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General Business Updates and News
Sticking this here...the title just says business updates but whatever (feel free to move it if there's an economic thread, I just couldn't find it).

Region of Waterloo increases taxes by 8.5 per cent, adding $187 to the average tax bill: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...-bill.html

That sucks. A lot. $187 a year for a lot of people isn't an insignificant amount at the moment.

Also lol. Giving the police $18'300'000 more dollars?
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(02-23-2023, 11:55 PM)ac3r Wrote: Region of Waterloo increases taxes by 8.5 per cent, adding $187 to the average tax bill: https://www.therecord.com/news/waterloo-...-bill.html

That sucks. A lot. $187 a year for a lot of people isn't an insignificant amount at the moment.

While property taxes are not progressive, they are not regressive, either, they are based on the property value. So, for many lower-income people the increase (whether through property taxes or rent) will be between $50 and $100, whereas people with expensive houses may be paying $300-400 more than last year.
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I did write to the Waterloo mayor expressing my support for her vote about the police budget vote and got a response thanking me for writing in. So maybe write to your elected officials about their votes.

As for taxes, I understand that it can be tough for some of us to pay the bills. But in a high inflation environment what's the alternative? I kind of think that Ontario municipalities have had this thing where there has been chronic underfunding of services. Cities also have to pay the bills. Where is the money going to come from?

(I don't think this is as true of the federal government and maybe provincial governments. But it is definitely true of municipal governments.)
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(02-27-2023, 05:31 PM)plam Wrote: I did write to the Waterloo mayor expressing my support for her vote about the police budget vote and got a response thanking me for writing in. So maybe write to your elected officials about their votes.

As for taxes, I understand that it can be tough for some of us to pay the bills. But in a high inflation environment what's the alternative? I kind of think that Ontario municipalities have had this thing where there has been chronic underfunding of services. Cities also have to pay the bills. Where is the money going to come from?

(I don't think this is as true of the federal government and maybe provincial governments. But it is definitely true of municipal governments.)

I think the key here is that we pay a lot, but it doesn't seem to be going as far "as it used to". I think there's some truth to that statement, since more and more of our budgets are being taken up to maintain aging, inefficient infrastructure, leaving less money to actually choose to build better infrastructure.

But nobody thinks that way when they get their tax bill and just assume it's all "red tape" and government waste.

Meanwhile, we're still approving new car-dependent low density suburbs while the old ones are bankrupting us RIGHT NOW.
local cambridge weirdo
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(02-27-2023, 06:37 PM)bravado Wrote:
(02-27-2023, 05:31 PM)plam Wrote: I did write to the Waterloo mayor expressing my support for her vote about the police budget vote and got a response thanking me for writing in. So maybe write to your elected officials about their votes.

As for taxes, I understand that it can be tough for some of us to pay the bills. But in a high inflation environment what's the alternative? I kind of think that Ontario municipalities have had this thing where there has been chronic underfunding of services. Cities also have to pay the bills. Where is the money going to come from?

(I don't think this is as true of the federal government and maybe provincial governments. But it is definitely true of municipal governments.)

I think the key here is that we pay a lot, but it doesn't seem to be going as far "as it used to". I think there's some truth to that statement, since more and more of our budgets are being taken up to maintain aging, inefficient infrastructure, leaving less money to actually choose to build better infrastructure.

But nobody thinks that way when they get their tax bill and just assume it's all "red tape" and government waste.

Meanwhile, we're still approving new car-dependent low density suburbs while the old ones are bankrupting us RIGHT NOW.

Are we paying a lot? What does it mean to pay a lot? We just underspent in the past because it was not going to catch up to us for a while and now it has. But yes, I agree about the new suburbs, sigh.
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Municipalities have been on the receiving end of federal and provincial cutbacks for the last 30+ years. In many cases, the federal or provincial government downloaded a service to the municipality with promise of funding to follow. More often than not the funding that was provided (if at all) was never in an adequate enough amount to cover the cost to the municipality to provide that service. Cities and Regions will be paying catch up for a long time to come.
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(02-28-2023, 09:17 PM)nms Wrote: Municipalities have been on the receiving end of federal and provincial cutbacks for the last 30+ years.  In many cases, the federal or provincial government downloaded a service to the municipality with promise of funding to follow. More often than not the funding that was provided (if at all) was never in an adequate enough amount to cover the cost to the municipality to provide that service. Cities and Regions will be paying catch up for a long time to come.

Generally it's been the provincial governments, since municipalities are just a figment of the provincial imagination. The federal government does not really have any local services that it can download to municipalities.

That said, this downloading has caused a lot of problems, and they are not going away anytime soon.
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Quote:municipalities are just a figment of the provincial imagination


That's the key point, yes. The provinces have full and final control over how their municipalities operate, even if that hurts the local democratic process and local decision-making.
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Canada Has Entered A Per Capita Recession, Quality of Life Expected To Erode
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(05-13-2023, 10:32 AM)ac3r Wrote: Canada Has Entered A Per Capita Recession, Quality of Life Expected To Erode

I think a bunch more regulations and driving investment away and new unsustainable infrastructure will help. We have the economic benefit from being next to the US - but it's also a curse, because we can see what they're doing right when we are making mistakes. Surely if we focus more on making real estate our only national asset, it'll work out!
local cambridge weirdo
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I dunno, man, talking about a "per capita recession" seems like trying too hard to make up the story that you want to tell. People have commonly-accepted definitions and when you don't use the commonly-accepted definition, it's always sketchy. I think that all these layoffs have been a self-fulfilling prophecy, too.
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(05-13-2023, 03:03 PM)plam Wrote: I dunno, man, talking about a "per capita recession" seems like trying too hard to make up the story that you want to tell. People have commonly-accepted definitions and when you don't use the commonly-accepted definition, it's always sketchy. I think that all these layoffs have been a self-fulfilling prophecy, too.

I don't even care to click a Better Dwelling link, so I don't know what the article said. But GDP per capita exists as a better proxy for the general wealth of a state than straight GDP for a reason, and yet we determine a recession by GDP? Canada's immigration rates have masked a decade+ of stagnant GDP per capita, and these metrics are what matter to the everyday person. Growing an economy by growing the population only benefits the wealthy who remain composed of roughly the same number of people, but with a larger underclass to profit from.

Being from a younger, non-asset owning generation, me and my peers have only seen our quality of life decline from the time we were children but many of the traditional media and government statistics and talking points wouldn't even have you considering this.
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(05-13-2023, 08:44 PM)dtkvictim Wrote:
(05-13-2023, 03:03 PM)plam Wrote: I dunno, man, talking about a "per capita recession" seems like trying too hard to make up the story that you want to tell. People have commonly-accepted definitions and when you don't use the commonly-accepted definition, it's always sketchy. I think that all these layoffs have been a self-fulfilling prophecy, too.

I don't even care to click a Better Dwelling link, so I don't know what the article said. But GDP per capita exists as a better proxy for the general wealth of a state than straight GDP for a reason, and yet we determine a recession by GDP? Canada's immigration rates have masked a decade+ of stagnant GDP per capita, and these metrics are what matter to the everyday person. Growing an economy by growing the population only benefits the wealthy who remain composed of roughly the same number of people, but with a larger underclass to profit from.

Being from a younger, non-asset owning generation, me and my peers have only seen our quality of life decline from the time we were children but many of the traditional media and government statistics and talking points wouldn't even have you considering this.

I don't think it's hidden...it's discussed pretty clearly. GDP/capita is a at least as common a statistic as total GDP when talking about wealth and living conditions:

https://financialpost.com/opinion/canada...ince-1930s

But when it comes to defining a recession total GDP is used, whether that is the right method isn't that relevant, it is the standard method, and choosing not to use it must be motivated by something other than trying to advocate a viewpoint through branding.
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(05-13-2023, 08:44 PM)dtkvictim Wrote: Growing an economy by growing the population only benefits the wealthy who remain composed of roughly the same number of people, but with a larger underclass to profit from.

Does not logically follow.

I mean, I also don't believe in infinite growth, but that's a whole different discussion.
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(05-14-2023, 12:21 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: I don't think it's hidden...it's discussed pretty clearly. GDP/capita is a at least as common a statistic as total GDP when talking about wealth and living conditions:

https://financialpost.com/opinion/canada...ince-1930s

But when it comes to defining a recession total GDP is used, whether that is the right method isn't that relevant, it is the standard method, and choosing not to use it must be motivated by something other than trying to advocate a viewpoint through branding.

Again disclaimer, I'm not interested in giving Better Dwelling a click so I don't know what they said. My point was just that I see nothing wrong with directing more conversation towards per capita metrics, and I disagree with you that it's discussed very frequently among the general population. Honestly, from the older generation of my extended family the only aspect of worsening quality of life that they have noticed and discuss is the housing crisis, and as home owners the discussion doesn't go much beyond "well that sucks..." and sharing status quo maintaining positions. In other words, they are like most people who think in terms of "economy good" or "economy bad" in the most surface level manner possible.

Of course you can find media articles and plenty of people discussing GDP per capita and other more relevant details, but I don't think the average person looks even just below the surface to even see that.

I'm not sure I follow your last point. It's silly to try and redefine something well established, but less silly to try and define something new. But regardless, the point underlying the definition is what actually matters here.
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