As usual, those with the least skin in the game are the toughest talkers with the sharpest elbows.
Wab Kinew, Doug Ford, and countless boomer retirees with guaranteed pension plans. They're getting paid next week and next month, no matter what happens.
The rest of us, whose jobs and economic well-being is on the line and potentially threatened, end up being canon fodder.
I have a bone to pick about your blanket characterization of business. The distinction between large & small business needs to be made. They are polar opposites in so many ways. Small biz typically has serious skin in the game, there are no shareholders, just owners, small firms are usually very connected with & supportive of their communities, if a small biz owner screws up, they might lose their home as it is equity against their biz whereas if a corporate CEO screws up they get a nice fat severance. World of difference.
It is not likely due to space limitations, but I would love to read an article about “the Canadian entrepreneurial drought” from someone who understands the problem.
I sincerely didn't know this existed or would be unveiled the very day Jenn and Matt reflect on what Canada's very own, Chicago Bean, would stand for. You guys are writing a Simpson's episode in real time.
It's ironic that Jen said that “Toronto can do fun, see Nathan Phillips Square. It has TORONTO sign”. Guess what they added to the sign? Indigenous Medicine Wheel.
Jen was trying to give example when Canada tries to do something fun without it being made a memorial of something or something related to indigenous. And the very first example she made was exactly proof that Canada does have to make fun things they do related to memorial and/or indigenous.
I roll my eyes every time I see that thing. It ruins something that should be joyful and apolitical with the reminder that "right, some activists representing a fraction of 1% of the population showed up and bullied their cause onto the city sign". I'm surprised it isn't flanked with a permanent depiction of the Progress Pride flag on the other side.
re: the last segment. Our TO family cannot figure out why we wouldn't want to come live there with them. All family dynamics and time-of-life conversations aside: I live where there is clean water, sweet mountain air (outside of wildfire season), people in the tens of thousands rather than millions, free buses, bike paths, parking in the shopping district (for now) and pretty low tolerance for unknown folks hanging out doing questionable stuff on the sidewalks. These things actually matter. And yes, some of that could be available in busy cities, if we designed and maintained with those priorities.
Whatever you do, don't move to Toronto. If you have family here you probably already are aware, but it really is an overcrowded, overpriced hellhole that fights you every step of the way whenever you leave your disappointingly-small-at-any-price-point home.
Lacking the culture and excitement that in any way justifies the price of admission, home to SUV-purchase-justifying potholes, world-class traffic, and a laughably limited transit system that works without issues or delays a solid 60% of the time.
Everything is a desperate competition, from jobs with 1000 qualified applicants to daycare requiring registration at the moment of conception if not earlier despite what I suspect is one of the lowest birth rates on the planet. Crime, dirt, and visible decay increasing steadily and noticeably over time. The average person so poor relative to cost of living that they all vote for hard left socialists who ruin the city even more. And we are adding up to a Halifax worth of new population every year!
If not already trapped here by employment or family obligations, stay far, far away.
I take it you are the newest hired booster/cheerleader the City of TO ;) A very succinct summary. I am also aware that our TO siblings are now planning for their adult kids to live at the family home, indefinitely.
Yes, Kinew is Anishinaabe and speaks in a style that is common in some indigenous communities in the Treaty #3 territory (Manitoba and NW Ontario). It is not performative per se, but it is definitely a speaking style he would have heard a lot from his dad and uncle (both of whom were former Grand Council Treaty #3 Grand Chiefs). It has a particular cadence that is quite distinct. I will also say, having spoken with him a few times, it is how he speaks in regular conversation, BUT when he is speaking in public he really turns it up.
The public favourite for the renamed Yonge-Dundas Square was Gordon Lightfoot Square. But no, our civic administration progressives (an oxymoron) found a phrase they liked then searched for an obscure language the translated their chosen phrase into something pronounceable. Sadly, they failed when naming the new fantastic kids park at the rebuilt mouth of the Don: Biidisige (spelling?). Its apparently a First Nation language that is extinct: no one speaks it anymore.
Funny thing. I met Wab Kinew yesterday. We were at a grand opening of a new basketball court in Killarney, MB. I went up to him, shook his hand, and thanked him for what he said about Trump. Told him 'I hate that guy'. He had a laugh about that. The premier was stumping for the local NDP candidate too. Thing is nobody else came up to him. Everyone polite, no cat calling or anything. Rural Manitoba is still blue blue conservative. I doubt our premier will change my mind or theirs. I do very much like what he says about the US though.
There are double standards in Canada when it comes to left vs right politicians.
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you" seems to be the ethic in Canada. Canada is about social benefits so you don't have to buy them yourself, that is the core Canadian value. The left delivers that.
Listening while walking the dog, I did some quick googling around to figure out a comparison of Chicago and Toronto from municipal spend perspective, as well as revenue.
Based on that quick Google and ChatGPT search (so YMMV), Chicago spends between 40 and 50% more per capita through its municipal government for a similar range of services, and has a much broader pool of revenue Sources to draw from. Sales taxes and business taxes, being notable, as well as significant grants from state and federal authorities.
I don’t understand Jen’s point about Trump coming back for a second bite. I suppose it depends on how the deal is structured, but why wouldn’t things just spring back to what they were before the deal. And if Carney is unable or unwilling to spring back, to me, that would suggest that we weren’t really at idk an equilibrium to begin with. Also, I would like to know more about why Wab Kinew (or really anyone) thinks that the public is willing to put it’s money where its mouth is on standing up to Trump. Like, there are lots of things people say they want but are completely unwilling to pay any kind of meaningful price for. Forgive the cynicism, but I would not be surprised if the public actually wants the Carney game of talking loudly and carrying a soft stick.
Edmonton,AB elected a Progressive Hard Leftie who rode a bike to the office. Tried to ban vehicles downtown. The whole city deteriorated while council spent millions on barricades and bike lanes. Now we are dodging pot holes and sinkholes and floods. And this council are re-imagining Snow Clearing,”let’s try chemicals again!” WTF? Just fix the roads,and fire up the plows.
What is the point of Canada if it isn't to provide a better quality of life and standard of living than the US? Canada is just a left wing social services provider and that is out nationalism?
Our children deserve better than sacrificing their quality of life for boomers benefits and crappy butter.
As usual, those with the least skin in the game are the toughest talkers with the sharpest elbows.
Wab Kinew, Doug Ford, and countless boomer retirees with guaranteed pension plans. They're getting paid next week and next month, no matter what happens.
The rest of us, whose jobs and economic well-being is on the line and potentially threatened, end up being canon fodder.
PS: The line Jen and Matt are asking about may be reached when the last Ontario auto manufacturing plant closes.
I have a bone to pick about your blanket characterization of business. The distinction between large & small business needs to be made. They are polar opposites in so many ways. Small biz typically has serious skin in the game, there are no shareholders, just owners, small firms are usually very connected with & supportive of their communities, if a small biz owner screws up, they might lose their home as it is equity against their biz whereas if a corporate CEO screws up they get a nice fat severance. World of difference.
Write something for us!
I’m in. What are your parameters, word count etc?
800 max. Send to info@readtheline.ca.
I promise to read it!
Thanks! 🙏
I would enjoy that type of article as well.
It is not likely due to space limitations, but I would love to read an article about “the Canadian entrepreneurial drought” from someone who understands the problem.
Love Catherine read her pieces every week in the Niagara Independent.
🙏
I sincerely didn't know this existed or would be unveiled the very day Jenn and Matt reflect on what Canada's very own, Chicago Bean, would stand for. You guys are writing a Simpson's episode in real time.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/article/national-monument-marking-lgbtq-persecution-opens-this-morning-in-ottawa/
It's ironic that Jen said that “Toronto can do fun, see Nathan Phillips Square. It has TORONTO sign”. Guess what they added to the sign? Indigenous Medicine Wheel.
I don’t see how that ruins the fun
Jen was trying to give example when Canada tries to do something fun without it being made a memorial of something or something related to indigenous. And the very first example she made was exactly proof that Canada does have to make fun things they do related to memorial and/or indigenous.
I roll my eyes every time I see that thing. It ruins something that should be joyful and apolitical with the reminder that "right, some activists representing a fraction of 1% of the population showed up and bullied their cause onto the city sign". I'm surprised it isn't flanked with a permanent depiction of the Progress Pride flag on the other side.
re: the last segment. Our TO family cannot figure out why we wouldn't want to come live there with them. All family dynamics and time-of-life conversations aside: I live where there is clean water, sweet mountain air (outside of wildfire season), people in the tens of thousands rather than millions, free buses, bike paths, parking in the shopping district (for now) and pretty low tolerance for unknown folks hanging out doing questionable stuff on the sidewalks. These things actually matter. And yes, some of that could be available in busy cities, if we designed and maintained with those priorities.
Whatever you do, don't move to Toronto. If you have family here you probably already are aware, but it really is an overcrowded, overpriced hellhole that fights you every step of the way whenever you leave your disappointingly-small-at-any-price-point home.
Lacking the culture and excitement that in any way justifies the price of admission, home to SUV-purchase-justifying potholes, world-class traffic, and a laughably limited transit system that works without issues or delays a solid 60% of the time.
Everything is a desperate competition, from jobs with 1000 qualified applicants to daycare requiring registration at the moment of conception if not earlier despite what I suspect is one of the lowest birth rates on the planet. Crime, dirt, and visible decay increasing steadily and noticeably over time. The average person so poor relative to cost of living that they all vote for hard left socialists who ruin the city even more. And we are adding up to a Halifax worth of new population every year!
If not already trapped here by employment or family obligations, stay far, far away.
I take it you are the newest hired booster/cheerleader the City of TO ;) A very succinct summary. I am also aware that our TO siblings are now planning for their adult kids to live at the family home, indefinitely.
Negotiation with Trump and expecting to cut an actual deal is a mug's game.
FYI I’m pretty sure that Wab Kinew’s accent is an indigenous one.. though there may be a Venn diagram somewhere with “Hoser” on the other side??
Yes, Kinew is Anishinaabe and speaks in a style that is common in some indigenous communities in the Treaty #3 territory (Manitoba and NW Ontario). It is not performative per se, but it is definitely a speaking style he would have heard a lot from his dad and uncle (both of whom were former Grand Council Treaty #3 Grand Chiefs). It has a particular cadence that is quite distinct. I will also say, having spoken with him a few times, it is how he speaks in regular conversation, BUT when he is speaking in public he really turns it up.
What exactly is the point of Canada if it isn't to be more a more prosperous place to live with a better quality of life than the US?
Is Canada just a vehicle to provide free benefits and reduce the rigours of personal accountability in life?
I know this, out kids deserve better than a reduced quality of life because of nationalism.
The public favourite for the renamed Yonge-Dundas Square was Gordon Lightfoot Square. But no, our civic administration progressives (an oxymoron) found a phrase they liked then searched for an obscure language the translated their chosen phrase into something pronounceable. Sadly, they failed when naming the new fantastic kids park at the rebuilt mouth of the Don: Biidisige (spelling?). Its apparently a First Nation language that is extinct: no one speaks it anymore.
Only in Toronto.
Funny thing. I met Wab Kinew yesterday. We were at a grand opening of a new basketball court in Killarney, MB. I went up to him, shook his hand, and thanked him for what he said about Trump. Told him 'I hate that guy'. He had a laugh about that. The premier was stumping for the local NDP candidate too. Thing is nobody else came up to him. Everyone polite, no cat calling or anything. Rural Manitoba is still blue blue conservative. I doubt our premier will change my mind or theirs. I do very much like what he says about the US though.
What I dont understand is how Kinews background isn't questionable here. Domestic Violence etc isn't my idea of a good man. And much more.
There are double standards in Canada when it comes to left vs right politicians.
"Don't bite the hand that feeds you" seems to be the ethic in Canada. Canada is about social benefits so you don't have to buy them yourself, that is the core Canadian value. The left delivers that.
It’s just words which unless backed up by action are fairly meaningless.
Listening while walking the dog, I did some quick googling around to figure out a comparison of Chicago and Toronto from municipal spend perspective, as well as revenue.
Based on that quick Google and ChatGPT search (so YMMV), Chicago spends between 40 and 50% more per capita through its municipal government for a similar range of services, and has a much broader pool of revenue Sources to draw from. Sales taxes and business taxes, being notable, as well as significant grants from state and federal authorities.
Food for thought.
I don’t understand Jen’s point about Trump coming back for a second bite. I suppose it depends on how the deal is structured, but why wouldn’t things just spring back to what they were before the deal. And if Carney is unable or unwilling to spring back, to me, that would suggest that we weren’t really at idk an equilibrium to begin with. Also, I would like to know more about why Wab Kinew (or really anyone) thinks that the public is willing to put it’s money where its mouth is on standing up to Trump. Like, there are lots of things people say they want but are completely unwilling to pay any kind of meaningful price for. Forgive the cynicism, but I would not be surprised if the public actually wants the Carney game of talking loudly and carrying a soft stick.
Edmonton,AB elected a Progressive Hard Leftie who rode a bike to the office. Tried to ban vehicles downtown. The whole city deteriorated while council spent millions on barricades and bike lanes. Now we are dodging pot holes and sinkholes and floods. And this council are re-imagining Snow Clearing,”let’s try chemicals again!” WTF? Just fix the roads,and fire up the plows.
What is the point of Canada if it isn't to provide a better quality of life and standard of living than the US? Canada is just a left wing social services provider and that is out nationalism?
Our children deserve better than sacrificing their quality of life for boomers benefits and crappy butter.
Lutnick
The curse of the Friday podcast strikes again!