Liberal Minority Government 2025 - ???

[Remius]

People using the slogan "jobs Canadians won't do" inevitably leave out the necessary following part "for the compensation offered".

External sources of cheap labour have to removed if we want more "good-paying jobs" (which desire pretty much covers the entire pro-union political left) and productivity increases (eg. from automation and process improvement). This dichotomy in which it's practically mandatory to have well-compensated public sector jobs while simultaneously secretly wanting some services (particularly menial ones consumed mainly by upper and middle class income earners) to be dirt cheap is bullshit and has to end.

Except small businesses can only afford so much. min wage for no skill entry jobs is already high enough no? Or should that be raised?

We can try and rely on supply and demand for salaries but that only works for large corporations who can afford to pass on the costs of higher wages to the consumer.

 

[daftandbarmy]

People using the slogan "jobs Canadians won't do" inevitably leave out the necessary following part "for the compensation offered".

External sources of cheap labour have to removed if we want more "good-paying jobs" (which desire pretty much covers the entire pro-union political left) and productivity increases (eg. from automation and process improvement). This dichotomy in which it's practically mandatory to have well-compensated public sector jobs while simultaneously secretly wanting some services (particularly menial ones consumed mainly by upper and middle class income earners) to be dirt cheap is bullshit and has to end.

Meanwhile small businesses, the sector that employs the most people in Canada, are struggling for survival...

Mind the gap: Workforce challenges holding back Canada’s small businesses​

At the core of this challenge is a persistent mismatch between business needs and the available workforce. A full 69% of SMEs say the primary obstacle to recruiting skilled employees is a shortage of qualified candidates within their sectors

(Figure 2). But the issue runs deeper: nearly 57% of small businesses report a disconnect between what candidates expect in terms of pay or benefits and what the business is offering.

At the same time, half of small businesses say they simply cannot provide compensation packages that match those of large companies, likely due to limited financial flexibility. This dual constraint ─ expectation versus capacity ─ leaves many businesses stuck in a hiring impasse, often forcing them to compromise on qualifications or leave roles unfilled.

Mind the gap: Workforce challenges holding back Canada’s SMEs

A look at the labour shortages, skills gaps, and mobility barriers affecting small business success.

www.cfib-fcei.ca

 

[MilEME09]

Won't somebody think of the poor Tim Horton's franchise owner who will have to hire Canadians who won't work for slave wages, know to refuse unsafe work and won't pay half their salary back to him in rent?

Most people don't manage a timmies for 32k a year (I have verified this). Yet ive met other franchisees who will drop tens of thousands to get a TFW to work min wage, but not hire someone local for $17 an hour. Its entirely messed up, but speaking for experience in the service industry its not a TFWs tsking the majority of work, its the international students working evenings and weekends. Many have multiple jobs just to pay their bills.

 

[CBH99]

"Build Baby, Build"
"its time to build"
"Canada strong"
Not slogans? Go ahead and cue the BS explanations as to how they aren't.

Funny, damn near everything negative Pierre Poilievre said would happen seems to be coming to pass.

Oh I know!

"We'll deliver more than just slogans..." coming from the "Elbows Up!" guy

Pierre wasn't even being negative in his predictions of what was to come - he was simply stating the obvious outcomes that are/will be the direct result of government policy for the last decade.



Now that parliament is getting back to work, I hope to see some momentum with things that couldn't happen over the summer

I'm willing to give Carney a bit more of a chance because whether it was him or Pierre who won - it's hard to get a ton of stuff done when parliament is on it's summer recess

 

[Czech_pivo]

Most people don't manage a timmies for 32k a year (I have verified this). Yet ive met other franchisees who will drop tens of thousands to get a TFW to work min wage, but not hire someone local for $17 an hour. Its entirely messed up, but speaking for experience in the service industry its not a TFWs tsking the majority of work, its the international students working evenings and weekends. Many have multiple jobs just to pay their bills.

Spot on.

 

[ArmyRick]

I'm willing to give Carney a bit more of a chance because whether it was him or Pierre who won

We will all win, if Carney and Poilievre compete to see who can be more results driven and productive. I also feel Mark needs to unload a few more Trudeau acolytes like Guibeault and Melanie Joly

 

[Czech_pivo]

We will all win, if Carney and Poilievre compete to see who can be more results driven and productive. I also feel Mark needs to unload a few more Trudeau acolytes like Guibeault and Melanie Joly

I'll swap you Joly for Freeland.

Guibeault needs to be shown the exit. Someone dangle some sort of non-Canadian posting in Cambodia or Vietnam where he can try bantering the eco-chatter to them.

 

[Brad Sallows]

Except small businesses can only afford so much. min wage for no skill entry jobs is already high enough no? Or should that be raised?

I'd remove statutory minimum wages entirely. Employers can make offers, and if anyone wants to work cheaply enough, they may.

We can try and rely on supply and demand for salaries but that only works for large corporations who can afford to pass on the costs of higher wages to the consumer.

Everyone can pass on costs. Many trades servicing residential and commercial customers are only small businesses. The people who have to worry are the ones competing for "beer money". They're not a foundational part of the economy; they're producers of luxuries. Someone who wanted to make a living selling notions might have to reinvent himself as a plumber.

The points are that removing a source of inexpensive labour will put upward pressure on compensation and necessarily end abuses of that source of inexpensive labour.

 

[Quirky]

its the international students working evenings and weekends. Many have multiple jobs just to pay their bills.

Why are international students relying on income in Canada to pay their bills? They are here to study not to work are they not?

 

[Brad Sallows]

At the same time, half of small businesses say they simply cannot provide compensation packages that match those of large companies, likely due to limited financial flexibility. This dual constraint ─ expectation versus capacity ─ leaves many businesses stuck in a hiring impasse, often forcing them to compromise on qualifications or leave roles unfilled.

What small businesses can't afford relative to large companies are the costs of legal and financial teams. Governments have complete control over the regulatory requirements they impose, and complete autonomy to avoid regulatory capture.

 

[brihard]

Why are international students relying on income in Canada to pay their bills? They are here to study not to work are they not?

Not sure how long since you were last in university or college, but it’s not cheap, particularly when you aren’t paying subsidized domestic tuition rates. Rent and groceries aren’t cheap either. They’re working for the same reasons as the rest of us.

 

[YZT580]

I'd remove statutory minimum wages entirely. Employers can make offers, and if anyone wants to work cheaply enough, they may.

Everyone can pass on costs. Many trades servicing residential and commercial customers are only small businesses. The people who have to worry are the ones competing for "beer money". They're not a foundational part of the economy; they're producers of luxuries. Someone who wanted to make a living selling notions might have to reinvent himself as a plumber.

The points are that removing a source of inexpensive labour will put upward pressure on compensation and necessarily end abuses of that source of inexpensive labour.

Totally agree with your first statement provided there is no provision to bring folks in from elsewhere to work i.e. TFW's. But it has to be coupled with no welfare unless you work provision. Did you know that there are no soft fruit canneries left in eastern Canada that I know of? Employees as in unions wanted more money than management was prepared to pay so they were all closed down and moved to China or some such place. There wasn't enough profit in a can of peaches to pay the taxes, the building upkeep and the desired salaries. So, how, without a minimum wage, do you balance what you can afford to pay with what the available candidates for employment are willing to accept? With industry having become very mobile this is an issue without an easy answer.

 

[HavokFour]

Carney just said something along the lines of 'we are looking at alternatives to existing EV options available in Canada today, with the hopes of more affordable options being available'.

That sounds alot like looking at Chinese EV options being available in Canada. Warren Buffet will be happy

Looks like it might be a real possibility.

Easing Chinese EV tariffs on the table, federal ag minister says

This is especially surprising.

Saskatchewan Premier Scott Moe, who is currently in China, and Alberta Premier Danielle Smith have called on Ottawa to lift the tariffs on Chinese EVs.

 

[Maxman1]

Not sure how long since you were last in university or college, but it’s not cheap, particularly when you aren’t paying subsidized domestic tuition rates. Rent and groceries aren’t cheap either. They’re working for the same reasons as the rest of us.

They're supposed to have $20,000 to support themselves for the semester, not including tuition.

 

[lenaitch]

Also ponder about how our health care system could collapse under that COA.

It needs a revamp, sure, outright cancellation is a good sound bite for the base but the consequences in many non farming industries could be catastrophic.

I don't know about hospital but nursing homes, attendant care, etc. are heavily staffed by people from the Philippines and S/E Asia, but is that the TFW program? Not every foreigner on a work visa is a TFW.

 

[brihard]

They're supposed to have $20,000 to support themselves for the semester, not including tuition.

Yeah but it’s still costs they have to pay. Just because you’ve previously saved up doesn’t mean you won’t work if able to still help defray those costs. The simple question of “why work?” has an easy answer. Just because the bank of mom and dad is there doesn’t mean the student may not be expected to work and contribute back. Isn’t that exactly the type of ethic we want to cultivate in youth?

How much they should be permitted to work, and in what conditions, is a fair policy question. But why they would work isn’t exactly rocket surgery.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Looks like it might be a real possibility.

Easing Chinese EV tariffs on the table, federal ag minister says

This is especially surprising.

Not sure if any of you have been watching any of the farm reports coming out of the US west/midwest, but there is total fear/panic setting in that China has not bought any soybeans and there seems to be no market for US corn around the world right now. Farmers are close to begging for US Federal aid or subsidies. In all the reports I’ve been watching there is not a single MAGA hat to be found. I think it’s safe to say a fair number are regretting who they voted for right about now.

With Premier Moe being in China, if he’s able to pull off any large scale soybean deal with China right now, alright panic will explode in thenUS AG belt.

 

[Czech_pivo]

Not sure how long since you were last in university or college, but it’s not cheap, particularly when you aren’t paying subsidized domestic tuition rates. Rent and groceries aren’t cheap either. They’re working for the same reasons as the rest of us.

How many of them choosing to attend uni in Europe are able to work, answer virtually zero. How many attending a US uni are able to work off campus, answer zero again.
So, should we be happy that they chose to come here for uni, pay a much higher rate of tuition, add to the student housing, both on campus and off campus, shortage and then take away opportunities for Canadian residents to work and drive youth unemployment to record highs?

 

[lenaitch]

Farmers are close to begging for US Federal aid or subsidies.

But, but, they don't subsidize their ag industry. It's all free market wonderfulness. It's only our socialist system that does things like that and why we need to make concessions.

 

[Quirky]

But why they would work isn’t exactly rocket surgery.

Are they coming here to study or work? I really have zero sympathy for these poor int. students who can’t support themselves. Can’t make it through a year? Leave. We don’t owe them anything especially when they’re taking employment opportunities away from real Canadians.