Exactly. Among the big issues that has surfaced thus far in the NDP-Green government, I recall the following:

- housing affordability
- ICBC insolvency crisis
- casino and money laundering
- Trans Mountain Pipeline

Another 2 important issues that IMO isn't quite up there as the ones I have just listed, but are still quite important are:

- childcare avaibility & affordability
- road infrastructure planning (including Massey tunnel and Pattulo replacements, road pricing / decongestion)

Among the 4 big and important issues, I am happy with the way NDP has dealt with the first 3. The Trans Mountain Pipeline bit is a bit of a mixed bag for me. There are some stuff I agree with Horgan, and some that I don't.

On childcare and road infrastructure, I have a mixed impression of how the NDP has been handling them too, though I am a bit negative on the road infrastructure bit.

They have also done some pretty dumb stuff, like bridge toll elimination.

Overall, I think the NDP is doing an OK job so far. At the very least, I think they are doing a much better job than the Liberals have so far, even though that is a really low mark to aim for. Are they perfect? Of course they are far from that, but it'd be unrealistic to expect any political party to be that.

If the icbc restructuring doesn’t result in lower premiums what’s the point?

There are 2 ways to look at it. One way is what you've said -- resulting in lower premiums.

I am more of a realist, so I don't really expect the restructuring to bring us any meaningful premium reductions. What I would expect out of it, however, is that the restructuring would dramatically slow the pace of premium increases for good drivers, while hiking it big time for poor drivers. I'd also hope that the premiums are more indicative of the repair costs for the high end cars, but those should make for a pretty small portion anyway, so it wouldn't really affect the overall numbers too much.

Seriously.
:stfu:

They've flip flopped on a number of promises already, including ride sharing. Horgan's dealings with the pipeline were terrible and caused JT to need to get involved. He's turned down any world cup games, which would have been nice in a multicultural city like Vancouver. Not to mention increasing taxes, and empowering unions?!.

All they have done right is remove the tolls.

If you think they're dojng a good job, you're delusional. Thats all I can say.

Lol, pretty dumb.

We come across this occasionally it's pretty easy to get around although a waste of money. We have a second company that is union that sits dormant unless we have a job with these requirements, it just employs are non union employees and they join the union well working on those projects, we cover the dues and pass all the extra costs of getting cucked on to the customer, in the case it would be the tax payers.


NDP is so fucking retarded when it comes to shit like this.

The messed up thing is that the Liberals were completely against unions. Whereas the NDP is all about unions. Why cant there be a middle ground?

My wife is a former private sector HR manager, and now works for the gov't. The amount of waste that occurs in a gov't position is insane. A lot of that waste is because of the unions and the security they offer employees. Some people look at that as an opportunity to do the bare minimum to get a paycheck.

That said, I would hate to have to negotiate a contract with a govt like the Liberals without the backing of a union. Imagine the damage they would have done to the school system without the teachers fed and the teamsters.

It sucks to see it both ways.

How is that even legal?

it's a non issue in other countries because some variation of it (uber/lyft/grab/didi etc) has been running for years...

The double whamie unionized icbc employees:

My wife’s friend has zero post secondary education, zero training outside of internal icbc training. She was hired as a receptionist then moved into some other overly bloated paper pushing role. She makes 30+ an hour for a job anywhere else you’d get min. Wage and no benefits.

She’s worked there for approx 10 years, however, in the last 5 years she’s actually worked a total of 2, if that. She’s had 3 kids in that time, timed the maternity leave perfectly that each time you have a child you work the bare minimum in between to get full maternity leave, which at ICbC is somthing absurd like 9 months.

During that time gets somthing like 80% wages for being off and goes right back into the role she was formerly, until she has another kid.

Full pension, full benefits, maintains seniority, and gets 80 pay for not working.

The bloated beuacracy of ICBC such as this is the issue not some CEO that makes X amount but assumes the majority of Blame and responsibility

Well, OriginalHypa, since you went with that STFU stuff, I'll kindly return the favour and do the same -- you should be the one to STFU if you think the NDP are as bad as you claim.
:stfu:

Is ride sharing super extremely important to you? Is your life going to suffer if you can't use a ride sharing service? Does it rank anywhere nearly as important as housing costs, the collapsing of the province-wide insurance corp, and how BC was being turned into the international hub for money laundery?

I agree the pipeline issue was not dealt with as well as it should have. At the same time, the pipeline raises some real concerns that needs to be dealt with, primarily the heightened risks of spills in our harbours and the waters nearby, as well as the costs to handle those spills. Blaming Horgan for JT stepping in is ridiculous though. It was JT and Morneau's decision to waste public tax dollars on a risky / questionable pipeline project. If you think that decision was Horgon's repsonsiblity, you must think your neighbour is fine to blame you for his constipation problems as well.

Also, BC / Vancouver turning down FIFA to be a host city was very good thing. It was the financially responsible decision, and I am glad it was done even though I love watching football. If it is beyond your little mind why the decision was a good one, perhaps you can educate yourself a little on the subject:

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opin...-bid-the-boot/

NDP removed the tolls, but wants to introduce road pricing to tax everybody. How dafuq is that a good idea?

If you think the NDP is doing an awful job, you are delusional. That is all I can say.

A couple of corrections / clarification to point out regarding this example:

On the union top up mat leave issue, bear in mind that the union is only topping up the portion beyond what EI would cover. If her regular rate is $30/hr, I think she'll qualify for the max amount from EI, which is around $500/week. Assuming a top up amount of 80% (I've heard of union top ups ranging anywhere between 70 - 90%), the union is kicking in ~$300/week in her case.

Pension contribution during her mat leave is dramatically reduced. Assuming her total mat leave is ~50 weeks, my guestimate is that the union top up means she will only be earning ~30% of her regular full pension contribution. She has the option to purchase the missing contribution, and whether that works in favour of the individual or the pension plan is anyone's guess.

In other words, during those 5 years, instead of receiving the full 5 years' worth of pension contribution had she worked the whole time, she'll end up with something closer to 3 years (of pension contribution).

Lastly, IMO at least, public sector pension plan isn't anywhere nearly as good as people think it is. For it to be worthwhile, the person really needs to be a lifer in the job, and they need to start early. Last but not least, you really also don't want there to be any gaps between the time when you quit the public sector pension job and the start of the pension payments. Otherwise, inflation and (the lack of) pay raises will really hit the pensioner hard.

isn't there a chinese Uber in the WeChat app or whatever

You mean the one that was running in Richmond, but kind of got shut down by the RCMP?
:badpokerface:

shutdown?

Even more cars than before :badpokerface:

Just used it last week, got hammered :drunk: in downtown and took it back to bridgeport. 18 bux total gave him $25 since it was like 330am

is there a premium to request a hot pink Maserati or Tron pin-striped Lambo Urus for pick-up?

I wasn't a big fan of Uber until I tried it. When I was in Prague last year we where being charged $300 koruna everywhere we went buy taxis. One wanted to charge us $400 koruna to get back to the hotel when another taxi had charged us $300 koruna to get there. So a couple of us downloaded the Uber app. Uber was only charging us $80 to $100 koruna anywhere we went.

The best part about Uber is you can be drunk in a foreign country, not knowing the the language, not knowing the phone number to the local taxi company and still get a safe ride to where you want to go. it's also there within minutes.

Had great experiences in Prague as well, dirt cheap.

The thing too is, how often do tourists that take a taxi in Vancouver get absolutely fucked by the cabi? 75% of the time? Every time?

There is no discrepancy with Uber, you know where you’re going and how much it will be.

Edit, and the peice of shit Andrew weaver has Gaul to tweet this:

https://twitter.com/ajwvictoriabc/st...067587072?s=21

Like FUCKING DO SOMTHING THEN! You’re in cahoots with your pal Horgan but now you have so little say or power you just pop off on Twitter? Ffs..

Arent the greens and ndp in the same bed. Get it done already.

The Greens talk a big game, but they'll play along with the NDP until the outcome of the electoral reform referendum.

Didn't you live with your parents until you were like 30, and now move back in with your parents? Is that your idea of a properly functioning housing market?

The amount of scandals, money loss, laundering, ICBC fuckups, bullshit media opportunities by the BC liberals will likely never be rivalled in our lifetime. Anything is better than crusty cunt and Mike dejongs LNG dicksucking and Chinese real estate marketing tours.

And you think in other part of the world people will just move out right when they reach adulthood and afford a place? Let's be real here every popular city have housing issues not just Vancouver look at HK, Beijing, New York, Tokyo etc etc. Most can't afford a place and most rent.

Look at Winnipeg housing is dirt cheap there but do you want to live there actually? That's the reality and people have to realize that.

Yea I live with my parents till 30 but instead of wasting my money I save up purchase an apartment and move out. Paid it in full. Now I am looking to upgrade and sold my apartment. I was thinking of putting 40% down(roughly 600k) on a townhome with my parents. They were going to sell their apartment (800k) and we were going to buy together. I decided not to go ahead in the end. Now I am looking at 2 bedroom around Coq center. Coz is the only area that fits my budget. Yea it sucks to move from Burnaby to Coq center but guess what? That's the only place that fits my budget and requirements so I have to move.

Other parts of Vancouver are still affordable but people are too self entitle to move elsewhere thinking I grow up here so why I have to move? Stop thinking like that and get with the times and learn to adapt. This is how Vancouver is. Don't like you can always back to places like Winnipeg where 400k can get a nice big house.

HK, NYC, Tokyo are REAL world class cities with dozens to hundreds of city blocks of ultra-high density, with never-ending amount of things to see/do/eat in a lifetime, but more importantly they actually have an economy, not just a pseudo-market propped up by construction/RE/craft beer

please don't mention Vancouver in the same breath...it's comical

We are doing the same thing here. More and more apartments are being built everyday but we have people who are against. If Vancouver economy isn't improving there wouldn't be a population growth every year. Looks at how many big corporations are moving their office here. Fact is when you compare Vancouver to places like HK, Tokyo, Beijing, NYC our quality of living is still much much better. That's why people love to live here. The housing market isn't keeping up with how much people are coming.

But hey if you dislike Vancouver so much maybe you should move to a place that you actually like.

don't kid yourself, companies like Amazon/Microsoft only set up shop here due to proximity to their HQs and are commonly using us as Visa fodders

never said I disliked Vancouver but people are putting it on the pedestal

i'm glad there's resistance to living in bird cages instead of more duplex/laneways/rowhomes

it'll take generations if they wanna rezone most of land west of Fraser into towers...at which point our waterways gets even dirtier, and air quality will tank

you find it reasonable to have severe compromises like working 7 days a week to afford a place, to not take up any traveling, to skip eating out so you can pay $1500/sqft

I don't, does that make me entitled? that someone who grew up here can at least afford rent? CoV pegs $3700/mo as affordable housing in 2018 LUL