CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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Risky Bisquick: Jan 18, 2008; PLEASE LET ME WRITE YOUR VICTIM IMPACT STATEMENT SO I CAN FURTHER DEMONSTRATE THE CALAMITY THAT IS OUR JUSTICE SYSTEM.; Buglord

The real question is would pt6a allow him to be a health minister?

# ? Jul 7, 2016 14:39

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# ? May 22, 2024 08:58

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

jm20 posted:

The real question is would pt6a allow him to be a health minister?

No, we've been through this before. If not for his corpulence, then for the fact he's a complete moron. So many reasons!

# ? Jul 7, 2016 15:09

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

Jason Kenney will continue as an MP (and drawing his MP's salary) during his provincial leadership campaign.

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, known to have previously employed one Jason Kenney, is, to their small credit, unamused by this.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 16:08

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

What a ridiculous buffoon he is.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 16:16

DariusLikewise: Oct 4, 2008; You wore that on Halloween?

Can't wait for the "Jason Kenney used Federal MP allowance to win Alberta leadership race" scandal

# ? Jul 7, 2016 16:16

MA-Horus: Dec 3, 2006; I'm sorry, I can't hear you over the sound of how awesome I am.

Dallan Invictus posted:

Jason Kenney will continue as an MP (and drawing his MP's salary) during his provincial leadership campaign.

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, known to have previously employed one Jason Kenney, is, to their small credit, unamused by this.

gently caress you Jason Kenney. I wonder how your constituents feel about this waste of tax dollars.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 16:30

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

Dallan Invictus posted:

Jason Kenney will continue as an MP (and drawing his MP's salary) during his provincial leadership campaign.

The Canadian Taxpayers' Federation, known to have previously employed one Jason Kenney, is, to their small credit, unamused by this.

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation willfully ignores conservative-leaning initiatives so this will blow over on their part.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 16:34

cowofwar: Jul 30, 2002; by Athanatos

quote:

But there are substantially more Chinese visiting Canada with the ability to stay long periods of time. Last year, Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada approved 390,292 multiple entry visas for Chinese nationals, allowing the holders to come and go from Canada up to six months at a time for up to 10 years. By comparison, only 27,739 were approved in 2010.

Wow.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 17:04

EvilJoven: Mar 18, 2005; NOBODY,IN THE HISTORY OF EVER, HAS ASKED OR CARED WHAT CANADA THINKS. YOU ARE NOT A COUNTRY. YOUR MONEY HAS THE QUEEN OF ENGLAND ON IT. IF YOU DIG AROUND IN YOUR BACKYARD, NATIVE SKELETONS WOULD EXPLODE OUT OF YOUR LAWN LIKE THE END OF POLTERGEIST. CANADA IS SO POLITE, EH?; Fun Shoe

I'd put money on the Chinese being blamed for all of our countries problems when things go to poo poo any day now. Calls for deportation, cancellation of visas, etc.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 17:13

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

Just a reminder that Kenney decided to put this up in Hungary to deter Roma from applying for refugee status:

quote:

An announcement from the Government of Canada. To deter abuse, Canada�s refugee system has changed. People with unfounded claims will be sent home faster.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 17:26

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

He really is a complete garbage fire of a human being in almost every way imaginable.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 17:29

DariusLikewise: Oct 4, 2008; You wore that on Halloween?

PT6A posted:

He really is a complete garbage fire of a human being in almost every way imaginable.

Fits in perfectly in Alberta then

# ? Jul 7, 2016 17:32

McGavin: Sep 18, 2012

EvilJoven posted:

I'd put money on the Chinese being blamed for all of our countries problems when things go to poo poo any day now. Calls for deportation, cancellation of visas, etc.

Reinstate the Chinese Immigration Act.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 18:35

Legit Businessman: Sep 2, 2007

Legit Businessman fucked around with this message at 19:39 on Sep 9, 2022

# ? Jul 7, 2016 19:41

Tsyni: Sep 1, 2004; Lipstick Apathy

OSI bean dip posted:

Just a reminder that Kenney decided to put this up in Hungary to deter Roma from applying for refugee status:

I forgot about this. What a loving piece of scum.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 20:13

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNKpWJ8m-As

just FYI

# ? Jul 7, 2016 20:13

Rime: Nov 2, 2011; by Games Forum

OSI bean dip posted:

Just a reminder that Kenney decided to put this up in Hungary to deter Roma from applying for refugee status:

How the flying gently caress was this not a massive scandal? :psypop:

# ? Jul 7, 2016 20:37

Lain Iwakura: Aug 5, 2004; The body exists only to verify one's own existence.; Taco Defender

I'm just glad for once we can all agree on something in this thread--even PT6A is agreeing.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 20:40

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

Rime posted:

How the flying gently caress was this not a massive scandal?

"Conservative party says something bigoted"

Yeah I don't see that one selling many papers.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 20:44

Pinterest Mom: Jun 9, 2009

Rime posted:

How the flying gently caress was this not a massive scandal?

Well it doesn't fit ~the narrative~�about Canada.

The Guardian posted:

This openness is unfortunately unique. In a world in which Australia runs �You will not make Australia home� advertisements, Donald Trump is the presidential nominee of a major American political party, and a British MP was killed by a man shouting �Britain first�, Canada has largely escaped this rising loathing for others.

https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jul/04/new-toronto-most-fascinatingly-boring-city-guardian-canada-week

# ? Jul 7, 2016 21:21

InfiniteZero: Sep 11, 2004; PINK GUITAR FIRE ROBOT; College Slice

Rime posted:

How the flying gently caress was this not a massive scandal?

Because we, as a nation, forgot to call the barbaric practices hotline about it.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 21:40

brucio: Nov 22, 2004

Thanks Harper

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/public-servants-vent-over-payroll-woes-1.3667143

quote:

A supervisor covers the grocery bills for a summer student; a single mom and two-time cancer survivor sinks deeper into debt; a worker on maternity leave goes weeks without a paycheque. Here's an up-close look at the federal public service payroll mess, from the people most affected.

Despite the introduction of temporary measures aimed at reducing the backlog of public servants awaiting payment, CBC Ottawa continues to field calls and emails from workers affected by the snafu.

If you want to add your story to our coverage please email us.

The federal government introduced its new Phoenix payroll system, designed by IBM, in February, but ongoing problems have meant some federal workers are now facing financial difficulties.

Judy Foote, minister of public services and procurement, told CBC News a temporary pay centre in Gatineau will operate for "as long as it takes.

"We want to make sure public servants don't go without a pay cheque. So we'll do whatever we have to do for as long as we have to do it to make sure the backlog is cleared up and that outstanding issues around training are taken care of," said Foote.

The Professional Institute of the Public Service is now approving loans to members who are having trouble paying their bills as a result of the pay transformation. The union will loan up to $5,000, free of interest.

Unions and workers complain federal departments and the pay program's call centre have been very slow to react or to even provide a response to their concerns.

Here's a snapshot of emails and Tweets we've received in recent days. Some people, despite identifying themselves to CBC Ottawa, have asked to remain anonymous, fearing repercussions on the job.

Doomed from the start

Wrote one public servant: I was hired as a compensation advisor for the Miramichi pay centre back in 2013 and am now back in Ottawa, still in compensation but with a local agency. People are quick to blame location or Phoenix but I can tell you with certainty that much of the issue laid in how quickly files were transferred.

The biggest issue is that files were transferred quicker than the pay centre was staffed and trained.

Everyone was cautiously optimistic at the arrival of Phoenix, but as soon as the February transfer occurred, everyone realized it was not going to be as smooth sailing as first anticipated. There were a number of employees that got caught between the two systems: their files transferred onto Phoenix even though their department was not transferred.

The problem should have been caught earlier. It is not a matter of location but a matter of pace: by transferring files as quickly as it did, the federal government did not give itself any time to adjust to the workload and ensuing backlog. It created an extremely stressful environment that forced many to leave, quit or take extended stress leave which has overloaded remaining employees.

Situation worse for summer students

Another public servant expressed worry over the plight of summer students caught in the mess: They are here usually for a four-month term and have budgeted their whole term on the money they were promised.

Housing in Ottawa is expensive and for a short-term rental one of my [student employees] needed to pay her rent up front. She didn't know that anything was wrong because you don't get your first payment cheque even under ideal circumstances until after you've worked for two weeks.

Then they tell us that the service standard for the pay centre is 20 days, once they have received all the proper documentation, but they don't actually contact you if there's anything missing. In order to get any information you have to call the pay centre and wait on hold for hours before you speak with anyone.

I only found out my student couldn't afford groceries last week, almost halfway through her entire work term. Turns out she has been receiving a pay cheque but only for about half of what she is owed and budgeted on.

Now my department tells me that emergency advances are only being prioritised for employees who aren't getting any pay at all, which puts my student at the bottom of the list. Even if her 20-day wait for an emergency pay cheque starts today, her work term will be almost finished before she sees it, and by then she'll have to figure out whether she can afford tuition.

Students are particularly vulnerable, unrepresented by unions, and aren't going to be around in six months to a year when the pay backlog is finally dealt with.

I'm buying my student groceries and lunch out of my own pocket and everyone in my management seems to agree this is unacceptable but I'm getting nothing more than sympathy.

Pay centre backlogged as well

Sarah, who's been on maternity leave since January, wrote: Where to begin? From late February or early March � until May 18, the pay centre completely stopped paying me � which meant I was only receiving the base employment insurance (less than half my regular take-home pay).

In the meantime, I spent hours calling the pay centre. The few times I got through I was assigned case numbers and assured it would be treated as a priority but the weeks rolled on with no change.

Finally, I reached out to my boss who quickly escalated it to the director general level. I was then copied on a flurry of emails involving at least two director generals, two managers and I think a couple other people. This led to me being paid a lump sum of approximately $8,000 on May 18.

Sarah wrote that no interest was paid despite accumulating about $200 in interest charges on her line of credit.

She adds: The saga continues � I have again stopped being paid from the pay centre.

Frustrated cancer survivor

Lisa, a two-time cancer survivor and public servant, found she had a disruption in her pension payments as well as a delay in pay after returning to work from her illness.

She writes: I returned to work just as Phoenix was being launched in my department and the problems have not ended.

A little history. I am a single mother of two teenaged girls with no other financial support other than my salary. My trials and tribulations date back to my initial diagnosis in 2010. With the diagnosis of Stage Three colorectal cancer on November 23, 2010 I did not return to work again until 2012.

During that time, a code put on my pension/pay account stopped pension contributions being taken from my pay cheque. Seems obvious since I wasn't getting a pay cheque. However, upon my return in 2012, the code was never removed and contributions were never restarted.

I was told that no pension contributions had been taken from my pay dating back to 2010, however my buy back of service contributions were continuing. I have a hard time understanding how one can happen and not trigger the other.

Regardless, I returned to work in February 2016 on a gradual return to work with a whopping debt hanging over my head. And then my pay cheques didn't come as anticipated.

With my pay cheques not coming and the hours worked not being reported to Sun Life (my disability provider) I was not receiving money from either. I had to use my line of credit and credit cards to feed and house myself and my girls. I am very grateful to the employees of my federal government department who went above and beyond to try and ensure I was able to get emergency salary advances.

I have weathered this storm successfully but not without extreme stress. Stress that I should not be dealing with when I am still recovering from life-threatening illnesses.

I have to admit the whole thing has left a terrible taste in my mouth. Where else would such flagrant negligence be tolerated. I am heartened to hear the minister say they are taking action to resolve the issues but I cannot fathom how things have been allowed to get to this extreme.

Disorganization at the top

John Savage left the public service in the spring. He says the payroll woes stem from a disorganized public service that is unresponsive to the needs of its employees.

It took me 18 months for my health care benefit coverage to kick in, just one month before my contract was up. I had to pay $1,394 in health care expenses my colleagues had coverage for, simply because the system doesn't help its employees get registered properly and they laid off our departmental advisor who used to ensure we'd get coverage.

When I complained about it, they did nothing to fix the situation for other employees. The result is that some employees are not getting all the benefits they should be entitled to through their collective agreement. In other words, they aren't getting paid fully.

Don't blame the current Liberal Government for this situation. Phoenix arose from the ashes of a Harper Government to die at the feet of the Liberal Government. Under Harper, our Public Service was demoralized, dysfunctional, and in disrepair. It's now time to fix it properly.

A great way to reduce the public service payroll is to just stop paying them. Thanks Steve.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 21:50

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

lmao dont' give a gently caress civil servants aren't getting paid

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:02

vyelkin: Jan 2, 2011

By the way, remember how body cameras are the solution to all policing problems? Well here's a particularly telling line from the coverage about Alton Sterling's shooting in Baton Rouge:

quote:

Both officers say their body cameras fell off before Tuesday�s shooting.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/07/alton-sterling-death-ive-been-sick-ever-since-they-murdered-him

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:03

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

Gotta name the pay system after something. Suggestions?

How about that thing that goes up in flames?

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:04

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/rcmp-red-serge-protest-1.3667453

quote:

Mounties refusing to join 'red serge' community events in protest over working conditions
RCMP had to cancel participation on Vancouver Canada Day parade due to lack of response from officers

Members of the RCMP across Canada are taking part in quiet protests over what they say is unsustainable under-staffing and an overall morale problem within the force.

Some Mounties are refusing to volunteer for so-called "red serge duty" where they march in parades and appear at events such as fairs, festivals and sporting events in their ceremonial red uniforms and Stetson hats.

Vancouver's Canada Day parade was the first casualty.

"It is with disappointment that I have to announce that I had to cancel the RCMP participation in this year's Canada Day parade in downtown Vancouver due to a lack of response," Sgt. Maj. Nathalie Caron wrote in an email to employees in B.C. "Thank you to the few that showed interest."

good no one wants you around anyway you dipshits

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:10

cowofwar: Jul 30, 2002; by Athanatos

vyelkin posted:

By the way, remember how body cameras are the solution to all policing problems? Well here's a particularly telling line from the coverage about Alton Sterling's shooting in Baton Rouge:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/07/alton-sterling-death-ive-been-sick-ever-since-they-murdered-him

Their cameras fell off and they confiscated the security footage. What the gently caress?

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:17

flakeloaf: Feb 26, 2003; Still better than android clock

cowofwar posted:

Their cameras fell off and they confiscated the security footage. What the gently caress?

It's almost like nobody wanted to see video of two white cops murdering a black man on national television for the... whatever the hell we're up toth time in recent memory.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 22:19

blah_blah: Apr 15, 2006

namaste faggots posted:

why the gently caress are people rallying behind jason kenny, arguably the most successful university dropout in professional politics

Christy Clark

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:00

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

flakeloaf posted:

It's almost like nobody wanted to see video of two white cops murdering a black man on national television for the... whatever the hell we're up toth time in recent memory.

Counterpoint: there are probably a lot of people in the US who would very much like to see or do that thing. That's the problem!

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:02

Fluffy Chainsaw: Jul 6, 2016; I'm likely a pissant middle manager who pisses off IT with worthless requests. There is no content within my posts other than a garbage act akin to a know-it-all, which likely is how I behave in real life. It's really hard for me to comprehend how much I am hated by everyone.

brucio posted:

Thanks Harper

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottawa/public-servants-vent-over-payroll-woes-1.3667143

A great way to reduce the public service payroll is to just stop paying them. Thanks Steve.

You're right, Minister Judy Foote, who introduced the system in February 2016, and certainly had no time to review the system before it was put into operation, was entirely at the mercy of the previous government.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:38

tagesschau: Sep 1, 2006; D&D: HASBARA SQUAD
THE SPEECH SUPPRESSOR

Remember: it's "antisemitic" to protest genocide as long as the targets are brown.

Fluffy Chainsaw posted:

You're right, Minister Judy Foote, who introduced the system in February 2016, and certainly had no time to review the system before it was put into operation, was entirely at the mercy of the previous government.

I see you've never been involved in an IT rollout on anything approaching that scale. Not that this was handled well.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:42

Fluffy Chainsaw: Jul 6, 2016; I'm likely a pissant middle manager who pisses off IT with worthless requests. There is no content within my posts other than a garbage act akin to a know-it-all, which likely is how I behave in real life. It's really hard for me to comprehend how much I am hated by everyone.

tagesschau posted:

I see you've never been involved in an IT rollout on anything approaching that scale. Not that this was handled well.

You're right of course. The honourable minister would certainly not have been briefed on the state of the system and its risk profile. There is certainly no way that she could have directed the public service to slow the transfer profiles to the new system, and certainly no way that she could have directed her officials to supplement the system using a temporary centre of excellence. Those measures certainly had to wait until after the system had been activated and its shortfalls realized. It's how things are done, you know.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:47

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

Fluffy Chainsaw posted:

You're right, Minister Judy Foote, who introduced the system in February 2016, and certainly had no time to review the system before it was put into operation, was entirely at the mercy of the previous government.

The move to the Mirimichi happened over a year ago and is far more of a factor than the new IT system.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:49

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Oh hey look: the federal government totally didn't bail out Bombardier, we're just giving Quebec a suspiciously similar amount of money for totally unrelated reasons! Just imagine how great Quebec's infrastructure and transit would be if they were getting that money and also didn't have to bail out a poorly managed garbage fire of an aerospace company!

http://globalnews.ca/news/2803922/trudeau-couillard-meet-in-montreal-to-discuss-public-transit/

At least if we had officially bailed those useless twats out, the country as a whole should've been significant, if not majority, shareholders in Bombardier by this point. This way we get... nothing!

loving Liberals....

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:49

namaste friends: Sep 18, 2004; by Smythe

Haha all the loving gamer/admins crawl out of the woodwork to explain how tech support should really be done with authority and gravitas of that tossed salad man rear end in a top hat :allears:

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:51

Majuju: Dec 30, 2006; I had a beer with Stephen Miller once and now I like him.

Jordan7hm posted:

The move to the Mirimichi happened over a year ago and is far more of a factor than the new IT system.

My mom was working payroll in Edmonton and was basically shoved into early retirement because they moved everything to Miramichi. She wasn't exactly choked about this situation because she could see this coming from a mile away.

# ? Jul 7, 2016 23:51

Fluffy Chainsaw: Jul 6, 2016; I'm likely a pissant middle manager who pisses off IT with worthless requests. There is no content within my posts other than a garbage act akin to a know-it-all, which likely is how I behave in real life. It's really hard for me to comprehend how much I am hated by everyone.

namaste faggots posted:

Haha all the loving gamer/admins crawl out of the woodwork to explain how tech support should really be done with authority and gravitas of that tossed salad man rear end in a top hat

I didn't realize that all of the mitigating measures the cbc article describes could only take place after the system had collapsed. For some reason my Devry degree in komputars covered things like "go slower" and "hire more staff on an as-needed basis," but didn't explain the "only after there's a problem so partisans can blame other people" principle. Namaste.

Fluffy Chainsaw fucked around with this message at 00:27 on Jul 8, 2016

# ? Jul 8, 2016 00:01

PT6A: Jan 5, 2006; Public school teachers are callous dictators who won't lift a finger to stop children from peeing in my plane

Majuju posted:

My mom was working payroll in Edmonton and was basically shoved into early retirement because they moved everything to Miramichi. She wasn't exactly choked about this situation because she could see this coming from a mile away.

Why in the holy name of gently caress did they move it from a city that's, at most, Nowhere-adjacent, to a place that's literally at the end of the goddamn earth in the middle of buttfuck nowhere, with horrible weather constantly?

# ? Jul 8, 2016 00:11

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# ? May 22, 2024 08:58

Jordan7hm: Feb 17, 2011; Lipstick Apathy

Politics. They promised the centre to get votes.

# ? Jul 8, 2016 00:14

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Debate & Discussion > CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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