Dont see any reason to see a dealer for our EV. We’ve had it seven years and so far its only needed three parts - a new 12v battery, one rear wheel bearing which I replaced myself and rear wiper blade. Grand total of $400 in seven years. There’s nothing really to service.
I would strongly disagree with that. Transmission flushes are LARGELY a money grab. Unless your car is shifting erratically, hesitating, jerking or not going into gear it is better to just leave your transmission fluid as is. In fact putting new fluid into an old transmission that is working correctly can actually CAUSE issues.
Id say giving 68k in taxes on an average Cdn family income of 158k is taxed to death, wouldn’t you?
Since when could they do that before? I bought my first house in the early 80s with a low skill job but the definition of “house” has changed. Most people would not consider a square 1940’s 600 sq ft shack with asbestos siding and single pane windows on the wrong side of the tracks worthy of a house they’d want to own, but we did.
You’re looking at one tax. If you look at ALL Canadian taxes, income tax, provincial taxes, sales tax, import taxes, fuel taxes, property taxes, health services taxes, business taxes Canadians actually pay about HALF of their gross income in taxes. We are f’n taxed to death in Canada.
Who said anything about ‘fuck you I got mine?’
First of all Canada already has a TON of social supports for anyone who is in need. We have Employment Insurance if you lose your job. We have Old Age Security and Canada Pension Plan for seniors. We have Child Tax Credits for parents and especially single parents. We have the GST credit to give back taxes to low income earners. We have the Canada Workers Benefit. We have the Canada Disability Benefit. We have the Assured Income for Severely Handicapped. We have disability pensions. We have Universal Pharmacare for prescription drugs. We have housing benefits/social housing programs. We have the Canadian Dental Benefit. We have student aid. There are free food banks in every city. And there are emergency funds available for things like rent/damage deposits on an emergency basis from every province through various community agencies, charities, and non-profit organizations.
So WHY do we need UBI on top of all that? If you need help in Canada, you CAN find it. Its already here.
Source: I founded a charity for street kids in one of our major cities thats been operating for 33 years. There is a TON of support out there. The fact is that a LOT of the people on the street know how to use and abuse the system and they dont WANT to get out of it because its what they grew up in and what they are accustomed to. I speak from years of experience.
Like the saying goes “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely”
Thats what happens when you have a king instead of a president.
These studies are annoying. “Study finds if you give people money they do better in life” Wow. Such rocket science.
But for all the radical socialists trying push UBI, you will note that NONE of them want to pay for it with their tax increases (do they even pay taxes?). Which is the entire problem. There may be some savings in the system but the COST will be borne up front by the taxpaayer. And since WHEN in the history of mankind, if a gov has saved some money in other areas, have they LOWERED taxes due to the savings? Never.
Therefore UBI is sever going to happen. Because the only people who support it are students and academics and think tanks. The rest of us live in reality and are sick of our very high tax burden in Canada. So enough with the studies, kill this idea once and for all.
Why not? If we spend 200 million a year on clearing but save a billion in insurance claims plus the trauma of relocating people during fires and having them lose all their possessions, it seems like a smart move. ps. We spent 12 days at a local hotel along with hundreds of other people during a forest fire two years ago. We were fed and housed on the gov’s dime, so I cant imagine what the final bill was but they spent at LEAST $2000 on us alone. Id estimate there were 500 of us in that hotel alone so that’s a million dollars. And that was only one of several hotels. Add on the cost of firefighting and the loss of property and it gets VERY costly in a hurry. To say nothing about how traumatizing it was for my three neighbors who lost their houses and livestock to the fire.
Thats true. But SOME of it IS arson, just not the large majority. Its hard to stop the disinformation when there’s a kernel of truth.
The concept was quirky but it had a ton of hype. It wasn’t helped by the fact that it has some fairly noticeable flaws, one being panels that are glued on and have been known to fall off. And headlights that are placed so close to the front bumper that any buildup of snow blocks them. Not smart design.
Teslastans hyped the fact that there were “2 million preorders” which was supposedly because of the mass appeal of the CT. Turns out once the novelty wore off, people just said ‘meh, Id rather have a more normal truck for doing truck things’ which is why the Rivian is still selling ok, the Ford Lightning is limping along and the Sliverado EV is actually a range champ with real world reports of over 800 km range that can actually tow a trailer for more than three blocks before needing a recharge.
Yes its a couple of degrees warmer than it used to be. But that’s hardly the major story. The fact is that we dont do much active fire management in Canada and we’re way behind the curve.
Its a little known fact that fire is GOOD for promoting regrowth and rejuvenation in forests. In fact there are some species of trees that actually dont open their seeds until they are touched by fire. Lodgepole pine, Jack Pine, and Pitch Pine are notable examples that have serotinous cones sealed with resin, which melts and opens only when exposed to the heat of a fire. Who knew?
And who knew that indigenous peoples used to regularly start forest fires to rejuvenate the land, cleaning out all the old underbrush and deadfall and making the forest safe for years to come? But along came us settlers and we thought its better to just leave the forest alone. Wrong.
We actually had a wildfire come within 30 feet of our house two years ago. The efforts of a dedicated group of firefighters saved it, but three of my neighbors lost theirs. The forest looked terrible for a few months. But by the next summer it was already very green and THIS summer it looks amazing. There are already 5 foot tall trees where there was only black ground two years ago. The grass and trees look amazingly green and lush. And there is NO underbrush so the chances of another fire are pretty much zero for at least another 20 years.
IF the gov had an active forest management plan, with controlled forest burns, after carefully creating fire breaks around nearby populated areas, we wouldn’t have wildly out of control fires every year that threaten people’s homes and make the air hard to breathe.
Its not all about “climate change”, MOST of the problem is poor management. And careless people.
Conservative religious groups, and Mennonites are part of that, already have a strong distrust of government. They were targeted, ridiculed and ostracized when the covid vaccines came out and that did nothing to reassure them that the gov is looking out for their best interest, so this latest outbreak isn’t going to make them suddenly swing toward being pro vaccines. If anything they’re going to pull back even more which is why we have such a huge measles outbreak. Its not going to change easily as the mistrust runs deep.
And its no wonder - there were Amish people (a related group) who were charged for not getting a covid vaccine passport and had to go to court to argue that their faith doesnt allow them to use that kind of technology. They DID win their case and the charges were dropped but once again the distrust in gov grows.
ps. Just a correction but the Mennonites actually came from Europe, followers of Menno Simons who who was a former Catholic priest who was excommunicated for his reformational ideas. We settled in Mexico, the US and Canada after running from persecution so this mistrust in gov is a deeply held part of culture. Some Mennos are still quite conservative, others are quite liberal and you couldn’t tell them from any other Canadian.
“The posts promoted numerous conspiracy theories — asserting the fires were primarily caused by arson…”
Well, according to our own government, more than 2/3 of wildfires ARE started by humans, but not necessarily arson. We are a sloppy lot, and untended campfires, thrown cigarette butts, even sparks from train wheels, and downed power lines are all culprits. But it IS mostly humans, not mother nature doing the most damage.
Ive been on it for over 15 years now and in most ways its gotten worse. For one thing there are FAR more bots that are posting and commenting. Quite a few times Im sure replies have been from bots looking for more “engagement” as thats reddits bread and butter. The ads are getting more prolific, with some “hey what do you guys think about x product” becoming more common. The moderation in some areas has gone a bit bananas. I used Redact to erase my comments in all forums and got permabanned in one for doing so because Redact posts a self link. No warning, just a ban. The only thing thats improved is that a lot of trolling a-holes have also been banned so there are less outright vitriol than there used to be. And some of the worst subs are gone. But its not going in a good direction overall.
The attorney general firing her ethics advisor just as the most damning stories about Epstein and Trump emerge (again). What could possibly go wrong?
Actually it got torn down to make way for a Shoppers Drug Mart.
But you got me curious so I went back to my home town and searched for a similar house in the same area. Found one similar to it but about 15 years newer and bigger listed for 159k so Id say mine if it was still standing would be about 145k. We sold for 33k so its gone up 4.4 times in value in 40 years. But then again the Canadian dollar has gone up 3.7 times in value due to inflation in the same time period.
So, yes houses cost more than they did, but not MUCH more in that town in particular.