It’s Friday and that means it’s free for all time!
This is our regular end of the week open topic thread.
So what are you seeing out there? Post your news links, thoughts and anecdotes in the comments below to let us know and have an excellent weekend!
Trudeau giving $4.3 Billion to dairy farmers because of loss of 3% of market share.
Plus prices set to skyrocket now.
Of your money
Portland condo building’s brokers look to Asia for buyers
https://www.oregonlive.com/expo/news/erry-2018/10/2dfcdc47631095/portland-condo-buildings-broke.html
Portland today feels a lot like YVR 20-25 years ago. They would do well to pay attention to what happened to YVR. It’s not worth selling your city out, especially when you can see our example of failure. Imagine being able to rewind the last 20 years and bringing in reasonable housing policies and completely avoiding our current mess.
Key changes in NAFTA 2.0
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-usmca-key-changes-1.4845239
– restrictions on Canada’s ability to negotiate a trade deal with a “non-market” country. Three months before starting negotiations, the other USMCA partners must be officially informed, and before signing a new agreement, the other parties in the USMCA must be given an opportunity to review it and assess its impact on them, and to decide whether amendments are required to address concerns. Failure to do so would terminate the North American deal.
– all five of Canada’s supply-managed agriculture sectors are giving up shares of their protected market in this deal: dairy, eggs, chicken, turkey and broiler hatching eggs and chicks
– “Buy American” rules that block cross-border procurement appear untouched by the language in this deal
-extension of length of time new biologic drugs will be protected from generic drug competition — up two years, from Canada’s previously agreed-upon eight years, to 10 years of exclusivity
-copyright terms in Canada now extend for 50 years beyond the year the creator of the work dies
-no commitments have been made to increase the number of TN visas issued by the United States, or to otherwise make it easier for citizens to work across North American borders
-new language on digital content prohibits discrimination between foreign and domestic digital content
-no standalone chapter on Indigenous rights in the USMC
Looks like we came out ahead. LOL.
not so sure about that esp now that other trade deals have to be vetted and clear with big brother first and any violation would constitute breach of USMCA terms. imho this is a major red flag. also steel and alum tariff issue not put to bed yet
The CBC of course makes it look like a victory for Trudeau with smiles and thumbs up. Cheerleading fake news.
Banff ‘bursting at the seams’: Ecologists urge cap on park visitors
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/banff-bursting-at-the-seams-ecologists-urge-cap-on-park-visitors-1.4116320
>>> same story at all the major tourist sites across the country…
Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Jia Hua claims that China is not colonizing Africa and Africans are happy to be converting to Chinese in exchange for advancements and infrastructure.
What the hell? Someone should get their head examined?! Totally can’t understand why Canada & rest of free world is letting China do this to Africa!
the “colonization” is happening in canada and elsewhere. what is happening in places like africa is effectively rape and pillage of materials and natural resources. there have been numerous documentaries cranked out by the chinese govt illustrating how they are making life better and all that crap, but these infrastructure projects are being built primarily for their own benefit. seriously, let’s not kid ourselves here…
When did Oct 1 became a holiday in Canada?! WTF?! Pretty much half of the office didn’t show up for National Day Celebration? WTF?
The NDP insiders have hit the jackpot.
Huge LNG plant approved. $31 Billion.
Blows climate change targets completely out of the water.
What do you think of the GreeNDP now? Oh yeah, minions jump up and down so we can increase your carbon taxes. Fools.
And who still believes that they will bring in ‘bold’ housing action? Lol
You mean NDP wouldn’t be spending tens of billions to build social housing for bears and hiring thousands of their union buddies at minimum 25% premium to market rates?
The scary thing is the government will easily spend more than 25% over market rates, regardless of union or not.
Another jackpot happens when they bring in their own ridehailing app owned by insiders and the cab companies. Minions, jump up and down. Hahaha
It’s hilarious that Andrew Weaver will do absolutely nothing. Even funnier that Green Party voters will go along with it. I’m sensing almost zero anger from them. Power matters more to these people than principle. All they care about is PR. Weaver definitely understands his base in that respect.
Maybe because LNG is the greenest/cleanest of all the fossil fuels.
Not according to him. He’ll say and do anything to appeal to his base. In reality, he knows very well that LNG is a cleaner hydrocarbon.
If it’s replacing coal burning in Asia or elsewhere, then it’s definitely “cleaner” than the alternative….
River Rock Casino employees identified in raid on suspected illegal gaming house
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/illegal-gaming-casino-rcmp-1.4842910
Don’t worry. Only 10 years to go on the new deal Horgan just signed with Great Canadian Casinos.
The increased dairy access is essentially the same as what Harper and Obama had agreed to under the TPP.
The online duty exemption which the US wanted was for online retailers shipping 3rd country consumer goods (mostly Chinese made) to Canada. US made goods are duty free in any amount anyway. Hypocrisy from the US and I’m glad they didn’t get it.
Trump failed. Was a fan of his but this is just bonkers. How is he going to spin this:
Even ice cream will see more imports. After year 6, we get 0.5% of our annual ice cream from the USA. What a joke!
And get ready for some huge increases in dairy prices in Canada! The dairy cartel now has total control for the next 20 years and a milk jug will approach $7-8 now.!
Well since I always see your relatives in the store check-out line with shopping carts stacked full of 4L milk jugs then this will really cost you.
Trump basically caved in.
Never thought that would happen. This will shake his support from the base massively. Only 3% dairy access. That’s like 2 years of immigration growth in canda.
Now I doubt he will get reelected.
Yet another race card pulled out of the ass…
Canada and US reach a deal on NAFTA
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/nafta-finale-sunday-deadline-trump-1.4844623
for a deal to be done tonight, I can only conclude that we must have caved in to a certain degree. what the exact extent was we will not know until Monday. Trump always had another card to play if a deal that benefited the US wasn’t reached. Trudeau had no choice but to choose the lesser of two evils, but he will be crucified regardless.
Let’s just say that I would hate to be the wife of a Quebec dairy farmer tonight.
Dairy farmers unfortunately won. Only have to give 3% access
Retailers also won. Shopping limit free of taxes and duty only raised to$40.
Trump doesn’t care about Canadian consumers if Trudeau doesn’t. We have to fight our own battles.
$100 up from $20 is the new exemption.
this limit hasn’t been in place for years as cross border shoppers have been routinely allowed to bring back hundreds in merchandise, food, gas etc without having to pay a cent.
for day trips that is…
Agreed but on packages it is often assessed. I had to pay taxes and fees of $15 on a $30 ball cap recently. They collect at time of delivery.
it is actually $150, the exemption for Mexicans is $100
the catch-22 is that with this announcement, all the experts are predicting more rate hikes and therefore a higher loonie, which in turn will drive more shopping dollars south of the border.
You seem to hate a lot of things…but I’m guessing being a butt boy isn’t one of them.
lol…looks who opens up his “sausage hole” and presto, another Freudian slip of the tongue…
Looks like October rake hike will be a go.
Promises made. Promises kept. Trump wins again.
Looks like a win for Canadian consumers. We get US dairy and an $800 duty exception for online purchases.
A win for everyone but Quebec dairy farmers and Mr. Dress up.
Wrong on the online shopping exemption.
Trump@War full movie out now. Best movie of 2018. Lots of good stuff on China.
Warning: Not recommended for Snowflakes
So referendum month is almost finally here.
When MSM wants you to do something, do the opposite. Now they want PR.
Why?
Because CAQ in Quebec can possibly get a majority with 33% of vote. In a ProRep system, can’t happen.
What’s needed in BC is a party for the people. Not ProRep. ProRep just means the corrupt NDP-Libs alliance stays in power forever.
YAH!! I’m with Oracle now!!!
#bringBackVisionToFixTheMessTheyCreated
#bringBackTheLiberalsToFixTheMessTheyCreated
Let’s get these trending Oracle!!!
Glad I caught your attention.
Apparently you didn’t pick up on his sarcasm…surprising considering your 99th percentile IQ…
Foreign buyers to be targeted by stamp duty hike, Theresa May announces
“The Prime Minister will announce plans to levy a new stamp duty of up to three per cent on individuals and companies not paying tax in this country.”
3 percent? Really?
3 percent sounds more like the government wanting a cut than actually wanting to stop foreign speculators. Better than nothing though I guess…
One time or per year?
“One time or per year?”
One time. Stamp Duty is the UK name for PTT. Laughably low IMHO.
my best guess is that they might want to see how the market reacts initially……after all, they can always adjust accordingly
“Toronto, Vancouver Have World’s 3rd And 4th Largest Housing Bubbles: UBS”, Huffington Post
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/09/29/toronto-vancouver-have-world-s-3rd-and-4th-largest-housing-bubbles-ubs_a_23544956/?utm_hp_ref=ca-homepage
“And it offers a warning: The biggest killer of housing bubbles is now on the prowl. Historically, investors have had to be alert to rising interest rates, which have served as the main trigger of corrections. Most such downdrafts in the past 40 years have been preceded by an increase in rates,” UBS noted.”
“That’s a far cry from the recently optimistic sounds coming from Canadian real estate insiders, many of whom are pointing to the upturn in Toronto home sales in the past few months as a sign that worst is over. In reports this week, Re/Max and Sotheby’s both declared the city’s housing market is returning to growth.”
https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/09/05/vancouver-real-estate-correction_a_23518030/
But some real estate insiders in B.C. say there are segments of the market where things are considerably worse than the real estate board’s data suggest.
Realtor Ian Watt used independent figures from data-mining company SnapStats to determine that detached homes on Vancouver’s pricey west side have fallen by 26 per cent in the past year, to a median of $2.8 million, from $3.8 million a year ago.
In West Vancouver, detached house prices are down 30 per cent over the past year, to $2.5 million from a median of $3.6 million.
This month’s edition of David Eby’s newsletter, “Where’s Eby?”
http://davidebymla.ca/in-the-community/newsletter-archive/?mc_cid=0a126e2f8c&mc_eid=e46d1d4b50
Lets summarize:
– Money Laundering – Peter German (corrupt) conduct an investigation (more studies, no action, cover up & no arrests like the casinos)
– For housing supply issue – 2,000 modular housing units planned (wow 2000 units planned, only 118,000 to go!)
– Human Rights Commission to advocate for and protect a diverse and tolerant community in our province (LOL)
– Our new budget has increased BC’s carbon tax (great, more taxes that will do nothing to stop climate change)
– ICBC – reform car insurance policy (increasing rates, cutting coverage and not addressing what is the root causes)
The root cause of ICBC’s financial hole is from the Christy Clark Liberal government trying to cover up their over spending by stripping working capital from ICBC and BC Hydro and replacing that hole with debt. We went from income generating capital to blood sucking debt for our 2 largest crown corporations because Christy needed to pretend that our economy was healthy. The root cause of ICBC’s problem (Liberals led by Christy) has been removed but we now have to pay back the debt she left us with and build a capital surplus again to get the insurance business working properly again.
YVR, people see through you and your agenda. You’ve been warned
You seriously don’t believe the shit you just wrote. Do you?
Just having icbc rate increases front and centre means the referendum fails.
And an election called. All because dumb idiots can’t see but blindly cheer the NDP.
Just bring back the Liberals who put us in this position, they’ll know how to fix it… Oracle, am I doing this right?
Christy should be put in front of a firing squad for what she did to this province, as should Coleman.
The pillage of ICBC is treason.
After this winter, year 3 of NDP just around the corner.
All they have done is talk.
YVR and Oracle are totally right. I have seen the light. We should dismantle this GreenDP alliance and get the Liberals back in. I don’t like how the NDP keep investigating money laundering and making it public. Remember the old days when the Libs would block any investigation and call you a racist if you asked any questions about money laundering?? How can we fix ICBC after the Liberals raped and pillaged ICBC capital reserves? Put the people who did it back in charge!! They know exactly where they blew the money so they should be able to get the $1 billion back and fill the giant hole they dug. YVR and Oracle, thanks for making me see the light. I’ve been reading your post for years but it took my small little brain this long to realize that you… Read more »
Well at least you have now seen the light.
I guess you remember the 1990’s under the NDP. This bunch is 2.0 and are following the playbook exactly:
Pay back union buddies with union only public service contracts that cost taxpayers 20-30% more.
Increase taxes on evil corporations.
Download MSP to evil corporations (see above) and tell taxpsyers you are cutting their cost of living and saving them money. (Do not reveal this is a lie)
Increase taxes on the “rich” bring our marginal tax rate to nearly 50% – but keep increasing until we are 55% (right at the rate when the Gordon Campbell Liberals handed us the worst wipeout in BC history)
Go back to angry opposition for 15 years.
In the year 2033 hope to steal power like we did in 2016.
What could go wrong?
#NDPcouldnotrunalemonaudestanf
That’s it!!!! You’re right!!!
We need go full tax haven! We have one of the lowest corporate tax rates in the developed world on top of tax credits and deductions for taking a shit in a toilet on our soil but you’re right!!! It’s not enough!
Let’s go full reta… tax haven. Full tax haven!!!
#YVRFullTaxHaven
Let’s get it trending!!!!
Useless comment from a socialist troll who knows he’s wrong.
No one is saying tax haven. Higher taxes don’t equal prosperity.
Useless comment from a socialist who knows he’s wrong.
They’ll be back before you know it. Once the NDP raises taxes 11 more times and gets thrown out for 15 more years.
Dumb thinking.
Just because someone points out the failings of the NDP, you think they are Lib supporters???
FFS get an IQ boost.
Christy Clark is long gone. Under the NDP we now have the highest insurance rates in the country and they are about to go higher. Meanwhile for these higher rates we get less coverage, caps on injury claims and restrictions on who can drive your car and other additional fees coming. Typical NDP. Pay more, get less. If that is what you like then enjoy.
Christy and the Libs stole $1 billion from ICBC?!!!!!?! And then they blew the money!! And now you’re trying to pin this on the NDP because they’ve been left with this hole they have to fill.
This is all a part of your agenda YVR, trying to spin this as the NDP’s fault and that they have to fill the $1 billion hole in 1 year. I don’t know if you’re just 1 demented person or a bunch of real estate moles posting on this as “YVR” but we see through your techniques of propaganda; bandwagoning, glittering generalities, big lies, gaslighting.
You and Oracle are very skilled at this, so bravo. It’s strange that you two get louder the more the market turns.
But we see through your lies now…
Troller of Trolls are you a long time listener, first time caller?
Where did you come from? You seem to have strong opinions on long time posters.
Blew the money? It was added to general revenue.
There is an annual deficit of $1 billion now.
If they stole $1 billion. That was last year. What about this year’s Billion?
Try to keep up in math.
PR looking less likely. Looks lie the honey moon is over on the GreenDP.
“Will leaders debate with poll showing a ‘souring’ on electoral reform?”
The findings of the new poll do suggest that concerns about minority governments are the biggest reservation that voters have about proportional representation… the current dead heat is a sign of the public souring on the novelty of the NDP-Green partnership… Almost half (48 per cent) of those polled agreed with the statement: “I don’t like the idea of B.C. having more minority and/or coalition governments.”
Betting odds are 75% chance of it failing. I’ve always maintained hats what the NDP wanted. Otherwise would lose seats.
Greens okay with that. Who know what was signed off to weaver.
And both agreed early on to protect their equity in their investment homes.
The NDP definitely loses power under PR. Sounds like a good deal on the surface when you’ve been out of power or so long, but when you play it out, you’re actually giving up power.
NDP would be giving up absolute power which they rarely get, in exchange for shared power forever where they are likely going to be the leading party of a coalition.
Seems like a reasonable strategy.
The Liberals will always get more total votes than the NDP.
An attempt to bar them from power by forming a GNDP alliance will not sit well with the voters and is another reason why PR is a bad fit for BC.
Your thinking is flawed.
If the Greens had no effect on the NDP now, what makes you think that the NDP wants them to hold more clout and take away the NDP powers?
NDP hoping for a failure. Weaver given goodies.
Minions confused.
Where are those betting odds liar?
Can I place a wager somewhere?
NDP’s new Residential Tenancy Act regulations in action. Long term tenants get kicked out and get right of first refusal to come back in 2.5 years at new “market rents”. Lucky them.
“Renovation evictions at an aging Vancouver West End rental tower sparks controversy”
Once the comprehensive reconstruction project is finished, tenants have the first right of refusal and may come back at market rents, as per new rules introduced by the provincial government in the Residential Tenancy Act.”
http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/the-berkeley-tower-renovations-evictions-1770-davie-street-vancouver
Because giving no incentive for landlords to do maintenance and tear down the building once it’s no longer habitable is so much better for the tenants?
David Eby, Perter German and Larry Campbell all complicit in money laundering cover up under the NDP.
“Documents allege complicity in money laundering in major investigation of River Rock Casino”
German and B.C.’s Ministry of the Attorney General have not responded to requests for comment about the perception of Alderson and other BCLC employees, that say they believe German’s report “minimized” actions by staff at River Rock Casino.
Not surprised. They haven’t even closed the Bare Trusts for example.
Corrupt.
If only the dumb NDP followers would see this and pressure heir MLAs. But nope. The minions jump up and down.
Bingogate 2.0?
Condo seller’s remorse.
https://www.citynews1130.com/2018/09/29/lawsuit-re-vancouver-condo-sold-twice/
Oracle’s relatives are behaving badly.
https://www.citynews1130.com/2018/09/28/rcmp-investigating-case-of-suspected-voter-fraud-in-surrey/
This story is off he mark.
Those ballots they are buying are for the Referendum. Not the civic election.
The NDP wanted it this way. They want big money to buy so PR fails.
They could have had a one day vote. PR is that important. But nope.
Ok minions. Get back to jumping up and down at the sound of hearing NDP.
And PS: immigrants culture will exploit laws. They think they are smart doing it. Keep immigration at record levels and see what happens.
“U.S. central bank chief issues warning on Canadian housing without even realizing it: Don Pittis”, CBC
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/fed-interest-rates-1.4839094
“”Really, what hurts is if consumers are borrowing heavily and doing so … against an asset that can fall in value,” he said. “That’s a really serious matter, when you have a housing bubble and highly leveraged consumers and housing values fall.”
New
153
Price Change
96
Sold
77
TI:13766