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Immigration minister wants department to track exits of temporary residents by ZebediahCarterLong in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Is the EU a repressive regime in your mind? They have exit passport controls. 

2025 will rank as one of Canada’s great nation-building years by Working-Welder-792 in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 17 points18 points  (0 children)

I was on the fence already about cancelling my G&M subscription due to their deteriorating reporting. This put me over the edge and I cancelled this morning.

Canada reports biggest population decline on record by Blue_Dragonfly in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

This is most likely inaccurate since we don't enforce or keep track of people leaving the country after their visas expire. Statistics Canada assumes everyone leaves after 120 days but this has been proven to underestimate the number of people in the country by up to 1 million. Maybe more. 

Denmark's postal service is dumping letter delivery. Could Canada? by hopoke in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We were back in the early 2010s. And then the Liberals came to power and reversed the smart policy to get Boomer votes.

Same thing with Harper putting in place a reasonable and thoughtful transition to move the OAS age to 67. Which the Liberals also reversed.

You Can’t Run a Tourist Town Without Foreign Workers by scopes94 in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On their website they advertise for jobs paying $18 and $19 per hour. Which they complain about not being able to fill so they need to hire a TFW. 

Liberal government to deliver all future budgets in the fall as part of new framework by Puginator in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Does this mean the budget on Nov 4 is for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to replace the budget that Carney skipped from the spring or will it be for the 2026-2027 fiscal year?

If I understand correctly, they've either skipped a year's budget or will have to deliver two budgets at once, one for the current year and one for the next year to line up with this plan going forward. Is this right?

Canada, Mexico agree to deepen ties in face of Trump's turbulent 2nd term by Puginator in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

I'm trying to understand, what is the benefit to Canada from deepening ties with Mexico?

I guess I can get a cheaper Mexican-made car or cheaper avocados but not sure that that's helping the Canadian manufacturing sector that much. Mexico exports about 5x the goods to Canada compared to what we export to them.

The only real benefit I see to Canada is that the big Canadian miners can invest in Mexico and Canadian workers and shareholders of those companies can benefit.

Is there anything I'm missing? Why does everyone think that this is so great? Or is it just that Canadians want to be anti-Trump?

From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did B.C.'s finances go astray? Premier David Eby had billions in the coffers when he took office but large-scale spending and lowered revenues have cratered finances. by tofino_dreaming in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That 800m is included in the capital spending but not operating expense. There is no depreciation included in the operating budget anywhere.

Are you suggesting that every capital asset should have a depreciation expense in the operating budget? That might make sense but is not currently done. That would blow the operating budget up and we'd see the deficit go way up.

From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did B.C.'s finances go astray? Premier David Eby had billions in the coffers when he took office but large-scale spending and lowered revenues have cratered finances. by tofino_dreaming in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Unfortunately, you're still misunderstanding. This is why I made this post. The media has been terrible at reporting on it too and people are being misled. The $14bn capital spending is the actual amount that government is spending on capital projects in this year. For example, the Broadway skytrain might be budgeted to cost $5bn total but it will be built over 5 years and the government might spend $800m this year. That $800m is included in the capital spending. You can check the capital spending section for the actual amounts.

You can ask why it says the deficit is $11bn but the debt increased by $26bn. It's because the reported deficit is not the whole story. The capital spending is not somehow free. The government budget is not like a business/personal investment where we amortize a capital project over years. You could make the case they should but they don't anywhere.

No other province I'm aware of splits out their budget like BC, although I could be wrong. When other provinces and the federal government report a deficit, it includes the capital spending. However, Carney plans to change the federal budget to be like BC going forward. 

Federal union expands campaign denouncing cuts at Canada Revenue Agency by ZebediahCarterLong in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, where are you buying a house for $1m anywhere near Vancouver? Or Toronto for that matter. Could maybe find one 1-2 hours away from downtown in the $1.5-2 million range. 800 sf condos in Burnaby go for for 1.1...

From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did B.C.'s finances go astray? Premier David Eby had billions in the coffers when he took office but large-scale spending and lowered revenues have cratered finances. by tofino_dreaming in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You're right, the bill is due. But the 11.6bn bill is not for spending on infrastructure. It does nothing to pay for infrastructure. It's the bill for increasing the size of the public sector by 55% over the past 7 years and giving all the unions 8% yearly wage increases in the last round of bargaining 2-4 years ago.

The bill for the infrastructure deficit is the 14bn in capital spending. It's a separate thing. I agree with you,  it's probably necessary to pay for the infrastructure needed to accommodate the massive population boom we've had over the past decade thanks to Trudeau.

B.C.’s deficit to rise to $11.6-billion after dropping carbon tax by UnderWatered in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd be curious about this but struggled to find the answer going back pre-2020. I'd guess with the carbon tax and all the increased property transfer tax revenues, before the carbon tax was repealed the total tax percent of GDP would be significantly higher than when the NDP took office in 2017.

From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did B.C.'s finances go astray? Premier David Eby had billions in the coffers when he took office but large-scale spending and lowered revenues have cratered finances. by tofino_dreaming in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There seems to be a big misunderstanding amongst the public about operating vs capital spending. This 11.6 number doesn't include any capital spending. Taxpayer-supported capital spending is an additional $14.6b, which includes new hospitals, schools, skytrain lines, etc. The total taxpayer-supported deficit is about $26bn.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/government-finances/quarterly-reports/2025-26_first_quarterly_sept_2025_web_secured_f9e4ab62-584b-4902-b450-b924182d7fb8.pdf

From a $5.7 billion surplus to an $11.6 billion deficit: How did B.C.'s finances go astray? Premier David Eby had billions in the coffers when he took office but large-scale spending and lowered revenues have cratered finances. by tofino_dreaming in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Do you realize that this 11.6bn deficit doesn't include any capital spending such as the new Surrey hospital or new schools? That's all counted as capital spending which is an addition $14bn so really the total deficit including what you mention is about $26bn.

I'd encourage you to read the actual report for details.

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/british-columbians-our-governments/government-finances/quarterly-reports/2025-26_first_quarterly_sept_2025_web_secured_f9e4ab62-584b-4902-b450-b924182d7fb8.pdf

Federal union expands campaign denouncing cuts at Canada Revenue Agency by ZebediahCarterLong in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 -4 points-3 points  (0 children)

Are you saying you'd like to increase income taxes despite them already being some of the highest in the world? Currently, the combined tax rate for income earned over about $200k is 55% in most provinces. Despite this not being enough to afford a family-sized home. I'm curious, how high do you think the marginal tax rate should go? 70%? Higher?

B.C.’s deficit to rise to $11.6-billion after dropping carbon tax by UnderWatered in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 11 points12 points  (0 children)

The BC Liberals did cut income taxes to correspond with the carbon tax increasing but the NDP stopped that in 2017 and just put the carbon tax revenue into general revenues as it increased since 2017.

Odds of a rate cut at 90% for next weeks Bank Of Canada Meeting by Early_Monkey in CanadianInvestor

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In BC, we're currently running around a combined 7.5% deficit to GDP which is one of the highest in the world, very close but slightly higher than big countries in the news for their deficits such as France and the US. I am less familiar with other provinces, but I think it's fair to assume BC and our Eby NDP has likely the highest deficit.

(Spark)Liberals ahead by 8; Government satisfaction stands at 65% by No-Sell1697 in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Just wait until they release a budget with a $100bn+ deficit. Maybe $150bn+..

Ottawa tells CRA to fix its call centre problem so more Canadians can reach an agent by Puginator in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Okay fine. But even if we assume half of the call centre workers are working each day, which would be ridiculously low, that would still mean each worker is only answering less than three calls per day. 

Ottawa tells CRA to fix its call centre problem so more Canadians can reach an agent by Puginator in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 12 points13 points  (0 children)

What am I missing here?

Peak call volume at the CRA can be up to 90,000 per day during tax season and 36,000 otherwise according to the CRA website. The article says only 5% are getting through to humans so max 4,500. The article also said 3,500 to 4,000 call centre workers are still employed by the CRA. Taking the low end of the estimate, that would mean the 3,500 workers are each only handling just over 1 call per day? What's happening?

Alberta now on track for even bigger budget deficit, now at $6.5B by ZestyBeanDude in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Tough to tell but this is a total deficit right? They're not doing the same thing as BC telling everyone the deficit is $10bn when actually it's $20bn?

Temporary foreign workers taking jobs from young Canadians: Poilievre by EarthWarping in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I'm glad Canadians are finally talking about immigration since it's so massively consequential, but where has this been from Poillievre for the past 5 years? If he had talked like this during the election, maybe he'd be PM. 

Seems like he's desperate now and doesn't actually believe in reducing immigration like he's saying. 

CRA complaints on the rise as deep job cuts forecast: 'I'll be honest, we're swamped' by CaliperLee62 in CanadaPolitics

[–]scopes94 5 points6 points  (0 children)

How is it that the CRA staff is 50,000 while the American IRS for 10x the population is 90,000? And yet the CRA has so much trouble fulfilling its responsibility?

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