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What do you think of Bill C16?

Jetboogieman said:
I have my issues with this but yah know what Digsbe, the difference in our leader welcoming refugees fleeing war himself at the airport and yours telling them to get out and he doesn’t want them, I’ll take Trudeau over the POS you call a President any day.

Keep throwing stones from your mountain of hypocrisy.
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How is it hypocritical to hope the Canadians reverse the present course of liberal policy with laws like this getting through? I respect their governance and respect the fact that they've elected a liberal parliament with Trudeau as it's leader but welcoming refugees hardly makes him a good head of state.

Trudeau is a pretty boy from a rich political family who'd rather snag selfies to make himself look hip and cool while supporting terrible policies such as this one. I'd take Trump over Trudeau pretty much any day, a leader who's looking to cut taxes, grow the economy, shrink and de-regulate government, work on immigration reform and make the border safer, among other positive things on the GOP agenda. Under Trump my 401k has yielded 18% this year, I'll save close to 3k in federal taxes, and things are looking pretty good for the foreseeable future. I'll take that over someone with nice hair waving at people in an airport.
 
digsbe said:
How is it hypocritical to hope the Canadians reverse the present course of liberal policy with laws like this getting through? I respect their governance and respect the fact that they've elected a liberal parliament with Trudeau as it's leader but welcoming refugees hardly makes him a good head of state.

Trudeau is a pretty boy from a rich political family who'd rather snag selfies to make himself look hip and cool while supporting terrible policies such as this one. I'd take Trump over Trudeau pretty much any day, a leader who's looking to cut taxes, grow the economy, shrink and de-regulate government, work on immigration reform and make the border safer, among other positive things on the GOP agenda. Under Trump my 401k has yielded 18% this year, I'll save close to 3k in federal taxes, and things are looking pretty good for the foreseeable future. I'll take that over someone with nice hair waving at people in an airport.
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Except none of those things are political issues in Canada at all, federally anyways. The economy is doing very well, GDP growth is highest in the G7 and unemployment is declining so the economy is pretty much a non-issue unless you are Albertan but then again Albertans blame the Liberals when they stub their toe. We also don't have the immigration issues the US has either and most Canadians are happy with Trudeau's acceptance of refugees.

Trudeau was voted in primarily on social issues, and that is exactly what he is doing and polls indicate that is what the people want. Also does not help the Conservatives elected a nobody as leader.
 
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Carjosse said:
Except none of those things are political issues in Canada at all, federally anyways. The economy is doing very well, GDP growth is highest in the G7 and unemployment is declining so the economy is pretty much a non-issue. We also don't have the immigration issues the US has either and most Canadians are happy with Trudeau's acceptance of refugees.
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A large part immigration is not an issue is because Canada actually enforces their laws and deports illegals that reside there. Canada's economy may look good on paper right now, but there are many pressing issues such as hyper inflated housing markets, the highest personal debt to income ratio in the western world (now over 170%), and not to mention still basically lags behind the US in terms of GDP per capita, wages earned, and higher taxation for most people. Many people are crippled with housing prices at Manhattan levels to live in cities smaller than San Antonio and Atlanta. Canada is a great country, but comparatively I would say the US is doing better.
 
digsbe said:
A large part immigration is not an issue is because Canada actually enforces their laws and deports illegals that reside there. Canada's economy may look good on paper right now, but there are many pressing issues such as hyper inflated housing markets, the highest personal debt to income ratio in the western world (now over 170%), and not to mention still basically lags behind the US in terms of GDP per capita, wages earned, and higher taxation for most people. Many people are crippled with housing prices at Manhattan levels to live in cities smaller than San Antonio and Atlanta. Canada is a great country, but comparatively I would say the US is doing better.
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And that is a lot more of a provincial issue and is reflected in provincial politics and races. Just look up the CAQ or the governing Liberals in Quebec.

A lot of that is also up to interest rates and the Bank of Canada controls that.
 
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Carjosse said:
And that is a lot more of a provincial issue and is reflected in provincial politics and races. Just look up the CAQ in Quebec.

A lot of that is also up to interest rates and the Bank of Canada controls that.
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I can concede to that. I know the BoC had kept interest rates at record lows which also enabled cheap debt and accelerated the housing price crisis. My friends in Ontario were bragging though how a family from India was deported within 2 years due to finding they were cheating taxes with an illegally run restaurant and over-staying tourist visas.
 
digsbe said:
I can concede to that. I know the BoC had kept interest rates at record lows which also enabled cheap debt and accelerated the housing price crisis. My friends in Ontario were bragging though how a family from India was deported within 2 years due to finding they were cheating taxes with an illegally run restaurant and over-staying tourist visas.
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The largest groups of people Canada deports is Americans followed by Hungarians. Debt is too cheap, that is a lot of the problem and now there is a panic because interest rates are now going up every couple of months. It is also made worse by the fact that developers effectively built the wrong type of housing, apparently no one planned for millennials wanting to live in urban areas and have children.
 
Carjosse said:
The largest groups of people Canada deports is Americans followed by Hungarians. Debt is too cheap, that is a lot of the problem and now there is a panic because interest rates are now going up every couple of months. It is also made worse by the fact that developers effectively built the wrong type of housing, apparently no one planned for millennials wanting to live in urban areas and have children.
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People panicked here when the rates went up a little, so far there is still stability. I think one of the problems is it appears the "Canadian Dream" is to own a single family home with a yard area. That's not really sustainable for larger cities and contributes to problems like traffic and sprawl. I felt Toronto, although having it's urban core, lacked in affordable housing with it not being uncommon for a home 35km from the city center costing $1.5 million for 1.5k square feet and minimal property. Townhouses and apartment complexes seemed much more rare than in urbanized US cities. It also makes for hellish commutes (I had been stuck 1.5 hours during rush hour on the 401 going from North York trying to get past Pearson Airport on my way back to the US a handful of times).
 
digsbe said:
People panicked here when the rates went up a little, so far there is still stability. I think one of the problems is it appears the "Canadian Dream" is to own a single family home with a yard area. That's not really sustainable for larger cities and contributes to problems like traffic and sprawl. I felt Toronto, although having it's urban core, lacked in affordable housing with it not being uncommon for a home 35km from the city center costing $1.5 million for 1.5k square feet and minimal property. Townhouses and apartment complexes seemed much more rare than in urbanized US cities. It also makes for hellish commutes (I had been stuck 1.5 hours during rush hour going from North York trying to get past Pearson Airport on my way back to the US a handful of times).
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You should see it now, condos as far as the eye I can see, all one bedroom though, need something bigger you have to buy a house. Also the condos are greatly inflated by shady realtors and developers. A public transit solution could make things better but no one wants to pay for it. You also have to remember the area affected by these massive price increases is comparable to metro LA.
 
Carjosse said:
You should see it now, condos as far as the eye I can see, all one bedroom though, need something bigger you have to buy a house. Also the condos are greatly inflated by shady realtors and developers.
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Last I've been was in the fall of 2016. Although I have tentative plans to go up to visit some friends this fall. I feel that condos, high rises, and apartment complexes are also dominating in my area too as millennials looks to live more urban lives next to public transit (that's how I've lived all my working adult life so far as a millennial).
 
digsbe said:
Last I've been was in the fall of 2016. Although I have tentative plans to go up to visit some friends this fall. I feel that condos, high rises, and apartment complexes are also dominating in my area too as millennials looks to live more urban lives next to public transit (that's how I've lived all my working adult life so far as a millennial).
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That is true but no one ever thought those millennials may want families and want to stay in the city.
 
Carjosse said:
That is true but no one ever thought those millennials may want families and want to stay in the city.
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They are realizing it now. I think one reason is I believe millennials value commute time. I can't stand a long commute or sitting in traffic and many of my peers feel the same way. Previous generations all moved out to the suburbs for single family housing units and yards and put up with long drives to work or the city center. I'm content with my smaller condo/apartment space living within walking distance of the train and a 15 minute ride to work. Commuting an hour from suburbs to go to school downtown in my previous city made me decide I could not accept such a life when living on my own
 
digsbe said:
I can concede to that. I know the BoC had kept interest rates at record lows which also enabled cheap debt and accelerated the housing price crisis. My friends in Ontario were bragging though how a family from India was deported within 2 years due to finding they were cheating taxes with an illegally run restaurant and over-staying tourist visas.
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As someone actually in the real estate business in Toronto, what really caused the housing crisis was foreign buyers, not low interest rates which provided actual resident Canadians with pretty much the only hope they had of purchasing a home; lo and behold after foreign buyer taxes were imposed in Toronto housing prices began to stabilize; so it was too in Vancouver.
 
Surrealistik said:
As someone actually in the real estate business in Toronto, what really caused the housing crisis was foreign buyers, not low interest rates which provided actual resident Canadians with pretty much the only hope they had of purchasing a home; lo and behold after foreign buyer taxes were imposed in Toronto housing prices began to stabilize; so it was too in Vancouver.
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Which lasted all of two months.
 
Carjosse said:
Which lasted all of two months.
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Not at all; check how housing prices compare to the same month last year, and the rate of price growth.

The market is still overheated, but it's cooling, albeit slowly.

Check these handy graphs:

-:: Toronto Real Estate Board ::-

Prices are down compared to the past year in January, even though there has been strong sale prices (likely has to do with the reduced # of listings/supply).

Very notable is the differential in prices between 2015-2016 and 2016 to early-mid 2017 prior to the taxes which represented a huge spike in price growth; by stark contrast price growth normalized substantially from mid-late 2017 to the present.

There's a very good reason my industry was doing all the lobbying it could to prevent the passage and realization of those foreign buyer taxes, including putting out disinformation that egregiously and disingenuously understated the amount of foreign buyer activity.
 
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