[steveintoronto]

Exceedingly well said!

The best example is: "Cutting the army to make it more effective". If the whole modus operandi is changed (which will take a massive investment) then more can be done with less. But cutting muscle to make the limb work better makes sense for some if you replace it with fat. And the Ford brothers are/were living proof of that. Doug had best start cutting fat at the dinner table...

 

[animatronic]

The best example is: "Cutting the army to make it more effective". If the whole modus operandi is changed (which will take a massive investment) then more can be done with less. But cutting muscle to make the limb work better makes sense for some if you replace it with fat. And the Ford brothers are/were living proof of that. Doug had best start cutting fat at the dinner table...

“Doug can’t even cut his own fat”

 

[PinkLucy]

As much as I dislike Doug, and believe me I do, can we please dispense with the fat shaming?

 

[LMVDR]

So you're in favour of helping ensure that foreign rich people can park their money in real estate in Toronto? Isn't housing for people that want to live and work here?

Also, are you implying that CMHC lends "capital" to individual private home buyers?

‘Helping ensure that foreign rich people’
There’s a loaded and blatantly false statement if I’ve ever read one.

I’m in favour of an open market for real estate just as there’s an open market for most other assets. An open market leads to market price discovery which feeds into a balanced economy.

Foreign investors come and go in swarms and if they become an enduringly disruptive factor in the market, which they haven’t, there are other methods available such as higher property taxes for non residents.

CMHC provides mortgage insurance, not down payments. But there is certainly room to provide insurance on better terms to residents/citizens than others.

 

[steveintoronto]

But there is certainly room to provide insurance on better terms to residents/citizens than others.

Which would be "discrimination".

You certainly catch the essence of Doug superbly.

I think best you read this:

AUGUST 08, 2017 DOWNLOAD PDF
Foreign Nationals Can Legally Avoid Ontario's Foreign Buyer Tax
Original Newsletter(s) this article was published in: Blaneys on Immigration: August 2017

Overview

On April 20, 2017, the Ontario Government announced plans to impose a 15% tax on foreign nationals, in order to cool the real estate market in the Greater Toronto Area. The Non-Resident Speculation Tax (“NRST”) was implemented on April 21, 2017.

As of April 21, 2017, the NRST now applies to all transfers of residential real estate located in the Greater Golden Horseshoe (“GGH”) region by (a) individuals who are not citizens or permanent residents of Canada, (b) foreign corporations, and (c) taxable trustees. The term “foreign corporation” is defined as one of the following:

1. A corporation that is not incorporated in Canada.
2. A corporation, the shares of which are not listed on a stock exchange in Canada, that is incorporated in Canada and is controlled, directly or indirectly in any manner whatever, by one or more of the following:
   1. A foreign national;
   2. A corporation that is not incorporated in Canada; or
   3. A corporation that is collectively controlled by foreign nationals or corporations that are not incorporated in Canada.

The term “taxable trustee” is defined as the trustee of:

1. A trust with at least one trustee that is a foreign entity; or
2. A trust having a beneficiary who is a foreign entity.

The GGH includes the following geographic areas: (a) City of Barrie, (b) County of Brant, (c) City of Brantford, (d) County of Dufferin, (e) Regional Municipality of Durham, (f) City of Guelph, (g) Haldimand County, (h) Regional Municipality of Halton, (i) City of Hamilton, (j) City of Kawartha Lakes, (k) Regional Municipality of Niagara, (l) County of Northumberland, (m) City of Orillia, (n) Regional Municipality of Peel, (m) City of Peterborough, (n) County of Peterborough, (o) County of Simcoe, (p) City of Toronto, (q) Regional Municipality of Waterloo, (r) County of Wellington, and (s) Regional Municipality of York. The NRST clearly extends far beyond the geographical limits of the City of Toronto.

Sales of residential real estate in the Greater Toronto Area plummeted after the NRST came into effect. However, it is still unknown whether this drop in sales is the direct result of foreign buyers deciding to buy elsewhere or the indirect result of prospective home buyers who decided to take a step back because of the uncertainty caused by this measure.

Of course, uber-wealthy foreign nationals do not appear overly concerned, since sales of houses selling for more than $4 million continued to climb after the NRST was first implemented. However, the NRST can be an inconvenience for other foreign nationals who wish to purchase residential real estate in the GGH. Some of these foreign nationals may wish to acquire residential real estate for investment purposes but many others will be motivated by a work relocation or an enrollment at a post-secondary educational institutional in the GGH. Fortunately, there are still some exclusions, exemptions, and rebates available.
[...continues...]

https://www.blaney.com/articles/how-foreign-nationals-can-legally-avoid-ontarios-foreign-buyer-tax

And this:
https://www.fin.gov.on.ca/en/bulletins/nrst/

Then have a word with Dougie. He and the folks around him appear wholly unaware of the facts of the matter(s). Not that they seem to care, it's all "fake news" anyway.

Just chant these wonderful words, and click your heels together, and Dorothy will be your saviour:
"Drain the swamp, government waste, news media lies, government conspiracy, anything that has 'elites' in it, 'I've worked in government and business, I know best'...etc, etc".

But there is certainly room to provide insurance on better terms to residents/citizens than others.

Hate to break it to you, but the CMHC is a federal agency. And strictly regulated now by the OSFI:

CMHC stress testing shows it is well capitalized and able to withstand extreme scenarios
Stress testing is not a prediction or a forecast
OTTAWA, October 18, 2017 — Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s stress testing of its own capital levels confirms its ability to weather severe but extremely unlikely scenarios, according to 2017 results released today. It is important to note that none of the scenarios tested are a prediction or a forecast.

Stress testing is an essential part of our risk management program. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions (OSFI) mandates that financial institutions run these simulations and verify that their business is able to withstand even the most extreme scenarios. In support of greater transparency with respect to our risk management practices, CMHC began publicly releasing stress test results in 2015. [...]

https://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/en/corp/nero/sp/2017/2017-11-14-0830.cfm

It's Dougie's diaspora that were the ones yelling loudest as to how "the CMHC puts us all at risk of a housing crash".

Canada's banks could be on the hook to bail out CMHC if disaster strikes
One analyst is predicting that the big banks could actually get hit with the bill in the unlikely event that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. ever needs to be bailed out
[...]

http://business.financialpost.com/news/fp-street/the-price-of-taxpayer-support-for-canadian-banks


Which is it?

 

[SunriseChampion]

In what manner does opening up the GTA housing market to the world discriminate against you? By definition it discriminates against no one and as a Canadian resident/citizen you would surely enjoy better access to capital through CMHC and the like than a foreign buyer.

I agree as a citizen/taxpayer you should definitely be entitled to certain benefits though.

It discriminates against me by driving up home prices by degrees faster than general inflation favouring wealthy foreigners over average locals (I'm not even poor and things are kinda shit). My wages have grown by maybe 3%+ on average a year for the last decade, but home prices? Simple maths there.

I don't want a loan....I want affordable rent. Rising home prices influence rent prices. Vacancies at historical lows drive up rents. Desperate people/dickheads bidding on leases drives up rents. Greedy investors who can't do basic maths and thought they'd make a fortune by buying places to rent out drives up rent when they realise they bit off more than they can chew and play games in order to increase rents.
I'm already whored out to the banks through massive credit card debt (60% of GDP) owing to my 20s being some sort of Rum Diaries (completely worth it!) so access to capital to put myself in even more debt for what is a historically mediocre investment is not my idea of a good time. Putting myself into more debt to finance a home is also sort of mentally incongruent for me.
I'm barely able to keep my rent at a third of my income while living in a decent place that is close enough to work (and as of last year, not even close enough to work, really) and I most certainly am not willing to go to 50% of income or more. I work hard and break myself to contribute to society, all I ask for is to have a home that doesn't come with pets or crackhead neighbours. I'm a massively net contributor to society and I can't even get the chance at a decent home in an area of my choosing. Well, thanks for the acknowledgment of my contributions.
No, sell it to that wealthy foreign dude who will try their best to contribute as little as possible to society.

If you think pissing off poor people is a bad idea, you've never seen what happens when people who are used to a certain (well-deserved) quality of life have that taken away from them by the undeserving.

 

[lenaitch]

The best example is: "Cutting the army to make it more effective". If the whole modus operandi is changed (which will take a massive investment) then more can be done with less. But cutting muscle to make the limb work better makes sense for some if you replace it with fat. And the Ford brothers are/were living proof of that. Doug had best start cutting fat at the dinner table...

One big problem is the dual and often conflicting roles of the bureaucracy in the various ministries, especially the closer you get to 'the centre'. In most cases, public servants work to either deliver or at least support the mandate of the ministry - the worker bees; but many work to support the minister, even though they are public servants, and they are the gate-keepers of policy, staffing and money. The primary goal of any politician is to either obtain or keep power. If any actual public good comes from a program of piece of legislation, it is often serendipitous.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Greater London Area?

hahaaa.....me and my crew....sometimes may as well be, yeah

To anyone who missed it, this is painful listening (I could only listen to a few minutes before having to shut it down)

Listen to the full interview embedded below:
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/0...f-questions-in-this-cbc-interview_a_23384590/

Yeah, I heard about this on the radio. The guy is a true loser. Come knock on my door, so I can tell you so, Mr "Ten Thousand Doors".

 

[SunriseChampion]

To be clear, my point was to show how difficult finding 6B really is; not to imply it was easy.

At that level though, I wasn't implying closing hospital campuses, but rather merging the administrative side.

Noting that saving of 2% of overhead is probably all that you would get out of such an exercise, which would not end up being a terribly exciting number.

Is that a bad idea? Making administration more efficient without harming service delivery is a good thing. 2% may not be a lot, but every bit helps and things add up at some point.

 

[SunriseChampion]

So you're in favour of helping ensure that foreign rich people can park their money in real estate in Toronto? Isn't housing for people that want to live and work here?

No, give it up for the wealthy foreign folks who do everything in their power to pay as little tax as possible while people like me who pay as much tax as possible get shafted.

Fair is fair.

 

[Northern Light]

Is that a bad idea? Making administration more efficient without harming service delivery is a good thing. 2% may not be a lot, but every bit helps and things add up at some point.

By all means there is money to be saved in spots.

I'm a champion of fiscal responsibility.

My point in the context of this thread, however, was that a 2% savings on overhead gets you nowhere near paying for the commitments of Mr. Ford, never mind bringing the budget anywhere near balance.

***

Its my understanding, via Steve Paikin (The Agenda) that we currently have something like 25 Asst Deputy Ministers in Health today ( I count 17 in the chart below) , vs 5 in the Harris era.

http://www.health.gov.on.ca/en/common/ministry/orgchart.pdf

While I'm no defender of the Harris era, I must confess that 25 very well paid senior management does strike me as excessive. But there's no pot of gold to be had in any re-org.

 

[SunriseChampion]

I'm sure there are enough places to find decent savings. I wouldn't know where they are and if Ford is serious he should already be on top of finding out where they may be.
He should also stop bandying about a number that has no bearing in any calculations that were done by anyone. It's an arbitrary number in terms of what he claims he's trying to achieve. He's reminding me of Jeremy Corbyn in the last UK general election when he couldn't remember where he got his numbers.

I'm all for efficiency and whatnot, but I'm not fool enough to believe that a narcissistic goon like Ford is the man for the job. He just isn't. Never will be. Never was. I don't care about his business. I haven't seen any numbers in regards to it. I'm sure it's still a going concern, but I can't tell how well it's doing or if its fortunes have increased or decreased over time. Is he even in charge of making any sort of important financial or management decisions at the company or is he just milking profits? I don't know. It's not public knowledge, as far as I know.
He's asking me to believe him, but I can smell the dirty salesperson double-speak reeking off him from....ok, I live in Etobicoke now, so maybe not from as far away as before, but Mimico is still a distance to his lair and the lake breezes keep it flowing down here.

 

[SunriseChampion]

My point in the context of this thread, however, was that a 2% savings on overhead gets you nowhere near paying for the commitments of Mr. Ford, never mind bringing the budget anywhere near balance.

This is true, but doesn't preclude it from being a good thing.

Ford is just talking rubbish. He has no plan (not even a scribble on a serviette) and just keeps repeating a nonsense talking point.

 

[Videodrome]

Populists need talking points, even if they are fake and/or will never happen.

 

[SunriseChampion]

Populists need talking points, even if they are fake and/or will never happen.

Correction, politicians need a talking point. It isn't just populists who yammer on about nothing concrete.

Correction to my correction, some politicians...of all types.....

This isn't only a populist demagogue's disease. It's a disease of poor public discourse and political non-speak and spin and grimy salesmanship. Poor oratory and cheap gimmicks are the standard in politics these days.