Canadian politics thread

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by Great68

Was that Camas Gardens (Humboldt St)? (I actually worked on that building when it was constructed)

There are different levels to the supportive housing:
Emergency (Shelters), Transitional, Low Barrier, Subsidized/Supportive etc

Camas is a higher barrier, subsidized supportive.
But I sure as hell wouldn't want to live anywhere near the low barrier/transitional buildings. It's an absolute cesspool all around Our Place on Pandora:

And 844 Johnson always has a congregation of people skidding it up around the outside.

This 100% ... different levels of supportive housing. The communal ones with 6-8 individuals in a house in a residential neighbourhood that no one would know it's community supportive housing ... absolutely no problems.

The multi-level, low barrier, modular type ... I don't know how you can deny that there are increased crime, needles, drugs, etc.

[spoon.ek9]

As mentioned above, our choices right now are to work with an openly evil regime or a sneaky evil regime. Do I like it? No, not really but we're stuck between a rock and a hard place right now so we have to do something. If it brings jobs to Canada (EV manufacturing, for example) then I might be able to stomach it for now. If it's truly an economic win-win situation then I think it's the logical thing to do.


Re: Decriminalization

We discussed this before and I think it's still true, they were doomed to fail as soon as they let the safe supply simply flow with zero agreement from the end user to adhere to some rehabilitation plan.

It's like giving a child a giant bag of chocolate chips and telling them you'll trust they do the right thing and make cookies. When hydromorphone starts showing up in high schools, you immediately know there's a problem with the system. This should have shut the program down immediately but the gov't was skeptical the supply was coming from safe supply...

The real victims here are the ones who are actually trying to change their lives and come back to society. No longer having safe supply is a huge inconvenience to them because it means we're likely switching back to Daily Witnessed Ingestion for absolutely everything. Imagine trying to hold down a job but you have to schedule your shift (or leave multiple times per day) to go get your meds. As usual, the shitty people ruin it for everyone.

I think there's a way to implement this but the was our province did it was clearly not it.

[noclue]

Basically we’ve been following a policy of appeasement for the past 30+ years. Appeasement never worked in any form, from german foreign policy to children misbehavior. We need to swing the pendulum the other way and crack down on it. Government slowly working on it with involuntary care for start and introducing new bills to allow tougher sentencing for repeat offenders.

As for shelters, go live beside these and see how quickly you’ll change your tune:
https://globalnews.ca/news/10624702/...lter-concerns/

https://vancouversun.com/news/after-...rtive-housing#

You think the nonprofit executives running these will allow shelters to open in their neighborhoods?

[GS8]

I've read that detoxing from toxic drugs can be a tortorous death sentence too, depending on how deep the individual is into their addiction.

It's really a triple edged sword that's manifested here.

There's people who don't care about addicts and there's people who pretend to care.

And the worst offenders are the ones who profit off pretending to care!

[Traum]

Originally Posted by pastarocket

Your thoughts on this announcement from Carney's visit to China?

https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/0...-carney-visit/

British Columbia’s Forests Ministry has entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Chinese government to boost research, development and promotion of modern wood construction in creating green buildings in China.

The five-year agreement, which is not legally binding, also involves the federal Department of Natural Resources and is among the first reached with Beijing after the arrival of Prime Minister Mark Carney in China this week.

I'm not sure how much of an expert China is when it comes to modern wood construction techniques.

It must have been a good 20+ years ago. One year when I went to Hong Kong for vacation, my uncle took me to this nunnery (志蓮淨苑). According to my uncle, the main temple was built using an all-natural Tang Dynasty style wood construction technique. But the lead builders / architects weren't Chinese because the building technique had already long been lost in China. Instead, the lead builders were Japanese bcos Japanese culture preserved a lot of the old Tang Dynasty elements to it.

Spoiler!

Additionally, I am under the impression that Canada is fairly advanced in our modern wood construction techniques. For example, the UBC Foresty department is supposed to be a global leader in this area.

So what I'm concerned with is -- with the MOU, is it simply gonna turn into a one-way technology transfer that primarily benefits China? We may or may not get some short term economic benefits, but if China ends up learning all our modern wood construction techniques, are they gonna turn around to undercut us in this line of business?

That would be what I am very concerned about.

[Infiniti]

Originally Posted by Traum

Additionally, I am under the impression that Canada is fairly advanced in our modern wood construction techniques. For example, the UBC Foresty department is supposed to be a global leader in this area.

So what I'm concerned with is -- with the MOU, is it simply gonna turn into a one-way technology transfer that primarily benefits China? We may or may not get some short term economic benefits, but if China ends up learning all our modern wood construction techniques, are they gonna turn around to undercut us in this line of business?

That would be what I am very concerned about.

China will just end up stealing the tech via industrial espionage anyways (if they haven't already done so) so i think you're overstating the risks of this MOU.

[bcrdukes]

Originally Posted by Infiniti

China will just end up stealing the tech via industrial espionage anyways (if they haven't already done so)

Or just buy the patents when a company bails (hello Nortel.)

[donk.]

Originally Posted by spoon.ek9

We discussed this before and I think it's still true, they were doomed to fail as soon as they let the safe supply simply flow with zero agreement from the end user to adhere to some rehabilitation plan.

Thats the equivalent of offering free track day entries, with an agreement that i will go to rehab to stop

[EvoFire]

Engineered timber is a huge deal here. A lot of the major players have eggs in the beam/OSB paneling business and especially cause the building code allows medium rise wood structures now.

I'm going to guess China wants the engineered wood beams, and they would be able to do it significantly cheaper than we can. It's a high tech high manual input industry that actually fits China's industrial base very well.

[JDMDreams]

Ah the great leaders are meeting now, I wonder if anything will happen, Chinese cars soon? People's Republic of canindia?

[unit]

soooo chinese EVs confirmed.
tariffs mostly dropped, same with canola tariffs and some seafood ones.

i think it was the right move but i just wonder what the long term effect will be on our auto sector.

[68style]

^Hopefully they included a deal to build or assemble some shit here? Batting that they’ll need a dealer network so that’s a lot of construction and jobs

[JDMDreams]

Well if vin fast can do it I'm sure the Chinese can, all you need is some warehouse and you can start shipping cars, just like how Tesla did, small show rooms maybe in malls. Pick up at the warehouse.

I wonder if the 49000 units will all be taken up by Tesla though. Does 6% mean Tesla can cut prices again?

[unit]

a lot of ppl are not buying EVs because they are expensive. not everyone is ready for a 55k-60k car starting price.
im sure they won't be giving these cars away for cheap but if they even undercut about 5k off the entry cost then im sure they will sell.
$45k BYD that is higher tech than a tesla... some people will want it but selling 49k units in a year in this economy..
not entirely confident that they will get gobbled up unless they can sell them for even cheaper than that.

[pastarocket]

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/liv...y-xi-9.7048058

Highlights of the trade deal between Canada and China:

The deal allows up to 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles into the Canadian market. In return, Ottawa expects Beijing to drop canola seed duties to 15 per cent by March.

The pact would also remove tariffs on Canadian canola meal, lobsters, crabs and peas from March until at least the end of 2026.

Carney in Beijing said China is more predictable partner than the U.S.

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is critical of the EV deal, warning that China now has a "foothold" in the Canadian market and will use it "at the expense of Canadian workers."

Comments from Carney about Canada's relationship with China:

The New York Times' Canada bureau chief, Matina Stevis-Gridneff, picked up on a comment Industry Minister Mélanie Joly made to us during a scrum on Thursday.

Joly said in French that the conversations with China have been happening in a more predictable and stable way, compared to with other countries "like our neighbour."

Stevis-Gridneff asked Carney if it's fair for him to conclude China is a more predictable and reliable partner today than the U.S.

Carney started his response by saying he would answer "with respect to the relations with China." He said during talks in Beijing, Canada and China had "candid" conversations about where they could co-operate and where they had differences of opinion, which leads to a "more predictable and effective relationship."

But by the end of his answer, Carney said he would make one comparison. He called Canada's relationship with the U.S. "much more multifaceted, much deeper, much broader than it is with China."

"But yes, in terms of the way that our relationship has progressed in recent months with China, it is more, it is more predictable and you see results coming from that," he said.

[noclue]

Sweet visa free entry into China. Maybe we'll give them richmond as a Special Administrative Region in exchange.

[GLOW]

Originally Posted by unit

a lot of ppl are not buying EVs because they are expensive. not everyone is ready for a 55k-60k car starting price.
im sure they won't be giving these cars away for cheap but if they even undercut about 5k off the entry cost then im sure they will sell.
$45k BYD that is higher tech than a tesla... some people will want it but selling 49k units in a year in this economy..
not entirely confident that they will get gobbled up unless they can sell them for even cheaper than that.

was $45k the number? for some reason i thought it was $30-35k but maybe that's USD

[Tapioca]

Carney mentioned in his presser that Chinese EVs would come in at the 35K price point.

[Traum]

The news I'm reading is under Cdn $35k for "import cost", whatever that means.

The quantity of the quote is 49k vehicles.

[pastarocket]

https://www.travelpulse.ca/news/impa...inister-carney

Canada will allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at preferential tariffs, "with an import price of $35,000 CAD or less," while China will cut canola seed tariffs to 15% and lift barriers on key Canadian exports, unlocking nearly $3 billion in trade.

Does this mean that we will see Chinese EVs on the streets of Richmond and other cities in the Lower Mainland?

[unit]

Originally Posted by GLOW

was $45k the number? for some reason i thought it was $30-35k but maybe that's USD

sorry i just made it up for part of my example, what i meant was that it was a number in my mind that would undercut the market just enough but without being foolishly cheap.

i guess i wasnt far off if 35kUSD was what carney said.

[whitev70r]

Originally Posted by noclue

Sweet visa free entry into China. Maybe we'll give them richmond as a Special Administrative Region in exchange.

And turn the other way when China wants to do their 'policing' here.

[mikemhg]

Originally Posted by pastarocket

https://www.travelpulse.ca/news/impa...inister-carney

Canada will allow 49,000 Chinese electric vehicles at preferential tariffs, "with an import price of $35,000 CAD or less," while China will cut canola seed tariffs to 15% and lift barriers on key Canadian exports, unlocking nearly $3 billion in trade.

Does this mean that we will see Chinese EVs on the streets of Richmond and other cities in the Lower Mainland?

Excellent work Carney, this is great news.

Hopefully this will finally put pressure on domestic manufacturers to invest in cheaper EV products, enough of these $60K+ depreciating boxes they've been rolling out to consumers that no one wants to buy.

[Traum]

After doing some more reading on the new Canada-China EV deal, I think a lot of the news media reporting on how there is a $35k cap as well as a 49k units cap is incorrect.

Many different media are reporting on the $35k and 49k units caps. Some are also reporting that over the next 5 years, the units cap will also gradually increase to $70k units as well.

This is the official news release from the PMO:

https://www.pm.gc.ca/en/news/news-re...ership-peoples

With this agreement, it is also anticipated that, in five years, more than 50% of these vehicles will be affordable EVs with an import price of less than $35,000, creating new lower-cost options for Canadian consumers.

When I read this, I am not seeing a $35k price cap on the EVs being imported from China. I am seeing an expectation that a portion of the imported EVs will have an "import price" of under $35k.

There are many unclear questions in my mind at the moment, and different scenarios can play out that could make all of these confusing statements valid.

[RabidRat]

@bcdrukes I guess you're free to vacation in China again!