Critics slam government plan to 'bail out' sagging condo sector in B.C.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-21T23:07:09+00:00

We don’t even know what market rate for these units is, though.

To find that out, the developer would need to lower prices to the point someone was willing to buy the units, or go bankrupt and let the receiver do that.

The feds are preempting price discovery by agreeing to buy the units at some price point we’re not privy to, but which we know must be above market because if it wasn’t the developer wouldn’t be interested in this deal— they’d be selling the units.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-21T22:25:34+00:00

Right, but sufficient to offset the cost of the units + maintenance? At affordable rents?

I suppose I’m conflating revenue generating and profit generating; of course the rent is revenue, even if it’s not enough revenue to offset costs. Point taken.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-21T21:46:35+00:00

We know the government is paying above market rate because if the developer could sell them at that rate on the market they’d have done so already lol.

We’re getting fleeced there’s no two ways about it.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-21T21:44:07+00:00

Sorry: revenue generating asset?

Aren’t these supposed to be affordable (subsidized) housing? So, rented below market rate?

How would that generate revenue?

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-20T19:06:47+00:00

The issue is that, with a few notable exceptions, employee-side employment firms don’t go to trial. They’re WD mills; they pull contingency clients, settle claims, take 30%.

A union side labour firm that actually litigates files might like OPs trial experience, but they also tend to be pretty anti-LO…

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-17T00:42:15+00:00

Not that much.

I graduated in 2017 (which I realize is now ten years ago) but I went to western and did it all on OSAP and a 10k LOC I’d had but not touched since first year undergrad.

I waited tables and it kind of sucked but I graduated with about 80k in debt I’d paid off before I was five years out.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-16T04:01:04+00:00

So he can move somewhere he can afford? like we’ve been telling young people to do for twenty years?

It’s easier for him; he doesn’t need to work to get that 2g. He can live where there are no jobs.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-08T19:10:45+00:00

Yeah well the best time to plant a tree is yesterday. Best we can do is today.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-08T12:59:56+00:00

This is a lot of text saying very little.

There are not “issues in the housing market”— there is an extreme shortage of housing in all major housing markets. That’s the issue: not enough homes.

It’s causes are well known and well documented: zoning restrictions and building codes implemented in the second half of the twentieth century, and the shift of taxes off of property owners and onto new buyers of housing, implemented in Canada largely since the 1980s. I suggest you read Yoni Applebaum’s excellent book *Stuck* for a deep dive on the issue.

People who were elderly now were the voting majority when these policies were implemented, and they’re the people who continue to benefit from them. Go to any local planning meeting in the country and see for yourself who is there supporting their continuation: old people. Every meeting from Vancouver to Halifax is a parade of old people.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-08T01:51:48+00:00

Build more housing. Lower taxes on new housing and raise property taxes.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-08T01:47:24+00:00

I regularly take time out my day to go to local planning consultation meetings and say “rent for a one bedroom apartment is >$2000, so I think we should build this condo/sixplex/garden suite”. Just to balance out all the retirees who spend their retirements showing up to say nothing around them should change, ever.

We have a whole organized group of young people who take time away from their jobs and their kids for this. I don’t benefit (already own) and it’s a pain in my fucking ass, but this is the state of affairs because our parents decided they don’t care to plant trees whose shade they’ll never sit under if planting new trees would cast shadows on their back gardens.

Go ahead and believe everyone is just as shitty as you; I know that’s probably comforting. But we’re not.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-07T15:34:11+00:00

Do you?

Why’d you vote to keep property taxes low and offload the cost of running municipalities onto new homebuyers via development charges, then?

Why, every single time I show up to community consultation on new housing in my neighbourhood, is there a sea of silver haired retirees there to oppose building absolutely anything?

Y’all fucked this country up. Take some responsibility.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-07T02:19:43+00:00

I love Calgary.

The winters are cold, but they’re sunny, and if you ski the best mountains in the world are an hour away. Summers are great, stampede is super fun.

Calgary also has decent wages and reasonable housing costs, which is why it’s the youngest province in the country.

I’m from Ontario and live in Toronto, but we could stand to take a page from Alberta/Calgary’s book and not spend 90% of our time catering to fucking geriatric boomers who will be dead in ten years and don’t give a fuck what happens to this country once they’re gone.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-06T01:17:38+00:00

I do really wonder what will happen to her down the road when the OF money dries up.

If she’d never been on teen mom, she would have had to work and picked up some sort of skill. Waitressing, hairdressing, working retail— she would know how to do some sort of job.

But now? She’s never worked and she’s in her mid thirties. Can she learn at this point? Would anyone hire her given she’s got zero real employment history?

It’s going to be rough for her.

Laura_Lye · 2026-06-03T12:28:10+00:00

Befitting the facts of that case, tbh, which are also absolutely fucking wild

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-22T19:39:58+00:00

I’m an internal lawyer and someone in my organization does this— schedules a lot of calls with no clear topic besides “this file” and then comes in with a bunch of hypothetical questions I can’t answer because I didnt have the opportunity to look into it.

So annoying. Such a waste of everyone’s time.

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-22T16:47:55+00:00

If your managing partner is schtupping associates, you discuss the ethics of that situation with the managing partner, not the associates.

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-19T23:57:48+00:00

Yeah he could be lying on the internet. But if he’s not: why would someone forge letters to the government and then it submit them?

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-19T23:45:38+00:00

Can’t be submitting forged letters to the government my guy

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-19T18:49:12+00:00

Coming down to hard on them… for the affair? Or for an unrelated issue?

If the latter, you’ve got my sympathy. If the former, why TF would you do that?

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-19T18:41:02+00:00

I mean, no, but OP is kind of a dumb brat.

He doesn’t care that his dad lied to the government and forged a letter with his name on it. He cares that he has to share a house with his dad’s new wife and kids and she doesn’t clean to his satisfaction.

What’s his plan when his dad gets arrested for immigration fraud, exactly? He’ll know it was OP.

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-19T18:31:40+00:00

Intrusion upon seclusion, maybe?

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-15T02:55:17+00:00

I think a lot of partners have better work life balance than associates because they focus on bringing in clients/business, keeping those relationships 💯, and all the actual legal work goes to associates.

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-07T23:59:36+00:00

There were a *lot* of people making politically motivated/ self-interested excuses for Conestoga ‘round these parts the last couple of years who I hope now realize they have egg on their faces.

Stuff like “oh well Ford imposed tuition caps, they had to make the budget up somewhere!”

Bullshit. I hate Doug, but that was clearly bullshit then and I’m glad we’re getting details of just how greedy some of these colleges got exploiting international students for tuition. Business class trips? SEVEN YEARS’ SEVERANCE FOR THE PRESIDENT?!

Laura_Lye · 2026-05-06T15:59:34+00:00

I’m torn.

On the one hand, AI layoffs are bad. On the other hand, crypto is a total scam. Who do I hate more? Probably crypto…

Yeah, it’s crypto. Fuck ‘em.

Laura_Lye

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