FSW WORLDWIDE

[seadrag0n]

Canadians generally very socialistic (moreso than US) and similar to West European countries. Problem is the younger generation expects to have the Standard of Living that their parents/grandparents did and are angry that they can't. They want the government to pay for everything to makeup for this reduction in SOL but don't understand that Canada's economy isn't nearly as competitive as it was back then + more old people. Instead of lowering taxes, breaking up unions and encouraging business investment, they are doing the opposite. Immigrants are also an easy target.

It is clear now that the government is stuffing the country full of immigrants at the cost of their own people, I hope Canadian people realize this.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

It is clear now that the government is stuffing the country full of immigrants at the cost of their own people, I hope Canadian people realize this.

At the expense of working and middle class Canadians. The rich and elite are benefiting immensely.

 

[seadrag0n]

At the expense of working and middle class Canadians. The rich and elite are benefiting immensely.

Absolutely, this is what I meant. All those landlords and big corporations want as many new people coming in as possible.

 

[iSaidGoodDay]

Regular Canadian people never protest about important things like these, they always protest about irrelevant things. IMO, they should have protested when IRCC announced they are increasing PR quota in this insane housing crisis.

I've seen so many pro-life protests in Calgary downtown, but not a single one so far for housing affordability. It is funny where people put their time and energy.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

I've seen so many pro-life protests in Calgary downtown, but not a single one so far for housing affordability. It is funny where people put their time and energy.

What is the solution for housing affordability? I honestly don't think they will ever fix it. From the supply side, that is. Reducing demand is the only solution but they will shoot themselves on the other foot

 

[Hopeful007]

What is the solution for housing affordability? I honestly don't think they will ever fix it. From the supply side, that is. Reducing demand is the only solution but they will shoot themselves on the other foot

Yeah, however, moderate affordability is possible though without shooting off the other foot. Harper has shown how it can be done. Moderate and targeted immigration, lower pensions, higher retirement age, more fiscal responsibility. Everything in moderation should bring some equilibrium. Going insane in one direction pretty much leads to disasters.

 

[iSaidGoodDay]

What is the solution for housing affordability? I honestly don't think they will ever fix it. From the supply side, that is. Reducing demand is the only solution but they will shoot themselves on the other foot

Even if we fix supply side issue, those that already have investments will do everything to get their money out. While it could impact, but won't impact much. Canada needs to bring back govt funded and managed housing projects as that can be a possible solution.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

Even if we fix supply side issue, those that already have investments will do everything to get their money out. While it could impact, but won't impact much. Canada needs to bring back govt funded and managed housing projects as that can be a possible solution.

You're an optimist I see. I don't trust the government to do anything. Look what they're doing with TransMountain pipeline. Went from an 8B project to 30B+. Do you think they can be trusted with creating affordable housing? If so, I have a bridge to sell you..

 

[GandiBaat]

One question to you and others though. We tie immigration as the biggest factor in housing, jobs, etc related issues. Now that cap is on the table, we have seen almost 50% reduction in interest in Canada's education from key geographies in July-Oct 2023. What would most be left with to blame once they got rid of everything?

I'd not be surprised to see nothing improve/degrade in Canada. Those poor TFWs are simply just an excuse for no innovation and lazy workforce in Canada. We are not too far from the time when they'll be gone, I'd not be surprised to see the blame shift somewhere else.

For example, people talk about healthcare being messed up due to TFWs. But, Canadian govt decided to reduce number of graduating doctors and then the limited batch of doctors demanded "We are taxpayers, we get residencies first". Now, this was a good take if no one was dying as a result of this monopolistic and narcissistic approach, but they'd rather make immigrant doctors/non-citizen-licensed doctors drive Uber, but won't let them work and save lives. There are literally thousands of people who die due to missed diagnosis, but most would rather blame TFWs working at Timmies, rather than these people who are actually preferring selfish residencies over someone's lives.

You see, sensible changes lie elsewhere. We are just busy beating the weak ones and making ourselves look better. TFW related news is just massive noise that hides the biggest holes in the system (greedy Canadian RE owners, residency monopoly, $3 carrots priced in Ontario available in the US for $0.99 when they are originally from Ontario,etc).

Its one of those things.... First they blamed Chinese are causing housing crisis. Then they claimed corporations. And the latest punching bags are immigrants, specifically Indian immigrants and students. At no point any one said that releasing enough land is necessary. Fixing building code is necessary. And devil have your soul if you suggest to tax captial gain on sale of primary residence.

People forget that 2/3rd of this country owns a house/living quarters.

Toronto corrected by 19% why? lower supply of money even admist a "massive" immigration. Somehow students from poorest parts of the world with limited means are displacing people with full times jobs in rental and housing markets.

Somehow students and workers in their 20s and 30s are taking up all the healthcare?

I mean at some point, it goes past being ridiculous.

Give it sometime, let them be done with blaming immigrants and students. They will finally blame poor people.

It always happens: Blame flows like this Rich people -> Immigrants -> Poor People

 

[GandiBaat]

Even if we fix supply side issue, those that already have investments will do everything to get their money out. While it could impact, but won't impact much. Canada needs to bring back govt funded and managed housing projects as that can be a possible solution.

Actually the solution is simple but no one has guts to take it....

Gut the real estate market. Let people suffer in short term. Release flood gate of land supply, allow massive amount of imports of building materials, fix building codes to allow prefab and manufactured homes everywhere and screw the trades people union by removing lots of red tape that goes around protecting their jobs. It will reset the price point to where it should be. But then anyone who does it will become unelectable.

It was kind of done after world war 2 for returning soldiers... It worked for them.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

Actually the solution is simple but no one has guts to take it....

Gut the real estate market. Let people suffer in short term. Release flood gate of land supply, allow massive amount of imports of building materials, fix building codes to allow prefab and manufactured homes everywhere and screw the trades people union by removing lots of red tape that goes around protecting their jobs. It will reset the price point to where it should be. But then anyone who does it will become unelectable.

It was kind of done after world war 2 for returning soldiers... It worked for them.

Quick question: who is building the houses? There's a shortage of skilled construction workers/electricians/tradespeople needed to build modern day houses

 

[abhiram.kumar]

Canadians generally very socialistic (moreso than US) and similar to West European countries. Problem is the younger generation expects to have the Standard of Living that their parents/grandparents did and are angry that they can't. They want the government to pay for everything to makeup for this reduction in SOL but don't understand that Canada's economy isn't nearly as competitive as it was back then + more old people. Instead of lowering taxes, breaking up unions and encouraging business investment, they are doing the opposite. Immigrants are also an easy target.

Lol. The word socialism gets overused a lot without anyone understanding what it really means. Neither Western European countries nor Canada are socialistic. They are all free market economies with welfare states. You would never have seen a housing crisis in socialist states because the government would be the one building public housing and they would have banned people from owning investment properties. Financialisation of housing happens precisely because they are capitalist economies.

 

[GandiBaat]

Quick question: who is building the houses? There's a shortage of skilled construction workers/electricians/tradespeople needed to build modern day houses

You can save labour in house building by "manufacturing" blocks of houses in a factory and then ship them. Pre-Fab and Manufactured homes are a good way to save time and money. But building codes are setup in such a way that they restrict manufactured homes to trailer parks. There is a negative sentiment associated with manufactured homes in Canada; based on a old TV series called "Trailer Park Boys". Many neighbourhoods actively try to push those away. They believe presence of manufactured homes in their neighbourhoods will depriciate the value of their own homes.

Also if you break the monopoly that trades union and guilds have on construction labour, you can bring temp workers from other countries who can speed up building.

Once I was looking for a lot and my plan was to put a manufactured home on that lot to save me some money. But after discussion with townhall I found that neighbourhoods ACTIVELY push against such kind of dwellings by Bylaws. The townhall does not want to get into that mess too and police also is very reluctant to enforce property laws in such cases.

 

[Impatient Dankaroo]

Lol. The word socialism gets overused a lot without anyone understanding what it really means. Neither Western European countries nor Canada are socialistic. They are all free market economies with welfare states. You would never have seen a housing crisis in socialist states because the government would be the one building public housing and they would have banned people from owning investment properties. Financialisation of housing happens precisely because they are capitalist economies.

Ok replace socialistic with social welfare state

You can save labour in house building by "manufacturing" blocks of houses in a factory and then ship them. Pre-Fab and Manufactured homes are a good way to save time and money. But building codes are setup in such a way that they restrict manufactured homes to trailer parks. There is a negative sentiment associated with manufactured homes in Canada; based on a old TV series called "Trailer Park Boys". Many neighbourhoods actively try to push those away. They believe presence of manufactured homes in their neighbourhoods will depriciate the value of their own homes.

Also if you break the monopoly that trades union and guilds have on construction labour, you can bring temp workers from other countries who can speed up building.

Once I was looking for a lot and my plan was to put a manufactured home on that lot to save me some money. But after discussion with townhall I found that neighbourhoods ACTIVELY push against such kind of dwellings by Bylaws. The townhall does not want to get into that mess too and police also is very reluctant to enforce property laws in such cases.

Agree, unions need to be broken but never gonna happen here

 

[GandiBaat]

For those who want to see how "Free Market" in Canada works and well... crashes :

Its a two part documentary. On how Nortel become a massive giant and .... blew up entire economy of Canada. Warning : 1:30 hours each. Short summary, Nortel started as an assembling partner of Bell/Lucent, became independent 60s or so and started producing independent products, became massive, Canadians put all their money and pension in it and then ... it blew up tanking Canada's economy and pensions.

Why should you watch it?

Because it shows you how fucked up "Free Market" in Canada gets..
Because it shows how Canada has a fundamental relationship with greed... It makes them really blind. I mean really.
Because it shows that when shit really hits the fan, first one to dump its vulnerable people is Canadian goverment.
Because it shows how deeply ingrained "value signalling" is in this society.
Because it shows just how great Canadian folks are at blaming things on other and finding an external cause who is unfair, uncouth and foreign... They ... never look for the real obvious systemic issues. (Frankly, I was literally shaking my head during the section when the real issue that killed Nortel was discussed. It has all the echos of the current housing crisis. Everyone tries finding the villians, except... there was none!)

Most importantly, it shows how really big business in Canada work. It is really eye opening.

If nothing, just watch the second half of the second video. Personally, it was very very interesting for me but then, I do not expect a rather dry documentry to be everyone's taste.

@iSaidGoodDay If you get time, do watch it.. Just double the speed of the video. It sounds funny but very understandable.