Hub readers this week discussed the issues of housing affordability, the federal government’s spending on EDI research, the return of the “Great Canadian Slump,” and polling on how Canadians’ are feeling about a potential second Trump presidency.
The goal of Hub Forum is to bring the impressive knowledge and experience of The Hub community to the fore and to foster open dialogue and the competition of differing ideas in a respectful and productive manner. Here are some of the most interesting comments from this past week.
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Housing affordability is Canada’s most pressing problem
Monday, April 1, 2024
“While the problem is most acute in a few big cities, the affordability crisis has spilled over into many other Canadian cities from Toronto, Vancouver, etc. Cities like Halifax, Hamilton, and Guelph have had their own property booms because of housing prices in the big cities.”
— Michael F
“In many ways, the zero-sum conflict is already here. The biggest age group is around 30 and are on the clock if they want to start families, and (anecdotally) they are already resenting how much their lives have been delayed both by economic forces and pandemic restrictions. It makes a huge difference, both to individual people and to a sense of generational prospects, whether a solution for people to at least be able to stably rent family-sized housing takes five years or 10. Governments are largely still acting like they have the luxury of pretending time is free. They don’t, and short-term fixes need to be at least partially about demand.”
— Valerie
The federal government is spending millions on equity, diversity, and inclusion research
Tuesday, April 2, 2024
“This article seems to be based on some diligent research about the grant-receiving researchers. The pursuit of truth starts with a question, but too often the pursuit of social justice starts with the answer. In fields in which there is very little quantitative data, there are lots of places for poor research to hide and lots of punishment for any that attempt to question it.”
— Paul Attics
“Researching EDI issues is one thing and worth doing. Implementing the results of that research is also worthwhile. It’s a smaller part of the overall funding and doesn’t guarantee that the research results will be poor or invalid.”
— Elizabeth Thorne
Supreme Court confirms that the Charter applies to Indigenous governments—except when it doesn’t
Wednesday, April 3, 2024
“Every community, Indigenous, municipal, and local, should enjoy the right of self-government within reasonable limits. Being a whimsy-child of the province like cities are is not self-government, merely self-administration.”
— Gregory Lang
The ‘Great Canadian Slump’ is back
Thursday, April 4, 2024
“Economists seem surprisingly reluctant to admit that if their theories about how the economy is doing do not actually match people’s experience that their standard of living is declining, then they may just be measuring the wrong thing. What good is expertise that is divorced from what actually matters to people?”
— Valerie
New polling shows Canadians think another Trump presidency would deeply damage Canada
Friday, April 5, 2024
“Speculating about a potential future Trump 2.0 policy agenda is worthwhile, and such analysis should be part of the Canadian establishment response to any U.S. election cycle. But it must be done in a practical way that focuses on why are we vulnerable and what can we do about it.”
— Gord Edwards
“Trouble with Trump is it’s hard to get past his meanness, name-calling, narcissism, vengefulness—all the traits you wouldn’t want to see in your sons and daughters—to actually take a serious look at his politics. A country leader should be held to certain standards, and this, to me, automatically disqualifies Trump.”
— Solange
“Trump is loud, boorish, and a bull in a china shop. But he is also a rare protector of democracy, free speech, and free enterprise in a world becoming increasingly Orwellian.”
— Peter Byrne
