Canada is lost

[Herman]

And Canadians are worse off after hiring a shitload of federal civil servants and high priced contractors.

https://torontosun.com/opinion/editorials/editorial-time-to-put-fat-cats-on-a-leaner-diet
To the surprise of no one in the private sector, a recent Leger poll revealed Canadians overwhelmingly want the government to cut back our bloated public-sector workforce.

Of those polled, 47% said they want to reduce the federal bureaucracy, which has snowballed in size since Justin Trudeau became prime minister in 2015. Once undecided voters are removed, the number of people who want a slimmer bureaucracy rises to 56%.

According to Postmedia reporter Bryan Passifiume's story this week, Canada's federal civil service grew by more than 10,000 new positions last year. This country now has a record 367,772 public employees.

Earlier this year, parliamentary budget officer (PBO) Yves Giroux reported the federal government payroll has skyrocketed by more than $27 billion since 2015, to a record high of $67.4 billion in 2022-23. In the 2016-17 fiscal year, that number was $40.2 billion. When you add to that the generous pensions and benefits that are baked into those salaries forever, this is unsustainable growth that will haunt future governments and generations yet unborn.

While the size of government grew by 42%, the population growth rate was only 14%. Inexplicably, at the same time the size of government grew, so did the number of outside consultants hired to do government work.

The feds are on track to spend a record $21.6 billion on contractors, according to the PBO. That's up from the $18.6 billion it spent on consultants in 2022-23 — up from $17.5 billion in 2021-22 and $14.7 billion the year before. Surely this isn't how it should work. If the government hires more consultants, it should cut down on full-time staff. And vice versa.

It also raises the question of accountability. At the heart of the scandal surrounding the excessive amount of money spent on the ArriveCAN boondoggle are questions about how the government awards contracts to outside companies.

Companies run by two consultants at the centre of the ArriveCAN scandal have received over $100 million in government contracts since 2011, according to a new government tally.
Taxpayers' money isn't an all-you-can-eat buffet.

As it is, we have the worst of all possible worlds — a fat-cat bureaucracy and an army of outside consultants all supping at the public trough.

[Shen Li]

Look at this. This is in the city I lived in back in Canada. I know the transit centre. They are all looking like this now.

Gawd, it's sad. Libtards did this.

I would never raise my sons around this.
https://x.com/EdmontonForward/status/1819056365156827147

[Shen Li]

This is True Dope's Canada.

[Shen Li]

[DKG]

Look at this. This is in the city I lived in back in Canada. I know the transit centre. They are all looking like this now.

Gawd, it's sad. Libtards did this.

I would never raise my sons around this.
https://x.com/EdmontonForward/status/1819056365156827147

This is why I never use public transit.

[Shen Li]

I always use public transit in Singapore. It's safe, clean, and always on time. Canadian cities don't have public transit. They have travelling homeless shelters.

[Shen Li]

For the first time in about 100 years, CN and CPKC running trades are set to go on strike at the same time. They are both in a legal strike position at 00:01 Friday.

Almost all chlorine used to disinfect drinking water is carried by Canada's 2 class 1 railways. Yet, the Trudeau/Singh marxist alliance will not commit to recalling parliament for a vote on back to work legislation.

[Shen Li]

In 2012, Barack Obama was president and Stephen Harper was PM. Canada had a richer middle class than the US with the CDN dollar at par or slightly more than the US dollar.

Today, as a result of True Dope's gross incompetance, American are 60% wealthier than Canadians.

Gawd, I'm soooooo fucking glad I abandoned the sinking Canadian ship.

[Oerdin]

When are you guys going to toss out Tru-dump?

[Reggie Essent]

Is this thread still about Canada sucking?

[Thiel]

When are you guys going to toss out Tru-dump?

Trudeau is in a minority government. He has an agreement with the uber left wing New Democratic Party. An election must be held before mid October 2025. If the NDP cared about Canadians they would pull the plug on the most unpopular government since his father was prime minister and trigger an election now. But, the NDP doesn't care about the destruction Trudeau continues to cause.

I don't live in Canada now. But, I will be voting for the Conservatives in the next election. I will make Jo Jo do the same.

[DKG]

When I returned to Canada in late 2023, I was shocked by what I saw and heard. It felt as if almost everyone I encountered now, of all ethnicities, backgrounds and ages, were angry. Friends complained about the impossibility of buying a home − homes that had been affordable when their parents came to Canada. Family members worried about car thefts and other crimes. People were making plans to leave − even those who had recently arrived.

What is the Canadian dream? It was a promise − less individualistic and gun-friendly than the American version, but no less ambitious. To me, the dream promised that every person here could have a decent shot at life, one that was better than that of their parents. There was emphasis on community and a strong focus on order and good government. The compact included the payment of higher taxes, and in exchange, the existence of world-class social institutions delivering for ordinary people. The immigration system worked because the same contract existed with immigrants − that they would work hard, play by the rules, become part of Canadian society through legal means, and in return, would become citizens of a highly functioning democracy where a good life was, if not guaranteed, then within reach.

The dream was based on fairness, on merit, on policies that worked. It promised breathable air and the bountiful resources of the second-largest country on Earth. It promised the principle of equality of opportunity, promised safety and peace and responsibility. It promised leaders who put the national and long-term interests of the country above their own partisan needs. The dream now feels like it's on life support.

Canadians are not fools; their discontents have good reason. "Canada's per capita GDP has been shrinking 0.4 per cent a year since 2020 − the worst rate for any developed country in the top 50," noted the esteemed investor, Ruchir Sharma, in May. Investment and job growth is driven mostly by the government, while "private sector action is confined to the property market." So the government spends, is unable to restrain itself or get results, while speculation and real estate investments drive the economy. Along with the systemic political failure, this may be an economic crisis in the making.

For many Canadians, the cost of living has become unaffordable. The average price of a house in the GTA is $1.1-million, and Metro Vancouver is around the same. There are certainly cheaper places to live, but the average cost of a rental in Canada has reached record highs − more than $2,100 a month. According to one major study, Canada needs to build an additional 3.5 million homes by the end of the decade and is currently only building around 200,000 a year.

To make matters worse, immigration − an exclusively federal jurisdiction − has gone unchecked, which is a disservice to both the country and the legal immigrants who have been here for years. Canada's immigration system used to be the envy of the world − focusing on merit, on the needs of the labour force, and on a generosity of spirit that was practically unrivalled. Canada will always be pro-immigration, but there needs to be a responsible conversation on the subject, not using it to divide people or sing one's own moral praises.


In Canada, the social contract for years allowed more immigration to grow the economy, but this came with stringent criteria for who should be admitted. Today, there are more than 900,000 international students in Canada, a 170-per-cent increase over the past decade. Some of these students have been scammed by for-profit colleges. Others have been affiliated with fake schools, using their student visas as loopholes in the immigration system. The social system was unprepared for such an influx, though certain institutions benefited: colleges and universities got more fees; politicians touted rising immigration numbers; the landlord class got an endless supply of perpetual renters. Without any housing available, this has left the country unprepared to deal with multiple, overlapping economic and social crises.

Whether for immigrants or those born in Canada, the same reality unfolds. We have created an entire generation of permanent renters, people who will work and struggle and maybe build some limited wealth, but will never be able to own property. Keep in mind that more than half of Canadians are living paycheque-to-paycheque. Many in my generation have been entirely shut out of prosperity − betraying the promise of progress for millions.

One sees neighbourhoods plagued by drug abuse and crime. Statistics Canada has reported that we are witnessing a 16-year spike in violent crime. The homicide rate in Canada today is the highest it's been since 1992. And Canada maintains one of the laxest criminal justice systems in the Western world, one where someone can cause the death of another and leave prison after six months. If America went too far in the direction of mass incarceration, Canada overcorrected in the opposite direction with mass leniency. One thing, though, is still a constant: The disproportionately largest victims of violent crimes, and specifically homicide, are Indigenous people and racial minorities.

At some point, one would think that the deaths of so many innocent and vulnerable people would elicit outrage − yet life goes on as normal. Each life is precious, and when violent criminals get off easy, or without punishment at all, they learn the terrible lesson that this country does not take its own laws seriously, so why should they? When the law loses its power to deter crime, either because of prosecutors not moving forward with cases, or because of a general laissez-faire attitude toward violent crime happening in other neighbourhoods, it is the marginalized who are harmed most.

Yet, Canadians cannot even read or share news on social-media platforms such as Facebook and Instagram. It is an Orwellian experience − in the literal sense − to see one's own articles censored and silenced in a country calling itself a democracy. This is the result of an ineffectual attempt by the Canadian government to force the biggest social-media company on the planet to pay for articles. Either Canada should not have taken on such a fight, or if it did, should have dealt more tactfully and strategically with a company known to leverage its strength.

Open this photo in gallery:
An old passport photo of Omer Aziz from his late grandmother's purse. His birthplace is listed as Scarborough.
Courtesy of Omer Aziz

Normally, in a democracy, social ills can be addressed by public officials. But Canada's own political institutions have been riven by corruption and personal ambition. And now also potentially by foreign influence. Each controversy and scandal leads people away from crucial time and policy attention that could have been spent on fixing the country's major issues. At the parliamentary level, most members of Parliament are so frightened of speaking for themselves that they are rendered powerless. This defies the very essence of the British parliamentary system, upon which Canada's system is based, which empowers MPs to speak on behalf of their constituents and represent their true voice in the people's chamber.

Parliamentary committees no longer perform their functions, serving rather as poorly rehearsed theatre. Question Period involves many questions and few substantive answers. We are witnessing this systemic political failure in real time, with institutions and leaders no longer responding, or able to respond to the citizenry. This is not a failure of marketing or communication; it's a failure of leadership and vision. The excesses of superficial progressivism have been laid bare. Cultural virtue-signalling at the expense of substantive economic progress has corroded the values of progressive politics. It was easy to blame Donald Trump when he was president; it's much harder to deflect criticism now.

The social situation deteriorates. The housing shortage is chronic. Economic stagnation is severe. The political crisis may be even worse. At this moment, there is a backlash building. Evidence for this is everywhere − most recently in the riding of Toronto-St. Paul's, which just elected a Conservative MP for the first time since 1988 − and it would be wise for leaders in office to take notice. They should admit something went wrong, re-examine old assumptions and pivot. There must be a positive vision for Canadians, bringing in new voices and faces, and grounded in a common purpose that unites all people around the shared values of hard work and equal opportunity. Most importantly, politicians should dispense with their scripts and level with Canadians about the challenges ahead.

Canada is not broken; it is wounded. But the potential inherent in this country is enormous. Its future must be reclaimed and won soon, or lost for good.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-canadian-dream-is-on-life-support/?utm_source=PaidSocial&utm_medium=FacebookAd&utm_campaign=traffic_mkt&utm_term=SCL&utm_content=keywee-loyaltyscore&utm_id=1&kwp_0=2392679&kwp_4=6689495&kwp_1=2853378&fbclid=IwY2xjawE74PJleHRuA2FlbQEwAAEd__pk4h2jbcq_B46RZ23COHwxsQThp9zSB4FIVkgE8UscsdZlQMClLVLk_aem_c5PFHWkqIc0laCD_x7xgRg

The death of the Canadian dream.

[formosan]

I haven't heard many people speak confidently about Canada's future.

[Lokmar]

What is the Canadian dream? It was a promise − less individualistic and gun-friendly than the American version, but no less ambitious. To me, the dream promised that every person here could have a decent shot at life, one that was better than that of their parents. There was emphasis on community and a strong focus on order and good government. The compact included the payment of higher taxes, and in exchange, the existence of world-class social institutions delivering for ordinary people. The immigration system worked because the same contract existed with immigrants − that they would work hard, play by the rules, become part of Canadian society through legal means, and in return, would become citizens of a highly functioning democracy where a good life was, if not guaranteed, then within reach.

The dream was based on fairness, on merit, on policies that worked. It promised breathable air and the bountiful resources of the second-largest country on Earth. It promised the principle of equality of opportunity, promised safety and peace and responsibility. It promised leaders who put the national and long-term interests of the country above their own partisan needs. The dream now feels like it's on life support.

This screams "SUCKER!", especially this part:

"The compact included the payment of higher taxes, and in exchange, the existence of world-class social institutions delivering for ordinary people."

I mean seriously, thats dumb!

[Thiel]

This screams "SUCKER!", especially this part:

"The compact included the payment of higher taxes, and in exchange, the existence of world-class social institutions delivering for ordinary people."

I mean seriously, thats dumb!

That was always a big lie.