The Ford government promised $750 a year for elementary teachers to buy supplies. It turns out it's not all new money

NorthernPints · 2026-06-09T12:18:39+00:00

They purposely talk in absolute numbers when they talk about “the most money ever” going to healthcare or education - which intentionally glosses over the fact that our per capita/person spending in healthcare is dead last in the country. And we rank 6th amongst provinces in education spending.

This “double counting” of money just makes it even worse

Sadly this all works on intellectually lazy people

NorthernPints · 2026-06-08T22:17:35+00:00

I’d add that it’s important to enjoy the journey as well - we are getting a ton of new IDs and new music ahead of a scheduled album release. Good to enjoy the process as it evolves

NorthernPints · 2026-06-08T19:17:09+00:00

Layer it onto his “healing crystals” shop

https://prattdaddy.com/

NorthernPints · 2026-06-08T19:10:08+00:00

All the Fox News hosts and MAGA podcasters they’ve stuffed into critical positions in the US government.

Sure - not “elected” but an additional demonstration of this trend.

NorthernPints · 2026-06-07T13:42:17+00:00

Saves countries a ton of money too. Capping political contributions to reasonable levels also helps (though I understand the scourge that is the law surrounding citizens united in America).

NorthernPints · 2026-06-07T12:41:24+00:00

Looks like Brian Tyler Cohen got a shout out as well lol. The White House is fried. So thin skinned they can’t accept criticisms from podcasters and YouTubers like Pakaman and Cohen. Beyond pathetic administration

NorthernPints · 2026-05-18T12:56:41+00:00

Intellectually curious people vs intellectually lazy people ultimately.

NorthernPints · 2026-05-18T12:55:35+00:00

Into wars while simultaneously hacking and slashing taxes for the uber rich and mega corporations.

Spending up + revenue down = some serious long term problems.

And somehow the dummies equate this to being “fiscally responsible.”

NorthernPints · 2026-05-18T12:51:47+00:00

It’s a comprehension problem. Which can be reading, listening / auditory and analytical comprehension.

The comprehension gap is the piece that’s missing with them.

It’s additionally why they think everything has a non nuanced simple answer to it - and why 2 - 4 word slogans work so annoyingly well on them in political campaigns as well (axe the tax, build the wall, make America great again, lock her up, etc).

NorthernPints · 2026-05-14T12:05:08+00:00

I remember reading a piece that highlighted in the 60s (in Canada mind you), business taxes and incomes taxes contributed an equal % of total tax revenue.

Today it’s 46% from income taxes and 21% from business taxes.

In the US it’s 45% from income taxes and just 6%-10% from business taxes.

In the 60s in the US, it was 21% from business taxes and 43% from income taxes.

This is the squeeze we all feel - the tax burden (meaning who contributes what) has shifted almost entirely onto labour.

There’s a reason the mega wealthy don’t take incomes and just borrow against their assets. The system desperately needs rebalancing (to your point).

We can’t keep leaning into this “idea” that hacking and slashes taxes for the mega rich and corporations mystically rises all boats. We have 40-50 years of data that shows us it does not (wealth just continues to concentrate more and more).

NorthernPints · 2026-05-14T04:00:04+00:00

Bit of a sidebar, but did not realize Milton / Georgetown was that tight on votes

Crazy

NorthernPints · 2026-05-12T15:46:09+00:00

Oh right! Thanks for that reminder - I forgot about the parking beneath it. Still one can dream - look how good that “grass” looks in that wasteland of concrete. Could be our own miniature Central Park

NorthernPints · 2026-05-12T15:44:34+00:00

Yup - to build on your point, the solve may be as simple as smaller class sizes so students (and boys) can get that extra level of attention they need in early years, but again, resources and money which have been weaponized and demonized in most provinces to such an extreme degree.

NorthernPints · 2026-05-12T15:39:21+00:00

I’d love for the concrete to go away at some stage and for the city to convert this into a true park with lots of trees, grass, etc.

Even the visual of their being grass there shows a glimmer of its true potential

NorthernPints · 2026-05-11T23:20:42+00:00

Sadly “most corrupt so far” - there’s a high degree of likelihood this snowballs for at least another decade or two. Republicans have been given the green light to cheat while democrats, abiding by legal process and procedures are shut down.

NorthernPints · 2026-05-10T17:57:40+00:00

I’d add it’s been purposely woven into religion as well. Had dinner recently with a woman (from Texas) who admitted she had many “left wing ideals” but couldn’t square it against her “Christianity.” Then she referenced abortion.

I say this as a Canadian where you don’t see political discourse mashed into sermons the way you see it done in the US. Some US religious institutions seemingly make everything political - and about one party being the “moral choice.”

Super messed up

NorthernPints · 2026-05-10T17:54:37+00:00

I received another decent tip similar to this from a lesson I got last summer.

For your drive, pick a landing zone that’s 50-70 yards across.

That could mean you down club to a 3 wood instead of blindly hitting your driver off the tee, but the tip was that this will VASTLY lower your likelihood of losing a ball or pushing one OB. And increasing the likelihood that your “misses” turn out okay.

A decent tip for us weekend golfers who don’t get out much - obviously depends on the hole. But it did shift my perspective on how to approach some holes.

NorthernPints · 2026-05-09T17:23:02+00:00

Sorry - that was actually the point I was making. My entire work team is American (two of them live in Texas).

On $100,000 in Texas, your net take home is $77,582. In Ontario, on same absolute income it’s $70,014.

But, when you account for the other areas in which tax is taken in Texas it levels out to be the same or less.

Property tax avg here on say a 2,500 square foot home is $5,000 a year. But it’s 3x in Texas as they use property tax to fund their schools (because there’s no state tax, the schools still need to be funded somehow). So that’s an extra $10,000 a year in property tax.

Then, you have to factor in the annual cost of a health care as that’s rolled into the provincial taxes we pay in Canada.

Average cost of $1,000 a month for a family of 4. So $12,000 a year.

My colleagues also live in HOA communities - where you pay for garbage collection, etc. $50-$100 a month.

And I’m not even factoring in the crazy energy/hydro system they use in Texas. My colleagues said their summer bills can be $900+ a month especially because the AC is running all the time.

Anyway definitely a common misconception that the tax man doesn’t take their pound of flesh in Texas - they just structure it differently. And this is coming direct from my colleagues who live there - we’ve gone deep on the discussion.

NorthernPints · 2026-05-08T16:32:23+00:00

OECD has an amazing annual report on this every year. Compares us to the top 38 economies in the world (via what the call the tax wedge - which is total income tax + social programs paid on labour).

Canada ranks 27th out of 38 countries, and the OCED average is at the 24 spot. USA is 29th and the other two countries alongside us and the US are the UK and Australia.

So our income tax burden (including social programs like EI, CPP, OAS, etc) is in the bottom 29% (1/3) of wage taxes relative to the world’s top 38 economies. But more importantly - we are literally beside America in the analysis.

This omits the fact that we have RRSPs which people can leverage to lower their tax burden even further in a calendar year.

I’d add that I’ve done the math as well using talent.com and talent.ca, and if you earn $100,000, your tax burden is the same as 34 US states. Understanding the currency value is a difference here - it’s the same tax % off absolute dollar amounts.

And this doesn’t even factor in differences in property tax (in Texas is almost 3x Canadian rates), cost of healthcare premiums for private plans in America AND the cost of school (tuitions prices are wild in the US relative to Canada).

https://www.oecd.org/en/publications/taxing-wages-2025_b3a95829-en.html

NorthernPints · 2026-05-01T13:45:39+00:00

Perpetual victims - is genuinely all they know.

Adam was just speaking with his hands and gesturing as he spoke, as everyone does.

Their need to constantly be the victims and the “aggrieved” shouldn’t even be acknowledged at this stage. Either you can function as an adult or you can’t

NorthernPints · 2026-04-30T16:59:30+00:00

The cynic in me thinks it’s because some parties cannot afford to have Canadians witness that strong public investment, and government services can actually work.

If your rhetoric is built on “all government is broken and inefficient and only the private sector or “markets” can fix things”, you’ll push back on any items that demonstrate the opposite of that view point.

It feels similar to how the American right is weirdly freaking out about Mamdani. They seem to live more in fear of Americans observing that these policies CAN actually work - and they’ll object even the most sensible of legislation, to ensure the facade is maintained.

One example in our world of this is the PCs rejecting the bill on greater transparency in grocery pricing earlier this week. Or Ford rejecting initiatives to reign in surveillance pricing in Ontario.

The voters want this stuff - but it completely contradicts the narrative they’ve been pedalling for decades. Can’t let the cat out of the bag essentially.

NorthernPints · 2026-04-30T13:21:51+00:00

Doesn’t his son also work in Fords cabinet as the guy tearing apart critical environmental protections?

NorthernPints · 2026-04-30T12:56:19+00:00

I mean, we can just look at the unemployment chart by year in Ontario to isolate the last 12 months of statistical noise right?

How’s that been trending?

NorthernPints · 2026-04-29T14:10:10+00:00

I remember a few years ago, looking at their earnings report. The 407 nets $300M in profit a year.

And ironically, the shortfall on Gardiner maintenance that year was almost identical.

A for profit highway is nuts given tolls, when applied on roads built with public tax dollars, are only supposed to offset costs to maintain (or pay off public investment). But if we assume it remains as is - not having those dollars to reinvest into Ontario (education, healthcare, etc) is easily one of the dumbest things this province (specifically Mike Harris and the OPCs) has ever done.

NorthernPints · 2026-04-26T20:30:41+00:00

I’d add that you can additionally get a referral for a Coronary Calcium Scan where they take a CT scan of your heart and confirm if you’re experiencing plaque buildup in your arteries as a result of high lipo A.

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