Looks like the gaming industry, under the consolidation of 'big tech' or spreadsheet crunchers, have been treating all staff as 'temporary employees'. Once the project or role is done, they cut you off.
It needs to have real teeth for it to work otherwise it's just going to be like the CRTC - too little too late every time. It's funny how it's a national emergency agency - in other words, it's reactive, not preventative. We need one focused on preventing/maintaining but alas that goes against the economic overlords wishes. This is just more money down the drain unless they do both reactive and prevention with real law binding powers.
"We've gotta prop up our ailing office property values and businesses by forcing you back into the office! So here's a little incentive by adding more transit and opening 'til later hours! Please spend your hard earned money here, never mind your massive housing mortgage or mouths to feed!"
Geezus wow. The country's on fire and they want us to consume and increase our carbon footprint for the sake of the economy. Great - let's keep propping up this artificially induced consumption for no good reason other than to prop up their failing capitalistic neo-liberalism policies.
The ugly truth - our current way of life does not price in the real cost of the environment. Go look on the shelves of every store from groceries to clothing and even online stores. You can buy anything from anywhere from around the world but at what environmental cost were they shipped there? Produced? Sure the prices are set at what the capitalistic market can take, but it almost always exclude the cost on the environment.
Companies are not going to magically give up their arbitraged profits to fix the environment unless regulated to do so. The carbon tax was one of many ways to approach this.
We can say to stop burning fossil fuels today, but the big underlying problem is the system we're all stuck in because the leaders and politicians are simply unwilling to take the hard path for the greater long term good. We're facing the problem of 'tragedy of the commons' but among nations. Blaming the single regular consumer is a red herring. Sure we can all make individual choices to consume less, buy something more ethical/local, but we all know that under the overwhelming capitalistic corporate systems, the regular consumer has no real choices.
Until real proper regulation is done across the entire globe, it's a race to see who can benefit the most before the world's current ecosystem is completely fucked. The fucked up part is - if we simply moved slower - we could have all the things we have today, but no.
We're in the 'FIND OUT' phase of what happens when you clear cut an entire continent and replant our forests on a massive scale while thinking that 'oh all that sequestered carbon will just be recaptured in the new trees we plant'. No - whats happening instead is - the trees we mass replanted don't capture that carbon back at a rate we expect - I am pretty sure the forestry industry knows this - but hey profits right?
Also I reckon if we have retained our old growth forests, it wouldn't be this bad. It would still be bad, but at least our forests would be more resilient. As for those that have no idea what a old growth forest is - think massive trees that are wider than 2 cars at the base and that are over a thousand years old each at minimum. Go visit one when you have a chance - they are increasingly rare because governments are still fucking allowing logging companies to cut them down. Also, you'll find they're a lot more humid than young forests (~200 year old ones). It's a travesty. In BC, for example, 97% of the province have been clear-cutted and our forestry industry likes to tout themselves as 'sustainable'. It's bullshit. What's even crazier is that we got barely any industry other than shipping out raw lumber for processing elsewhere while we lose jobs and taxes on value added industries.
"Large, aging population and few specialists are key drivers"
Geez - maybe stop voting for the idiots that keep slashing healthcare budgets yeah? Universal healthcare can be so much better - Canada or 'Western' country style governance of funding healthcare needs an overhaul.
If specialists are in high demand, we simply don't pay enough from a global competitive wage standpoint. The situation is going to become drastically worse as the aging population increases as boomers age. So once again, are we all going to be in a bind where boomers make policy for governments to pretty much mortgage our collective wealth by dumping the debt on the young to hire/train more specialists or are we going to tell them to use their hoarded wealth to get care elsewhere?
Oh boy what a loaded topic, but to sum it up in terms of 'future' reasons:
Climate Change
Carbon footprint minimization/we do not want kids in an unstable environment especially when the world is already on fire and on track to spiral out of control
Economic Inequality
Cost of living - more and more people are unable to make ends meet even when both parents go to work.
Housing costs - desirable housing locations, often close to workplaces, costs have been driven up or hoarded by corporations and often the older generation. Working from home is the antithesis to another asset class - the office towers - why you'll see desperate governments to mandate back-to-office legislation. To hell with carbon emissions from our commutes especially car-centric societies.
Lack of opportunity - governments around the world have made barriers to entry to simply get up and move (think passports, work permits etc) OR require local recognized qualifications to a new job with large amounts of red tape or capital upfront alongside investment in time. In some places it's healthcare.
Cost of having a child is too high with all of these combined from a capital point of view
Looming threat of war - for some reason, the adults still haven't managed to obtain world peace, usually because money/greed, eye-for-an-eye, and millions duped by religion, tribalism to support this. Meanwhile, the world has begun to rearm itself as US hegemony pulls back. Do you want your child to live in a war torn world?
As for the 'current' reasons:
If you're a millennial, you're probably bitter. Everything that you've been told, promised, or dreamed of has been systemically torn to shreds. You witnessed the rise of the information age, only to have it weaponized before your very eyes by big tech and influencers as it invades your privacy. The financial system have gone through not just one 'once-in-a-lifetime crisis' but several, but only to see it become rigged, so now it overwhelmingly only benefits a certain group of rich assholes. You've seen the climate change before your very eyes in the last 3-4 decades while the 'adults' still close their eyes and ears for the sake of short-term gains. Oh and add in a few potential and real pandemics - SARS, Ebola, Avian bird flu, mad cow disease, COVID-19, etc. If only we collectively pooled resources we could eliminate them - but big pharma and Wall St. needs their profits. You also learned from the pandemic that a good number of people around you are complete morons - anti-vax, anti-maskers. Then we look at the ecosystem of life - bugs are dying out, oceans are being over fished - we're on track for an environmental collapse unless we dial back our own consumption. But the biggest one of all is probably your view on government - how it's dysfunctional and corrupted by the rich and the corporations. All the problems we've had could have been 'fixed' if they were truly responsible adults. They could have been truly great people - but alas, you've seen human beings fill those seats only to discover that they're weak willed, spineless, scheming, or straight up corrupt. They've practically mortgaged our futures and straddled our collective wealth with enormous debt. Geez, I wonder why people don't want kids - you'd probably want to see the entire system collapse than to have kids.
If you're younger than a millennial, you're probably thinking we're all fucked, so I got no fucks left to give.
The hollowing out of education and public services - there is a sinister global cabal of filthy rich assholes that have their own agenda of trying to play 'world-emperor'. Governments are doing an extremely poor job right now in rectifying this.
Why government needs you to have kids:
Our almost ponzi scheme like economic system and pension funds are going to be in the shitter if we don't have more economic output 2 generations down the line.*
So yeah, not having kids, is straight up, a fuck you and fuck what they've done.
*This is why I believe there's only one route out if they can't fill the gap with more babies or with the band-aid fix of mass immigration - technological advances (like AI) in hopes to cover the loss of productivity from a shrinking population count.
Are we in the 'find out' stage of NAFTA/CUSMA agreement now - especially now it's in its sunset stage? Sure starting to look like it. Canada's own failing to increase inter-provincial trade, international trade, and encourage domestic expansion is coming back to bite. Decades of selling out Canadian companies to the US, mergers of domestic companies, and privatisation of crown corps (funny how we don't even own our own rail) is going to make the transition all bite extra hard.
We're going to see every single government in Canada cover their ears, eyes and more to say everything is fine while propping up the natural resource extraction industry. It's the only thing Canada has left as the 'easy' answer to prop up our economy. We don't have a booming tech industry - we only have unicorn tech companies. We don't have a boom financial industry - most people would rather invest elsewhere. We export more raw resources instead of turning them into higher margin value added goods. Every industry that's worthwhile has a good chunk of foreign investment already (oil and gas for example), even the auto industry - most are foreign and the federal government bends over backwards trying to save it rather than pivot out of it over time.
I'd also say that the clear cutting of Canada's old growth to barely even 3% left is the result of what happens when we do not let our forests recover - I believe the forestry industry and their sustainability practices is a farce. This is a century time scale problem not a few decades problem. Every subsequent government has been kicking the can down the road and now we're getting into the 'find out' phase in FAFO. And still there are people still taking the stance of 'it doesn't matter/it doesn't affect me'.
What's left unsaid at all of these events and among those in power is the admission of guilt that we as a species still cannot make peace among our own kind. NATO is an emergent reaction from historical events rather than a true solution. With the current trajectory of things, things are not looking well. We need real adults in the room to agree that killing each other is a bad thing and violence should not be used. But here we are..squabbling about money in an imperial capitalistic framework. We're so fucked.
"For reference, a small business is a company with 499 employees or fewer, including those of its affiliates, or a joint venture whose total number of employees does not exceed 499."
I think one also has to consider the persistent low interest rates that has happened in the last 20-30 years and how this has incentivized for assets to not only skyrocket in value, but also make people think that money is 'cheap'. What's even crazier is that the banks and various private lenders were more than willing to give out large mortgages and loans to people until they realized the problem got so big and risky that they had to introduce stress tests.
The feds have a difficult job ahead of it if they try and unwind the gravy train - the economy would have to run red hot so that the interest rates can be raised slowly over time by the BoC. If the BoC's rates were somehow managed differently when it came to housing, there might be an easier way out.
It sounds like the big problem that really needs to be solved is the commodification of a basic human need - housing. Housing has also turned into someone's retirement which have become political suicide to 'change up the formula' per se. All of these 'solutions' work in a capitalistic framework which we know have predictable results - none of which will result in a solution where we don't have homeless people - unless we collectively look at basic human needs differently.
Then the real question should be... why do Canadians feel otherwise? Why are Canadians feeling poor when from a macro view we seem to own our own corporations. Is it the taxation? Is it the monetary policies?
Where does Carney's integrity start and end, or the lack of. Compared with - political manoeuvring. One is actually for humanity and the other is just an excuse.
I for one, push for the long term, sustainable well being of humankind, not just Canadians. Our politics and government is no different than the US - it's filled with insincere, unfaithful people towards Canadians and humanity all for short term solutions while bowing to external influences that aren't Canadians. Our entire system is barbaric, stuck in the middle ages, the rich have more or less hijacked the system and people are still taking it for granted - even those that are elected in.
Looks like the gaming industry, under the consolidation of 'big tech' or spreadsheet crunchers, have been treating all staff as 'temporary employees'. Once the project or role is done, they cut you off.
What a great way to run an industry! /s
It needs to have real teeth for it to work otherwise it's just going to be like the CRTC - too little too late every time. It's funny how it's a national emergency agency - in other words, it's reactive, not preventative. We need one focused on preventing/maintaining but alas that goes against the economic overlords wishes. This is just more money down the drain unless they do both reactive and prevention with real law binding powers.
The point isn't about body shaming. It's about the double standards that the OP is trying point out (regardless of whether the image is real or not).
"We've gotta prop up our ailing office property values and businesses by forcing you back into the office! So here's a little incentive by adding more transit and opening 'til later hours! Please spend your hard earned money here, never mind your massive housing mortgage or mouths to feed!"
Geezus wow. The country's on fire and they want us to consume and increase our carbon footprint for the sake of the economy. Great - let's keep propping up this artificially induced consumption for no good reason other than to prop up their failing capitalistic neo-liberalism policies.
The ugly truth - our current way of life does not price in the real cost of the environment. Go look on the shelves of every store from groceries to clothing and even online stores. You can buy anything from anywhere from around the world but at what environmental cost were they shipped there? Produced? Sure the prices are set at what the capitalistic market can take, but it almost always exclude the cost on the environment.
Companies are not going to magically give up their arbitraged profits to fix the environment unless regulated to do so. The carbon tax was one of many ways to approach this.
We can say to stop burning fossil fuels today, but the big underlying problem is the system we're all stuck in because the leaders and politicians are simply unwilling to take the hard path for the greater long term good. We're facing the problem of 'tragedy of the commons' but among nations. Blaming the single regular consumer is a red herring. Sure we can all make individual choices to consume less, buy something more ethical/local, but we all know that under the overwhelming capitalistic corporate systems, the regular consumer has no real choices.
Until real proper regulation is done across the entire globe, it's a race to see who can benefit the most before the world's current ecosystem is completely fucked. The fucked up part is - if we simply moved slower - we could have all the things we have today, but no.
We're in the 'FIND OUT' phase of what happens when you clear cut an entire continent and replant our forests on a massive scale while thinking that 'oh all that sequestered carbon will just be recaptured in the new trees we plant'. No - whats happening instead is - the trees we mass replanted don't capture that carbon back at a rate we expect - I am pretty sure the forestry industry knows this - but hey profits right?
Also I reckon if we have retained our old growth forests, it wouldn't be this bad. It would still be bad, but at least our forests would be more resilient. As for those that have no idea what a old growth forest is - think massive trees that are wider than 2 cars at the base and that are over a thousand years old each at minimum. Go visit one when you have a chance - they are increasingly rare because governments are still fucking allowing logging companies to cut them down. Also, you'll find they're a lot more humid than young forests (~200 year old ones). It's a travesty. In BC, for example, 97% of the province have been clear-cutted and our forestry industry likes to tout themselves as 'sustainable'. It's bullshit. What's even crazier is that we got barely any industry other than shipping out raw lumber for processing elsewhere while we lose jobs and taxes on value added industries.
He only cared because the smoke reached DC.
"Large, aging population and few specialists are key drivers"
Geez - maybe stop voting for the idiots that keep slashing healthcare budgets yeah? Universal healthcare can be so much better - Canada or 'Western' country style governance of funding healthcare needs an overhaul.
If specialists are in high demand, we simply don't pay enough from a global competitive wage standpoint. The situation is going to become drastically worse as the aging population increases as boomers age. So once again, are we all going to be in a bind where boomers make policy for governments to pretty much mortgage our collective wealth by dumping the debt on the young to hire/train more specialists or are we going to tell them to use their hoarded wealth to get care elsewhere?
Oh boy what a loaded topic, but to sum it up in terms of 'future' reasons:
As for the 'current' reasons:
Why government needs you to have kids:
So yeah, not having kids, is straight up, a fuck you and fuck what they've done.
*This is why I believe there's only one route out if they can't fill the gap with more babies or with the band-aid fix of mass immigration - technological advances (like AI) in hopes to cover the loss of productivity from a shrinking population count.
Are we in the 'find out' stage of NAFTA/CUSMA agreement now - especially now it's in its sunset stage? Sure starting to look like it. Canada's own failing to increase inter-provincial trade, international trade, and encourage domestic expansion is coming back to bite. Decades of selling out Canadian companies to the US, mergers of domestic companies, and privatisation of crown corps (funny how we don't even own our own rail) is going to make the transition all bite extra hard.
We're going to see every single government in Canada cover their ears, eyes and more to say everything is fine while propping up the natural resource extraction industry. It's the only thing Canada has left as the 'easy' answer to prop up our economy. We don't have a booming tech industry - we only have unicorn tech companies. We don't have a boom financial industry - most people would rather invest elsewhere. We export more raw resources instead of turning them into higher margin value added goods. Every industry that's worthwhile has a good chunk of foreign investment already (oil and gas for example), even the auto industry - most are foreign and the federal government bends over backwards trying to save it rather than pivot out of it over time.
I'd also say that the clear cutting of Canada's old growth to barely even 3% left is the result of what happens when we do not let our forests recover - I believe the forestry industry and their sustainability practices is a farce. This is a century time scale problem not a few decades problem. Every subsequent government has been kicking the can down the road and now we're getting into the 'find out' phase in FAFO. And still there are people still taking the stance of 'it doesn't matter/it doesn't affect me'.
Amazon wasn't profitable for many years until it was. Now make your own conclusions about AI.
What's left unsaid at all of these events and among those in power is the admission of guilt that we as a species still cannot make peace among our own kind. NATO is an emergent reaction from historical events rather than a true solution. With the current trajectory of things, things are not looking well. We need real adults in the room to agree that killing each other is a bad thing and violence should not be used. But here we are..squabbling about money in an imperial capitalistic framework. We're so fucked.
Why are they trying to sell insurance now?
Lol no. How about you lockdown your own wireless system so that we don't get spam calls all the time first?
"For reference, a small business is a company with 499 employees or fewer, including those of its affiliates, or a joint venture whose total number of employees does not exceed 499."
"Small Business" - Up to 499 people eh?
I think one also has to consider the persistent low interest rates that has happened in the last 20-30 years and how this has incentivized for assets to not only skyrocket in value, but also make people think that money is 'cheap'. What's even crazier is that the banks and various private lenders were more than willing to give out large mortgages and loans to people until they realized the problem got so big and risky that they had to introduce stress tests.
The feds have a difficult job ahead of it if they try and unwind the gravy train - the economy would have to run red hot so that the interest rates can be raised slowly over time by the BoC. If the BoC's rates were somehow managed differently when it came to housing, there might be an easier way out.
It sounds like the big problem that really needs to be solved is the commodification of a basic human need - housing. Housing has also turned into someone's retirement which have become political suicide to 'change up the formula' per se. All of these 'solutions' work in a capitalistic framework which we know have predictable results - none of which will result in a solution where we don't have homeless people - unless we collectively look at basic human needs differently.
Then the real question should be... why do Canadians feel otherwise? Why are Canadians feeling poor when from a macro view we seem to own our own corporations. Is it the taxation? Is it the monetary policies?
Reading the comments and it can be summed up in:
Where does Carney's integrity start and end, or the lack of. Compared with - political manoeuvring. One is actually for humanity and the other is just an excuse.
I for one, push for the long term, sustainable well being of humankind, not just Canadians. Our politics and government is no different than the US - it's filled with insincere, unfaithful people towards Canadians and humanity all for short term solutions while bowing to external influences that aren't Canadians. Our entire system is barbaric, stuck in the middle ages, the rich have more or less hijacked the system and people are still taking it for granted - even those that are elected in.