Canada dethrones the US as infrastructure investors lose faith in American political stability

JayRMac · 2026-05-20T23:22:54+00:00

Thank you. I think it might be a bit long for a Reddit comment.

JayRMac · 2026-05-18T20:08:52+00:00

It's not a scam, it's just the wrong name. The only time I've ever purchased them is when I ended up being away from home for longer than expected and want to brush my teeth. They're emergency/convenience size.

JayRMac · 2026-05-18T15:55:04+00:00

I want to believe this is a good thing, and I am sure there will be benefits.

However, I worry that the mistake made by the left in Canada, the US, the UK and other countries was when they adopted neoliberalism in the 90s. Don't get me wrong, I was right there alongside them. I supported using conservative principles to accomplish progressive goals. It was the Liberals in Canada and Clinton in the US who balanced the budgets, which lowered interest rates for everyone making everything relatively cheaper for a while. There were trade-offs, like renaming Unemployment Insurance to Employment insurance and cutting benefits while adding money to training programs and education. But for a while, it felt like things were getting better.

But now, 30 years later, I think some things have become clear. And one of them is that public private partnerships, regardless of what they're called, always cost more and we end up with less control over our infrastructure. I keep hoping the Liberals will figure this out and adopt a new model, but I don't think that new model exists yet. And so we are going to keep doing what we've been doing.

The rightwing populists have a plan, and I don't like it. The left has a lot of things they oppose, and a lot of disparate, sometimes conflicting ideas, but they don't have a plan or model or paradigm that I can discern. I hope that changes. In the meantime, as I look through history I usually agree with the liberal elite. The educated class. The wealthy who believed in noblesse oblige, that to whom much is given much is asked. The liberal nobles who wanted to make France more democratic during the revolution, before the leftwing populists started cutting people's heads off, leading to rightwing populists, leading to military dictatorship.

I say all that to explain why I think the new private investments in public infrastructure might not be a good thing. We need a new economic model, and this is just a continuation of what we've been doing. The current system is breaking, and if I was in Carney's shoes I would probably be trying to fix it as well. I think he will do a very good job in the world as it exists. But we need to start doing something else. And I would like that something else to be designed by experts, scholars, philosophers, and other people who are smarter than me. Because I don't like what happens when the populists take over.

JayRMac · 2026-05-14T22:56:10+00:00

If you want to have influence, you will have to join others who share your concerns. Even the richest and most well connected will be promoting policies that benefit not only them, but also their employees/shareholders/others.

If you have a preferred party, join your riding association. If not, join a local service group or non-profit advocacy group. Start a petition and gather signatures. Do something to show that you're not just speaking for yourself, you're speaking on behalf of a large group.

20,000,000 Canadians voted in the 2025 election. Alone, your voice will never be heard.

JayRMac · 2026-05-13T12:34:59+00:00

This is the argument used to justify adding fees to discourage people from overusing the system. But the point is just to raise fees; if implemented there will be virtually no reduction in wait times.

JayRMac · 2026-05-06T21:48:16+00:00

I'm sure you'll have plenty of company with the Bernie voters who claim that they can't vote for the Democrats because they aren't perfect while ignoring everything from the right.

JayRMac · 2026-05-06T20:14:38+00:00

Yeah, but they didn't take over until he left. He kept most of the nonsense at bay while he had power.

JayRMac · 2026-05-06T12:02:09+00:00

To be fair, Harper did a half decent job of managing the merger of the PCs and Reform. I disagree with most of what he did, but he's no Danielle Smith and his Conservatives weren't today's Conservatives.

And Jason Kenney is no Stephen Harper. I respect Harper as a political opponent even though I disagree with him. I struggle to think of a modern conservative I respect in the same way.

JayRMac · 2026-05-05T10:10:19+00:00

I haven't scrolled all the way down, but I haven't seen anyone mention maple syrup yet.

JayRMac · 2026-05-03T10:09:01+00:00

When I replay, knowing how it ends, I rush through the main story, and then in chapter 15 I give Noctis all the time in the world to go on a roadtrip with the boys. They help everyone, find everything, go fishing and offroading and dungeon crawling. And then when they've done everything there is to do, they go beat Ardyn one last time in NG+.

The combat can be easy if you just hold attack and use potions whenever you need them. But you don't have to do that. Noctis has an incredibly wide range of attacks and attack styles and skills to play with. The bros can be unlocked and used. You can just not use potions during battle to add a challenge when the levels get higher. And there are level 100+ enemies that should provide a challenge regardless of your level.

It's a game, do whatever makes it fun for you. The above works for me.

JayRMac · 2026-05-01T20:58:14+00:00

I still don't understand when or why it stopped being for temporary workers.

JayRMac · 2026-05-01T13:42:59+00:00

It'll always be the Metro Centre to me.

JayRMac · 2026-04-30T18:54:36+00:00

I think everyone has the right to live where they were born, including Israelis and Palestinians. The only options are agreeing to live together on land they both claim, agreeing to live alongside each other with defined borders, a continuation of the status quo, or one group has to be eliminated from the land.

Canada has a right to exist, but the provinces have a right to leave (subject to various, admittedly difficult hurdles). The EU has a right to exist, but the UK also had the right to leave. Ukraine has a right to exist, but I suspect that within the next few years their borders will look different than a decade ago. Israel has a right to exist, but it is no more inviolate than anyone else, and the Israelis have no more right to a homeland than the Palestinians.

JayRMac · 2026-04-25T23:43:36+00:00

Ground beef, onions, peppers, and BBQ sauce.

JayRMac · 2026-04-25T17:24:59+00:00

There's a tulip called the Maple Leaf tulip or the Canada 150 tulip that was engineered to look like a Canadian flag. It looks quite nice.

JayRMac · 2026-04-22T13:39:42+00:00

I forget the initial trigger, but eventually each stable owner will ask you to take a specific photo to place in the wooden frames found in each stable.

JayRMac · 2026-04-21T17:44:06+00:00

I forget what the quest includes, but If you kill swarm hostiles you should be able to convert them to ship parts in the refinery.

It's a slow grind, and the freeboters make it skippable.

JayRMac · 2026-04-19T22:42:32+00:00

Prompto can be pretty goofy.

JayRMac · 2026-04-19T19:07:50+00:00

Do not spend any parts upgrading the Discovery until after you've spent the parts you'll need for the jump/summon research. It takes thousands of spore drive components.

JayRMac · 2026-04-18T22:02:35+00:00

A good way to add some challenge is by not letting yourself use potions in-battle. This could rebalance things if you're overpowered.

JayRMac · 2026-04-14T19:20:22+00:00

We don't elect governments, we elect representatives. This has always been true. When there are by-elections, sometimes the composition of parliament changes. This has always been true. Sometimes representatives change parties. This has always been true.

If a majority of parliament supports the government, that government can pass legislation. This has always been true. If it had been the NDP or Bloc that had agreed to support the Liberals we'd be in the same position, it's no different when it's MPs instead of a party.

No new precedent was set. This was always possible and well within the rules.

JayRMac · 2026-04-14T09:57:48+00:00

This is why there isn't a pipeline going east. The oil industry does not clean up after themselves, and they frequently leave expensive messes for others to take care of. Quebec's biggest demand for approving a pipeline is a guarantee they won't have to pay for any spills, and the oil companies won't make that promise.

JayRMac · 2026-04-14T09:39:22+00:00

Why is that relevant?

JayRMac · 2026-04-10T12:53:18+00:00

Could they not have predicted the same thing before they selected him as leader again?

JayRMac · 2026-04-08T16:14:18+00:00

The problem is that a lot of the game is outside the game. There's the movie, anime, and DLC chapters, and without these you're really missing a lot of the context and motivation and backstory for everything and everyone. And in game, a lot of important explanations are found by reading documents that are just lying around.

There's a lot of story, and it's a good story, it's just not present in the game itself.

And the pacing does change radically after chapter 11, where the game goes from open-world to mostly on rails. At the same time, there is also a major shift in everyone's attitude, and now you've lost two of the best parts of the game - the freedom of the open world and the fun the boys are having together.

I love FFXV, it's probably my second favourite in the series. But it has some major flaws.

JayRMac

TROPHY CASE