The war on the family is being fought on many fronts. Social conservatives see it as a massive secularization that must be stopped at all costs, but I’d say that battle is already lost. Parents with kids see it as an issue of fairness and societal values. After all, when it consumes the entire take-home pay of one spouse to buy child care, something is seriously screwed up. Should the sacrifices to have children in Canada in 2007 be so great?
Me? I see the world through an economic and financial filter. When viewed that way, it’s a wonder the traditional family has survived at all. The cards are clearly staking up against them. For example, the average family income of just over $60,000 has not budged much in a decade. Yet in that period of time, the price of energy, insurance, cars, food, real estate and most everything else has increased.
The national savings rate is now zero, and according to StatsCan, Canadians have $1.16 in debt for every dollar in disposable income. Consumer spending has outgrown consumer income, and the shortfall has been financed through credit. Our family balance sheet is now just as atrocious as that of average Americans. Over half of all Canadians have no retirement savings, and the average for the other half is about $40,000. That’s less than a year’s worth of money. Today about 70% of us have no corporate pensions to look forward to.
Household debt has never been larger. Combined with mortgage debt, we owe some $790 billion, a number which has doubled in just over ten years. Think about it: How much money do you save or invest from each paycheque you receive? The answer for nine out of ten of us is, none.
This is not a snapshot of a secure nation. If it were not for revolving credit, lines of credit, cheap and accessible home loans and don’t-pay-until-2010 furniture sales, we’d be feeling some poor. But the veneer of prosperity and the sheen of available credit is masking the true reality of our society.
Not to spoil your final days before Christmas, but the giant timebomb is residential real estate. Americans have already felt it start to go off, with a collapse in sales and prices, a surge in foreclosures, the value of homes falling 8% a month in California and $100,000 a month in some ritzy Detroit suburbs. The housing collapse has bred a slowdown in consumer spending which will sink the US economy into recession, since 70% of all activity there is focused on consumers.
Some people believe we are immune here to the US real estate meltdown, because they indulged in an orgy of subprime mortgages. This is false. Young families are pouring into new $400,000 houses in Halton with 5% down (often borrowed from parents), and 95% financing. Even a flatlining of the real estate market will turn them into losers, as utility bills, property taxes and most other households costs keep rising. The only reason they’d gamble on so much debt is a belief real estate will rise eternally.
Worse, eroding house affordability is being masked by 40-year mortgages, which are the fastest-growing type of home loan. By extending a $300,000 mortgage from 25 to 40 years, the monthly payments (at 7%), drop to just $1,800, making the home more affordable, and masking the effect of rising prices. However, a 40-year mortgage taken at age 30 is still there at age 70, and becomes a life indenture. Worse, by lengthing the term and dropping the monthly charge, the borrower owes more. In fact, a quarter million dollars more, since this loan will now cost almost $900,000 to repay.
The current residential real estate market is unsustainable. The average detached home in Vancouver is $719,000 and the average condo in Toronto is $400,000. Evidence we are in the late stages of a speculative bubble – just about two years behind the US – has come in bidding wars and lineups of buyers on the sidewalk outside a new high-rise tower. One couple in Toronto budgeted $450,000 recently for a home, and after losing 16 bidding wars, bought one for $700,000.
Value is now detached from worth when it comes to housing. It will correct. Count on it. Always has and always will. Booms inevitably end in the same way.
The real problem is that Canadian families have very unwisely put about 85% of their collective net worth into one asset – the home. That makes us incredibly undiversified and massively at risk in the coming correction. Of course, the young couples with virtually no equity will be wiped out in a week or two. Once a single home on a single new subdivision block goes under power of sale, it reduces the value of all other near-identical units on that street. This is precisely what has plunged the value of nearly-new subdivisions to the south.
But it’s not just the kids who have made this gamble. It’s all of us. And there is no government to blame for our actions – just our own insatiable demand for granite countertops, bathtubs with motors under them, plasma TVs and pillars. Of course, the federal government could have helped forestall this by trimming back on the 5%-down program, disallowing the move to life-long amortizations (I was the only MP to fight that), reducing the GST on new homes which adds tens of thousands of dollars in cost and reducing personal income tax so less credit was required.
But those are small skirmishes in the war on the family. The real enemy is ourselves, when we must have what we should not – and once could not – afford.
You may not be too happy with 2008.
103 comments ↓
Bubbles missed it again. Bring on the election!
http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/December2007/18/c4093.html
After all, when it consumes the entire take-home pay of one spouse to buy child care, something is seriously screwed up. Should the sacrifices to have children in Canada in 2007 be so great?
If it takes the entire salary of a person to put their children in daycare then I’d say it’s a stupid descision to work and have a stranger raise your child. With the exception of a single parent, children are better off raised by family. So why would someone work to pay 100% of those earnings to a stranger to look after their child so that they can work? Stupid really.
As for the consumer debt issue. This isn’t because of an erosion of family earning. It’s because people feel they have to buy everything they want instead of what they need.
Do people NEED a tv in every single room of the house? Do people NEED computers with high speed internet in every room of the house? Do people NEED a Wii or a PS3? Do people NEED a speed boat? Do people NEED a cottage?
In 2 generations we have totally changed how we look at life. We’ve decided that our wants are more important than our needs. I think Canadians need to reevaluate their priorities. Just my $0.02
The problem here is not necessarily the decision to buy a home but the operation of the “free market” in which government “frees” capital in the form of credit. This has fueled the demand for land in developing regions and the houses on which they are constructed. It has also fueled the cost of building materials and other construction costs.
A modest, relatively energy efficient home, will cost over $200,000 to construct without the cost of land.
The result is a massive reallocation of wealth from the middle and lower economic classes to the upper income groups especially the top one per cent of income earners.
Two questions Garth.
1. “Canadians have $1.16 in debt for every dollar in disposable income.”
Does that mean total debts equals 1.16x annual income, or does it mean the annual payments on that debt equal 1.16x anual income?
If it the former, no big deal. If its the latter, we’re skunked.
2. “Of course, the federal government could have helped forestall this by trimming back on the 5%-down program, disallowing the move to life-long amortizations (I was the only MP to fight that), reducing the GST on new homes which adds tens of thousands of dollars in cost and reducing personal income tax so less credit was required.”
Certainly making the downpayment larger would slow down the housing market and help depress prices as would disallowing life long amortisations. (The UK has 100 year transferable mortages that you can pass down to the kids!)
But reducing the GST on houses would do the opposite. It would cost less for the same property which would accelerate the housing market, eating up any benefit from a reduced GST. Like wise cutting income tax would mean more money in the pruchasers pocket, again meaning they could and would pay higher prices.
Whatever happened to the max mortgage being 2.5X family income?
We want it all, we want it now and the lending institutions are only too willing to assist (I won’t say help, because it doesn’t) because they know that’s how to make their humungous profits!
Excellent thoughts Garth. Thanks for the Holiday email and best of health for you and yours in the New Year.
“The real enemy is ourselves, when we must have what we should not – and once could not – afford.”
Yes, the real enemy is greed and not enough fear. The former is driven by an advertising system which creates a craving for things that we do not really need and a credit system which promises no interest, no payment for 12 months. The latter, I believe is driven by the complacency and feeling of entitlement that past prosperity has brought and unhealthy doses of Prozac.
The underlying culprit is our paper monetary system which allows governments to keep on spending beyond their means. There are no more checks and balances in place. Today, the European Union has made 500 Billion dollars available to its banks at very low rates. What does this do for the saver who wishes to get an inflation beating GIC from those same banks, or to the bondholder? What will it do to inflation in the future? The paper blizzard created this monetary crisis. It must be stopped.
Canadian investment firms still has not solved their ABCP 30 billion credit crisis. They have asked again for yet another extension. The TD Bank made it clear that they did not want to underwrite these securities that everyone has refused since they had no part in creating the crisis.
As a Canadian taxpayer, I take the same attitude. In no way should we be stuck for these, but you can see it coming. We will be the bagholders of last resort, while those who profited are long gone.
Today we learn that the Bank of Canada broadened the list of collateral and promised to include bank-sponsored asset-backed commercial paper and U.S. Treasuries at a later date.
This Monetary Inflation Is the Problem article by U.S. Predidential Candidate Ron Paul explains how your purchasing power and savings are being reduced by monetary expansion.
How many times have you reminded your kids that there is no money tree. Yet people like Bernanke, Greenspan and Bush and now Central Banks pluck from it weekly.
Though I’d agree allowing such ridiculous things as 40-year mortgages are a very bad idea, future and new home-owners bear some responsibility with regards to due diligence before buying a house.
Though I’m comparatively lucky by getting a 130k or so house 2 years ago 20 mins from the ‘Hill, I know I have to be ready for the worst. My advice: pay back your plastic asap!
We bought a house for 70000, might own it in 25 years. Neighbour bought a truck for 70000, same rate, same monthly payment, will own it in 10 years. Truck works and earns money, our kids live in our house while we work and sleep there. Something is wrong here.
True.
sad….but True.
What were all levels of gov doing while this was brewing?
This is no one off event, anybody with half a brain could see housing was just the next bubble after tech imploded, all caused irrational monetary creation and lax gov regulation of the system.
Yet everyone including you Garth, still scream for lower interest rates and easier money creation thinking that stretching out this bubble until more people are caught in it is better than letting the correction happen now.
People are basically stupid and greedy(Governments too)
Governments should have been demanding 10% down,
Capital gains on specualtion properties you never lived in should have been jacked up to curb bidding wars.
Banks needed gov caps mortage size vs gross income.
Gov should have outlawed the Pay day loan outfits and opened state run micro service banks for cashing the cheques of those too poor to keep an account balance.
they should have been mandating LEEDS building codes and energy efficient building so no one would lose their house over fuel bills
they should have been mandating that builders design small affordable houses rather than the monstrosities found in most developments.
Governments have done nothing on co-ops, zoning, or standards to make small, effiencient, affordable houses the norm.
They still allow developments to discourage walking and biking by ignoring efficient grids and turn all the streets into rally courses that at 25-30% on the distance you travel to get anywhere.
The problem however comes back to the public being stupid. One Generation lives in hard times, the following one sees the hard word and suffering of the one before, theybehave rationaly and prosper. The next Generation(us) does not even believe that hard times can exist and they screw it up again through irrational expectations and consumption.
The answer is certainly not with the Cons or Libs who have no plan but bribing us with our own money only to inflate it away again.
Garth, this is perhaps the best post I’ve ever seen you write. I agree with you on every point. Things are so insanely overpriced that my wife and I can’t afford to buy… and quite frankly, we’re waiting for the bust to come so we can finally get into the market. It’s a sad but true reality.
Hi. Garth I agree with your comments regarding the price of homes in Canada.This is just modern day slavery all property is only worth what you can rent it for (income) The Builders/ Banks are making big money prices are pumped
by the Royal Lepages/ Remax’s of the the world pumping the price as to the increase that they see coming next year.( THE BIGGER FOOL THEORY) I don,t believe the Canadian economists, that say Canada is diffrent than the U.S. Debt is Debt and over priced Debt is GARBAGE until it is repriced,like the on going credit crisis Yes even in Canada no one wants to buy it. The U.K. Spain, U.S. are seeing the boom start to go bust, Canada is setting its self up for a crash. We are going to have a generation of house poor Slaves with zero or negitive equity. Some of this generation just want it all today and its not there falt they were handed it all from there Baby Boom parents most of whom are waiting for freedom 95. Yes, 95 man with there over priced homes the wealth effect may fell good today but I believe its going to end.( You can,t eat your house) Hey, maybe we can sell our homes to all the new Canadians with 60 year morgages and sell the Debt to China or the other emerging economies that do have a saving rate.Home prices are a Farce and Canadian are not insulated from what is occuring in the rest of the world.Canadians are quick to purchase cars in the U.S.A once the dust settles in the USA there homes are going to look like pretty good value compared to Canada. Hey, just got an other idea our over price homes can be turned into rooming houses @$450 per month/room X 12 tenants= $5400 per month may be these houses are worth what they are being sold for. LIVE IN THE BASEMENT AND SHARE THE 3 BATHROOMS with your 12 tenants
SIGNED; Just a stupid old Canadian Vulture waiting/waiting for this Bubble to Birst.ALL COMPLIMENTS OF THE LAST BUBBLE THE DOT.COM period. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF BUBBLES
In addition to an insane willingness to take on debt, what’s really driving the cost of homes is dual-income families, and the notion that you need 600-800 square feet of living space per person.
If the average family didn’t have the cash-flow to qualify for large mortgages, builders would have to build what they could sell.
How far can it go? In Holland, one acre of land is worth $60,000 Euros. That’s bare land. To buy one simple two bedroom small apartment, in an apartment building is 160,000 Euros (my niece just did). To buy a run down farm house on 15 hectares of land is over 1,000,000. Euros.
People in Europe take out life time mortgages with no intention of paying them off. The mortgage payment is a fact of life. When you get old and have to move on, you sell, collect the equity and move to a Seniors complex.
If I can ever retire, all I want is a simple log cabin on a small country lot surrounded by trees. Another thing I do hope is that we’ve built a way of life that someday my son might take over. It’s hard work but a good life.
Most people if they haven’t insisted on the pillars and crap you mentioned can afford their homes. It’s the buy now, pay later that gets them every time. The lust for gucci, gap and all things designer is overwhelming for some and they feel if they can’t put on a status show, they are somehow ‘less’. I’ve watched it cost people their farms.
Personally, I’ve always wanted people to have a good opinion of me, the person. The ‘flash’ makes it harder to find the person in my opinion.
Do you think the average two year old knows the difference between Gucci coveralls and the ones I used to make for my kids? Some moms today really think so. Funny, isn’t it?
People have to start learning how to look after themselves. Credit cards do not buy happiness, but a family walk in the woods can.
Here’s an interesting but true story, that I think ties in nicely with what you are saying. On our farm we hire all local help in the summer, mostly college and university students. A few years ago, when my son was 11 or 12, he watched the boys shooting dimes, nickels, quarters and pennies into the staff room garbage can. They developed a fine art of flinging the coins. My young son thought that it was amazingly cool. The boys on staff told me that ‘change’ wasn’t worth anything and just weighed down their pockets. So, my son starting flinging coins around. I am old school and see the value in a penny of course. This new habit of my son irritated the life out of me. I’m not a yell-er, or screamer, I didn’t want to bully my son into saving his change, but I wanted him to learn something of the value of that change. So one quiet evening, I told him that if he sits and rolls my change for me he can have it. Well, he started the job, but was soon simply flinging it around the rec room. I quietly picked it up and said nothing. I rolled the change. One day, we as a family went to attend a farm event and on the way, I asked my husband to stop at the bank as I wanted to take my rolled coin in. My son chided me, thinking it wouldn’t be worth my effort. I came out of the bank with $195. mostly in 10 dollar bills. I showed my son what I had…you should have seen the look on his face! Priceless! To this day, he saves all his change in a little dish on his desk…no more coin flinging.
Leasa
…reducing the GST on new homes which adds tens of thousands of dollars in cost and reducing personal income tax so less credit was required.
****
The government needs to adjust the GST rebate on New Homes. This is a separate issue from the GST overall.
“…A key reason behind the escalation in tax paid on new homes is the federal government has broken a promise to regularly review and adjust its GST rebate program for new homes.”
http://torontosun.com/News/Canada/2007/12/14/4723940-sun.html
Off topic, but I think the old saying needs to be changed to reflect a Canadian judicial system. Instead of the saying If you can’t do the time then don’t do the crime needs to be changed to If you can’t do two thirds of the time then don’t do the crime would better reflection our punishments.
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/story.html?id=828711e7-c5b7-4a5b-8bd0-005305cb6781&k=33261
The Harper CON goal is to pump all our oil and gas to the US to the benefit of narrow corporate interests and profits, dismantle all social and environmental policies in Canada (as per Hayek), oversee the sellout of anything that has value to oligarchs, and turn Canadians into serfs in our own land. If you don’t agree, the Ministry of Love and the Ministry of Truth will sort you out.
Poor young sots, when will they ever learn.
HIGHER EDUCATION = MORE $
Garth, seeing as I’m in this boat I can agree with most of this post. There really is a war on the family, a war on the house.
But I don’t just blame speculative buying for the rising costs. I blame your buddies at the FINA committee, I blame the guys at the BoC who cut rates while inflation is out of control and I blame the guys at statistics Canada who have defined the terms for the CPI which are so political that they mask any concept of real inflation.
So who’s at fault for the runaway house prices, the people, who’s needs to have a roof over their head have not changed or the enablers who have said in order to compete for a scarce resource, one must borrow in the absurd — here’s your application.
Savings don’t exist because they’re a bad investment — real house/energy/food inflation will wipe them out. They’re doing a job on mine, that’s for sure, and with low interest rates, at a certain point the interest rate becomes less than the rate of real inflation. A scary thought, but its the truth.
So what can you guys do? Well, one, stop creating new money! The BoC needs to track all forms of inflation using a basket of goods weighted on what Canadians actually buy and use. What’s the average house price, the average energy cost, the average transportation budget etc and then track that and keep it at 2-3 pegged. Tracking inflation based on what x-mas presents one buys is just playing politics with the statistics.
Beyond that, GST isn’t applicable for first time home buyers, so this wont help me or people like me. It’ll help people buy a nicer home, more granite, but wont really help people make that transition from renting to home ownership.
The RRSP plan, that allows taxes to be deferred for new home ownership should be expanded to reflect the real cost of a home and the repayment terms lengthened.
The red tape on building houses should be eliminated. Caveat Emptor is cheaper, and while it creates some problems, the red-tape as it currently exists adds 10-15k to a house…
Municipalities should be forced to cut the cost for service hookups to a cost-recovery basis. The current hookups are ridiculous and add up to 25k to a new home.
Next, while developers are getting permits to destroy viable farms left right and center, and turn them into subdivisions with hundreds of homes — many people who own ALR parcels in the 10-50 acre range, which can no longer be a viable commercial farm are prevented from the most reasonable of actions, like building a second home for family members. ALR enforcement sure, but only when its not a multi-million dollar development with kickbacks to council in the form of new roads, traffic lights, and services for which there is _always_ a pound of flesh extracted and added to the price of a new home.
Something is wrong when 25% or so of the cost of a new home is paid to government. Something is really wrong when that is _after_ we’ve paid copious amounts of taxes on those dollars.
Its time to make it easier to build homes, make it permissible for people to homestead instead of subdivide and for people to be able to save for a house.
If you cant correct these issues, then you guys better be ready with the welfare, daycare, and every other service we need because we’re all going to be living off the government pretty soon if not already.
Garth; me thinks you protest too much. Housing is aproximately 4.5% of the US economy and probably the same in Canada. The economy has been evolving into a service based economy and, if nothing else, this gives it a resilency that it did not have before. Debt creates an increase in the money supply and is conducive to wealth creation. However, debt, like medicine, can be harmful unless taken in measured doses.
Housing prices in most Canadian markets reflect peoples ability to afford housing that makes them feel confortable with an investment factor thrown into the mix that can distort the decision making process, eg.,better buy now before the price goes up/increasing price will increase equity. The problem is that the mortgage lender, banks, etc., buy into the same rationale and risk holding asset backed paper (mortgage) where the value of the underlying asset is shrinking. This can be a disaster when demand decreases and supply increases such as happened in Alberta in the past when the economy contracted and is happening in many parts of the US now. The Americans had a similar problem in the past with the Saving and Loan fiasco that included bankruptcies in the banking system, criminal investigations, fraud charges, etc. Neverthless, they worked through the problem.
In all cases, such as these, it is poor stuardship of the economy by the government that either creates the problem or exacerbates it. Bubbles happen…they correct. While painful to some, the long term harm is minimal.
Grim but realistic picture you paint here, Garth. Since you are a political leader, what do you think the federal and provincial governments should do in anticipation of the meltdown you predict??
Should governments increase or decrease taxation on Canadians, and particularly on the Canadian family?
Should Canada altruistically send Billion$$$ to China, India, Russia, to meet our Kyoto commitments, or should we delay meeting our onerous GHG targets to a more realistic future date??
Should the size of the federal government be reduced in non-essential areas that can be best left to the local provincial governments??
Should Canadians look to a Liberal or Conservative government for leadership in your areas of concern, and why..??
Thanks ….
Your obsevations are correct Garth,but I can’t figure how people are going to break the circle of debt.
I think it starts with people’s interpretation of what they need versus what they perceive they need.Until that changes and people start to understand that debt has to be repaid,the current nonsense will continue.
When I was a kid,my parents had 4 children and Dad finally bought a house
when he was 50 years old.He rented until he could afford a down payment and the monthly payments.And my mother never worked outside the home.Dad drove a car for 7/8 years,we didn’t vacation in Mexico or the DR,had one TV and shared bedrooms.
My wife and I only had kids in our mid 30’s but hammered down our mortgage because we too didn’t take big vacations,eat out frequently and trade cars often.When our kids came along,we pulled in our expenses even more,never put on a credit card what couldn’t be paid off when the bill came and my wife stayed home with the kids.
It wasn’t easy but we had goals and focus so I don’t understand why families have to have soon what their parents took a lifetime to build and don’t have a lot of sympathy when it looks like they are going to blow up from debt.
Maybe I should
I almost hope you’re right Garth. I have no desire to take on a million dollar mortgage, so until housing prices drop I’m going to continue to rent.
The problem is that half our money goes to the government as tax and the other half goes to the bank as interest. We live by creating debt which we will never be able to pay off. Canadians are enslaved by the Finance Department and the Bank.
HOME PRICE VALUE
It’s like Peter Pan who shouts, “Do you believe?”And the crowd shouts back, in unisom, “WE belive” Thats what home prices represent a store of value that people believe in.THEY CAN KEEP ON BELIEVING but there comes a point in TIME that they don,t.THE UNRAVELING IS COMING. DO YOU BELIEVE?
Aproximately 17% of Canada’s population of 33,129,812 resides in the GTA.
Want a smaller mortgage and better quality of life?
Move…it is a big country.
Michael, usually I enjoy your humorous post but I think you are completely mistaken on this last one.
You say that debt is conducive to wealth creation. It is not. Only increased production adds real value. Consider it a money tree where paper should be only be harvested if it grows naturally from the production of real goods. When people are flipping homes at ever increasing prices, where is the monetary value added from? It comes from the slavery of the new debtor. As long as prices keep going up, this new owner does not mind paying higher interest rates for he or she forsees future profits. Once this Ponzi mentality stops, you get your foreclosures and the phantom, unrealistic wealth disappears. It was unreal estate.
As you say Bubbles happen…they correct. But, with government meddling, lately this has not been allowed to happen. To avert crisis, governments have over-compensated at each bubble correction. The Dot-Com bust bubble popped and Greenspan lowered interest rates to almost zero. This drove the available money into the next speculative bubble – that of Real Estate. Puerto Rican villages were speculating on Florida condos.
Instead of letting this crisis deflate gradually, we have seen financial freezes to try to avert the losses. Mortgages are now frozen and the debt has been downloaded onto the backs of the taxpayer. They are now even considering bailouts for homes with Jumbo mortgages of greater that $400K.
Instead of letting certain financial institutions perish as a result of bad investments, we are seeing the EU throwing one half a Trillion dollars into the debt fire. The elite gambled and lost badly. When I do that in the stockmarket, nobody bails me out. If I cannot meet my margin, they sell my stock.
We, as taxpayers, should demand the same type of rigorous control from the financial institutions that run our currency system.
George,
MONEY DOESN”T BUY YOU LOVE!
ECB injected $500 Billion to ease money market gridlock today (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=am5g09Iakg4g&refer=home).
What was it they said years back during the U.S. election? ‘It’s the ECONOMY STUPID!’
ECONOMICS has become a changed spelling ‘ASSININITY!’
When politicians get out out of bed with the developers, and those who think every home must be a 4 bedroom mansion, then maybe some sanity will arise…but I serious;y doubt it because that would require having to admit our economic system SUCKS BIGTIME! It is INSANE!
By Leasa on 12.18.07 1:36 pm
Well said, Your facts about Holland made me remember the last housing bubble in the UK.
It was caused in part by realtors. It was not uncommon for a person to buy a propety and then sell it two or three weeks later, as the realtors drove up the asking prices. This was not flipping, but buy, hold, sell. Realtors were actively seeking buyers, because they make a commission on every sale.
The first thing my cousin told me when we went house hunting was, “The realtor works for the seller!” So if you’re buying…… do your own homework.
HIGHER EDUCATION = MORE $
By Captain George on 12.18.07 1:58 pm
Ah, another BILLION dollar industry created to support those who are filled with BS, but have few marketable skills. LOL
Maybe a little revision is order such as HIGHER EDUCATION = MORE $ MINUS Student Loan Repayments Costs PLUS Interest?
More on the Ottawa Mayor/John Baird scandal.
Mr. X evidence in O’Brien case to remain secret, judge rules
Gary Dimmock, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Police evidence from a confidential informant about an alleged meeting between Environment Minister John Baird and Mayor Larry O’Brien at an Ottawa steakhouse will be kept secret, a judge has ruled.
“It is clear that the informer (Mr. X) in this matter possessed precise, intimate knowledge of all the circumstances attending the event described. This included the identity of the individuals who were involved, their personal interconnections, where they were located in relation to each other and even the content of conversation which occurred,” Justice Roydon Kealey wrote in the Dec. 10 ruling, in which he concluded the evidence will remain secret for fear it could expose the identity of Mr. X
http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?id=f0ba56b4-b2a2-488e-9cc3-569e25833824&p=1
IT PAYS TO KNOW THE PM
Harper appointees get raises
Highest base salary tops out at $455,000
GLEN MCGREGOR, CanWest News Service
Published: 13 hours ago
The Harper government quietly gave pay raises of up to seven per cent to hundreds of political appointees this year, bumping some recipients into annual salary ranges that now top out at $455,000.
Most appointees received across-the-board 3.9-per-cent increases to their salary ranges in June, including a
2.1-per-cent bump in base pay and an increase to performance pay, but some saw even larger increases in their base-salary range
http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=29ebe957-5dc8-414c-b337-d144c6627945
I believe lots of folks have really painted themselves into a corner. As long as prices are rising the whole thing sorta works, however if prices do
decline, even moderately the whole real estate market will implode. Sadly those who weren’t out making all the bad decisions will be trashed along with those who were.
So, Garth, you state “Young families are pouring into new $400,000 houses in Halton with 5% down (often borrowed from parents), and 95% financing. ”
Yet, when I did a search on Toronto Real Estate site http://www.realtor.com/toronto/nbregiona.asp?poe%3Drealtor&poe=realtor
I was able to find many homes less than 250,000$ around the Toronto area.
If young families do not want starter homes (i.e. 1000 sq feet and no jacuzzi tubs and family rooms), and choose to buy into larger homes, then, they should take responsibilities for their own actions. Not my problem!
Why does a 28 year old need a home with granite counter tops, huge walk closets, living rooms AND family rooms, jacuzzi tubs, if they cannot afford it?
Garth, maybe these youngsters should do like many of us did – we started our lives with small homes with just the basics.
BTW, in Markham, one can get 2 bed condos for under 180,000$.
Another interesting story to add – A Conservative partisan appointee to the AECL? Oh wait, it’s LIBERAL partisan appointees that are always the problem, right? Does the hypocracy ever end with this guy?
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071218.wsoubliere18/BNStory/National/home
With all due respect Garth, I think you are fundamentally wrong in your analysis. You are comparing apples to oranges when you compare historical real estate prices and mortgages.
For example, it is true that the price of real estate in Toronto has jumped dramatically over the last 25 years; however, Toronto has changed dramatically over the same period (that’s why the price has jumped). Back in the early 80’s one could pick up a nice home down town for under $100,000. Today, that same house will cost close to 1 million. The difference is a reflection of Toronto’s new standing in the Global economy, and is not a result of an “over heated” or unsustainable real estate market.
Up until a relatively few years ago, Toronto was a “second” city – with the same status of Cleavland Ohio or Baltimore Maryland. On the world stage it was a minor player and could not command “first tier” prices for its real estate. The GTA was not even a coined word back then.
Today, Toronto is massive – a 5 million plus metropolis rivaling Chicago or LA. The “city” of Toronto is now at the core of one of the largest economic zones in North America.
Toronto has become close to a world class city (or at least a mega city) and now commands much higher real estate prices as a result. Like New York, London and Paris of 20-30 years ago, the real estate prices in Toronto are reflecting this new reality. It is no longer a place where people of modest means buy homes to live close to factories – it is a place where the well off live the “urban” dream (watch any Woody Allen movie and you’ll know what I mean). In fact, compared to other cities like Boston or New York, Toronto real estate prices are a bargain.
If you must compare real estate prices and mortgage indebtedness, compare Toronto of 25 hears ago with Brampton today. The comparison is much more realistic. 25 years ago, immigrants were moving into Toronto. Today, the immigrants are moving into Brampton and the “well to do” are buying newly renovated homes in Toronto’s older neighborhoods (like they have been doing in New York, San Fransisco, Paris, London, and Boston for years).
Prices may drop in Toronto, but not by much. Did prices in Paris, London, New York drop?…not really. Prices in those cities went from very expensive to insanely expensive. I suspect the same is true for Toronto (I’ve seen several multi-million condos up for sale on Toronto’s waterfront).
I suspect a similar effect is happening in Vancouver and even Montreal (to a lesser extend).
Unfortunately, prices in Toronto and Vancouver tend to distort the overall picture. When you look at house prices and overall mortgages indebtedness in places like Brampton or Barie, I suspect you get a much truer picture. When looked at from that angle, things are not bad at all. The price of an average home in Brampton or Barie is quite affordable, and the mortgages associated therewith are likewise sustainable.
SIGNED; Just a stupid old Canadian Vulture waiting/waiting for this Bubble to Birst.ALL COMPLIMENTS OF THE LAST BUBBLE THE DOT.COM period. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF BUBBLES
By Greg on 12.18.07 1:11 pm
This is not my post. I can spell bedder than that.
I payed attedion when I was in scool.
SIGNED; Just a stupid old Canadian Vulture waiting/waiting for this Bubble to Birst.ALL COMPLIMENTS OF THE LAST BUBBLE THE DOT.COM period. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF BUBBLES
By Greg on 12.18.07 1:11 pm
Coward.
There was a popular sign in military offices in the ’70s:
“When you have alligators snapping at your ass, it’s too late to remember that you should have drained the swamp.”
How does government protect citizens from an economic crisis it has fostered? It can’t, and doesn’t. And what do citizens do in such a crisis? They lose and suffer – and get blamed for lack of prudence into the bargain.
Just remember that the chipboard palaces replete with cost-cutting improvements masked by bling were created by the Great God Marketplace, who also demanded the purchase of “must haves” to keep the economy churning, and even provided the loans for fun, profit and bankruptcy.
The shake-out of an economic system chocking on its own greed should be interesting.
SIGNED; Just a stupid old Canadian Vulture waiting/waiting for this Bubble to Birst.ALL COMPLIMENTS OF THE LAST BUBBLE THE DOT.COM period. WE ARE RUNNING OUT OF BUBBLES
By Greg on 12.18.07 1:11 pm
Cheat.
Speaking of New York Real Estate, here’s a dude that bought prime Midtown Manhattan office towers for nearly $7 billion, using only $50 million of his own money.
I suspect that this is not an isolated case.
Developer’s Big Manhattan Move Faces a Time and Credit Squeeze
This is not my post. I can spell bedder than that.
I payed attedion when I was in scool.
By Greg on 12.18.07 4:49 pm
This is why I rarely post here any longer…unethical people using others names to post…what does it prove?
All it does is put the whole blog in question…I think some action should be taken against those who post with other’s names…or better still post the URL…
MONEY DOESNâ€T BUY YOU LOVE!
By Sara Landriault on 12.18.07 3:26 pm
That is correct, however money can buy me lots of things that I would love to have.
I do not disagree with the posting. This is normal as we have witnessed the housing market ups and downs over the years. If wages and materials increase in value it will be reflected in the cost of the house. We used to have locked in 25 year mortgages that you could not get out. The flexible mortgages we have today makes it possible for people to retire their mortgage in about 17.5 years through structuring their payments properly.
The problem as I see it. Young individuals are purchasing homes or building homes that are well above their means. It is the old saying they want immediately what it took their parents years to accumulate. Then when they run into difficulty it is somebody elses fault. The complaints start. poor daycare, too many taxes, cars are too expensive, Food cost so much etc, etc, etc, However, these same people think nothing of going to a bar and pay over $5.00 for a mixed drink and spend the evening in between moving outside to have a quick puff. It is all a case of living within your means and setting priorities. For example: How many households actually set up a budget and follow it.
I believe if we spent more time within the education system teaching our children how to face real life would greatly reduce how we think and act.
By James- Chatham on 12.18.07 3:59 pm
————————————————————–
One of the main reasons why we chose to sell our home in Port Coquitlam privately in 1992 was that, although it would require extra work to prepare, if we were able to sell it (and we did), there were NO real estate commissions to pay.
We used a Notary Public instead of a lawyer (cheaper, but same result), and we ended up keeping around $12-14K instead of other people having our hard-earned money.
When we sell our home in Kelowna, we will have the ‘Net to advertise worldwide. Our total costs (‘net advertising, notary public and a few other minor expenditures) should not be much beyond $5,000.
Clearly, it’s worth the effort.
Garth’s column goes somewhat along these lines. In the UK, the food prices have increased somewhere between 10-15% in a year or so, but stagflation covers many different items.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=alG_e4wz6zoc&refer=home
” ‘After all, when it consumes the entire take-home pay of one spouse to buy child care, something is seriously screwed up. Should the sacrifices to have children in Canada in 2007 be so great?’
If it takes the entire salary of a person to put their children in daycare then I’d say it’s a stupid descision to work and have a stranger raise your child. With the exception of a single parent, children are better off raised by family. So why would someone work to pay 100% of those earnings to a stranger to look after their child so that they can work? Stupid really.
As for the consumer debt issue. This isn’t because of an erosion of family earning. It’s because people feel they have to buy everything they want instead of what they need.
Do people NEED a tv in every single room of the house? Do people NEED computers with high speed internet in every room of the house? Do people NEED a Wii or a PS3? Do people NEED a speed boat? Do people NEED a cottage?
In 2 generations we have totally changed how we look at life. We’ve decided that our wants are more important than our needs. I think Canadians need to reevaluate their priorities. Just my $0.02
By Reid on 12.18.07 10:24 am ”
In response to your first assertion that working while a stranger raises your kid is a stupid decision, although there is merit to it, some people lack a true choice in the matter. After all, all people’s choices are constrained by societal notions of what is acceptable and what is not, peer and family pressures,etc..
For example, my mother used a combination of daycares and babysitters, seeing as we fell into the trap of thinking you have to buy all the latest stuff. But when I was 9, my parents divorced after 2-3 years of marriage counselling.
If my mother hadn’t have worked during those early years, we would’ve fell directly into poverty. So I think another reason why women (or the occasional ’stay-at-home dad’) are afraid to provide childcare and not work is because they don’t trust the institution of marriage.
Because society has become so materialistic (the media run ads all the time telling people they should buy perfume to look better, go on diets,etc…), many of us have lost our sense of community. As a result, violent crimes are more common, it’s easier for bullies to become adult criminals,etc..
Essentially, our economy is based on greed, benefiting from those who overspend. This is what the Leader of the Official Opposition was mentioning: why do we have an economy based on waste, rather than on what is environmentally, socially, and economically sound?
The answer? We’ve bought into this notion that the economy is an all-seeing master, of whom we are to serve. What we forgot is like Sask. NDP MP Bill Blaikie said, the economy is “a man-made creation.”
In other words, if the economy constrains people into doing immoral things, the economy must change! Indeed Garth, how’s this for an idea? If Canadians were to take all that money they were spending on wants (instead of needs), and re-direct towards meeting immediate needs, the whole nation would have more income to spend on environmentally-friendly products.
All the while we’re overspending on wants, the needs of our planet, communities, and our environment are being neglected. We really need to impress upon people the importance of using their money for wants to reduce their debt (somewhat), help Canada make the transition to a greener economy,etc..
Even though society forces us to make constrained choices, individual agency (choice) still pays a big role in shaping society!
When I think of the Out of the Cold programs in my area, where there is a record-breaking number of people in need of shelter or hot meals, and where 1/3 of people who seek emergency shelter are employed but unable to find affordable housing, I am saddened. I am also grateful for having a home, even though the mortgage payments and taxes take a big chunk out of our paycheques. We have a roof over our head, hot meals at our table, and a car in the driveway. Life is good….for us.
Nuclear chief blasts ‘clumsy’ management of isotope crisis
AECL chair tendered his resignation in November, long before controversy was made public
ALAN FREEMAN
From Wednesday’s Globe and Mail
December 19, 2007 at 1:30 AM EST
OTTAWA — The former chairman of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. lashed out Tuesday at attempts to blame him for the Chalk River nuclear reactor controversy, calling the Harper government’s handling of his resignation “a clumsy piece of political opportunism.â€
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20071219.waecl19/BNStory/National/home
By Sara Landriault on 12.18.07 3:26 pm
But it will buy you votes.
I totally agree on Canadian savings. I try to put 10% of my pay into a savings account, I also put away RRSPs. Not too many people I know do this. My sister and her fiancee live from paycheque to paycheque (often with the need to borrow more) and as far as I can tell they will continue to live this way.
A few of my friends always complain about how broke they are but are always buying things like hardwood floors, a new second car, a new garage, etc… They whine that they never have extra money but it’s their own doing, they have TONS of extra money but chose to improve their home instead.
By Greg on 12.18.07 2:49 pm
This isn’t my post either.
The religious fanatics have had their prayers answered and Harpers death ray is a reality.
http://en.rian.ru/video/20071219/93128221.html
This is why I rarely post here any longer…unethical people using others names to post…what does it prove?
All it does is put the whole blog in question…I think some action should be taken against those who post with other’s names…or better still post the URL…
By pjw on 12.18.07 5:12 pm
It’s too bad that this goes on. As no one has attempted to clarify this, I assume it’s just another of the small minds playing childish games.
I wouldn’t let it restrict your posting though. If it were to occur often enough I would think an ISP match would be in order, and dealt with accordingly. It would be interesting to have the blog ID posted for those who do this, don’t you think?
Terrific post by Jordan Lester!
If I understand that post correctly, it says: we are materialistic and greedy, concerned only by economic profit. This contributes to crime (both ‘legal’ and illegal- my addition).
Responsible environmental stewardship would, by default, change our mindset (less crime, etc.).
I hope I got it right. I agree with J. Lester. But if we aren’t careful, all we may get is . . . conservative family values, a meaningless, no, a very meaningful bit of preaching to justify greed and materialism. Cons. family values have nothing to do with family or values.
Ah, ‘The Cottage’! Now, what could possibly be the driving need to establish a remote residence, which requires hours of travel in snarled traffic, including lots of stress going to, and coming from ‘The Cottage’, plus the additional costs (taxes, mortgage, maintenance, the SUV, the insurance, the boat, the toys), just to ‘get away’ from the stress filled city life for a period averaging less than 24 hours?
The only explanations I think of are:
1. The reality of life in this so-called society has become a prison for many, and they are attempting to make their asscape.
2. They are all insane, and therefore, unable to recognize the realities. Following others like little caterpillars seaching for Nirvana.
Maybe when they get the next tax bill a few neurons will click, flash, or otherwise mitigate an eye opener.
Now, when will they have the highways widened to accommodate all these people at a cost of billions in taxpayer money?
Ho, Ho, Ho, gobble, gobble…gulp!
$205 Turkeys in Britain
Merry Blogmas to you too, Garth!
By Greg on 12.19.07 8:36 am
OK. So I haven’t been following this too closely, but are you sure there is a malicious intent here?
I mean, ‘Greg’ isn’t a truly unique name and it’s not likely that someone new to the blog is going to research other posters names, made up or otherwise, is it?
There will be more people growing gardens in 2009, after 2008 is a bit of a wake up call. There’s a dire prediction for the holiday season
Garth, can I solicit a little free advice from you please. I’m a single gal in her own home. I’m pretty much stretched to the limit but I have a very modest amount of money saved and I don’t know whether to put it on my RRSP or make a little bulk payment on my mortgage. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Merry Christmas All!!
There is always a market for pigeons.
- Iowa Attorney General investigating Waterloo’s Pigeon King.
Squab meat costs about $10 a pound in Canada.
Ho, Ho, Ho, gobble, gobble…gulp!
$205 Turkeys in Britain
By Pecked to Death by Ducks on 12.19.07 9:01 am
WOW! There is our chance to expand trade with the Motherland. We have a lot of turkeys in Ottawa and Queen’s park and can easily sell them for $180 each!
The CONS are dropping in the polls. Looks like all the BS and Hot Air from Bali is starting to burn the CONs and their creationist inspired theories about climate.
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071219/decima_poll_071219/20071219?hub=Canada
Too bad there is not election in the immediate future – I’d love to see the back of this neoCON bunch.
Housing prices in most Canadian markets reflect peoples ability to afford housing – that is one of the most important points that a fellow commenter of mine has posted above. And there really are a lot of homes for less than 250,000$ around the Toronto area.
Aproximately 17% of Canada’s population of 33,129,812 resides in the GTA.
Want a smaller mortgage and better quality of life?
Move…it is a big country.
By Captain George on 12.18.07 2:53 pm
I have never understood the big attraction of Toronto, or why corporations would want to be physically located in such a high price location and thus encourage folks to either travel to, or live, there in order to work!
After renting and saving for years we finally bought our first property (far from any city) for around 15,000 and lived in a mobile home for a number of years until we could get something better. After 3 moves and 20 plus years we are now approaching retirement and own 30 acres of rural property on which I personally built my own home over several years as finances permitted. You could not get me to swap it for any of those $½ million homes in the city for anything despite the lack of “city†services. Don’t be in a hurry folks, don’t spend it if you don’t have it, and be very selective as to what and where you buy when it comes to real estate. Many families in GB only pay off their mortgages after 30 or 50 years, so the second generation often completes the purchase, so its not bad here, yet!
We did this whilst raising our children without the benefit of external “child care†and rarely bringing in much over the “poverty lineâ€. It all depends upon you priorities.
Who insures the insurers?
Daddy, Daddy, is our bank in trouble?
No dear, they just had a setback, but they hedged with the insurer.
Daddy, Daddy, but I hear the Insurer is in trouble?
Yea, yea, but they are being bailed out.
Daddy, bailed out by who?
Er, hmmm… by the banks that are in trouble.
Oh Daddy, I’m afraid. Where are these banks getting the money?
Don’t worry their getting it from the Giant Central Banks.
Daddy, where do the giant Central Banks get their money?
It’s ok dear, they get it from each and every poor taxpayer.
But Daddy, aren’t you a taxpayer?
Shutup dear, and eat your pidgeon!
Thanks for the Cristmas Email Garth. Hope you have a Merry Christmas and you get a bottle of beard dye as your beard has gone white.
AH HOY AH HOY! Entering port soon to pump out the CRAP. Remember..it is RED RIGHT RETURN .
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071219/decima_poll_071219/20071219?hub=TopStories
Lisa,
whenever I’m faced with the mortgage vs RRSP quandary, I always come back to this. If I’m making more return on the RRSP (which is more often than not the case) than I’m paying in interest, the RRSP wins, and then, the tax refund can go into the mortgage.
By rural on 12.19.07 11:40 am
I think the main attraction for Toronto is Pearson airport, as far as business location goes.
We have so few satellite airports in Canada that people who must travel for business have to live where it is available.
In example, If I want to fly somewhere, especially internationally, then it takes 3 hours to Pearson, plus another 3 hours early arrival, and about 4 hours return which blows off 10 hours just to and from, not counting air time and the desitination hassles.
The other factor is people are still thinking old school about business. I run mine from home and use the internet for almost all communications.
There are people still using fax machines instead of email and pdf files.
Telecommuting will help save our environment, are health, and reduce overall costs. Not good news for developers who still believe people must be sequestered in a central office building.
Add to those factors freight transportation, and they still do not realize how efficient the non-GTA areas can be.
We may be in 2007, but business is still in about 1970-80 for most.
Mr. Garth TurnerMP,
The DVD rental 2disc, ‘Manufacture Consent, Noam Chomsky and the Media’ has a Pdf file inclused of the complete BOOK he wrote, for those that would like to get an electronic copy to read.
You can make you own elctronic copy from the disc to read at your lessure.
By Bill-Muskoka on 12.19.07 11:20 am
Bill…I love it! One thing I know is that no one can ever say you don’t have a good sense of humour!
By rural on 12.19.07 11:40 am
I know what you mean! Several times a year I have to venture to the Big Smoke for business meetings…I hate the smell, I hate the traffic and every time we go, I look around and say to my husband…people actually live here? We’ve got small rural towns all across Canada that are so under-serviced compared to the city. We don’t have lighting, public transit, Libraries open on Sundays, swimming pools in the schools, garbage collection twice a week, some of our roads are not even paved. YET, my tax dollars go to fund public transit and the like. Heck, they don’t even teach our rural kids how to drive on rural roads, nor test them for it (and they wonder why so many rural kids are killed on rural roads). I don’t know how people can stand having all that concrete and stink around them 24-7 and think it’s a great life. Why do all of our immigrants flock to the T.O.? Why do most doctors go to T.O.? One doctor who will be running in my district in the next federal election…both he and his wife are doctors…set up their offices in…yes T.O.! Now of course he loves my county and would like to count on me for his vote. ha ha ha We are so under-serviced for doctors, they can’t even keep the one walk in clinic open decent hours.
Nope, they can keep the concrete jungle. I’ll just come and visit every once in a while. Leasa
I try to put 10% of my pay into a savings account, I also put away RRSPs. . . . A few of my friends always complain about how broke they are but are always buying things like hardwood floors, a new second car, a new garage, etc… They whine that they never have extra money but it’s their own doing, they have TONS of extra money but chose to improve their home instead.
By Dan on 12.19.07 8:16 am
————————————————————-
It takes an awful lot of self-discipline to “pay yourself first”, try to ignore the unnecessary material trappings of life (because that is what these “traps” are — traps into which one falls, and then has to get out of), as this is the whole point — a person’s future income, when they are retired and no longer have that yearly income to depend on. The feds and provinces only cover the very basics, but no more.
An article, written by a CFP in an Okanagan magazine is titled “Why the RRSP faces a slow death”. Because I used to be a tradesman and well paid, if I were still in the workforce, I would have an amount — say $500 per paycheque — automatically deducted and put into a non-registered mutual fund plan.
If it is deducted at source, then I can’t spend $500 on something I don’t need. So, putting in twenty six paycheques at $500 for twelve – eighteen years, followed by a systematic withdrawal plan to live adequately on would be more than sufficient to cover all expenses.
———————————————————–
By Toronto real estate agent on 12.19.07 11:36 am
The trouble is (at least out here), most young couples are taken in by all the “glitz and glamour” of living in new homes, but the reality is that a second-hand townhouse or half-duplex is more than adequate. It all depends on one’s lifestyle of choice.
“Telecommuting will help save our environment, are health, and reduce overall costs.”
By Bill-Muskoka on 12.19.07 1:29 pm
But traveling to a different location to work allows myself 9 hours away from my wife 5 days per week and for that I am greatly indebted to my commute.
A early Christmas present for Harry S., the one commenter here who just LOVES to stroke his political polls
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey puts the Tories at 30 per cent support, in a statistical tie with the Liberals, who are up four points to 32 per cent.
Support for the Tories dropped across all regions and demographic groups.
The striking shift comes in the wake of several controversies which may be taking a toll on the governing party:
* Former Tory prime minister Brian Mulroney’s admission that he accepted cash-stuffed envelopes from arms lobbyist Karlheinz Schreiber.
* Heavy criticism of Canada’s position at the climate-change summit in Bali.
* The political fallout from a critical shortage of medical isotopes due to the shutdown of the Chalk River nuclear reactor.
The telephone poll of just over 1,000 Canadians was conducted Thursday through Monday and has a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points 19 times in 20.
Don’t worry Harry, this is just as meaningless as all the other polls since we are not in election mode, so don’t get your nickers in knot over it.
Merry Blogmas Everyone!
Who insures the insurers?
Answer:
The other insurers insure the insurers!
Bill-Muskoka, Rural and “Toronto Real Estate Agent”:
It’s not Toronto per say. The fact is, big business (financial/service business especially) tend to gravitate towards the hubs of large economic zones. The economies of the big city in the core of each of these zones tend to “draw” on the surrounding economic zone to provide specialized services (accounting, legal, financial, entertainment, etc). That drives up the price of real estate in those cities. It happened in New York, Tokyo, Paris, London, Moscow, Boston, etc. It recently happened to Toronto.
Unless there is an overall collapse of the economy, prices ain’t dropping in Toronto (or Boston, New York, etc) by much.
I suspect that something similar is true in Vancouver.
As for homes that cost $250,000 in “Toronto”, check out those houses. They are usually substandard “homes” (falling apart rat nests) on the fringes of the city right next door to a gas station on a high traffic and unsightly road. Sorry, unless you’re prepared to spend close to $500,000 don’t bother looking for a “decent” home anywhere in Toronto.
Oh my! CPPIB=Canada Pension Plan
CPPIB buys up ABCP amid market turmoil
Karen Mazurkewich, Financial Post
Published: Wednesday, December 19, 2007
“Mr. Raymond made it clear that this investment wasn’t a bank bail-out”
James emphaticly says “the other insurers insure the insurers!”
Do you mean Ambac Financial Group and MBIA Insurance Corp who insure $1.2 trillion in debt?
They were downgraded negative today.
But traveling to a different location to work allows myself 9 hours away from my wife 5 days per week and for that I am greatly indebted to my commute.
By Marc on 12.19.07 2:29 pm
Ah, very good way to find the Silver Lining in your situation. There is a more effective means, very environemntally friendly too…D-I-V-O-R-C-E! They even have a special song for it! LOL
Nope, they can keep the concrete jungle. I’ll just come and visit every once in a while. Leasa
By Leasa on 12.19.07 2:03 pm
That is our approach. But, HEY!, they keep missing a major marketing ploy ‘Come visit the GTA the World’s Capitol for Idiot Drivers in Winter Weather!’ I mean where else can boast of 400-900 accidents in ONE DAY?
And people wonder why I call them Citiots? What was that beaut a week or so ago? Torontards? LMAO!
Garth,
Thanks for sending the most inane bit of unsolicited email ever!
Where have all the trolls gone?
Tory support plunges, poll suggests
Dec 19, 2007 03:01 PM
THE CANADIAN PRESS
OTTAWA – A new poll suggests Stephen Harper’s Conservatives have lost their big lead over the Liberals in the wake of recent controversies, plunging six percentage points in popular support in just one week.
The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey puts the Tories at 30 per cent support, in a statistical tie with the Liberals who are up four points to 32 per cent.
Support for the Tories dropped across all regions and demographic groups
Is this what is considered ffordable housing for average families in Toronto?
http://www.midtowntoronto.com/2007/04/20/torontos-smallest-house-sold/
By Marc on 12.19.07 2:29 pm
“But traveling to a different location to work allows myself 9 hours away from my wife 5 days per week and for that I am greatly indebted to my commute.”
In all good humour, I suspect she is too
Do you mean Ambac Financial Group and MBIA Insurance Corp who insure $1.2 trillion in debt?
They were downgraded negative today.
By Pecked to Death by Ducks on 12.19.07 2:49 pm
It probably boils down to Lloyds of London, when alls said and done.
Garth, let’s not forget that an important element in all of this is that people have the power to choose.
People choose to take out mortgages that they really can’t afford. People choose to max out their credit cards buying things they don’t really need. People choose to book a holiday and then pay for it over time at high interest rates. No government can protect people from their own greed and stupidity.
As a financial speaker for many years you gave lectures on some economic fundamentals. Too bad so many people just don’t follow good financial advice.
The basics are really pretty simple… 1) live within your means (if your income was cut by 30% today and you could not meet your financial obligations you are living beyond your means), 2) if you can’t afford to pay cash for that ‘impulse buy’ you can’t afford it – so don’t buy it, 3) never allow your credit card balance to be greater than what you can pay off at the end of the month, 4) pay yourself first (RRSP, savings, and emergency funds), 5) never have more than one credit card, 6) never be the first to buy new techology (you’ll grossly overpay for the ‘newest toy’), 7) never buy a car to stroke your ego (don’t lease one either – save and pay cash and plan to keep the car for at least 10 years), if you really want something save for it and pay cash (the self sacrafice of saving to pay cash does wonders to clarify your real needs) avoid all debt whenever possible (when it comes to mortgages go for the shortest amortization possible).
Over the years our household has been through plenty of economic ups and downs, including dramatic, unexpected pay cuts, job losses and downsizing. Painful? Yes, but not nearly as bad as it could have been if we hadn’t followed the basics outlined above.
House prices are high due to the fundamental laws of supply and demand. People have confused wants and needs, and as a result far too many people are in homes that they do not need from a functional standpoint and can’t really afford. They have chosen to tie their hands behind their backs and walk out on the gangplank waiting for the next economic storm to hit. When the economy cools, house prices will begin dropping like a stone. Unfortunately many people who have made the choice to over-extended themselves will get caught in the vortex. Life has a way of always making us ultimately responsible for the choices we make.
I got that one too. I think its a picture of his CD-ROM.
I mean, ‘Greg’ isn’t a truly unique name and it’s not likely that someone new to the blog is going to research other posters names, made up or otherwise, is it?
By Ed Brooks on 12.19.07 10:23 am
I would say “pjw” is not that common and on the day it was used 4 or 5 times, the user even claimed he was the real “pjw”. It was brought to the attention of the person running the blog but nothing was done or if it was, I didn’t hear about it. I replied to every imposter post on that day and listed them for Garth on another day when asked!
Ed…if you would like to check these out, and tell me what the intent was?
……..This is what I sent in….
You asked…I refer you to the Thread on Dollar daze…the following are posts using my initials “pjw— that were posted by another.
11.21.07 8:49 am
11.21.07 11.50 am
11.21.07 3.13 pm
11.21.07 3.16 pm
11.21.07 3.19 pm
my posts on that day,
11.21.07 11.50 am
11.21.07 12.02 pm
11.21.07 4.22 pm
11.21.07 4.24 pm
11.21.07 7.53 pm
Thank you.
BY PJW ON 12.05.07 12:28 PM
Hi Garth:Thanks for the card.Have a good one.
By the way did you get your Harper 2008 calender yet,and what will you do with it if you do.
This is funny stuff,have a look.
http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/286823
Toronto real estate agent said: “Housing prices in most Canadian markets reflect peoples ability to afford housing – that is one of the most important points that a fellow commenter of mine has posted above.”
*cough* (BULLSHIT) I’ve really lost my trust in real estate agents. YOU are the ones driving up this bloody market! Young families are buying their “starter” homes for $300,000+ with 40 year amortizations and THAT is supposed to demostrate their ability to afford it?! Stop spreading lies, start working FOR the people, rather than your big fat paycheck.
BTW, there are only dumps or 600 sq ft shacks in Saskatoon for
*I don’t know why it cut off my post, here’s the rest:
There are only dumps or 600sq ft shacks in Saskatoon for
The Ethics Committee is to be congratulated for the evidence that they have brought to light on the Mulroney-Schreiber business affair without costing the tax-payers a cent. In doing so, they may even have saved the tax-payers millions more. This is good news for the Canadian tax-payer.
The tax-payer has enough realism and common sense to realize that while we will never know everything, we already know enough, unless there is (for whatever reason) the stomach to go on a witch hunt (more than has already happened). In those kind of debacles, many innocent people also get accused and judged and sentenced, all by the same people, and the tax-payer is for fairness, and for giving all fellow citzens the benefit of a doubt where we can’t be sure.
Several things now seem clear:
1. The tax-payer was interested to know whether Brian Mulroney received any personal kickbacks from projects that he personally supported and promoted while he was in office. There is at this point no clear evidence that he did, any more than any clear evidence has shown up to connect him to Airbus, even though the police have researched this now for many years until they finally closed the case, and it continues to be a dead alley.
2. Even with the deal that he cut with Karl Schrieber, it appears that there is no way to prove that Mr. Mulroney entered into any kind of a contract, or that a price was agreed for possible future services while he was the Prime Minister of Canada.
3. There is no evidence of the present government agreeing to champion either Mr. Mulroney’s or Mr. Schreiber’s interests in this debacle, even though a partisan effort has been made to implicate our present prime minister. Those who have made such innuendos now have egg on their face.
4. That leaves us with the personal dealings of Mr. Mulroney and Mr. Schrieber that began while Mr. Mulroney was a Member of Parliament, but after he had stepped down as Prime Minister. We are reduced now to a personal and private business dealing between these two people, and it does indeed appear very shady, and one can wonder if Mr. Mulroney took this money without intending to pay income tax on it, even though he subsequently did pay income taxes on $225,000.00.
5. It can also leave us wondering if the $225,000,00 was all of the money that Mr. Mulroney received from Mr. Schreiber. We don’t know. It is one man’s word against another, and people will draw their own conclusions as to who is telling the truth, as neither man can prove it on paper.
We are moving in an area quite different from behaviour that has been observed here. We are talking about motives and intentions of the heart. This is known personally only by the one who knew what he was thinking in secret. We cannot know that unless the individual discloses to us what he was thinking, or what his motives were. We can only suspect, but not prove.
We would have to be God to know another person’s motives or intentions. That is why we are not to judge. When we do judge, we usually end up making an ass of ourselves, and frequently innocent people are wrongly incriminated as well.
There is clear evidence that Mr. Mulroney has been harassed and pursued and investigated far beyond what any normal citizen would ever have to go through, or that would be considered fair. Many of the statements and accusations made against him over the last 15 years have been done through unethical means (such as with Stevie Cameron, as a journalist, acting as a police informant), and the whole Airbus debacle has turned out to be a hoax that the Canadian tax-payer is tired hearing about.
Fair-minded taxpayers believe that those who have laid false charges in areas where Mr. Mulroney is innocent are at least as unethical as anything that Mr. Mulroney has done in accepting cash in envelopes. Yet, we never hear of an apology made when a charge is disproven, and yet Mr. Mulroney has now apologized for having accepted this money in cash from Mr. Schrieber in the first place, as it is not an above-board way of doing business.
If Mr. Mulroney is telling the truth, then the Canadian taxpayers are out nothing (as they were with Adscam), and I understand some $40 million of that has yet to be accounted for. Why the Ethics Committee is not going after that money is beyond me.
They are now spending their time faced with the impossible task of proving beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Mulroney intended to keep this money hidden, and to avoid paying taxes on it. May be he did, and may be he didn’t, but we are into secret heart motives here, and no body can get inside of another person’s head or heart to know for sure exactly what they were thinking or intending. We can only suspect, imagine, guess, speculate, and assume. But to prove beyond a reasonable doubt as to what his motives were? It is not going to happen.
This is why the polls now show clearly that the Canadian tax-payer does not want the Canadian government spending millions of dollars on an inquiry to try to find out if Mr. Mulroney received more than $225,000.00, and whether income taxes were paid on that amount.
Another concern of mine is for those who make judgments and accusations and innuendos of another person without really knowing for certain what is in their heart, and what their motives are. This is a very unwise thing to do, because these judgments will come back on us.
I venture to say that every person has a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in their soul. Every human being is capable both of great good and of great perversity, depending on the decisions that we make. Every individual has a dark side, a hidden dimension, that is different from our presenting behaviour, and where at least a few secrets are stored.
He or she who is without regrets for some past decisions should cast the first stone at Mr. Mulroney. This man has been through the fire, and his private life has been investigated with a presumption of guilt like no other Canadian.
As Mike Duffy stated, “We went into this looking for big game, and came up with a rabbit!”
Is it really worthwhile now to pursue an expensive inquiry to try to dissect and to analyze the inward workings of his soul even further? Rather, I would say, we should be paying attention to our own dark side.
The Canadian tax-payer also knows that a number of MPs also do things in the gray area, and I know of at least one member of the Ethics Committee, for example, who flies Executive Class at taxpayers expense, thus building up the Aeroplan points very quickly, and then uses those Aeroplan points for personal and family trips.
Is this legal? I would say “yes.” Is it ethical? I would say “no.” It is similar with Mr. Mulroney’s transactions. If he took only $225,000.00, and eventually paid taxes on it, then it was legal, even though he himself would likely admit that it was not ethical, and that is why he has now apologized for accepting that money in the first place.
The bottom line is that the Canadian taxpayer does not want to keep hearing about this issue endlessly and ad nauseum. There are other more important issues to get on with in governing this country. There is also a sense that whatever Mr. Mulroney may have done or not done (the full extent of which we will never know of him or any other human being for that matter), there is still a sense now that he has paid his dues in the court of public opinion.
Not many former Prime Minister’s would be willing to be grilled for four hours by partisan politicians who are trying to find evidence that he was guilty more than they are trying to find evidence impartially for the truth. The human race would be better served, and much more ethical, if more human beings went around looking for evidence to try to prove the best in other human beings, and not the worst.
An inquiry is highly unlikely to turn up anything new about Mr. Mulroney, but it may well turn up some interesting light on the role of the CBC in all of this, as well as other politicians of opposing political parties.
It was no wonder that when Mr. Dion first demanded a public inquiry into this in the House of Commons, and he was so worked up in his premeditated question that he missed hearing the answer twice, and Mr. Harper challenged him as to whether he really wanted an inquiry, because this affair goes back previous to the days of the present government, back to the days when a previous government was in power, and do we really want an inquiry if it throws full light on a previous administration, as well as the CBC allegedly and possibly playing partisan politics with tax-payers money?
The deeper one goes into this, there will be no end of witch-hunting, accusations, denials, judging, pointing of the finger, condemning others, justifying ourselves, etc., etc. This is a deep abyss that is going nowhere in shedding more heat than light. At the end of the day, we will still have many unanswered questions, for the simple reasons that we are human beings who do not know for certain what is in the deepest recesses of the hearts of others.
**This is my last attempt to finish my sentence that was cut-off:
There are only dumps and 600sq ft shacks available in Saskatoon for less than 250,000 dollars. I wouldn’t think Toronto is much better.
By Ted Browne on 12.19.07 5:47 pm
Wow! Does that Gerry guy ever have a bad case of sour grapes! That is one of the nastiest articles I’ve read in a long time. I have the calendar and it’s really nice. Lots of pictures of Mr. Harper and his family. What is wrong with that, after all the guy IS the Prime Minister of Canada for cripes sake. Leasa
By Ike on 12.19.07 6:16 pm
Mulroney Inquiry
This inquiry is a drop in the bucket compaired to what will be coming with the inquiry into the income trust fraud. Harper,Flaherty,Marc Carney,and smiling Jack Layton will have some explaining to do. The Income Trust scandal has not gone away. The citizens that were robbed of their hard earned retirement money are more adament then ever to let the truth come out. Gomery and Mulroney inquirys are peanuts compared to the upcoming inquiry into Income Trusts. Let the heads roll!
Who would want to live in an environment as shown in this picture? Absolutely sickening and unsustainable, I find.
The Globe and Mail is reporting that Stephane Dion wants to appoint Joan Beatty, a Saskatchewan NDP MLA, to run in the Saskatchewan constituency of Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill. The problem for the Liberals is that it is the same riding that David Orchard wants to contest for the nomination.
This gives the impression that Dion is doing the same thing that Peter MacKay did: use Orchard and his supporters to win the leadership and then dump him.
By Ed Brooks on 12.19.07 10:23 am
Content, intent and lack of clarification by a new poster indicates someone who posts to this blog does stoop that low. I have seen other posters complain about this as well.
I guess that is what some choose to do when they can’t formulate arguments and positions of worth.
I don’t think it takes much convincing to tell the public that the average income for a family of four at $60,000 per year cannot afford $300,000 plus homes. The earnings, quite frankly, simply aren’t there.
As far as TO valuations go, old houses are still selling for more than new so what does that tell you, it tells you we are in a bubble despite what some commentors will say to the contrary. Combine these necessary corrections back to reality and common sense, the valuations of lots themselves will drop and when it does, spurned on by unemployment caused by a drop in commodities, a realestate correction is destined in inflated areas.
We have two things going for us in Canada: banking regulations and banking regulations. But the banks themselves, CIBC being the most notable as of late, has made poor investments into subprime (10% exposure to their overall portfolio) and as their liquidity is reduced, so will liquidity be reduced in the markets. If valuations drop straight across the board into commodities, this country will be headed for a recession and there will be no mercy for Conservatives who jacked military spending, GST cuts and corporate tax cuts to reduce government income for the rainy days about to come.
That, folks, is just plain piss poor policy no matter how one looks at it. The government is supposed to know how an economy works. The policies by the Cons mirror the policies of the Republicans who through deregulation and spending on war, created the U.S. recession about to come by the creation of the bubble to begin with. To not know the inevidable result to deregulating the U.S. banking industry 5 years ago in relation to real estate bubbles is to not know as well, that bubbles also burst and create recessions.
Combine it with spending on war, and our current North American governments are to blame for the financial mess that is now unfolding. Its called deregulation, folks. Our current governments created it and are just adding more fuel to the fire.
My New Years resolution? Convince voters as much as possible to stop voting in corporate lobbyists. Maybe then and only then, will laws and bills be passed in this continent that makes sound sense as what we are seeing now, is corporations that are suffering from their own greed. Its why, dear readers, they need to be regulated and governments can’t be owned by them as they are now.
Maybe its McGuinty’s Places to grow policy. There is not enough land set aside for housing to meet the demand