Gubment in Canada

Senate - appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister, meant to be a check and balance on the government's power, but they're appointed... Hmmmm... They wouldn't use public funds inappropriately would they? Oh, yes they totally would and have. They wouldn't give contracts to their friends would they? Oh ya they'd totally do that. Hey, tell you what. I'm going to have a lot of power, but don't worry because there's a group of people to make sure that I'm doing my job well and they'll read my shit and make sure I'm not being crazy - only catch is I get to pick them. Elect em. Great idea, seems to be poorly executed round here. Modeled after the feudal system of lords... We should bring that whole system back.

Financial support for artists should come from the people who enjoy that art, but we've been in a situation where mommy government has been buying our art for so long that most people simply buy their art from homesense or some shit. I do my best to support artists in a direct way. Been to the new "art" gallery lately? There's some okay stuff in there, but some of it looks like it was produced by someone with less of an aesthetic sense than ... I can't even think of anything. It's bad. Again why should the government pick which artists get funding and which don't? Things like SKYAP are fucking awesome. That's a great program - I love that.

Financial relief for first time home buyers?! Seriously?! Tried to buy a house lately, because I sure have. The new stress test mean I have to earn waaaayyyy more than I used to have to only 5 years ago to purchase the same priced house. Government regulation making it more difficult, not less.

I don't have much experience with legal aid, but if it works like it's supposed to, where people who need legal representation get it, then that's great. Somehow I suspect it's as bloated, top heavy, and confusing to navigate as any other government system.

I don't have an example of an effective government anywhere... THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY OF CANADA ISN'T ACTUALLY CONSERVATIVE, IT'S A BRAND! I don't currently support any political party in Canada (but I really like Elizabeth May), so stop painting me with that brush, it's inaccurate and straw-man territory. Governments want more power. Stop. Canada's checks on those powers, women like Jody Wilson-Raybould, are bullied into cow towing before the awesome power of our all-knowing government.

I don't know whether Ford's move improved the delivery of important services and reduced the cost of running the city or not - a lot of his perspective I disagree with and he seems like a pretty nasty dude from what I've gathered from the state sponsored radio I sometimes listen to - but, since the other team is in power, the CBC would be a mouthpiece for them, so I don't know if it's to be trusted.

I'm not sure what the bare minimum is - maybe a house for everyone, schools, roads, and hospitals, and to protect our borders, all run the same way as the highly efficient saskpower or sasktel. Publicly owned corporations. I really don't know, though.

If the government has less power, it doesn't matter if they are corrupted, as they always seem to be by corporate money and greed. Regulation is the path to government power consolidation and the more people involved the more top heavy and expensive governance gets. More people are needed to manage the regulation, and the tax payer doesn't have the money to buy these regulators, hence my choke point argument.

Ending corporate money in politics, as an argument from the left? The lobbying commissioner has launched a number of investigations into Liberal fundraisers, including two held for Justin Trudeau: a 2014 fundraiser by Clearwater Seafoods co-founder Mickey MacDonald where approximately 75 people paid about $1,000 each to attend, and an event hosted by the late chairman of Apotex Barry Sherman in 2015. That inquiry was dropped when he died, although Democracy Watch has filed a lawsuit challenging that decision. In British Columbia, research by Dermod Travis of Integrity B.C. showed that 60 per cent of the nearly $120 million raised by the B.C. Liberal Party between 2005 and 2016 came from less than 200 donors — and that 177 of those donors were awarded $74.4 million in government transfers and $3.5 billion in government supplier payments.

You mean those people on the left?

Is it a problem of size, or of corruption, function and priority? Yes.

Personally, I think the issue is the power that the government wields. We have a community which cares for one another here in this city. When one of us is hungry, or needs to move, it isn't the government that brings over helpful things or lends their time, it's people. Not everyone has this, I get that, and some people need more of a hand, for sure - my experience is that people like to help one another, but when we leave it up to the gubment to do it for us, we get to wash our hands of it in a way, and I think we are less likely to help in actuality since we think we've already done our part by paying taxes to an obviously inefficient, obviously biased, obviously corrupt, too powerful system of governance, who believes that they have a right to tell us where and when to enjoy public spaces, where and how our money should be spent, from whom and how much debt we take on, how and hen and where we are allowed to build, to swim, to walk, what we can drink or eat, and where, and which businesses get a leg up and which ones are set to fail.