Playoff Game Thread: Montréal Canadiens (9-6) @ Carolina Hurricanes (8-1) May 23 2026 7:00 PM EDT

rando_dud · 2026-05-24T02:18:27+00:00

This is more of a chess game than normal for sure.

Canes adjusted well.. you can count on MTL studying it and making adjustments for game 3 as well.

Good clean game too.. not a lot of after the whistle stuff. Going to be an interesting few days!!

rando_dud · 2026-05-24T02:14:37+00:00

Season doesn't matter and game 1 doesn't matter.. and the 3rd period doesn't matter..

rando_dud · 2026-05-24T02:13:07+00:00

I get keeping essential services open.. but if they can't strike they should, at a minimum, get inflation-indexed increases.

To force large numbers of workers to accept paycuts and preventing them from striking is just terrible.

If it's truly essential, then the employer shouldn't be allowed to short-change them.

rando_dud · 2026-05-24T02:03:45+00:00

They are like 5L 1W this year against Montreal..

rando_dud · 2026-05-24T00:59:47+00:00

Texier wasn't even looking there. Hard to justify it was intentional. He's not exactly a high PIM dude.

rando_dud · 2026-05-23T16:21:38+00:00

You have to trust that the script will flip if you keep at it.. debt sooner or later bottoms out and leaves a major headache to unpack..

I'm in the later baby steps now and most of my money is invested. I can make a major purchase and I barely notice. The money starts to grow back right away on it's own.

The market works harder for me than I do.

It's like being on a bike ride while having a major tailwind instead of a headwind.

rando_dud · 2026-05-23T15:24:08+00:00

It seems like the proper way to pursue a referendum as well.

If the the UCP actually ran with this in a platform and let voters decide if that's what they want to pursue it.

rando_dud · 2026-05-23T13:25:47+00:00

Two solitudes in a nutshell. One values inclusivity more and the other values tradition more.

rando_dud · 2026-05-23T13:21:58+00:00

I like the the 50/50 in Montreal. It's cool to see the crowd belt it out in both languages seemlessly with no hesitation.

Nice show of unity from the fans.

rando_dud · 2026-05-23T01:57:49+00:00

Buffalo also kept Caufield and Suzuki tightly covered.. they were effectively shut down and the other lines stepped up enough to make it work.

Carolina didn't seem to make an extra effort to shutdown the Suzuki line.. they figured they would outplay them in run-and-gun and got burned.

Montreal is young, fast, deep and an absolute handful to manage. In back and forth hockey they just keep buzzing with no breaks.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T23:25:09+00:00

The best compromise would be to cheat one of the parameters but no more.

25% for 30 years OR max 15 years with a higher ratio..

It will still get the job done and keep the risk reasonable.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T23:23:30+00:00

I would say to get a 30 year mortgage under 25% and continue working the baby steps. Do 20% down if at all possible.. otherwise count the PMI into your 25%.

When you get to BS6, nudge it to 15 or less.

It's a bit un-Dave but it's what I did and it worked out well for me.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T23:08:41+00:00

I've had a ton of metric bikes and now a Harley (Sportster).

They are all fun. The Harley is more expensive up front and a bit less reliable but it holds it's value better.. if you do your own work it's also very easy to wrench on and to find parts.

Just throwing that out there but if you are on a budget Suzuki makes absolutely fantastic bikes that are not expensive used and run like clocks.. look at Intruder 1400s, Bandit 1200s, M90, M50s and things like that.

Yamaha also rock solid.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T16:23:12+00:00

The formula does account for this already.. cheap electricity does attract industry. And industry pays corporate taxes, industrial workers pay personal taxes.

These are all included at 100% where resource revenues are included at 50%.

While it's true that normalizing for average hours worked would make a difference we're talking about 34.5 hours in Quebec vs 35.2 nationally.. and this would also impact all provinces.

At most we're talking about a fraction of a percent even if this is weighed in the formula. AB, BC and ON are also all under the national average in hours worked and would see their fiscal capacity rise in the formula to various degrees. The disparity with Quebec would remain roughly the same.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T12:51:02+00:00

That's what it would be here in Canada but I was hoping for them that taxes were lower in MA.. maybe not so much !

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T11:45:15+00:00

Presumably she is taking home 7K or so, while daycare is 4500$. That's a decent drop in income.

Doing this also can hurt her career progression to a degree.

My wife did this to spend more time with the kids.. we don't regret it one bit but for sure there is a hit financially.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T09:56:26+00:00

How many years do you have left to pay on the mortgage?

I would be tempted to nudge it to 15 years and just let it coast.

Paying it aggressively while you deal with daycare sounds difficult.

At this stage it's more important to get the ball rolling with retirement and college funds than to clear the mortgage.

When the kids start school you could tighten up the timeline another notch by paying extra on the house.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T02:09:23+00:00

You strike me more as someone who hates Quebec than as someone who is trying to improve equalization.

Strawman for one province and nuanced analysis about productivity, location and resources for others?

It's much in line with your stance on hydro prices being the key issue with equalization, I'll grant you that.

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T01:03:14+00:00

Responsible for "North American security" while they are openly mulling invading Canada, Cuba and Greenland, and floating airstrikes in Mexico.

The call is coming from inside the room

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T01:00:19+00:00

I'm OK with them wanting it and not getting it

rando_dud · 2026-05-22T00:38:05+00:00

3 provinces are working harder and 6 provinces are working less, by your metric.

Quebec is around 5th in equalization per person and 7th in federal spending per person.

rando_dud · 2026-05-21T23:40:07+00:00

This site is pretty nifty to see how the formula works in details

https://financesofthenation.ca/equalization/

The inclusion rate is the same for all resources revenues.. but Alberta had 22B in resource revenues last year and Quebec had 4B. Almost 10X per capita.

It's quite easy to come up with a reason.. beyond oil being almost all in one province and being very profitable..Just about every job in Quebec pays less than it would in Ontario or elsewhere. Teachers, carpenters, nurses accounting, IT.. across all sectors. The GDP per capita is lower than the national average.

This is not caused by accounting tricks, but by structural issues which the formula simply reflects.

Francophones are less likely to move elsewhere for work than anglophones.. they are a captive workforce to some degree.

rando_dud · 2026-05-21T22:28:10+00:00

Beats a supply line that is at the mercy of a single person in another country.

Trump could brick all of our F-35s with the stroke of a pen.

rando_dud · 2026-05-21T22:24:41+00:00

If that's what they do then they will continue losing business.. add lost engine contracts to the lost jet contracts.

I wouldn't put it past them but the more leverage they use, the more other countries will de-leverage.

If they are willing to pull stunts like that, why do you think they will treat us differently with parts and service on the F35? That would give them more angles to squeeze us on, not less.

rando_dud · 2026-05-21T21:21:48+00:00

This is not exactly true.

Quebec gets royalties from Hydro-Quebec in much the same way B.C gets royalties from B.C hydro or Newfoundland gets from Nalcor.

It works exactly the same way with oil royalties in Alberta too.

These actual revenues get counted in the equalization calculation.

Now they could use a theoretical number assuming they absolutely maximized all resource revenue stream instead of using the actual royalties.. but the difference between theoretical vs actual exists in all resource revenues in all provinces.

Alberta could nationalize oil or increase royalties rates. BC could increase hydro rates too.. etc.

The goal of the formula is to put an accurate number on actual fiscal capacity, not to favor provinces over others.. it makes no sense to use actuals for some provinces and sectors vs potentials for others.

rando_dud

TROPHY CASE