Postess with the Mostest posted:

"People who aren't like me are going to ruin this country." - Every Canadian. Try not to worry about it and take your dog fishing or whatever city people do.

Helsing posted:

Christ, must every left leaning person I meet be either terrified of democracy or else convinced that a Truly Leftist party platform would produce a sweeping majority mandate for the NDP? Can't we have a middle ground between crippling cynicism and naive optimism?

peter banana posted:

where on that scale does "a true left wing and labour organized movement would never take root in any major party because there wouldn't be enough support for it" fall, because that's where I am, to be honest.

Helsing posted:

We like to relax by gawking at the bizarre lifestyles of the rurals who subside on our precious Old Stock Torontonian cottage money.

peter banana posted:

where on that scale does "a true left wing and labour organized movement would never take root in any major party because there wouldn't be enough support for it" fall, because that's where I am, to be honest.

quote:

http://ipolitics.ca/2016/11/03/mps-pensions-hit-by-phoenix-glitches/

It seems that Phoenix knows no bounds and has struck Parliament Hill. Again.

Turns out MP’s pensions aren’t being deducted properly, and they will have to repay several hundred dollars each — averaging $235 in October, $235 in November and $170 in December, with the exact amount depending on their pay scale. MPs downplayed the issue but said it shows how far-reaching the problem is.

NDP Public Works critic Erin Weir said while MPs paying that back is “no big deal,” it’s still “emblematic of what a boondoggle Phoenix has become.”

But it’s not the only time MPs have faced the wrath of Phoenix up close and personal.

Weir’s own office was hit by Phoenix disruptions earlier this summer.

Weir said he’s loaned “a couple thousand dollars” out of his own pocket to one of his staffers who wasn’t being paid over the summer months, and that his office wasn’t the only one hit by the pay problems.

“Many of our staff have not been paid properly,” he added. Weir called it “another example of how far Phoenix has gone off the rails.”

The Winnipeg Free Press reported Wednesday that some MPs, quoted anonymously, said they’re embarrassed that the problems are so wide-ranging that it’s reached their pensions and offices – including cabinet ministers and the prime minister.

Weir said it’s not as embarrassing as the widespread problems that already exist for thousands of public servants not getting paid properly.

Alupa Clarke, the Conservative critic on the file since Steven Blaney dropped the role ahead of his run for party leadership, said he’s also heard that some MPs’ staff have had pay problems. And like Weir, he downplayed the pension issue.

“I think we’re very well paid as MPs and we should never complain about ourselves,” he said.

“Do I pay $200 or $300 more or less from my pension? I don’t care. I care more about Canadians.

“We still have 700 people who don’t have any pay at all and 22,000 people waiting for extra hours paid, sick leave pay.”

Clarke said the government and minister should be more careful with setting deadlines because they gave false hope to a lot of public servants by saying things would be fixed by November.

Public Works told reporters Monday it blew its own self-imposed deadline of October 31 to fix the backlog of cases, with another 22,000 employees’ files still to be addressed.

The department said it has fixed the majority of the pay problems now, clearing nearly 75 per cent the backlog.

But Deputy Minister Marie Lemay also said Monday the cases left over are “complex and require time-consuming manual calculations,” and Public Works is still bracing for more reports of pay problems.

The government brought Phoenix online in February as a pay system modernization project. The system was planned under the Harper administration and implemented by the Trudeau government.

It has since plagued over 80,000 public servants with a wide range of pay issues.

Phoenix was originally supposed to save the government $70 million a year, but Public Works projects the costs of fixing Phoenix will be about $50 million for 2016.

Correction: an earlier version of this story incorrectly stated MPs did not receive overtime pay. Public servants did not receive overtime.

Helsing posted:

Turn's out I'm closest to the Liberals, since according to this quiz they support including dental care and prescriptions drugs in Canada's universal healthcare program.

quote:

Most Important

Should the pensions of retired workers be taxed? learn more
Yes <-----
No
Yes, pensions should be taxed like any other income
Yes, but only for those making over $50,000 per year
No, falling interest rates are already draining elderly pension payouts
No, pensions should be based on private, non-taxable accounts
Add your own stance

Risky Bisquick posted:

End #ruralsuffrage

quote:

2,125,129 voters use iSideWith to find their candidate match

quote:

Kinder Morgan Canada president Ian Anderson says he has read the science on both sides of the climate-change debate, but he's still not sure who is right.

Ian Anderson was speaking to the Vancouver Board of Trade today when he said that he "doesn't pretend to be smart enough" to know which side is right in the climate-change debate.

CLAM DOWN posted:

Ladies and gentlement, the Canadian oil industry

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kinder-morgan-climate-change-vancouver-board-of-trade-1.3835280

quote:

Over the course of a normal investigation, CSIS may obtain information, intelligence, and data pertaining to an individual. The agency has the power to run through that information to determine if the person is a national security threat, relevant to an investigation, or has something to do with international affairs.

If that data—such as an email between two law-abiding individuals—isn't useful in any of those respects, CSIS is required to delete it.

Except, according to Justice Noël's ruling, that's not exactly what they were doing.

While CSIS was deleting the data, they were saving and storing the metadata from the information, but renaming it "associated data," mostly in an effort to skirt rules around data collection, and keeping it for as long as they want. This data, the court adds, was "non-threat, third-party information."

Helsing posted:

So, apropos of nothing I was looking for excuses to procrastinate on a dull work assignment and noticed a paid link to one of those lovely political tests that supposedly tells you which candidate you side with.

Turn's out I'm closest to the Liberals, since according to this quiz they support including dental care and prescriptions drugs in Canada's universal healthcare program.

The Dark One posted:

Guys, I know CSIS isn't allowed to collect and store non-threat related metadata indefinitely, but, and here me out, what if we just started calling the stuff "associated data" instead?

http://www.vice.com/en_ca/read/theres-a-secret-canadian-spy-database-that-we-just-found-out-about

quote:

http://canada.isidewith.com/

Should the federal government be able to monitor phone calls and emails? stats discuss
Liberal’s answer: No

A Typical Goon posted:

Did you guys see Trudeau's selfie with genie Bouchard tho Canada really is the prettiest country best place on earth

CLAM DOWN posted:

Ladies and gentlement, the Canadian oil industry

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/kinder-morgan-climate-change-vancouver-board-of-trade-1.3835280

vyelkin posted:

Conveniently enough, Genie Bouchard is also all style and no substance so this is fitting

Hexigrammus posted:

I don't remember if it's been said here before, but gently caress Christy Clark, the B.C. Liberals, the Socreds, and anything that looks like them. "Mentally ill? Try the dumpster out back."

Subjunctive posted:

Being mentally ill is a bad idea. People should just avoid doing that.

ocrumsprug posted:

Have you thought about running as a BCNDP?

PT6A posted:

The voters of [insert province, state, country, or city here], like voters across the [planet], are morons who get exactly what they deserve.

OSI bean dip posted:

Just remember that this is legal under the BC Elections Act:

OSI bean dip posted:

Helsing posted:

Sounds like milquetoast end-of-history liberalism with maybe a dash of Canada brand white-middle-class-guilt thrown in to spice things up.

I mean yeah, God forbid the left every try to organize people as anything other than oppressed minorities. That would be highly problematic, plus the editorial page of the Globe and Mail would make disapproving noises.

Wistful of Dollars posted:

Countdown until Bombardier is bought by the Chinese...

eXXon posted:

More good news for Bombardier: Metrolinx announces its intention to cancel all orders for LRVs in Toronto due to Bombardier's inability to build the loving things on time:

https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2016/11/03/metrolinx-to-cancel-bombardier-lrv-contract.html

The Bombardier representative's reply is basically: