Opening up the tools for becoming competitive in the market would be a good start. Crazy that it’s harder to start your own farm or restaurant than to build your own web service company or open your own online clothing brand.
“The total all-in cost was about $1.7 million," says Victoria fire Chief Dan Atkinson.
Two grants from the provincial and federal governments – totalling $660,000 – bring replacement costs in line with a new diesel truck at around $1.2 million.
“Total cost to ownership is definitely lower so when we look at that total lifecycle of say a 20-year vehicle, we’re saving a lot of money in fuel over that 20 years,” said Simon Upshon, manager of fleet operations with the City of Victoria.
Seems to be a fairly financially sound decision to make. Fuel is a massive cost for a car of this size.
The fundamental issue with housing as an investment is that it is a monolithic and non-fluid vehicle, which makes it worse when leverage comes into play. Whereas stocks can be purchased/sold at any time in an instant and have fractional costs (sometimes as cheap as 10$ per stock), houses are not, and fast fluctuations in prices could heavily impact your ability to realize your gains. So it is, on that aspect, a terrible investment.
For large companies owning thousands of units, this is not an issue since they are spreading the risks across the units (by buying diversely located units of all types). They can also quickly execute purchases and sales since they are in that exact business.
So the argument that houses are ways to pass down wealth is misguided: they are terrible ways to pass down wealth, and parents should leave a trust fund or safe investments rather than a house if their goal is to build generational wealth - housing should be passed down for personal reasons.
I think a rent cap could be a good way. It could be raised wrt to inflation. Then, government housing, better loan systems for non profit and maximize density to allow building taller rather than wider (making land cost minimal), but not tall enough that would create increased cost (elevators are expensive to maintain for example). A lot of initiatives need to be put in place, but one that could be effective is to lower costs of construction and find ways to increase productivity by improving resource management
Yeah problematic tenants are an issue, especially when the landlords are elderly folks whose alternative would be to seek professional management or sell it to REITs, both of which exacerbate the issue of rent price.
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton is in critical condition and undergoing surgery after he was assaulted by another inmate in a Quebec prison on Sunday....
One of the most polarizing figures to gain notoriety during what became known as the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa more than two years ago will stand trial Monday, signalling the tail end of criminal proceedings that have dogged hundreds of individuals who participated in the historic protest....
As much as I disagree with the convoy movement, it seems that the charges are more politically motivated (anti-far right) than bringing justice. A lot of those charges could be applied to anyone partaking in a protest: mischief, obstructing police, and intimidation are all charges that could potentially be applied to both the convoy and the current ceasefire protesters at various North American campuses; given a literal reading of the criminal code.
(a) resists or wilfully obstructs a public officer or peace officer in the execution of his duty or any person lawfully acting in aid of such an officer,
Obviously there’s a double standard where such charges would not even be brought up unless it’s extreme cases. But shall pat King be charged and given a lengthy prison sentence (5 years for example), that’d probably set a precedence for the justice system to be used to deter politically motivated protests; this time it’s the freedom convoy, the next could be Gaza-related protests shall it persist.
Crown corp would be great but letting them monopolize the entire process might not be the optimal thing to do. In some cases it worked well (e.g. hydro-quebec prices are very competitive) but in others it gives them unlimited power to set the prices as they want in order to achieve a target profit, with potentially murky decisions like automatic bonuses and millions in severance payments.
Oth crown corps competing in the market allows it to be more efficient since other players cannot push crown corps out of the market through acquisition, yet crown corps have to adapt their practice to be competitive and lean; good example is CDPQ infra participating in a competitive market when building light rail systems across Canada/UK.
Nurse practitioners could help fill the void, advocates for the profession say, if more provinces would adopt policies to integrate them into primary care and pay them fairly for their work. Some physicians’ organizations have pushed back against that approach, arguing that NPs don’t have as much training or education as...
Oh there’s so many people who want to be doctors! No shortage of that.
What ends up is the extremely difficult admission process, poor mentorship/training structure, long work hours, and low salary; at the end you are rewarded with high salary and prestige, but very few makes it that far.
He says that “After a couple of sips, it became soggy and started to stain. Thereafter, I could taste a few small lid pieces in the drink, which was like ‘yuck.’”
Yep sounds like terrible design and Tim’s cheapen out in the material. I’ve had non plastic caps that were much better than that.
You know what would bring us back to the good old days? A real ceramic mug you can use to sit down, drink it slowly and enjoy. But I haven’t been to a Tim’s in a while where the server would ask if I wanted a mug or to go. Maybe the lady would call that woke too?
If you go on social media and ask why Canada cares about disabled and veterans, it’s not gonna go well. But the “darn immigrants” is a popular trope and people will get behind you
Would be a great time for Sony to acquire essentially the entire studio for $0, simply paying for their salary (won’t even need relocation since it is already based in Tokyo, they could probably just reuse the same office space).
They would not even need to think of a game, simply focus on the planned sequel to hi-fi rush (obviously with different name but keeping the same core idea that was proposed for the sequel) and release it as a Sony exclusive.
I’ve never played a Sony game or owned a Sony console. I’m simply stating how a major japan-based company could save a young studio from completely disintegrating, allowing them to realize what could be a promising new IP. Also Sony could easily spinoff the studio once they’ve gained a certain size/reputation (they have spinoffed subsidiaries like financial services last year). Oth Microsoft would never spinoff any game company (they’d rather shut the whole thing down).
Investors reshaped Canadian home real estate. Something similar is happening in agriculture (www.cbc.ca)
When asked if young, aspiring farmers ever inquired about buying his farm, Marcus Collinson just laughs....
Victoria welcomes first of 2 electric fire trucks (bc.ctvnews.ca)
Trudeau says housing needs to retain its value (www.theglobeandmail.com)
In case anyone still wants to somehow debate whether the Liberals will deliver affordable housing....
Chinese PC maker spills AMD Radeon RX 7650M XT launch plans — GPU features in a dock it will reveal on Monday (www.tomshardware.com)
Serial killer Robert Pickton in critical condition after prison assault (www.cbc.ca)
Convicted B.C. serial killer Robert Pickton is in critical condition and undergoing surgery after he was assaulted by another inmate in a Quebec prison on Sunday....
New Windows AI feature records everything you’ve done on your PC (arstechnica.com)
Convoy leader Pat King heads to trial (www.cbc.ca)
One of the most polarizing figures to gain notoriety during what became known as the Freedom Convoy in Ottawa more than two years ago will stand trial Monday, signalling the tail end of criminal proceedings that have dogged hundreds of individuals who participated in the historic protest....
Growing food bank lines are a sign that society has lost its way, a Groceries and Essentials Benefit would help the most vulnerable citizens (www.thestar.com)
Nine million Canadians worry about where their next meal will come from.
Could nurse practitioners fill the primary care gap? (www.theglobeandmail.com)
Nurse practitioners could help fill the void, advocates for the profession say, if more provinces would adopt policies to integrate them into primary care and pay them fairly for their work. Some physicians’ organizations have pushed back against that approach, arguing that NPs don’t have as much training or education as...
Conservatives want to bring back the smoking rooms in Tim Hortons ultimately, and fuck the planet. (lemmy.world)
Federal gov’t sparks outrage for giving newcomers free access to Canada’s parks (torontosun.com)
While many have to pay to access any of the dozens of parks across the country, there is a group that has been granted free admission.
Nvidia's unannounced R100 AI GPUs reportedly coming in late 2025 — 'Vera Rubin' multi-chip designs using 3nm and CoWoS-L (www.tomshardware.com)
Tim Hortons Is Brewing an Idea of Canada That No Longer Exists. (thewalrus.ca)
Scientists Use Ultrasound to Make Cold Brew Coffee in 3 Minutes Instead of 24 Hours (www.404media.co)
Microsoft’s Xbox Is Planning More Cuts After Studio Closings (www.bloomberg.com)
Valve launches Proton 9.0 with improved game compatibility and more - KitGuru (www.kitguru.net)