I live in the Fraser Valley and I used to live in and around Surrey. Its as 'diverse' as you can get. Large, large numbers of South Asians and East Asians with a little bit of African and Middle Eastern sort of people. Not very many latino/latina people. Some out in the green houses in Delta though.

There have been instances when I have been on the bus from school and I am in the minority. Its a very strange feeling.

Surrey is brown. Richmond is Chinese. And there are more people coming everyday. If you're white you might start feeling a bit like the odd man out. We may not have tons of illegal riff raff. But living anywhere close to Downtown Vancouver might feel weird for the average white man... if he could even afford a house or even rent.

I don't have much of an educated opinion on the USA but I have liked popping over the border and shopping. I've also been to Seattle and Portland several times and the Oregon Coast. What I like the most about visiting the states is seeing the rifles on sale in the Walmart. Absolutely brilliant. Canadian Tire has rifles but I think you need to have a license to buy one. I do not know.

In class today the discussion slipped into a Trump vs Sanders divide. I was curiously surprised by someone calling out Sanders as a communist. Interesting times are to be had.

(03-09-2016 08:24 PM)dain_bramage Wrote:  I live in the Fraser Valley and I used to live in and around Surrey. Its as 'diverse' as you can get. Large, large numbers of South Asians and East Asians with a little bit of African and Middle Eastern sort of people. Not very many latino/latina people. Some out in the green houses in Delta though.

There have been instances when I have been on the bus from school and I am in the minority. Its a very strange feeling.

Surrey is brown. Richmond is Chinese. And there are more people coming everyday. If you're white you might start feeling a bit like the odd man out. We may not have tons of illegal riff raff. But living anywhere close to Downtown Vancouver might feel weird for the average white man... if he could even afford a house or even rent.

I don't have much of an educated opinion on the USA but I have liked popping over the border and shopping. I've also been to Seattle and Portland several times and the Oregon Coast. What I like the most about visiting the states is seeing the rifles on sale in the Walmart. Absolutely brilliant. Canadian Tire has rifles but I think you need to have a license to buy one. I do not know.

In class today the discussion slipped into a Trump vs Sanders divide. I was curiously surprised by someone calling out Sanders as a communist. Interesting times are to be had.

From my limited interactions on UFV and TWU, it seems like a lot of students there have their heads on straight. Every attractive 21 year old female at UFV has a ring, people I know in your parts are split Trump/Cruz

Richmond is 54% Chinese, municipal debates for them revolves around enforcing no spitting rules at community pools and enacting mandatory signage in English. The recent Chinese here are not doing a good job at assimilating. The richer ones coming and moving to areas where their concentration is so high there is no need to assimilate and their kids aren't assimilating either (compared to previous generations where you'll have second generation Chinese having no problems assimilating due to the fact they had to growing up in order to fit in, the current have no incentive since they spend lunch, class and breaks conversing in Mandarin)

The east indians assimilate extremely well and don't fit the IRT stereotype one would expect (literally the opposite). The East Indian population is engaged in community and politics.

Living near downtown I don't feel weird being white with a bunch of minorities, I feel weird dealing with the crazy left SJW types. Anyone self-loathing from small town BC and the rest of Canada moves to Vancouver in their 20's to be progressive and quickly attaches themselves to the hivemind. At least with the minorities they come from extremely traditional families and aren't beholden to the Tumblr group-think

Here is another article from the CBC describing the pilot program and interestingly, according to the article the "mayors of Calgary and Edmonton are both on board."

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/basic-in...-1.3479079

Justin Trudeau Feel Good Inc. continues:

Quote:Liberals plan for huge influx of refugees, immigrant spouses at expense of skilled foreign workers

The Liberal government has cut the number of skilled foreign workers it will allow into Canada this year to make room for a huge influx of Syrian refugees, immigrant spouses and children.

Immigration Minister John McCallum says the reduction in economic immigrants is a “temporary pause” that will have minimal impact on Canada’s well-being and prosperity. But the move has nonetheless raised concerns from business groups about the Liberals’ long-term plans for immigration.

At the same time, the government could face a backlash from some ethnic communities for not letting more immigrant parents and grandparents into Canada to be reunited with their families.

McCallum announced the changes at an event in Brampton, Ont., on Tuesday, only a short distance from where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau unveiled his party’s immigration policy during last year’s federal election campaign.

McCallum touted the fact that Canada will be aiming for the first time in history to accept more than 300,000 immigrants in a single year. That represents an increase of 20,000 from 2015.

“It is the highest number of projected immigrant admissions put forth by the government of Canada in modern times,” he said, adding that the government’s plan “is grounded in the shared conviction and in our history of compassion.

“It outlines a significant shift in immigration policy towards reuniting more families, building our economy, and upholding Canada’s humanitarian tradition to resettle refugees and offer protection to those in need.”

But while Canada will accept more immigrants than ever before, the increases are not across the board. The government will admit about 20,000 more immigrant family members and 25,000 more refugees than in 2015. But between 20,000 and 25,000 fewer skilled foreign workers will be allowed into the country.

(Economic immigrants are foreign workers, including business people and skilled tradespeople, who are allowed into Canada on a permanent basis. Those admitted through the controversial temporary foreign worker program fall into a different category.)

Trudeau, Gerard Butts and the LPC gang are too busy focusing on good PR re: Refugees, Immigration, Women on currency (other than the queen) and the "gender gap" instead of focusing on the economy. He should at least be trying to hammer in infrastructure spending (at least its more useful than social feel good spending) and legalizing weed (increased tax base). This reeks of them getting ready for future elections. The primary aim is to remove the 'white' majority Canada of old, and replace them with anyone who isn't, in the name of multiculturalism. Doesn't matter if they're skilled or not, refugees or not. Doesn't matter if the economy is doing good or bad. The goal will be achieved fully by the latter half of this century.

People are going to be angry next election but Trudeau is buying himself good PR fast tracking these future Liberal voters into citizenship and pandering to women. He'll re-use the weed legalization strategy again to lock it in (insurance against the Conservative choosing a competent leader)

It was clear last election Harper fatigue was in full force, too bad Mulcair screwed himself over with the Niqab (the NDP with him at least wouldn't go full retard)

Basic income ... I personally think we have too many freeloaders in Canada already. I know two Canadians that work out at the same gym in CM that are living high on WCB payments every month and have no apparent disability. You guys living in Canada and paying tax, are supporting these bums and countless others. I wish our political leaders -both Liberal and PC would take a step back and really examine the issues that can turn a reasonable Canadian salary into, not enough.

It would never happen, but Canada should adopt a few policies of my residence country, Thailand. They have a very low tax rate for a Thai median income. They also zealously protect a whole range of professions from non Thai citizens and at the same time it is very, very difficult to become a Thai citizen (unlike Canada that seemingly hands out citizenship to virtually anyone). Social security (government healthcare excluded) programs are either non-existent or pay out very small sums of free money. Look at the unemployment rate in Thailand, it has been at or near zero for many years.

The Thai law that I really wish Canada would adopt is non foreign ownership (companies with a medium/large investment are excluded) of property except for one condo. Imagine if we had that in Canada, I would probably still be living in Vancouver.

(03-09-2016 01:37 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(03-08-2016 02:49 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  I find it hilarious that Americans can have an opinion on Canada, when they have never stepped foot in the country.

America has enough problems to worry about.

We did import a bunch of low skilled Filipinos and others over the past few years under the TFW program but that got so out of hand that the Harper government kiboshed it, Im not sure whats happening now under Trudeau in regards to that, maybe the Syrians will be pouring our coffee at Tim Hortons soon.

Scotian, you probably know more about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program than I do, but my uncle just got a fresh group of Moroccans 6 months ago to replace the Filipinos that had to leave. The worst part is that he is now 'addicted' to foreign workers and will do anything, including paying a crazy amount of money to an agency to help him bring in these new foreign workers. He owns several restaurants in Alberta and resorted to using foreign (Filipino) workers 6 years ago when, according to him, couldn't find Canadians to fill positions and reliably show up for work. Now that the economy has gone in the toilet in Alberta, he has many Canadians that want to work, but would rather bring in foreign workers. I have a real problem with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but when I think about, Canada has a lot of problems, and where do we start.

(03-10-2016 04:03 AM)Kamaki4 Wrote:  

(03-09-2016 01:37 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(03-08-2016 02:49 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  I find it hilarious that Americans can have an opinion on Canada, when they have never stepped foot in the country.

America has enough problems to worry about.

We did import a bunch of low skilled Filipinos and others over the past few years under the TFW program but that got so out of hand that the Harper government kiboshed it, Im not sure whats happening now under Trudeau in regards to that, maybe the Syrians will be pouring our coffee at Tim Hortons soon.

Scotian, you probably know more about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program than I do, but my uncle just got a fresh group of Moroccans 6 months ago to replace the Filipinos that had to leave. The worst part is that he is now 'addicted' to foreign workers and will do anything, including paying a crazy amount of money to an agency to help him bring in these new foreign workers. He owns several restaurants in Alberta and resorted to using foreign (Filipino) workers 6 years ago when, according to him, couldn't find Canadians to fill positions and reliably show up for work. Now that the economy has gone in the toilet in Alberta, he has many Canadians that want to work, but would rather bring in foreign workers. I have a real problem with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but when I think about, Canada has a lot of problems, and where do we start.

Entitlement is a huge issue in many western countries. I'm not too sad about the lack of snotty nosed kids spitting in my coffee and providing terrible service. Filippinos and TFWs are popular in small restaurants and fast food outlets because they work their assess off.

As for the Billi Chubs ROK article...He got his ass kicked by Somalis. He's not the first, I've also been blessed with a Somali ass kicking. Since many of ROK's authors has become a bit of a race baiters, I wouldn't be surprised if he failed to disclose that he most likely went to visit his evil third world invader doctor who's most likely Chinese, Indian or Nigerian to get himself checked out afterwards.

(03-10-2016 08:28 AM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  As for the Billi Chubs ROK article...He got his ass kicked by Somalis. He's not the first, I've also been blessed with a Somali ass kicking. Since many of ROK's authors has become a bit of a race baiters, I wouldn't be surprised if he failed to disclose that he most likely went to visit his evil third world invader doctor who's most likely Chinese, Indian or Nigerian to get himself checked out afterwards.

Hope you're being sarcastic. There aren't any race baiters on ROK. And what happened to Chubbs isn't about race, it's about culture. You just named three foreign cultures, and all three were very different from Somalian culture (or lack thereof). Chubbs was in 1st grade, likely around 5 years old. He was robbed and kicked in the stomach by a grown man drunk on mouthwash wearing an engineer boot. That's not an "ass-kicking" at a local hockey arena bro. That's a savage attack on a small child by a savage from a savage land who never should have been allowed in the country and who should have been deported instantly after he committed that horrible crime. As the beautiful and wise Ann Coulter likes to say... the acceptable level of immigrant crime is PRECISELY ZERO. Trump 2016. Build the wall, build it tall, and save us all... especially little 5 year old children walking to school.

If you thought there were too many freeloaders in Canada, well, the cucks in power think otherwise:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ma...gee-target

Should I be surprised they doubled down on this policy? Rhetorical question.

Looks like America will need to invade Canada 20 years from now and replace it with civilization.

(03-10-2016 04:03 AM)Kamaki4 Wrote:  

(03-09-2016 01:37 PM)scotian Wrote:  

(03-08-2016 02:49 PM)rudebwoy Wrote:  I find it hilarious that Americans can have an opinion on Canada, when they have never stepped foot in the country.

America has enough problems to worry about.

We did import a bunch of low skilled Filipinos and others over the past few years under the TFW program but that got so out of hand that the Harper government kiboshed it, Im not sure whats happening now under Trudeau in regards to that, maybe the Syrians will be pouring our coffee at Tim Hortons soon.

Scotian, you probably know more about the Temporary Foreign Worker Program than I do, but my uncle just got a fresh group of Moroccans 6 months ago to replace the Filipinos that had to leave. The worst part is that he is now 'addicted' to foreign workers and will do anything, including paying a crazy amount of money to an agency to help him bring in these new foreign workers. He owns several restaurants in Alberta and resorted to using foreign (Filipino) workers 6 years ago when, according to him, couldn't find Canadians to fill positions and reliably show up for work. Now that the economy has gone in the toilet in Alberta, he has many Canadians that want to work, but would rather bring in foreign workers. I have a real problem with the Temporary Foreign Worker Program, but when I think about, Canada has a lot of problems, and where do we start.

The whole reason that these are "temporary" is because when the work dries up, they have to go home. And the work has dried up.

I too think the service from Filipino workers is stellar, but with this many native born Canadians out of work it has to be this way. Send them home. Your damn rights that if others countries had 75,000 newly unemployed people they would be shipping the foreign workers home in a heartbeat. Its such a shame that the west currently puts bad PR, peoples feelings and twitter backlash before their own citizens interests.

(03-10-2016 10:05 AM)[email protected] Wrote:  If you thought there were too many freeloaders in Canada, well, the cucks in power think otherwise:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ma...gee-target

Should I be surprised they doubled down on this policy? Rhetorical question.

57,000 "refugees" now.

I really wish Trudeau Jr. and his brain trust would stop their virtue signalling with other people's money.

(03-10-2016 12:35 PM)DannyAlberta Wrote:  

(03-10-2016 10:05 AM)[email protected] Wrote:  If you thought there were too many freeloaders in Canada, well, the cucks in power think otherwise:

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/ma...gee-target

Should I be surprised they doubled down on this policy? Rhetorical question.

57,000 "refugees" now.

I really wish Trudeau Jr. and his brain trust would stop their virtue signalling with other people's money.

Pour me a drink DannyAlberta. Let's Enjoy the Decline, cuz Troolander isn't giving us much choice.

(03-10-2016 08:53 AM)Ghost Tiger Wrote:  ...As the beautiful and wise Ann Coulter likes to say...

You lost me there bud.

Samseau Wrote:Looks like America will need to invade Canada 20 years from now and replace it with civilization.

I can't wait to be civilized

^^^ As if America is civilized!!

As for freeloaders, we don't have nearly the amount that your average European country has. We are still an "immigrant" country that requires people to work if they want a decent life, same as America. As for WCB, I know many former construction workers who rape the system and collect cash for life. I will admit they have busted their asses for many years.

Getting disability insurance is very hard, trust me I know many who have tried that scam to no avail.

Djemba is right, the average Canadian (insert Westerner) is greatly entitled. As I sit in Starbucks doing my work, I can tell you the workers represent people from all over the globe.

Where I live the average home is a million dollars and the average condo is $350K, you can't even look at those unless you are making decent scratch. Welfare money will get you a damp basement or sharing a home with 20 other people.

If you guys can request him back asap from our white house, that'd be great.

Any predictions for the annual budget?

1) A new tax or changes to tax brackets that transfers more money from the working population to the retired population

2) Changes in capital gains tax

I have seen very little of the SJW types at UFV. Most students I have met have been pleasant to talk to and not radical in any sense. I have met a few that are greatly against nationalism in any form. Plus I get "triggered" by all the 'problematic' saying in class. Overall, its okay.

I haven't been in any post secondary apart from UFV. So I only know what I see. There are a lot of smokers there actually. I didn't think there were many but there are. No campus protests or marches which is great. I quite like the campus.

Have you guys paid any attention to the disabilities funding or lack thereof in British Columbia? I have. I am on disability and it blows. INB4 lazy freeloader. There's been an increase apparently but the bus pas has become much more expensive and basically makes it so that instead of the 77 additional dollars its more like 22 per month if you want the bus pass. I have my bus pass from UFV which is good so I am not directly affected but the fact is that its very difficult to live on the 900 or so dollars per month. I am wondering what you guys think about how the disabled in BC are treated by politicians.
.

Canada’s unemployment rate creeps up to 7.3% in February

http://globalnews.ca/news/2572030/canada...22386498=1


Alberta's unemployment rate surpasses Quebec's for first time in nearly 30 years

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/newsal...0E-;_ylv=3

That's a government endorsed statistic. We all know unemployment stats are cooked up numbers and it's far worse than we are lead to believe. I've always held onto the view that Canada was on it's way to becoming a third world nation and every year I am vindicated reading the news from abroad.

(03-11-2016 09:51 PM)[email protected] Wrote:  Canada’s unemployment rate creeps up to 7.3% in February

http://globalnews.ca/news/2572030/canada...22386498=1


Alberta's unemployment rate surpasses Quebec's for first time in nearly 30 years

https://ca.finance.yahoo.com/news/newsal...0E-;_ylv=3

That's a government endorsed statistic. We all know unemployment stats are cooked up numbers and it's far worse than we are lead to believe. I've always held onto the view that Canada was on it's way to becoming a third world nation and every year I am vindicated reading the news from abroad.

Alberta is probably the most entrepreneurial province in Canada. So those government stats likely ignore the fact the those who have lost their businesses are completely fucked.

Unfortunately it doesn't matter who's in power at the current moment. Alberta's hurting due to over-reliance on oil. It's a boom and bust industry and right now we're deep in the bust.

I'd watch the long term trends to see where things are headed. If Alberta can't move away from over-reliance on oil, it might go the way of Hamilton, Oshawa, Durham, and all the other small rust belt towns in southern Ontario.

Edmonton will be fine due to the University and the massive investment that it draws to the area. The small towns are the ones which are really suffering.
Cold Lake, Grande Prairie, Red Deer, Medicine Hat, and Fort Mac are in for a tumultuous time if things don't recover quick.

The BC way to approach resources may have been the correct one after all. Time will tell if they'll be vindicated.

(03-12-2016 12:54 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  The BC way to approach resources may have been the correct one after all. Time will tell if they'll be vindicated.

Can you elaborate a bit on your perspective on the BC way? Diversification? I'm genuinely curious about your insight here.

(03-12-2016 01:13 PM)Ghost Tiger Wrote:  

(03-12-2016 12:54 PM)DjembaDjemba Wrote:  The BC way to approach resources may have been the correct one after all. Time will tell if they'll be vindicated.

Can you elaborate a bit on your perspective on the BC way? Diversification? I'm genuinely curious about your insight here.

This is a tough one. Governments can't use a heavy hand to attempt diversification, all that does is punish productive industries. But policy-makers can tip the scales just ever so slightly in the direction they're looking to move the jurisdiction in.

For example; Alberta has relatively low taxes because the government uses royalties from resources to directly supplant the budget. Thus, oil investment is encouraged (this is a good thing). Now what can occur is a real phenomenon, over investment (Think of the Chinese construction industry, ghost cities etc), too much growth too fast. With growth moving that fast, any slowdown can be pretty catastrophic.

The government gave us (and I'm part of the problem) the lowest taxes in the country, the best funded services, and endless promises that the good times will keep rolling on. The government kept cutting taxes, lower, and lower, while abandoning the heritage fund altogether, and essentially balancing the budget on a single commodity. That's a vary short sighted policy. But a very good one for winning votes in the short term.

BC and Saskatchewan both took a different approach. Saskatchewan held the line on taxes. When it began increasing its drilling activity, it used the windfall to invest in infrastructure and save, not slash taxes and pump cash into services. BC learned its lesson from the lumber industry, and also held the line on taxes and budgets. Up or down, BC has provided balances budgets longer than any province in the last decade (someone tell Justin Trudeau that balanced budgets are good even if they can cause secular stagnation, jurisdictions that balance their budgets even if unpopular are always vindicated later)

I think Alberta is facing three massive obstacles going forward:

1- The spending problem: Services are astronomically bloated. This is the spending problem that the Wildrose correctly identified. Hospitals, schools, and cities all have massive bureaucracies of secretaries and support staff that don't seem to add much value. In fact they're a detriment to the overall smooth operations of the system, they're essentially clogging up the pipes. And they're incredibly expensive to maintain. I'm willing to bet many are tenured boomers.

2- The revenue problem - the government of Alberta simply isn't collecting enough taxes to cover it's obligations, even if we cut services and reduce the bloating we still need tax increases. It's an unpleasant situation! I hate taxes. But they're unfortunately a necessary evil.

3- The winding down of the oil industry - Alberta now might have hundreds of thousands of blue collar non-skilled workers out of a job, and they need to be retrained, or they're bringing out the pitchforks. I bet a good chunk don't have the savings necessary to go back to school. Either the government ponies up, or suffers the consequences of an angry electorate.

So back to diversification, I don't believe in government whipping us over the head with a shovel until we're all the same height. But we can get some policies that encourage a more even investment. That of course would require long term planning, something we're lacking the age of fast food voting.

Part of BC's current ability to hold on is due to its culture. Sure part is smart politics, but the other part is the residents.

As stated above, the people of BC learned some nasty lessons over the years. I know many people across Canada will not believe this, but BC has learned to not trust government and corporations to do the heavy lifting. The majority of the jobs and money come from smaller businesses.

Most people I know have some sort of self employment scheme going on. Even guys who work corporate jobs are hustling something on the side. Getting shafted by the forestry industry back in the 90's made for some skeptical people here. Their reliance on the single resource economy came into question, and many never fully trusted it again.

Vancouver seems to finally be diverse enough to get through tough times. Mining, when it sank, Vancouver did fine. The only one that we have yet to see is real estate. If that tanks, it could be a bloodbath as a lot of people my age might panic and start a massive sell off.

Real estate is looked at as a stock here. Not a long term storage of wealth. People treat their assessments like lottery tickets, so I would be concerned that if real estate did start taking a hit, the anxious among us might start throwing gasoline on the flames by trying to sell in a panic.

(03-12-2016 03:24 PM)Laner Wrote:  Part of BC's current ability to hold on is due to its culture. Sure part is smart politics, but the other part is the residents.

As stated above, the people of BC learned some nasty lessons over the years. I know many people across Canada will not believe this, but BC has learned to not trust government and corporations to do the heavy lifting. The majority of the jobs and money come from smaller businesses.

Most people I know have some sort of self employment scheme going on. Even guys who work corporate jobs are hustling something on the side. Getting shafted by the forestry industry back in the 90's made for some skeptical people here. Their reliance on the single resource economy came into question, and many never fully trusted it again.

Vancouver seems to finally be diverse enough to get through tough times. Mining, when it sank, Vancouver did fine. The only one that we have yet to see is real estate. If that tanks, it could be a bloodbath as a lot of people my age might panic and start a massive sell off.

Real estate is looked at as a stock here. Not a long term storage of wealth. People treat their assessments like lottery tickets, so I would be concerned that if real estate did start taking a hit, the anxious among us might start throwing gasoline on the flames by trying to sell in a panic.

British Columbia side hustle:
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