I think we agree on 99% of the issue; we do need non-market housing and we need a diverse range of sizes; we do need to reduce the attractiveness of housing as an investment class.

But I disagree that we have excess 1bd units directly because of housing is seen as an investment. Small time investors bought these like hot cake because those investors, in large part having no idea about what they're doing, were hyped about just getting into the market purely due to speculation, and of course the lowest entry into the marked is the smallest unit possible. Pre-sale marketing treated these people like a Ponzi scheme: let's sell as many as possible while it's still profitable, these suckers will eat the price drop when it inevitably lands.

The reason why I'm nitpicking the root cause is that the main problem is not the investing, but that this investment is a badly regulated market, with a lot of silly myths going around (housing will never be a bad investment, rent is throwing money away etc). Basically Millennial's covered call ETFs but for boomers. Or Gen Z's shitcoints, but for boomers. A properly regulated market should mandate diversity of unit sizes, land use, non-market housing etc. Even if we spend zero energy on de-incentivizing buying homes for investment, at least a regulated market would prevent a bunch of idiots betting their retirement on "housing only go up" to cause the market to get distorted. Of course I do also agree we should work to not treat housing as investment, count me in for a 5000% increase on property taxes for non-primary residences.

For sure one of my best watches of 2025, the good kind of silly and cheesy

I feel like my comment has upset a few people.

Doesn't seem that way to me at all

so taxes were raised on things like parking

That's a great thing, though. So kudos for being very targeted in the budgeting gymnastics

This is usually “enforced” through fines, since unions are institutions that can be held liable for these decisions. Ultimately unlawful job action might end up leading to lawful termination though, so it takes a lot of courage to do what they're doing.

It's provinces run by people who cater to rightwing nut jobs so there's no conspiracy to uncover. The pattern is pretty clear.

All the people that thought Poilievre would not continue as the opposition leader need a wake up call. You still don't understand what you're fighting against. Cult of personality is a major pillar of fascism, and loyalty (to the leader, not to the country) is the most valuable trait. Poilievre had a few humiliating defeats but he's still gaining grounds for the CPC, and the conservative wave is still on it sway, bolder and with lots of resentments piled up.

Take this seriously. The enemy doesn't have to be smart or competent, they just need to amass power. https://www.antihate.ca/40ways

I will shortly be declaring a National Emergency on Electricity within the threatened area. This will allow the U.S to quickly do what has to be done to alleviate this abusive threat from Canada.

This shit is ominous. This demon is ready to invade and take control of the Québec-Windsor corridor.

Cool story but that is what Americans chose, yes. It’s your representative. Americans might not hate Canadians, but Americans only love themselves and will eventually learn that this leads you to behave selfishly and be hated.

Decent article but senseless headline. Nobody ever positioned mandatory service as a method to make Canadians love their country...

The phaseout is now years ahead of schedule, in large part due to natural gas taking over much of the generation. Many coal plants were either replaced by gas plants or converted to burn natural gas instead. Electricity generated from natural gas puts out roughly half the amount of greenhouse gas emissions as compared with coal.

Ok, so fossil fuel is still the primary driver. But well, incremental improvements do matter. Zeroing out coal this year is a great milestone.

The share from renewables is growing too, even if a bit slowly.

Re: the title... Yeah no, owners of an expensive property are not only not in the "rich" class, they're likely working class as much as gig drivers and cashiers. Unless they liquidate this asset and actually go live somewhere LCOL where they can live off of the labour of others, they're still working class.