Trudeau Popularity - or not (various polling, etc.)

[Lumber]

and muses about a future where elections are 'no longer required'...

I had to look this one up and can confidently say, @CBH99, that you have been compeltely mislead by misinformation.

 

[SeaKingTacco]

I had friends of the family who had emigrated to Canada from Germany after the War.

He had been Hitler Youth, like almost everyone else in his school.

It didn’t take, either.

 

[Kirkhill]

I don't know if anyone has seen this or if it has been posted yet...

It seems to apply to immigration, unemployment, housing and the impact on Trudeau's popularity.

Empty desks, international students and the quest for Canadian work permits

A reporter visiting private colleges known for their students from abroad gets a lesson in how the system works – and how it is changing

www.theglobeandmail.com

On a desolate industrial park off a highway north of Toronto stands the Vaughan campus of Flair College of Management and Technology. The boxy façade of the business college is adorned with images of students cooking, at a computer screen, or wearing virtual-reality goggles. Yet the only sign of real life is a woman smoking a cigarette on the steps next door. It is a school day in late January, but the college doors are locked.

Flair’s other campus is in a Brampton strip mall that advertises an optometrist, a dental hygienist and a vascular institute. This at least looks open.

There are two pieces of paper taped to a wall. One directs the visitor downstairs to a busy clinic offering “Immigration Medicals,” the other to Flair College, toward a suite in the basement where no one has quite bothered to move in. Only one room, as big as a decent-sized bedroom, resembles a classroom with chairs and a desk at the front, where a woman sits glued to her phone.

Signs direct visitors to Flair's Brampton location and an 'immigration medicals' clinic downstairs.MARIE WOOLF/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
The women’s washroom has no soap or bathroom tissue. There are two television boxes and a desk in an empty office that looks as if it has never been used. One classroom is empty, except for a couple of desks stacked against the wall. There are no students, just a queue from the immigration medical clinic snaking into the corridor.

The rest of the campus turns out to be tucked away upstairs near the mall’s pharmacy. Here there are more signs of life, including a staffed reception desk and an office where the college’s executive director, Sandip Dhakecha, sits. In one classroom, a small group of students mainly from India listen to a lecture.

The college’s “vision” is emblazoned on the outside of a door: “We Aim to be the Primo in Facilitating Ethical, Progressive and World-Class Education.” Its mission – accentuated with more capital letters: “Helping our learners to become Employable and Better Citizens of the World.”

“We inculcate wisdom over bookish knowledge among Learners,” it adds.

The Flair campus in Vaughan, with signs promoting their course, face into a mostly empty parking lot.MARIE WOOLF/THE GLOBE AND MAIL
The college’s website, which lists both the Vaughan and Brampton campuses, encourages international students to apply to study in Canada.

“Canada needs your culinary skills,” it says. “Provinces such as Alberta, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan are searching for talented individuals in the culinary sector who want to live and work in Canada. If you are eligible and receive an ITA [Invitation to Apply] for permanent residence in Canada both you and your family will have access to all of Canada [sic] amazing benefits, such as free public healthcare and education up until grade 12.”

It continues “As a skilled or semi-skilled worker, you can choose from over 70 different immigration programs and visas, giving you a better chance to start a new life for you and your loved ones abroad.” It adds that to navigate a complex system, “using a paid government-regulated immigration consultant is so important to secure your place in Canada.”

Come to Canada! Get an education! Be a barista!

Around 70 per cent of the students at the college are from overseas, Mr. Dhakecha says. But few seem to be in class today, even though more than 1,800 study permits were issued for the college by Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) last year.

‘Where are all the students?’ I ask the affable Mr. Dhakecha, pressing him on why there is no one at all at the college’s Vaughan campus.

He is happy to explain. About three-quarters of the international students who are accepted and come to Canada on a study permit do not attend any classes but apply immediately for their fees to be refunded. They then transfer to a public college where they would qualify for a postgraduate work permit (PGWP), he says.

Students attending public colleges qualify for the coveted work permits, which allow graduates to stay in Canada to work and start on the path to permanent residence.

“To be honest with you, they are just using us to get here,” says Mr. Dhakecha. “Eventually everybody is going to public college. Thirty to 40 per cent stay here and sometimes they stay for one semester.”

The students being taught in the small classroom nearby, he says, are part of the new January intake of students who “are in the process of applying for a refund.”

Across the private-college sector, the Immigration Department has been investigating the problem of fake acceptance letters issued to international applicants that enable them to obtain study permits so they can enter Canada. Investigators found some international students living in Canada were not in fact studying at the colleges at which they applied to attend.

Mr. Manocha says he is aware of “what is going on in the market,” but that his college is most definitely not into “any sort of fishy business.”

“I know private colleges in Canada who don’t even have a staff sitting there. They are actually puppet shows,” he says. “I cannot name anybody but I know people are doing it. That’s for the ministry to go after them.

On paper, Flair’s popularity among international students rocketed last year, with 1,867 study permits issued to international students, mainly from India. That compared with 189 in 2022 and only 45 in 2021.

The surge may in part be because of its new owner Anurag Sachdeva, an immigration consultant. He took over the college in 2022 and is also director of education companies including UnizPortal, which provides online information and application services for international students interested in applying to universities and colleges in Canada, New Zealand and Britain.

UnizPortal is flagged on Flair’s website as a “global application partner” of the college.

Apparently our problem and Britain's problem may have a common origin.

Immigration consultant Earl Blaney says the surge in international student numbers in recent years is in part because of aggregators that earn commissions for linking them to schools. And the option of a work permit – a step along the path to permanent residency – is a huge draw to the many who want to settle in Canada.

But Mr. Blaney questions whether it is a good idea for immigration consultants and people with companies involved in international student recruitment to also run colleges because of the potential for conflicting interests.

I think Mr. Blaney might be on to something.

 

[CBH99]

I had to look this one up and can confidently say, @CBH99, that you have been compeltely mislead by misinformation.

Not at all.

The founder of the WEF, Klaus Schwab, openly has talked about 'penetrating the cabinets' of western nations in order to pursue the WEF agenda.

It isn't a coincidence governments across the west are imposing new rules & taxes on farmers, for example. Or why across the west there is a sudden trend for governments to impose legislation that limits or censors the information available to us online.


When it comes to the musing of not requiring elections in the future, that's straight from Klaus's mouth. His musing (and that's all it was, was a public musing) was based on using statistics & predictive analytics to choose future leaders, instead of holding actual elections. (Why spend the time and money on elections if the final result can be reliably predicted using a variety of algorithms, was the point he was suggesting)

I'll find the clip shortly & post.



I don't know if you've read his book or not, but if not I highly recommend it. Not because it's particularly gripping or good (it doesn't hold a candle to an old school Tom Clancy novel) but his book The Fourth Industrial Revolution is eye opening, and reveals his view of what the world should look like in the near future.

It's basically how to make 1984 a reality, with a transhumanist flair. Oh, and a lot less people.



As a private person, if Freeland wants to be on their Board of Directors - go for it if that floats her boat. But as Deputy PM of a country, I do believe it presents a conflict of interest.

(Personally I think that if you are a Cabinet Minister and/or a Deputy PM of a G7 country, that should be your only job.)



(And he really was born in 1938 in Nazi Germany. His parents really were award winning Nazis, that ran a company supplying the German war machine during WW2, so I assume their social circles were also mostly Nazi's. And I assume growing up in those social circles probably had an affect on a young boy growing up...but that's my own assumption.)

The above are all facts (with some personal opinion on Freeland & conflict of interest)



EDIT (I remember watching and listening to it come straight out of the horse's mouth when he first said it. So not disinformation, but quite possibly nonsense. Or quite possibly not nonsense, who knows....things are changing far faster than most realize)

 

[daftandbarmy]

Not at all.

The founder of the WEF, Klaus Schwab, openly has talked about 'penetrating the cabinets' of western nations in order to pursue the WEF agenda.

It isn't a coincidence governments across the west are imposing new rules & taxes on farmers, for example. Or why across the west there is a sudden trend for governments to impose legislation that limits or censors the information available to us online.


When it comes to the musing of not requiring elections in the future, that's straight from Klaus's mouth. His musing (and that's all it was, was a public musing) was based on using statistics & predictive analytics to choose future leaders, instead of holding actual elections. (Why spend the time and money on elections if the final result can be reliably predicted using a variety of algorithms, was the point he was suggesting)

I'll find the clip shortly & post.



I don't know if you've read his book or not, but if not I highly recommend it. Not because it's particularly gripping or good (it doesn't hold a candle to an old school Tom Clancy novel) but his book The Fourth Industrial Revolution is eye opening, and reveals his view of what the world should look like in the near future.

It's basically how to make 1984 a reality, with a transhumanist flair. Oh, and a lot less people.



As a private person, if Freeland wants to be on their Board of Directors - go for it if that floats her boat. But as Deputy PM of a country, I do believe it presents a conflict of interest.

(Personally I think that if you are a Cabinet Minister and/or a Deputy PM of a G7 country, that should be your only job.)



(And he really was born in 1938 in Nazi Germany. His parents really were award winning Nazis, that ran a company supplying the German war machine during WW2, so I assume their social circles were also mostly Nazi's. And I assume growing up in those social circles probably had an affect on a young boy growing up...but that's my own assumption.)

The above are all facts (with some personal opinion on Freeland & conflict of interest)



EDIT (I remember watching and listening to it come straight out of the horse's mouth when he first said it. So not disinformation, but quite possibly nonsense. Or quite possibly not nonsense, who knows....things are changing far faster than most realize)

 

[Remius]

Latest aggregate from 338.

338Canada Canada | Poll Analysis & Electoral Projections

338canada.com

Looks like lowest the LPC has been to date. Likely does not include reaction to the pharmacare announcement but I doubt that will move the needle up much.

 

[Jarnhamar]

I don't know if anyone has seen this or if it has been posted yet...

19% of the 1 million plus international students in Canada aren't even registered for school.

 

[Lumber]

When it comes to the musing of not requiring elections in the future, that's straight from Klaus's mouth. His musing (and that's all it was, was a public musing) was based on using statistics & predictive analytics to choose future leaders, instead of holding actual elections. (Why spend the time and money on elections if the final result can be reliably predicted using a variety of algorithms, was the point he was suggesting)

Ok, so the way you are using "musing" right now is very different than the way you used "muses" in the post I originally replied. You gave a list of reasons why Schwab and the WEF are bad, and finished it with "muses about a future where elections are 'no longer required'". So, there it appears you are saying that "musing" about such a future is a bad thing. However, "muse" is one of those words who's definitions is very benign (it just means to think about or discuss), but it often gets used with a connotation of "eagerly" or "admiringly" (i.e. to "muse" about such a future woudl be akin to "longing" for such a future), and that connotation certainly presented itself in the way you were using it. If you stick to using the word by its actual meaning, then anti-WEF people all-over have themselves "mused about a future where elections are 'no longer required".

But you're NOT the only one who is consciously or subconsciously looking at that video and seeing it as more than "musing", and I know that because the video is very carefully tailored. In fact, that video shows up in basically 2 forms; the whole video posted basically only to the WEF youtube page, and the other shorter form posted to numerous right-leaning and anti-WEF social media accounts.

What's the difference? Google founder Sergey Brin is talking about the difficulty in dealing with deep philosophical questions like what it means to be an individual versus a society and what it will mean to be a human in the future, and in the long version Schwab says:

"I think it's premature, because we don't know yet how the technology will look like, but one fear which I have heard is the technology now is, and digital technologies mainly have, an analytical power, now we go into a predictive power, and we have seen the first examples, and your company very much involved into it, but since the next step could be to go into prescriptive mode, which means you.. you do not even have to have elections anymore because you can already predict what, uh, predict, and afterwards you can say ‘why do we need elections because we know what the result will be', can you imagine such a world?”

However the short version looks like this:

"The technology now is, and digital Technologies mainly have, an analytical power, now we go into a predictive power, and we have seen the first examples, and your company very much involved into it, but since the next step could be in to go into a prescriptive mode, which means you.. you do not even have to have elections anymore because you can already predict what, uh, predict, and afterwards you can say ‘why do we need elections” because we know what the result will be?’.”

Those highlighted bits are removed, and that is really important, because they make it clear that Karl and Sergey are just "musing", just as anyone on this site could muse about such a future. Without those bits, it makes it look like Karl is anticipating or even pontificating.

 

[Fishbone Jones]

Latest aggregate from 338.

338Canada Canada | Poll Analysis & Electoral Projections

338canada.com

Looks like lowest the LPC has been to date. Likely does not include reaction to the pharmacare announcement but I doubt that will move the needle up much.

Not that I have any love for the NDP, but I'd like to see them get a leg up on the liberals for a few weeks. Maybe the other liberal narcissist, Singh, might jump and take down the government.

 

[lenaitch]

I don't know if anyone has seen this or if it has been posted yet...

It seems to apply to immigration, unemployment, housing and the impact on Trudeau's popularity.

Empty desks, international students and the quest for Canadian work permits

A reporter visiting private colleges known for their students from abroad gets a lesson in how the system works – and how it is changing

www.theglobeandmail.com

Come to Canada! Get an education! Be a barista!









Apparently our problem and Britain's problem may have a common origin.



I think Mr. Blaney might be on to something.

Our son-in-law taught an IT course part-time at a public college for a few years. Most of his students were international. Most showed up regularly - a couple he never saw. He experienced not-subtle pressure from the college come 'promotion' time to push through students that clearly weren't deserving because of the tuition.

Having anything to do with immigration plus a related or 'receiving' industry is clearly wrong in my mind.

 

[lenaitch]

Thus the problem I mention isn't dealt with. Prices will increase elsewhere if prices on covered stuff are controlled. People requiring medications not covered will end up subsidizing people requiring covered medications, unless governments completely forgo any attempts to control prices. And I don't see that happening.

Patented drug prices are already regulated. How well, I can't say, but the mechanism is there.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Poilievre taking some pot shots....

https://twitter.com/x/status/1761805217480249514

 

[OldSolduer]

Our son-in-law taught an IT course part-time at a public college for a few years. Most of his students were international. Most showed up regularly - a couple he never saw. He experienced not-subtle pressure from the college come 'promotion' time to push through students that clearly weren't deserving because of the tuition.

Having anything to do with immigration plus a related or 'receiving' industry is clearly wrong in my mind.

Universities aren't the only ones who do that. Cough CAF.....

 

[brihard]

Not that I have any love for the NDP, but I'd like to see them get a leg up on the liberals for a few weeks. Maybe the other liberal narcissist, Singh, might jump and take down the government.

I still don’t think either LPC or NDP will jump to an election with CPC in firm majority territory. There’s no gain for them. The NDP are presently the closest they’ll ever be to power.

 

[Remius]

I still don’t think either LPC or NDP will jump to an election with CPC in firm majority territory. There’s no gain for them. The NDP are presently the closest they’ll ever be to power.

Not only that, but I also think that the NDP see significant seat loss if their supporters get spooked by the prospect of a CPC majority and vote Liberal in an effort to prevent that. The conditions just aren’t there at this time for the NDP.

 

[daftandbarmy]

Interesting...

Trudeau in trouble? Nanos data shows key ridings at risk | TREND LINE​

 

[Fishbone Jones]

I still don’t think either LPC or NDP will jump to an election with CPC in firm majority territory. There’s no gain for them. The NDP are presently the closest they’ll ever be to power.

I can't see them making it to 2025. Too many scandals. He can't skate on them all. I can't see either the red or orange liberals actually doing much better than they are. Barring events, dear boy. One can hope. i'm not sure we can survive to the next scheduled election.

 

[Good2Golf]

I can't see them making it to 2025. Too many scandals. He can't skate on them all. I can't see either the red or orange liberals actually doing much better than they are. Barring events, dear boy. One can hope. i'm not sure we can survive to the next scheduled election.

Not that he isn’t arrogant enough to try…so long as Mr. BMW-Rolex stays satisfied, he isn’t done yet.

 

[Rifleman62]

No election. Note in this clip, 20 Bloc MP's need a timeline of Oct 2025 to get pensions.

Did the NDP's pharmacare deal save the Liberals from an election? | PANEL EXPLAINS​

 

[YZT580]

No election. Note in this clip, 20 Bloc MP's need a timeline of Oct 2025 to get pensions.

Did the NDP's pharmacare deal save the Liberals from an election? | PANEL EXPLAINS​

except the Bloc all have good odds of being re-elected and adding to that pension. For the NDP their best chance of staving off irrelevancy is to identify an issue, such as a significant moral failing that will resonate with disgruntled liberals and pull the plug on the agreement. On the other hand, they are the ones whose pensions need the most protection