canada
Out of context: Reply #284
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- nb5
As a former Canadian, what I see from my outsider perspective is this:
The country is falling behind rapidly due to a few simultaneous things going on.
1. Weak leadership. Trudeau’s government appears to make some big decisions based on idealism rather than pragmatism. Political correctness occasionally wins over what is actually good for Canadians.
2. Weak monetary policy leadership. Historically Canada has done well by following in the footsteps US Fed, staying 1-2 years behind and using the US economy as a bellweather. However, the lack of a similar real estate collapse in ‘09 and then entering the pandemic under very different conditions than the US has meant that the Bank of Canada now needs to act alone, without a clear model to guide them. BoC clearly has not risen to this challenge.
3. All levels of government and regular Canadians turning a blind eye to the corruption, money laundering and bubble in real estate. For nearly 30 years; the length of a mortgage! The RE industry convinced homeowners that market corrections aren’t necessary and that rapidly rising prices is like winning the lottery. This isn’t true if you only own your primary residence. Eventually you get to be about 60 and your adult children are priced out of their own cities. Then you hit 75 and can’t retire because your property tax is almost as much as your mortgage payment was. The government did nothing to intervene. Canadian homeowners stayed willfully ignorant and the next generation is fucked. Young people can’t afford to have kids because they can’t afford to get them a home. Simple as that. That leads to population collapse and a new desperation for immigrants.
4. Lack of investment in emerging industries. Canada focused on service sector and resource extraction instead of green energy, technology sector, etcl. It’s amazing that in the blackberry years, most Canadians didn’t even know Blackberry was Canadian. How about Shopify? Shopify is an extremely successful tech company and it’s known as having some of the lowest salaries in tech. Big tech pays about 30% less to Canadian employees than US employees. Canada missed a massive opportunity to grow the tech sector by leveraging the cheaper dollar and encouraging US tech workers to immigrate to Canada. This would’ve changed the entire economic outlook of Canada. Instead, there’s a massive brain drain as anyone who can be successful can do even better in the States. US immigration policy dictates Canada’s ability to retain doctors, software engineers, business consultants, etc. Canada doesn’t appear to even be trying to solve this problem.
5. Lack of diversity in immigration policy. Canada is putting all its eggs in one basket: population growth. However, in order to use new immigrants to lift the country, you need immigrants that can generate productivity at and above the level of the current population. In simple terms, you need to attract doctors, engineers, businesspeople and you need to make sure they can get certified to do their profession in Canada. What you want is a highly competitive immigration process that has all the strongest candidates trying to get in. The US is pretty great at this and you can see the results after many decades of competitive immigration policy. Also, in order to stabilize your country, you need diverse immigrants. Otherwise your culture will soon be overtaken by a new culture. You want immigrants to bring their cultures and ADD to Canadian culture, to improve it via diversity, not replace it. This means limiting immigrants from the highest population countries (India and China). Trudeau would never do this because it would be perceived as racist (*one can argue that it IS racist but one can also argue that it’s about respecting diversity.) anyway, strong economies are built on diverse populations. Especially in a country that REQUIRES immigration for economic growth.
6. I left long before weed was legal, but I think legalizing weed was bad for the country. I know many people enjoy weed and it can be a life saver for some but it does suck the motivation from a lot of people. For others it’s a daily escape from their problems. That can be good for an individual but bad in the long run.
- Thanks for coming to my Massey Lecture ;)nb
- well written summary, cheerseveryangle
- the biggest issue with Canada and Canadiens is that we're too polite and we don't stand up or protest anything. Redneck trucker convoy aside_niko
- Probably because we realize that we still have it better than 99% of the planet, especially better than whatever shithole country we emigrated from._niko
- So we weather the storm, grin and bear it with great resolve in typical Canadian fashion._niko
- Our banking is stable, probably one of the best in the world, we've got tons on natural resources and a highly skilled and educated population...so our general_niko
- mindset is ...what me worry? lol_niko
- and yeah agree with the weed thing though I don't think it's changed since it was illegal, the same people that smoked before smoke now_niko
- I stopped smoking when it was legalized. Didn't feel as cool anymore.garbage
- We have a D-list celebrity clown that has just now triggered his base by talking about the need for a "bloodbath" if he doesn't win the election.garbage
- Sorry about your problems Canada, but we're too busy forging a shithole down here. (Can I move in please?)garbage
- unlike the shit hole of country called the USAutopian
- @garbage can't stop you. also wouldn't recommend.pango
- 6. any study to show which way it's going?pango
- So we all go to Mexico then. Gonna have to learn how to surf.garbage
- we're all staying at moldy's placepango
- Lol. Shhh, don't tell him. He'll lock the doors.garbage