CanPol Megathread: Big Changus

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Math You: Oct 27, 2010; So put your faith
in more than steel

I've spent my life laughing at conservatives crying to defund the CBC, but now maybe I am one of them. That or give them a lot more funding so they can afford to actually do some journalism. Half of their poo poo it just pulled from other sources and poo poo like the fifth estate are just hack jobs designed to stir controversy and ratings.

Dunno if any goons watched last week's EP on pharmacy but holllllyyy poo poo. It was the laziest excuse of reporting that I've seen in my life.

Disclaimers
1. I work for Costco
2. I work in pharmacy

I can go into some detail not on my phone if there's interest, but really, going to some dying guy's house, broadcasting his sob story nationally, and then going "how do you feel about Costco doing something entirely irrelevant to your situation when you live with this?"
What's worse is there are lots of programs out there to help connect patients with inadequate coverage with life saving medication, specifically because people dying due to lack of medication looks bad on the manufacturers. The fifth estate wasn't at all interested in helping anyone they interviewed. They were not at all interested in looking at the real problems in the industry. They just sensationalized the gently caress out of a relatively small news story because they don't understand the issue or someone high up at CBC really doesn't like Costco, which would explain some wonderful reporting in the past.

Dog treats carried by every major retailer in Canada, and which had passed all inspections* is accused by some random woman of poisoning her dog.
COSTCO MURDERS DOG. UNREMORSEFUL

*To be fair I wouldn't feed that poo poo to my dog. Again, they are missing the real story.

Costco misses a step on a small specialty order of some canned tuna, as retailers rarely import food goods directly. CFIA takes issue and Costco works with them to correct their processes to ensure it does not happen again.
COSTCO PUTS EVERYONE AT RISK. BANNED FROM FISH!

Anyway gently caress the CBC. As much as I like to beat up on corporations, being more intimately knowledgeable about these particularly stories has really stained my perception of the organization as a whole. I can't take any of their investigative journalism seriously.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 16:06

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# ? May 14, 2024 18:02

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

Partial government funding for a channel like CBC is bullshit. It should either be fully funded and correspondingly banned from showing any kind of ads across its platform, or it should receive no funding beyond what Canadian content producers are able to access in general. This strange middle ground results in lovely clickbait designed to drive views and ad revenue being produced at the cost of the taxpayer, and no one beyond the CBC benefits.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 16:24

Precambrian Video Games: Aug 19, 2002

CBC's Marketplace had a breathless segment about how some of Winner's "Compare At" prices are not entirely accurate. It was so trivial that I don't think it qualified for first world problem status.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 16:27

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

Regarding last page's discussion on war dead, all I can really say is that there is little consolation in telling any victim of war that "at least it wasn't as bad as that big one." A small war is just as tragic for those involved as any world shattering global conflict.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 16:33

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

Wealth acquisition may be a zero sum game but suffering sure as hell isn't.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 16:52

TheKingofSprings: Oct 9, 2012

CBC radio good, CBC tv bad

# ? Mar 28, 2018 17:19

thehoodie: Feb 8, 2011; "Eat something made with love and joy - and be forgiven"

Helsing posted:

I honestly just think it's a silly way to talk about the evolution of global statistics like battle deaths per hundred thousand or infant mortality.

Tell that to Steven Pinker!

# ? Mar 28, 2018 18:07

Helsing: Aug 23, 2003; DON'T POST IN THE ELECTION THREAD UNLESS YOU JOE BIDEN

Arcsquad12 posted:

Regarding last page's discussion on war dead, all I can really say is that there is little consolation in telling any victim of war that "at least it wasn't as bad as that big one." A small war is just as tragic for those involved as any world shattering global conflict.

I'm not sure I agree. Again, this seems like a very North American bias at play. Would you rather die as a professional soldier in a foreign country or would you like to spend tears anxiously watching the social fabric of your local community disintegrate as ethnic and political strife create literally genocidal conditions. When you die, your last days or weeks or months are spent watching your family, your community and perhaps your entire culture facing an existential threat.

I mean yeah, once you're dead you're dead and past such concerns. But you can have a better or worse death and a death where your entire community dies with you seems worse.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 18:09

McGavin: Sep 18, 2012

I was fine with the CBC until they latched onto Bell's internet censorship scheme. As if anyone's lining up to pirate Little Mosque on the Prairie.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:11

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

CANCON

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:22

Entropic: Feb 21, 2007; patriarchy sucks

TheKingofSprings posted:

CBC radio good, CBC tv bad

Who even watches CBC tv apart from Hockey Night In Canada?

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:36

infernal machines: Oct 11, 2012; we monitor many frequencies. we listen always. came a voice, out of the babel of tongues, speaking to us. it played us a mighty dub.

Entropic posted:

Who even watches CBC tv apart from Hockey Night In Canada?

Lol. Remember how they're paying Rogers just to broadcast that now?

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:42

Arivia: Mar 17, 2011

Entropic posted:

Who even watches CBC tv apart from Hockey Night In Canada?

That's how I'm doing Canada Reads this year.

Also they endlessly rebroadcast a British real estate show I like.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:54

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

Cbc TV consists of news, Coronation Street and a little hockey.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 19:57

Arc Hammer: Mar 4, 2013; Got any deathsticks?

Helsing posted:

I'm not sure I agree. Again, this seems like a very North American bias at play. Would you rather die as a professional soldier in a foreign country or would you like to spend tears anxiously watching the social fabric of your local community disintegrate as ethnic and political strife create literally genocidal conditions. When you die, your last days or weeks or months are spent watching your family, your community and perhaps your entire culture facing an existential threat.

I mean yeah, once you're dead you're dead and past such concerns. But you can have a better or worse death and a death where your entire community dies with you seems worse.

I'm referring to the more reductionist reading of warfare and its consequences by those saying how bad it gets by using a body count as a metric. 80 million deaths in WW2 doesn't mean poo poo to someone who has spent the last seventeen years living through the virtually irreparable hell that has been the War on Terror.

Also I'm not sure if we're entirely disagreeing here, since I agree with your point that it is a hell of a lot worse to see entire communities torn to pieces than to die as a professional soldier. I wouldn't wish either of those on anyone, but one is clearly harsher.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 20:08

B33rChiller: Aug 18, 2011

Entropic posted:

Who even watches CBC tv apart from Hockey Night In Canada?

Despite its unfortunate name, Schitt's Creek is pretty funny. Catherine O'Hara is a national treasure.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 21:52

EvidenceBasedQuack: Aug 15, 2015; A rock has no detectable opinion about gravity

Arivia posted:

I can see maybe half as much content at once and that’s when I’m not wading through a newsletter signup form that takes up an entire screen on my phone. The information density - the thing I am specifically expecting from a news site - has just cratered.

This.

Maybe I'm just too old. Or biased against BuzzFeed.

# ? Mar 28, 2018 22:58

Capri Sunrise: May 16, 2008; Elephants are mammals of the family Elephantidae and the largest existing land animals. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant.

So what's everyone's hot take on the Ontario budget?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 02:15

The Butcher: Apr 20, 2005; Well, at least we tried.; Nap Ghost

http://nationalpost.com/news/canada/what-the-f-people-want-to-die-mob-turncoat-testifies-against-former-boss-at-cocaine-trial?utm_campaign=Echobox&utm_medium=Social&utm_source=Facebook posted:

TORONTO � As a purported major cocaine importation scheme started to knit together, two men met at a Tim Hortons in Toronto to iron out details. There had been a hitch when a buyer was reluctant to pay, news met with dismay by one of the men, an experienced mob enforcer.

�What the f�, people want to die?�

Then, before they got down to planning, there was a pressing issue to get out of the way.

�A large double-double with cream,� the mobster said, placing his coffee order. �I want a donut as well, gimme a honey dip.�

# ? Mar 29, 2018 02:37

Postess with the Mostest: Apr 4, 2007; Arabian nights
'neath Arabian moons
A fool off his guard
could fall and fall hard
out there on the dunes

Wilhelm posted:

So what's everyone's hot take on the Ontario budget?

It's a good budget, it definitely aligns with my vision for Ontario, a ton of old rear end seniors in huge empty houses.

https://twitter.com/Kathleen_Wynne/status/979123970837377024

# ? Mar 29, 2018 03:27

Femtosecond: Aug 2, 2003

Here's some pork for Quebec

quote:

Anglo groups cheer new federal spending to support official languages

The federal government�s announcement of $500 million in new spending for official-language minority communities was heartily welcomed by groups representing English-speaking communities in Quebec Wednesday.

The new spending brings the total investment of the federal government to $2.7 billion, the largest-ever commitment to official languages.

�The government of Canada has increased its investment in official languages by $500 million � a remarkable increase � and it has put English-speaking Quebec front and centre,� said James Shea, president of the Quebec Community Groups Network (QCGN), a coalition representing 56 English-language community organizations across Quebec.

The QCGN lauded a $5-million development fund for arts and heritage, money to extend the reach of health networks in rural Quebec, and $14.5 million in relief for community media. Also welcomed was money earmarked for programs to improve access to justice and a scholarship program to help post-secondary students learn French.

The Action Plan for Official Languages 2018�2023: Investing in Our Future is a signal the federal government is serious about defending the country�s two official languages, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Heritage Minister M�lanie Joly said during the announcement in Ottawa.

�It�s not a secret that the French language outside Quebec has regressed over the past few years,� Trudeau said to a friendly crowd of francophone community workers in Ottawa.

Trudeau accused the former Conservative government of under-financing official languages programs and of not making the country�s bilingual character a priority.

...

How about some money to support endangered indigenous languages? :shrug:

# ? Mar 29, 2018 04:58

Tippecanoe: Jan 26, 2011

Femtosecond posted:

Here's some pork for Quebec

How about some money to support endangered indigenous languages?

Thaaaaat's our Trudeau!

# ? Mar 29, 2018 05:00

RBC: Nov 23, 2007; IM STILL SPENDING MONEY FROM 1888

Postess with the Mostest posted:

It's a good budget, it definitely aligns with my vision for Ontario, a ton of old rear end seniors in huge empty houses.

https://twitter.com/Kathleen_Wynne/status/979123970837377024

its cool and good to buy votes

# ? Mar 29, 2018 12:20

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

Femtosecond posted:

Here's some pork for Quebec

How about some money to support endangered indigenous languages?

Agreed. gently caress the English and gently caress the French, I�m pretty sure both our languages are going to do alright no matter what the government of Canada does.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 13:33

Reince Penis: Nov 15, 2007; by R. Guyovich

RBC posted:

its cool and good to buy votes

It's not cool and good to call government spending promises vote buying. That's a right wing meme.

Vote buying is something much dirtier, like handing out cash to get people to vote for you. Like Doug Ford does.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 13:53

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

Reince Penis posted:

It's not cool and good to call government spending promises vote buying. That's a right wing meme.

Vote buying is something much dirtier, like handing out cash to get people to vote for you. Like Doug Ford does.

How is this meaningfully different from handing out cash?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 14:03

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

eXXon posted:

CBC's Marketplace had a breathless segment about how some of Winner's "Compare At" prices are not entirely accurate. It was so trivial that I don't think it qualified for first world problem status.

Marketplace is following the Air Farce quality arc pretty faithfully. We're into the fourth or fifth year of "painfully predictable, occasionally insightful and oh come on another loving clip show?"

Kim's Convenience is also a good show even before you add the value that comes from the discussion about visible minorities, particularly those of SEA descent, in media. Paul Sun-Hyung Lee seems like a decent guy.

Wilhelm posted:

So what's everyone's hot take on the Ontario budget?

I share Ford's outrage at the notion of taxing all those hardworking, job-creating toddlers making $130K a year.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 14:06

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

PT6A posted:

How is this meaningfully different from handing out cash?

If Grandma wasn't a public servant or a miser, she's probably skint.

quote:

https://ipolitics.ca/2016/02/17/were-facing-a-wave-of-seniors-living-in-poverty-and-were-not-ready/

Roughly half (47 per cent) of Canadian families aged 55�64 have no accrued employer pension benefits in Canada. The vast majority of these Canadians retiring without an employer pension plan have totally inadequate retirement savings � the median value of their retirement assets is just over $3,000.

Over half (55 per cent) have savings that represent less than one year�s worth of the resources they need to supplement government programs like OAS/GIS and CPP/QPP. And fewer than 20 per cent have enough savings to support the supplemented resources required for at least five years.

Even more startling: For those with annual incomes in the range of $25,000�$50,000, the median value of their retirement assets is close to just $250. For those with incomes in the $50,000�$100,000 range, the median value is only $21,000.

Only a small minority (below 20 per cent) of middle-income Canadians retiring without an employer pension plan have saved anywhere near enough for retirement. What this means is the vast majority of these families with annual incomes of $50,000 and more will be hard pressed to save enough in their remaining period to retirement (less than 10 years) to avoid a significant fall in income.

A number of studies from more conservative think tanks have argued that there is no crisis in seniors� savings if one considers housing assets, and no need for expansion of public pensions. This report challenges that interpretation. Even when accounting for seniors� total net worth, the report finds only 28 per cent of Canadian seniors without employer pensions have five years� worth of replacement income saved.

The conclusion is clear: Canadians need to be saving more. And the panoply of public policies offering �voluntary� options for saving � such as RRSPs, TFSAs, group RPPs and the more recent Pooled Registered Pension Plans � have demonstrated their inability to address the shortcomings in declining workplace pensions and a Canada Pension Plan (CPP) with limited benefits.

There should be no debating the fact that the CPP delivers a defined benefit and indexed pension at a reasonable cost � a cost that few individuals could ever match by investing on their own, or through anything but the largest employer pension plans.

Without getting into the weeds of a critically important debate over specific design details, a larger CPP (and/or ORPP) obviously would help Canadians save in the long run. Canada�s mandatory savings rate of 9.9 per cent is among the lowest in the OECD. New contributions probably should remain mandatory as well.

In addition to tackling inadequate savings, the new government also must grapple with deteriorating conditions concerning poverty. The seniors� poverty rate has increased from a low of 3.9 per cent in 1995 to 11.1 per cent, or one in nine, in 2013. Fully 28 per cent of single women and 24 per cent of single male seniors are living in poverty in this country.

While the poverty rate among seniors fell substantially over the last 30 years in Canada and remains below the OECD average, that progress was due to a maturing CPP system and historically higher employer pension coverage, in addition to past increases in female labour force participation rates.

These factors have run their course � and the trendline for poverty looks grim.

The Broadbent study shows that because OAS, or Old Age Security, and GIS, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, are indexed to keep pace with prices instead of wages, their anti-poverty value continues to fall over time. One remedy might be to index them like CPP maximum benefits to average earnings.

Canada also could simply increase the GIS, which is received by about one-third of seniors. The [Federal] Liberal party promised a modest increase (of 10 per cent) in GIS for single seniors. This is a useful start, but more can be done. Increasing the GIS by 10 per cent for all seniors would lift nearly 150,000 people out of poverty.

The feds are moving too slowly, so the province wants to pick up the slack.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 14:14

Wistful of Dollars: Aug 25, 2009

RBC posted:

its cool and good to buy votes

My vote is for sale to the highest bidder.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 14:24

Reince Penis: Nov 15, 2007; by R. Guyovich

PT6A posted:

How is this meaningfully different from handing out cash?

Investment is services benefits everyone, not just the people who voted for you.

e: Or rather, it's not bribery because there is no quid pro quo in announcing government spending.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 14:29

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

Math You posted:

Anyway gently caress the CBC. As much as I like to beat up on corporations, being more intimately knowledgeable about these particularly stories has really stained my perception of the organization as a whole. I can't take any of their investigative journalism seriously.

Bad news for you but if you continue to work in a field that gets media coverage you will quickly discover that most "investigative journalism" is incredibly bad now and it's far from a CBC only problem.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:09

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

A public broadcaster is very important, I definitely don't agree "gently caress the CBC"

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:10

Stickarts: Dec 21, 2003; literally

/\/\/\/\. Yea if we kill the CBC all that proves is that conservative �starve the beast� strategies work /\/\/\/\

Reince Penis posted:

Investment is services benefits everyone, not just the people who voted for you.

e: Or rather, it's not bribery because there is no quid pro quo in announcing government spending.

Pork Barrel is a thing though, no? Shawinigate?

I remember this, too:

The CPC government spent 48% more on average on ridings that voted CPC..

I mean, I don�t know the details, but it is hard not to be cynical. The Libs promise billions in additional funding to reserve populations but methodically slash and slash that number till only a fraction is left. This last budget just kicked another $800 million of that funding to the other side of the next election. Meanwhile, they find half a billion under the mattress for the downtrodden English population of Quebec?

I�m not saying even that it is a misuse of money - I don�t know that and it might very well be effective doing whatever it is supposed to be doing - but how and where money gets promised vs. deployed is a pretty clear signal of priorities. What�s that thing Libs do?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:18

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

It's funny when the CBC does investigative pieces on stories where the government had rules and law in place to stop whatever they are reporting on and could have stepped in, didn't and still don't do anything.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:22

Reince Penis: Nov 15, 2007; by R. Guyovich

Super happy to see people defending the right wing meme of government spending as vote buying. Do you guys think taxes are theft too?

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:24

CLAM DOWN: Feb 13, 2007

Reince Penis posted:

Super happy to see people defending the right wing meme of government spending as vote buying. Do you guys think taxes are theft too?

There's a non zero chance that some posters here think that

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:34

Stickarts: Dec 21, 2003; literally

Oh come on. You can be concerned and/or cynical with how a government deploys and allocates funding without being a frothing tea party-er.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:36

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

https://twitter.com/CBCAlerts/status/979338278628462593

causeee wereeeee freeeee freeee falllinnnnn

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:36

Reince Penis: Nov 15, 2007; by R. Guyovich

Stickarts posted:

Oh come on. You can be concerned and/or cynical with how a government deploys and allocates funding without being a frothing tea party-er.

Yes but calling it vote buying is incorrect at best and cynical manipulation at worst.

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:51

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# ? May 14, 2024 18:02

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

The Liberals Budget Bill is a 556-page omnibus bill

# ? Mar 29, 2018 15:56

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