7 ms·

What Happened to Canada?

27 points by fraqed 13y ago

steveplace 13y ago
nothackernews
hemantv 13y ago
any welfare state cannot go on indefinitely
- chad_oliver 13y ago
  Why not? You've made a bold statement, but provided no reasons.
Pxtl 13y ago
First-past-the-post voting and a united right facing down a split left. Also, our biggest trading partner tanked their economy in tandem with our oil industry taking off. Finally, over a decade of previous easy success left the liberal party flabby and complacent.
- cperciva 13y ago
  a split left No such thing. The Liberal party is centrist, not left-wing.
cperciva 13y ago
I don't know who Marianne LeNabat is, but she's either very confused or trying very hard to create a story out of thin air. The country is helmed by a prime minister, Stephen Harper, known for his brazenly right-wing views and executive unilateralism. Brazenly right-wing? Ok, he's part of the Conservative party; but he's one of its most moderate members. Executive unilateralism? That's mostly about keeping the right-wing nuts in his own party in line -- Harper refuses to allow members of his own party to put forward any legislation which would place any restrictions on abortion or gay marriage, for example. the undermining of the country’s universal health care system Federal funding has increased at a rate of 6% per year for the past decade. Starting next year, it will increase at at a rate equal to nominal GDP growth. When did "increasing funding every year" turn into "undermining"? In reality, Canada Post has netted a profit for sixteen of the last seventeen years Only if you subscribe to the notion that future pension obligations will be paid for by the magic public pension fairy. Services are “delisted,” i.e. taken out of universal medicare coverage, but private supplemental insurance becomes available to cover them. I have no clue where this is coming from. Seriously, I can't think of even one service which has been delisted in the past 30 years. (And in any case, Canada's constitution says that health care is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, so if such a delisting had happened it wouldn't be the federal government's fault.) I could go on, but I think I've made my point.
- flycaliguy 13y ago
  I wouldn't call Harper a moderate conservative, not even close. We are talking Canadian Alliance side of the split. As for his stance of abortion and gay marriage, that's just not a good measurement in Canada, a place where it would appear as if John Baird is being groomed to be our first gay prime minister.
  - cperciva 13y ago
    Harper was CA, but I don't think that's indicative of his politics so much as his location. There wasn't a meaningful (federal) PC party in Alberta for him to join. Heck, he was a member of the Liberal party until he was 26!
  - PeterWhittaker 13y ago
    Agreed. Harper is that most frightening conservative (for liberals), an arch-conservative who recognizes how far his values are from the centre AND can create and execute a strategy for implementing his vision bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, so that most folks don't appreciate how radical is the gradual change. Thems of us with memories and a willingness to look forward and back see a very scary voyage to the right.
deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
fraserharris 13y ago
The author represents a socialist view of Canada that idealizes a period from '75 to '95 when federal parties spent lavishly on the social system funded via national debt. This resulted in Canada's own debt crisis (peaking at 70% of GDP), which we were able to resolve by devaluing our currency and running surplus for most of the next decade (now hovering below 40% of GDP). This is epitomized by her statement: "Since the 1990s, the centrist Liberal Party has embraced a hysteria about balanced budgets and debt repayment to justify cuts to social welfare programs and taxation" The widespread "right-wing conspiracy" amongst the media & political class is rooted in the reality that any Canadian politician that actually increased taxes to fund social programs was quickly & loudly removed from office. The current Conservative government has been removing environmental restrictions, silencing the federal scientists tasked with regulating them, and slowly reducing federal environmental research. These actions appear to be designed to spur more resource development & resulting government extraction fees. Its important to note that this Conservative leadership came from the province of Alberta, which has benefitted from a two decade resource boom. Alberta has had the strongest economic growth and lowest tax rates in Canada. A template for success in some eyes.

27 points by fraqed 13y ago

steveplace 13y ago

nothackernews

hemantv 13y ago

any welfare state cannot go on indefinitely

chad_oliver 13y ago
Why not? You've made a bold statement, but provided no reasons.

Pxtl 13y ago

First-past-the-post voting and a united right facing down a split left. Also, our biggest trading partner tanked their economy in tandem with our oil industry taking off. Finally, over a decade of previous easy success left the liberal party flabby and complacent.

cperciva 13y ago
a split left No such thing. The Liberal party is centrist, not left-wing.

cperciva 13y ago

I don't know who Marianne LeNabat is, but she's either very confused or trying very hard to create a story out of thin air. The country is helmed by a prime minister, Stephen Harper, known for his brazenly right-wing views and executive unilateralism. Brazenly right-wing? Ok, he's part of the Conservative party; but he's one of its most moderate members. Executive unilateralism? That's mostly about keeping the right-wing nuts in his own party in line -- Harper refuses to allow members of his own party to put forward any legislation which would place any restrictions on abortion or gay marriage, for example. the undermining of the country’s universal health care system Federal funding has increased at a rate of 6% per year for the past decade. Starting next year, it will increase at at a rate equal to nominal GDP growth. When did "increasing funding every year" turn into "undermining"? In reality, Canada Post has netted a profit for sixteen of the last seventeen years Only if you subscribe to the notion that future pension obligations will be paid for by the magic public pension fairy. Services are “delisted,” i.e. taken out of universal medicare coverage, but private supplemental insurance becomes available to cover them. I have no clue where this is coming from. Seriously, I can't think of even one service which has been delisted in the past 30 years. (And in any case, Canada's constitution says that health care is a matter of provincial jurisdiction, so if such a delisting had happened it wouldn't be the federal government's fault.) I could go on, but I think I've made my point.

flycaliguy 13y ago
I wouldn't call Harper a moderate conservative, not even close. We are talking Canadian Alliance side of the split. As for his stance of abortion and gay marriage, that's just not a good measurement in Canada, a place where it would appear as if John Baird is being groomed to be our first gay prime minister.
- cperciva 13y ago
  Harper was CA, but I don't think that's indicative of his politics so much as his location. There wasn't a meaningful (federal) PC party in Alberta for him to join. Heck, he was a member of the Liberal party until he was 26!
- PeterWhittaker 13y ago
  Agreed. Harper is that most frightening conservative (for liberals), an arch-conservative who recognizes how far his values are from the centre AND can create and execute a strategy for implementing his vision bit-by-bit, piece-by-piece, so that most folks don't appreciate how radical is the gradual change. Thems of us with memories and a willingness to look forward and back see a very scary voyage to the right.

deleted 13y ago

[deleted]

fraserharris 13y ago

The author represents a socialist view of Canada that idealizes a period from '75 to '95 when federal parties spent lavishly on the social system funded via national debt. This resulted in Canada's own debt crisis (peaking at 70% of GDP), which we were able to resolve by devaluing our currency and running surplus for most of the next decade (now hovering below 40% of GDP). This is epitomized by her statement: "Since the 1990s, the centrist Liberal Party has embraced a hysteria about balanced budgets and debt repayment to justify cuts to social welfare programs and taxation" The widespread "right-wing conspiracy" amongst the media & political class is rooted in the reality that any Canadian politician that actually increased taxes to fund social programs was quickly & loudly removed from office. The current Conservative government has been removing environmental restrictions, silencing the federal scientists tasked with regulating them, and slowly reducing federal environmental research. These actions appear to be designed to spur more resource development & resulting government extraction fees. Its important to note that this Conservative leadership came from the province of Alberta, which has benefitted from a two decade resource boom. Alberta has had the strongest economic growth and lowest tax rates in Canada. A template for success in some eyes.