Mark Carney's Economic Plan Released

I sent an email to Mark Carney regarding mstdn.ca and encourage others to do the same.

Hello Mr. Carney,

        As a Canadian, i was wondering if you would consider adding a Canadian social media site to your presence, like mstdn.ca (mastodon) or similar? As someone who wants to get away from American corporate dominance, i would like to see Canada using home grown talent rather than only billionaire dominated media.

Thank you for your attention.

media@markcarney.ca

That’s such a good template!

I bounced onto his housing policy. It can be summed up as

We simply do not have enough homes. 🤷‍♂️

It proceeds to do the neoliberal "let's hope the private sector saves us" crap.

Nothing about the feds building housing.

Nothing about fixing our tax code so houses aren't investments.

It doesn't even talk about bringing in more construction workers.

Just rEmOvInG rEd TaPe.

It doesn't even talk about bringing in more construction workers.
Huh? "Grow the construction sector workforce" is literally the third point. Either you're being disingenuous or you didn't read the same page that I did.
- The full point is
  Grow the construction sector workforce. Accelerated home construction will require a corresponding investment in our skilled trade workforce. We will expand and accelerate training and apprenticeship programs for skilled trades so that we can build the homes Canadians need. We will seize this once-in-a-generation opportunity to create a more competitive construction industry with great jobs in trades and manufacturing.
  It talks about educating trades workers, which is excellent, but our construction sector is rapidly aging, and we need as many workers as possible. Canada has a well developed immigration system for bringing new workers into the country. We need to use that.
  Carney's platform does not mention Federal Skilled Trades Program, TFWs, or any other part of Canada's immigration system. Which is bizarre, given the Liberals use of immigration, and oblique mentions to Canada's growing population,
I bounced onto his housing policy. It can be summed up as
We simply do not have enough homes. 🤷‍♂️
Damn, maybe you got a different page to load? There seems to be a lot in his plan (too much to copy-paste here).
But keep in mind that Provinces are ultimately responsible for housing. If, for example, you don't think Ontario is doing a good enough job with housing (and we aren't), you can blame Doug Ford, who is now doing a shitty job representing Ontario for a third term...
- Provinces are ultimately responsible for housing
  The current federal government dipped into provincial responsibility to: create national cheap daycare; pay for dental care; and "encourage" municipalities to loosen zoning restrictions. They (rightly) won a court case against Alberta about who can enforce environmental regulations.
  CMHC used to work with the provinces to build housing. They, and the federal government, can do it again.
Best housing policy is to have government compete with private sector building "market affordable" (small) homes that are meant to break even, and so costs nothing. Not even cities propose this, though they can do it independently. Fundamentally, the home owner class likes scarcity of housing, and votes to keep it.
- Best housing policy is to have government compete with private sector building "market affordable" (small) homes that are meant to break even, and so costs nothing.
  Maybe even at a loss.
  Not even cities propose this, though they can do it independently.
  Cities can't levy taxes so they are least able to do it - and they tend to have a lot of responsibilities. The feds and provinces can raise money through taxes, so they are the most logical actor to take it on.
Legit question here, what would you like to see in there?
Personally I'm not clear on where the responsibilities of federal vs provincial are on housing, so I don't even know what we should be demanding.
- Build houses. AFAIU, CMHC used to work with provides to do that. The houses could be sold below market price to people below a certain income, or rented out.
  Build affordable housing. Rent it out below market rate.
  More no-interest loans for co-ops and not-for-profit builders.
  Put a lifetime limit on the amount of profit people can make on their primary residence tax free. Maybe 100k? Maybe 100k/five years of primary residence? I dunno. This would have to be on new purchases.
  Get more people building houses. Carney proposes more apprenticeships, which is great, but that takes time - we should also encourage more immigrants to build houses as a pathway to citizenship.
  Nobody in the trades should pay for an education. Our taxes should cover it. Ditto for healthcare.
  There's a bunch of other stuff that I like, but may not make sense: remove taxes on construction materials; lower taxes on the trades; crack down on money laundering; disallow foreign ownership of Canadian homes; make improvements on homes tax free.
- https://canadiandimension.com/articles/view/weve-solved-the-housing-crisis-before-we-can-do-it-again
Well, that seriously disappointing.
sigh
- Yeah. I'm really hoping for a politician to step up and start paying for new construction.
- Yes but I think it implicitly acknowledges big changes need to happen (due to the irrational US) the only way to get out of our mess is to build in Canada east-west, and invest in Canada highspeed rail, housing, pipelines that don’t service the US. All are open to attacks from America, Canada has to do these things to survive the moment.

Very promising statements from Carney.

I think everyone can get behind interprovincial trade. Not much else that's positive in there. Build pipelines faster, and double down on the fraud of carbon-capture. Nothing about any systemic changes that will help Canadians find housing or secure stable, increasing incomes. Nothing about shifting the share of economic growth from capital to workers. The inflation adjusted incomes of Canadians have be flat since the 1970s, and we are much less secure and have inferior services like health and education.

Liberals were always representing business and investment communities in much the same way Cons do, the only difference is their posturing on social issues. We only have toothless NDP to represent people... this electoral system sucks and sucks big time. we need more parties, more voices and we cannot have party representing 30% of population pretend like "it's got mandate" and it's "majority". Voting should be mandatory and number of seats should represent percentage of population represented. Spoiled ballots should be represented with empty seats and "majority" rules should be the absolute majority. If no absolute majority available for decision it's to be put to plebiscite. That may get us some semblance of Democracy in it's true sense.
- Totally agree about electoral reforms of most kinds.
  Sadly the NDP has drifted far from their socialist root, and doesn't really talk about any kind of major reform to capitalism. They offer a lot of marginal policy change, but don't talk about alternatives that would reverse the 50 year trend. When Mulcair was leader, h3me wanted to eliminate the federal deficit.

A.I. SUMMARY:

Mark Carney's "One Canadian Economy" plan aims to unify Canada's fragmented markets to bolster economic growth, job creation, and national security. Key initiatives include:

Eliminating Interprovincial Trade Barriers: By removing these barriers, the plan projects a potential economic expansion of up to $200 billion, translating to a gain of $3,000 to $5,000 per Canadian.
Enhancing Labor Mobility: The plan seeks to ensure that professional qualifications are recognized nationwide, allowing Canadians to work anywhere without requalification. This approach aims to improve competitiveness, reduce costs, and stimulate economic growth.
Facilitating Nationwide Business Operations: By harmonizing regulations and standards, businesses can more easily sell products and services across provinces, reducing costs and expanding market access.
Strengthening National Infrastructure: The plan proposes prioritizing and accelerating projects of national interest that cross interprovincial boundaries, enhancing connectivity and economic cohesion.

Overall, the "One Canadian Economy" plan focuses on creating a unified national market to drive economic prosperity and resilience.