driven by whites is gone. Going forward, July will be peak.

No asians and south Asians will list in Aug; kids education will be disrupted.

Watch and see.

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Shut It Down Already (original)

You’re ridiculous.

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Bag it and tag it

Peak will be in October

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Lost...but not leased

Fiscal Tsunami:

0nce prices flatline…. it’s over…
The only hope left is it is” temporary”.

Like tsunami….tide goes out….then returns with a vengeance.

We are in somewhat UNcharted territory…topped the crazy RE market in late 1970’s early 1980’s and 20+% interest rates…which the powers that be took note of…which likely explains the recent “near zero” interest rate ..which effectively set us up for BIGGER mess arriving soon in local and international RE markets.

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kabloona

“A tech guru captivated Canada. Then he fled to China”

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2018/07/10/a-tech-guru-captivated-canada-then-he-fled-to-china.html

“…Canadian officials have to some degree been blinded by China’s incredible economic growth and waves of capital spreading worldwide,” said Michael Byers, a professor of global politics and international law at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. “They’re certainly naive to China’s approach to acquiring high tech from other countries, and they haven’t pushed hard on getting answers before allowing deals to go through.”

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Laibach

Of course, notorious cunning scumbags did Canadian goody-goodies nicely overall.

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Lost...but not leased

One to watch?

A strata project near Burnett High School in Richmond is commencing….the land had sat vacant for almost 3 years.

The sign states “80% SOLD”

Interpret? No doubt the land has appreciated in value, which helps the bottom line.
However, fair to say all other costs have risen (ie labour, materials etc.)

My guess is they finally started construction so as to appease current purchasers, (though we have heard of other developers outright cancelling and refunding deposits.)

Pretty clear the strata market is in long overdue correction mode…so is this developer in trouble?….., as their profit margin may be contained in the 20 % UNsold units?

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bullwhip29

the cancellation and refunding of deposits was only done because opportunities to gouge customers for even more money were abundant. today, not so much. it must be nice to play the game when the rules are heads I win, tails you lose and one has the luxury of sitting on the fence (ie. the buyer’s deposits) without having to commit one way or the other for an indefinite period of time. i suppose if the world were once again to flip on its head and the RE lit up like wildfire, presale buyers of units were certain out clauses (for developers) were included in the disclosure statements could get rug yanked out from under them again…

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Shut It Down Already (original)

Nobody ever needs to buy let alone buy a presale. They’re speculating on future price appreciation. There’s no other reason to camp overnight to get one, is there? Zero sympathy.

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kabloona

“How investing in real estate can easily go sideways”

🙂

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/globe-wealth/article-how-investing-in-real-estate-can-easily-go-sideways/

No, really…? I thought it always went up….

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Lost...but not leased

Interesting that if you reno 90% of a home and sell within a years or two, hit with higher taxes….yet long term rental when sold treated like capital gain.

Using this logic…people that sell NEW home within a year or two =________?

Could get interesting…especially in Indo community.

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Spec

***Previous version of comment containing original Global ink trapped in moderation hell.

https://bit.ly/2L6U2K9
“Any interruption in the flow of dirty money into casinos would not be in the best interest of the B.C. Liberals. Corruption can come in many forms. It’s not always the greasy little man handing out envelopes of cash,” said Pinnock. “It can also come in the form of a government looking the other way when dirty money is filling its coffers. It can also be extended to senior management in policing organizations who choose not to do the right thing when given the opportunity.”

RCMP. BCLibs to blame for money laundering. Nothing new, just more corroboration.

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Lost...but not leased

BC NDP were in power for almost 10 years…most of 1990’s……all that money was clean?

Current NDP are doing what________________ ???

The PR issue is lurking and avoiding scrutiny.
People have no idea what the consequences are.

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Spec

“BC NDP were in power for almost 10 years…most of 1990’s……all that money was clean?”

Scale is orders of magnitude different – apples v oranges.

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Lost...but not leased

What has NDP done for/to you lately….???

You folks just ain’t getting it….Eby,…. Horgan and company are feeding you bread crumbs.

……forget the past…NDP is setting us up with PR..they will rig the game to obtain, maintain and retain power as Weaver ALSO rubs his hands with glee.

THIS WAS WHAT THE LAST ELECTION WAS ALL ABOUT…PERIOD !!!

What short memories…….FFS….

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Shut It Down Already (original)

How many orders of magnitude? 1? 4?

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Spec

We can probably estimate based on a number of factors including: number of casinos, rate of outflows from China, increase in local gang activity, etc. etc. Too bad the agency tasked with monitoring the situation was hamstrung. We’d have a better understanding had that not happened. Whocoodanode?

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Spec

https://globalnews.ca/news/4317081/bc-illegal-gambling-enforcement-team-blames-rcmp-liberals-money-laundering/

“Any interruption in the flow of dirty money into casinos would not be in the best interest of the B.C. Liberals. Corruption can come in many forms. It’s not always the greasy little man handing out envelopes of cash,” said Pinnock. “It can also come in the form of a government looking the other way when dirty money is filling its coffers. It can also be extended to senior management in policing organizations who choose not to do the right thing when given the opportunity.”

RCMP. BCLibs to blame for money laundering. Nothing new, just more corroboration.

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Spec

Magic 8 ball says it’s on… (deleveraging, that is) 🙂

https://betterdwelling.com/canadians-hold-onto-less-cash-as-the-great-deleveraging-begins/

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Oracle

Wake me up when prices fall to 2015 levels on the sub $1 million.

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Spec

Wake me up when you stop saying wake me up….

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