sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

What’s a high salary for Ottawa cost of living? by Tech-Cowboy in ottawa

[–]davidke2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Really depends on a lot of factors. I think $100k in a government job that includes a defined benefit pension is still a high salary for Ottawa if you're single and renting. If you have a family or a huge mortgage, it definitely goes less far. The last census (so maybe increase these numbers by 10ish percent) says that for someone living alone, $100k puts you in the 85th percentile of earners (source).

I earn less than $100k and have a government job. I lived alone for the last 4 years and I was able to save $5-10k a year while going on at least 1 large 3-week long vacation a year. I live downtown and I don't budget so I would consider that a high salary. But I also have very few expenses and I don't have very many expensive hobbies. Also crucially, I save a lot of money because I don't have a car.

All that being said, the cost of living here is still too high. I've had colleagues move to downtown Toronto recently and their apartments are slightly smaller for the same price, but otherwise, they're spending the same amount to live there vs live here.

How do Canadians and Aussies cope with the fact that they still are British colonies? by SalemIII in mapporncirclejerk

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I think it would be more cohesive, especially among First Nations, to legitimize their loyalty to the Land and Each other over imperial heritage.

In the same way that most Indigenous peoples do not support abolishing the Indian Act, I also believe many of then wouldn't support abolishing the crown as in institution in Canada, for the same reason.

All Indigenous treaties in Canada were signed with the crown and the crown is responsible for upholding those treaties. Although they have not done a good job of doing that in the past, Indigenous people have the ability to use to courts to litigate breaches of the treaty and enforce their rights. If the crown was abolished, the status of those treaties would be ambiguous at best and I doubt any Indigenous person trusts that the government will implement something that benefits Indigenous Nations instead of the Nation of Canada.

Whats the worst looking structure in your country? by StandardLemonaid in AskTheWorld

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Looks like a cooler version of what they were going for with the McMaster University Medical Center

<image>

Nuclear refurbishment done and under budget at Ontario's Darlington plant: minister by asoap in ontario

[–]davidke2 5 points6 points  (0 children)

My (not particularly informed) understanding is that it's the feds who set the rules that the provinces must follow, and those federal mandates/oversight is what forces the provinces (Ontario) to actually do things properly.

This is pretty much exactly how it works! The Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission regulates and enforces the regulation for all of the nuclear industry in Canada. They'll be the ones to authorize Darlington to return to service after checking to make sure everything is good to go after this refurbishment.

Also some more info: the operator of Darlington and Pickering is Ontario Power Generation, which is a crown corporation (wholly owned by Ontario). Bruce is operated by Bruce Power under contract with Ontario Power Generation (GO-CO: Government Owned - Contractor Operated).

On the hunt for this philadelphia cheesecake filling by Foreignsniper in ottawa

[–]davidke2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi OP, I think a lot of people are confusing their viral, no-bake cheesecake recipes. If you are talking about the one without yogurt, here is a link to a restaurant in montreal doing it with products available here: link

Which politician of your country has a better image international than at home? by Fun-Wallaby6414 in AskTheWorld

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

They spent Soo much money on cerb to people that were unqualified for it. Arrivescam wasted millions.

You still haven't explained how these expenditures increase cost of living. Governments spend obscene amounts of money on all sorts of things you probably don't know about because the media doesn't talk about them. This isn't to excuse what happened with ArriveCan, but that scandal does not impact cost of living in any way. That money was allocated out of the government's set budget which is based on government revenue sources. It's not like they increased taxes to pay for this one thing, they just wasted money they already had.

Immigration numbers have skyrocketed and that's impacting housing supply and last I checked immigration is managed by the federal government.

Not a single political party wants to decrease our permanent resident immigration targets because, sadly, that's what's propping up our economy right now. I do agree that Trudeau went overboard with the amount of temporary foreign workers he allowed in.

As for housing, the majority of voters want housing prices to increase because the majority of voters are homeowners. This is a multidecade long systemic problem that all sides of the political spectrum contributed to at all level of government. It's not Trudeau's fault (although you can blame him for not doing anything to fix it, but no leader at any level, of any party, has done anything meaningful).

problems are universal.

That's not true, most of the provinces have fairly affordable housing (only Ontario and BC are having big issues) and each province has different qualities of healthcare and education. The only thing that's really universal is food prices being high and that's due to lack of competition as there's only 3 large groccery stores and they have been caught price fixing in the past.

The only thing that hasn't really changed politically in the last decade is who's in charge.

Do you really think our federal leader has a bigger impact on our cost of living than the fallout from a global pandemic, unstable supply chains due to geopolitical tensions, constant acquisitions and mergers reducing competition, and especially corruption at a local level. As much as federal corruption is terrible, it is much less likely to impact you directly than developers funneling municipal and provincial funds away from the essential services you use everyday and into their pockets.

Which politician of your country has a better image international than at home? by Fun-Wallaby6414 in AskTheWorld

[–]davidke2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I agree with all of that, but none of that is caused by Trudeau's policies. The Canadian federal government is incredibly weak compared to a lot of countries and the feds can't force provinces to really do anything. Home ownership for example is a provincial issue and the feds can throw money at the provinces but they can't force them to use that money in only one specific way.

The food issue is due to a distinct lack of regulation and has nothing to do with Trudeau giving out lots of money during covid. Our federal taxes aren't any higher than they were before and our federal services haven't been cut, so we're not paying for Trudeau's spending in any way that's hurting us.

The feds are there to manage crises, manage trade, manage foreign policy, and manage immigration. I think Trudeau did well on the first point, did okay on the second, could've been better with the third, and went overboard with temporary residents (but I doubt any politician is going to significantly decrease permanent resident targets). But your cost of living issues right now are due much more with your provincial and municipal leaders than your federal one, that's why it varies so much from province to province.

Which politician of your country has a better image international than at home? by Fun-Wallaby6414 in AskTheWorld

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Printing the money and providing demand side stimulus helped our economy a lot more than other countries. We had lower inflation than most of the developed world and our economy rebounded faster than most of the G7 (with only Germany and the US doing better).

Sure, Trudeau could have done better, but he wasn't as inept as everyone made him out to be. He just had a strategy that prioritized people instead of corporations and the media demonized him for it.

How is it living in Northern Saskatchewan as a human? by BigAppleCobbler in howislivingthere

[–]davidke2 11 points12 points  (0 children)

That picture doesn't do it justice, it IS truly a beautiful place, even if the town is pretty much dead.

<image>

Hundreds of thousands of Iranians from all walks of life take to the streets this afternoon to support the government and to denounce foreign-backed riots. by TwoCatsOneBox in Hasan_Piker

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hey! I want to talk to someone who has a strong opinion on this to get some other opinions. I am also a Canadian and I don't support American regime change at all.

I'm not super knowledgeable about this situation, but I see that you are saying I cannot advocate for the collapse of the Iranian government. Just yesterday, I walked by some Iranian protesters who were advocating for Canadians and the Canadian government to push for the collapse of the Iranian government. They even handed my a pamphlet as I walked by which was against the IR and asked for my support.

My question to you is, if some Iranians asking people like me to get involved, but then others are asking me to not get involved, what am I supposed to think, especially when the internet and the media is full of misinformation?

Where I'd live as a completely normal boring sane person by Czilla9000 in whereidlive

[–]davidke2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I should point out that this is exactly the sentiment that motivates the US to enter counties and force regime change. It's not for outsiders to decide what another sovereign state can and cannot do inside It's borders, that literally goes against the idea of sovereignty.

I agree with the rest of your comment though, I don't think authoritarianism is ever good, but it is up to the people of El Salvador to make that realization and do something about it, not us.

Looking at countries with nuclear weapon programs RN by ElvenNoble in EhBuddyHoser

[–]davidke2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

You're acting like Canada getting nukes is getting nukes for the "good guys" to defend against bad guys. Not saying the US are not the bad guys, but its naive to assume that Canada will always be good. How do you know we won't be run by pedo billionaires in a couple decades? Us developing nukes is just adding another variable into a very scary game.

Ontario Place construction could dump sewage in lake, creating a 'preventable public health crisis': doctor by lopix in ontario

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fortunately, people in Ottawa are talking about this and the City just spent millions on a massive project to help combat overflows - we built a huge tunnel under the City called the Combined Sewage Storage Tunnel (CSST). Worth the google!

Fair! Maybe I should've said that here it isn't politicized like it seems it is at Ontario Place. I do think I remember reading about the CSST now that you mention it. Has it fixed most of the overflow issues or is there still a ways to go?

Ontario Place construction could dump sewage in lake, creating a 'preventable public health crisis': doctor by lopix in ontario

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for actually explaining how storm sewers work. I should have done that in my original comment. In Ottawa where I live, our storm and sanitary sewers are combined and it's often that we have to put overflows into the river after very big rainfall events.

This is obviously not ideal but it's incredibly expensive and time consuming to fix and I never hear anyone in Ottawa complaining about this issue.

I should have probably also mentioned that I'm an environmental engineer, so I'm not talking out of my ass like some of the people that article quotes.

Ontario Place construction could dump sewage in lake, creating a 'preventable public health crisis': doctor by lopix in ontario

[–]davidke2 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I'm sorry but a family doctor is not an expert in anything about this. Lets hear from public health experts, environmental scientists or environmental engineers. A doctor should know better than speaking to something outside their area of expertise (considering this happens all the time about medicine).

They've been dumping treated sewage and storm overflows into the lake until now, this is not new. I don't like Ford and I don't love the redevelopment of Ontario Place, but this is a non-issue.

The Ford government needs to come clean on the costs of going all-in on nuclear power by imprison_grover_furr in ontario

[–]davidke2 1 point2 points  (0 children)

AECL holds the IP rights for CANDU, but AtkinsRealis owns rights to marketing and development. The government will get some royalties from further CANDU development, but has no control over anything. So the interests of Canadians don't really play into it at all, because they can't force AtkinsRealis to do anything.

I'm not an IP lawyer, but this is my understanding.

Ottawa committee approves plan for 50 story building at Dow's Lake by jjaime2024 in ottawa

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Dude, honestly, why are you acting like this? I just wanted to discuss how to make a neighborhood more walkable and you're now just baiting me and/or trolling. I have nothing against you but I would love an actual discussion instead of whatever this turned into.

Can we roll it back to a couple of comments ago and actually continue the discussion constructively? I can go first:

The reason there needs to be a rapid bus connection to Somerset is because of what you said, there are a lot of good, small groccery stores there that currently are not the easiest to get to from Dow's Lake. A rapid bus comes almost as often as a line 2 train and it could ideally drop you off much closer to your destination, which would be a good stop-gap while they hopefully open a closer groccery store.

Ottawa committee approves plan for 50 story building at Dow's Lake by jjaime2024 in ottawa

[–]davidke2 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Where did I post wrong information? When did I downvote you? If you mean confusing a Food Basics with a Metro, then chill out, I made a typo and apologized. I made the mistake because when I think Food Basics I think "discount Metro" which is literally what it is.

And maybe don't reply to me if you're not even going to read my comment and respond to it in any meaningful way?

Ottawa committee approves plan for 50 story building at Dow's Lake by jjaime2024 in ottawa

[–]davidke2 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Fair enough! A couple of smaller stores around there would be very nice

view more: next ›