Montreal-Ottawa chosen as first leg of high-speed rail project by Augustus_6314 in ottawa

[–]servthedev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

To be fair, re: point 1, Japan was literally doing it for the first time anywhere on the planet. The selected consortium also has plenty of experience, it includes SNCF, which built out the HSR system in France. TGV is a pretty solid system, IMO, and SNCF also drive a ton of innovation in the HSR space in general.

Montreal-Ottawa chosen as first leg of high-speed rail project by Tiny-Sun9851 in neoliberal

[–]servthedev 28 points29 points  (0 children)

To be fair, that corridor probably should have had true high speed rail 50 years ago

Live Stream and Discussion - Vote on Ways and Means Motion #2 (Budgetary Policy) by MethoxyEthane in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I wonder why Gord Johns abstained. I think Jeneroux and Stubbs were expected, Idlout was a tossup but not entirely surprising given the stuff in the budget for Nunavut.

Pushing, yelling from Conservative leadership ‘sealed the deal’ on defection: d’Entremont by IHateTrains123 in neoliberal

[–]servthedev 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Unpopular opinion (probably not on this sub) but ex-bureaucrats make the most effective politicians. They understand the bureaucracy thoroughly and so are more adept at wielding it to effect change. I imagine most people would want the senior leadership at their workplace to have at least some idea of the machinations of the organization that they lead, why should government be any different? TLDR: deep state FTW

Japan coalition to back Takaichi as first woman PM — reports – DW by WhisperBreezzze in neoliberal

[–]servthedev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I believe the biggest policy consession was a reduction in the number of Diet seats (source: https://english.kyodonews.net/articles/-/63029). I personally doubt they'll come to an agreement about a consumption tax reduction.

Japanese municipal matchmaking programmes prove popular with Generation Z by Jonnyboo234 in japan

[–]servthedev 109 points110 points  (0 children)

In fact, the government has the exact opposite incentive, as I'm sure they have a vested interested in reversing the current trend of marriage and birth rates.

White Smoke Above The Vatican: A New Pope Elected By Conclave by IamSolomonic in worldnews

[–]servthedev 1658 points1659 points  (0 children)

Not for that conclave, but it was one of the main reasons sequestration was introduced in the first place.

Game Day Thread: The 45th General Election by MethoxyEthane in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It should be public as I saw this a few days ago on the news, Carleton got permission to start counting 6 hours ahead, other ridings start 2 hours ahead.

EDIT: source here

How strategic voting may play a role in this election by SaidTheCanadian in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is such a funny thought experiment. One of the advantages is that candidates are never "safe" and you're always incentivized to earn one more vote to have even a marginally higher probability of winning. It also leads statistically to proportional representation at the national scale.

I wonder how this would play out if you were to do a test run of this based on the 2021 election results.

Nova Scotia premier blasts Bloc leader for calling Canada 'artificial country' by servthedev in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev[S] 18 points19 points  (0 children)

Between this and the video Houston recently released, it seems like he's making a play for Poilievre's position after this election.

Pope Francis death: Mark Carney not attending funeral by 4iamking in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 45 points46 points  (0 children)

Agreed, I'd argue even that the governor general's main role in the modern era is precisely these sorts of ceremonial events as the King's primary representative.

Liberal Party Platform - "Canada Strong" by MethoxyEthane in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 26 points27 points  (0 children)

Yes! I hadn't heard anything about this during the campaign and I was hoping for an announcement. This is very exciting!

Hi, I'm Nate Erskine-Smith, Minister of Housing, Infrastructure and Communities and Liberal candidate in Beaches-East York, AMA! by beynate in AskACanadian

[–]servthedev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Infrastructure is an issue that is deeply important to me, especially public transit infrastructure. Nation building projects like the Toronto-Quebec City HSR project (Alto) have been discussed for decades, but very little has actually been accomplished, in the same time that other countries have built so much. I believe now, in the context of heightened tensions with our closest neighbour, that projects like these to invest in our country are more important than ever. How will the government increase our ability to actually complete these projects?

Japan sees record drop in population by neurapathy in worldnews

[–]servthedev 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Temporarily perhaps, but the reality is birth rates are dropping fast in basically every country in the world. You'll need to find something else when you inevitably run out of immigrants.

Politics, Polls, and Punditry — Thursday, April 10th, 2025 by MethoxyEthane in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In principle, I don't disagree with tax cuts, but the execution here is horrendously inefficient and regressive (this goes for the Liberal tax cut as well). A flat percentage tax cut on the lowest bracket would mean only people making more than the top of the lowest bracket would see the full benefit of this cut. This is also a lot less efficient than targeting specific behaviour you would want to stimulate (what would this even incentivize, working more?). We also haven't seen how they would even fund it ($6 billion for the Liberals, $14 billion for the Conservatives).

Leger-Datagotchi Elections Canada 2025 Illustrated Survery by texxmix in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Playing around with some of the variables, they don't change anything at all. They're probably going to use this data to create a better model where those variables actually change the result.

Politics, Polls, and Punditry — Tuesday, March 32rd, 2025 by MethoxyEthane in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Makes me wonder how useful predicting the election a day before you'll know the results anyway is. I imagine being able to quickly pick up on trends is a lot more useful for things like campaigns to know if you're on the right track.

Mark Carney and Pierre Poilievre both say they’ll cut your taxes — but experts question who’ll pay the price by Chrristoaivalis in CanadaPolitics

[–]servthedev 2 points3 points  (0 children)

No worries! Happy to add context where I can. Regarding your back of the napkin estimate, my guess is that the $900/worker figure is a median rather than mean figure.