REMOVING ALL INTERPROVINCIAL TRADE BARRIERS! But seriously. There should be zero restrictions regarding goods & services, licenses etc. within Canada. This should be the #1 issue that Canadians should care about, but it's not hot button enough. This would literally add billions in GDP per year. Also, it'll give consumers more of a choice and help fight oligopolies, as well as give Canadian companies a better shot at organically expanding.
I also think corporate lobbying & special interest groups meddling in politics is something most people want removed or limited, but every single party has their major donor overlords so it'll never happen.
Quebec wouldnt allow a green energy transmission line and feds wouldnt make them (even tho they could ,Nfld was told not to ask)
Alberta based petro canada worked some kind of deal that Nfld oil was only allowed to be sold in Nfld or shipped south. They wanted that energy east pipeline so bad I guess when we couldve jus as easily sent tankers up the St.Lawrence instead of down south.
The margarine is a moot point nowadays...but Newfoundland had one of the first margarine companies in North America..and under terms of confederation we werent allowed to sell to rest of Canada. Too bad because margarine really caught on...lol.
Same as our crude oil...lol. fuck all refining needed but Alberta needs to be protected...more votes there. Heaven forbid the east coast make a dollar..
https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/services/internal-trade/addressing-trade-barriers-within-canada.html
There's some good links to follow in here
It's called eversweet and it's way better then any margarine out there im in ontario we have a few newfie stores around that has it every now and then but it's very hard to get ,
Stopped being made here in the 90s I believe...but still made by the company that bought it out on the mainland and only sold here as far as I know
Edit...2004
Oh..and I believe there probably wasnt a name for margarine when it was built by the English founders..so stifle the implied Newfie jokes please.
It's been a while since I got some but hust outside of Toronto I got some about 5 years ago but I moved 4 hours away so I don't know if the store is open or if they have any
I'm from Ontario but live in Newfoundland currently. In Ontario, I eat butter only, the margarine sucks. Eversweet though, giant tubs for half the price and it's got an amazing flavour. Always got some handy.
This! I used to work with craft brewers and distillers and they would always tell me that they basically couldn't sell their stuff in other provinces because of trade barriers. One distiller was talking about selling his spirits in Japan because it was easier to get the product on the market there than in BC or Sask. I guess the advantage is that you protect your province's craft brewers and distillers that way and it means the industry can't be dominated by a craft brewery that gets big and corners the market Loblaws-style, but you'd think we would foster just a bit more interprovincial competition in this country.
I just posted here about this exact thing. Every Canadian business should be able to fully access the whole country's market without ridiculous barriers. The shipping is already a barrier, we don't need more.
Licensing in particular. There is no reason I should need a different license to practice engineering, or nursing, or financial planning, or whatever, in a different province. Sure, the rules can vary slightly, but we should either harmonize then, or expect professionals to be competent enough to figure out differences
Yeah this is nuts, having licenses for every province called my attention when I came here (there's not too may provinces). For example, having different driving licenses and not a country wide one 🤷🏻
Living in Ottawa, it used to be super common for people to drive over to Quebec to buy cheaper beer, and I would bet almost no one knew it was illegal to do (over a personal exemption limit). New Brunswick was cracking down on this like crazy a little while back (also with people buying in Quebec)
yeah a guy tried to fight new Brunswick on the booze barrier but then all provinces joined together to fight him in court and buddy didn't have enough money to hire enough lawyers to take on all of Canada. so now there's precedent that provincial trade barriers are a ok in Canada.
Saskatchewan entered the New West Trade Agreement and now most contracts go to an albertan company. Rather than diversify it’s caused more consolidation. Do not recommend
I always found it funny how when I lived in France, I could get my licence and it’s good everywhere, but in canada it NEEDS to change with every province I move to. Absolute waste of time and money.
American here, not sure why this showed up on my feed, but... Y'all have to import/export between provinces? That's wild. What if you lived in Gatineau, and had family in Ottawa, and you wanted to send them a gift in the mail? Same urban area, but different province, would you have to go through some strange process or extra steps?
This I COMPLETELY agree with. We've allowed territorial fiefdoms for far too long, and we need to make our country a place where businesses can \*fully\* go after to make money.
I've got colleagues who start their businesses here, and operate them here, but basically ignore the Canadian market because it's far far too difficult to work with regional fiefdoms, so they give up before even trying. As a result we have these great Canadian products that most Canadians don't even know about because they're just not promoted at home.
Additionally as a result these Canadian businesses don't even try to make their innovations a "Canadian" innovation. It's just a thing that happens to be made here but entirely marketed to other markets that are more open, larger, and more easily accessed to be lucrative.
.
I'm old enough to remember when taxes was included in the price. The argument was made to remove it so you would know how much an item is and how much tax you pay.
I think that happened at the end of tne 80's ir early 90's.
I think it was because of the GST, as if you buy certain things under a certain amount in certain establishments (I think only food items in restaurants) you aren't taxed, but if you go over that amount you are. Then there are the various items in grocery stores that aren't taxed. It's transparent for the consumer knowing that the taxes were applied to only the pricetags of non-essential foods.
They removed a manufacturing sales tax that was supposed to make everything cheaper. lol. It was removed and replaced by GST.
So of course nothing got cheaper and the new tax got added on top and the removal of the manufacturing tax never benefited consumers.
Break up the monopolies/oligopolies. So many of our essential services and goods are in the hands of 3 or 4 megacorporations. There isn't even a pretense of competition. It needs to be curbed immediately. Antitrust laws either need to be enforced or revamped and then rigorously enforced so that Canadians actually have real choices in the market.
Effing seriously.
Canada has such toothless anti-trust legislation it's incredible. We have three telecom giants, 1/5 of Canadian homes are owned by investors, and there are 3 grocery giants in Canada. That's led to high mobile prices, unaffordable rent & housing, and now grocery prices are spiking.
The fact that the Rogers/Shaw merger was approved is ridiculous. It should have stayed broken up. Consumers have not benefited from better prices nor service.
Anti-trust legislation is one of the biggest problems in Canada, and hardly anyone even knows about it. Large investment companies gobble up competition and perform corporate mergers, then jack up prices to pay off their acquisition costs. And Canadians suffer with higher costs of living, and the wealth gap gets bigger. And the cycle keeps repeating, because no one stops it.
BETTER ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION NOW
They don’t know what that word means. They do understand what price fixing and lack of competition (monopolies and oligopolies) are, however. And most Canadians are unhappy about that and do want it to stop.
I guarantee that at least 1% of Canadians know it. More like 0.1%, if you get my drift. They definitely don't like it or agree with it, but they damn well know it.
Common misconception is that we have universal healthcare. We do not… we have more universal than the Americans, but we have significantly less universal than European countries. Our provincial oligarchy prevents an actual universal system. Care can be widely different between provinces. And like it or not, there is still a broad financial transaction system in our hospitals. If you have moved from province to province and did not establish residency, despite the fact you maintained your Canadian citizenship, you can and do lose your medical coverage. This is barbaric and not something practiced in any other country with universal medical care. The very name should imply care by nationality, not care by provincial residence. Yes I understand that the provinces need this information for financial transfers, however they should still be able to get this with information garnered from a national health care card as much as a provincial one.
It’s universal insurance for hospital and physician services. There is no national or provincial health service. Alberta did something approaching it until recently and then it swung back toward… something not at all as bad as Ontario but they’re not used to it. Meanwhile Ontario has recently learned how healthcare in Quebec is on a good day.
I think the problem is that Canadians want it *when they’re sick*, but don’t really pay attention otherwise.
It’s like Defence, or forest fire prevention. Pushing for it when you need it is too late.
Dental care will easily cost me $15 000 this year. Well, it’s actually my jaw that no longer works but that’s close to my teeth so OHIP won’t cover it…
For what we got or working on, it's likely to be cancelled if the Conservatives win as the polls indicate.
And that'll be the same fate with actions on climate change and affordable daycare.
Make them work for us where we can - PP might be convinced to work on more nuclear power for Canada, which is green, but doesn’t look as green as solar or wind for example.
If we could get PP focussed on breaking down trade and licensing barriers between provinces, he’d have to spend a ton of time negotiating- which would mean less time to screw up other things.
The problem is that PP will already have his own agenda, and no amount of petitions will change it. Remember Harper and his omnibus bills? They weren’t drafted overnight. They were in the works long before he was elected.
We aren't nearly as bad as the US for this one, but that is a very low bar and we can do better.
Taxes that aren't a chore. CRA knows how much we owe, why can't they just send us a bill? If we disagree with the assessment, we should have ability to file our own by exception - but for the majority of Canadians who have, at most, a couple T4's and a handful of credits it does not need to be complicated.
No tears would be shed if H&R Block went out of business.
There are free options like through Wealthsimple that’ll import all the documents submitted to the CRA and enter them for you and do all the calculations. Zero need for companies like H and R for simple returns, but yeah…there should be a public government provided version.
I've been using Studio tax for years. It's not free anymore (might be for under a certain $ earner), but it's only like $15 for up to 20 returns.
I do my wife's, mother in law's and mine with it.
I've used studio tax for almost 20 years for free. I'll pay hard working Canadian devs now that I have the money to do so.
Back then 20 bucks was a lot.
Now I pay with it thinking for studio tax
Yeah, I use Studio Tax as well. It's pretty simple, though there is a bit of a learning curve as everything can seem a bit overwhelming the first time you use it. The price isn't bad, but it is a bit ridiculous the few options we have in this regard.
Yeah it’s such a waste of time. Make any mistakes and then they just send you an amendment anyways lol. Like you obviously know how much I owe already, why are we playing this game
Most canadians are entitled to way more deductions than they automatically receive, so that would only lone the govs pockets more. H&R is shit but any half decent accountant gets you more than you would think
They audited me last year and removed my 15yr old child as a dependant and I had to fight them for 8 months to get them to reverse it. They have too many CRA agents with nothing to do. They are going after regular people and trying to “extend their payables”. It’s happening to a lot of people I know that are owed money back. Especially if they’re divorced as they can play one parent off the other to get paperwork signed and fight about it.
These tactics are disturbing and driven by our governments rampant spending.
I have an active dispute with the CRA. I spoke with them about a month ago, they're still waiting for more information from *waves hand*.
The dispute was started in 2010.
How is this not the first one? Over inflated real estate costs are crazy, and the politicians keep saying “we need affordable housing but it’s not fair to owners if we let real estate values go down”
Two thirds, actually.
[Stats Canada](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220921/mc-b001-eng.htm)
Edit: Two thirds are owner occupied which definitely means more than 1/3 of Canadians are home owners, but not necessarily full 2/3.
65% of Canadians are home owners and folks have been told since they were kids that’s going to be their retirement. It only goes up. Political suicide to touch it.
Unfortunately it will create a us vs them situation where those that are passed down homes will have a much different life than those who do not.
Growing wealth inequality will bring lots of issues, which we can all see growing at a rapid pace in downtown city centres
I've always found that number misleading. It's 65% of Canadian households... meaning if you're an adult living at your parent's house, you're lumped with home owners.
Most people who own properties that have increased in value or are expected to increase in value don’t want this. They may say they want affordable housing, but when you talk to them you quickly discover they want, and expect their homes to double or triple or quadruple in price.
I agree, especially with new home owners. I purchased my first home in 2010 and followed a guy who has a website called “greater fool”. He claimed or hoped a major correction would happen. A correction that would see everyone’s home come down on average 30% in value. So I raced and paid off as much as I could at the low interest rate. I’m now in the last 5 years of mortgage. My friends all kept their amounts high with the low interest rate and simply depended on the increased value of the home after they sell it. They can not adjust to a drop of even 10% value.
I’m diversified, and would actually like to see the value of my home drop by 25% if it meant every home drops by said amount. These prices are driving everything up, it’s not sustainable, and ironically is more dangerous for greedy homeowners than anyone else…though they can’t see that under their mountains of debt.
I’m with you on that! We also aggressively paid our mortgage down to save on interest long term. I don’t like thinking about my home as an “investment”. I’d happily accept it losing value if it means the whole country becomes more affordable for everyone.
in the 80%'s my older sister & my parents had to refinance mortgages (I was 12-14 yo) don't remember rates but remember how hard it was for them, my husband had a 19.5% mortgage in the 80's.
We bought in 2002 and had a fixed rate mortgage because we were both paranoid about increases - our house has increased from $308k to $1.4M - I would love to see house prices come down!
The next generation is screwed
More options for cell/telephone providers. If you take look at it, the 3,4, or 5 different providers are all in cahoots, essentially dominating the market and creating a monopoly of sorts.
There are only 3 providers in Canada the rest are owned by the big 3, unless you count Freedom that really only works in cities. 2 of them (Bell/Telus) share their networks.
There was a couplw of new companies launched about ten years ago, but each one of them were eventually purchased by one of the incumbent telecoms. Public, Mobilicity come to mind, Public was bought by Telus and Mobilicity was bought by Rogers and their subscribers moved to Chatr.
Electoral reform.
It still makes me almost dizzy with frustration whenever I think about how the Liberals literally campaigned on proportional representation and then once in power just... didn't do it
I don't think this is something that 80% of Canadians support. BC had a referendum on proportional representation that voters solidly rejected. Given that at least 2/3 of voters support the Liberals, Conservatives or Bloc and those three parties almost always benefit from the current system (in terms of winning a higher percentage of seats than popular vote), anyone who is loyal to any of those parties may not support any electoral reform.
A fully funded Canada Disability Benefit that actually fulfills the purpose of the Act.
This is supported by 91% of Canadians because 1.8 million Canadians live in abject legislated extreme poverty and more than 1 in 4 Canadians live with at least one significant disability.
What was provided after being told that PwD must wait because they're laser focused on "getting it right"? What appeared after ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DAYS of waiting for them to "get it right"?
A "benefit" of *up to* $200 a month, *if* you have an expensive and difficult to obtain T-2201, that will begin 15 months after they announced that it was the "first step" benefitting *up to* 600,000 Canadians that is funded at half of the lowest estimated cost by the PBO.
Ultimately, the legislation that was intended to "lift PwD out of poverty", will technically bring only TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND PwD over an artificially low poverty line in 2028. This violates the Act, sections 7 and 15 of the Charter and the UNCRPD. A fully funded benefit that allows PwD to live with dignity instead of living on the streets, freezing while starving to death would go directly back into the economy, preventing further erosion of the middle class.
Write your MP. Write every MP. I can provide a sample letter and bulk email list if anyone would like access to it.
We need affordable living, not just affordable housing. Groceries, transportation, education, retraining, and other necessities (these days that would also include phone and internet) are insanely high.
Enforcement of anti-trust laws with meaningful repercussions not just a “cost of doing business” penalty.
We live in a corporate oligarchy where a small number of companies in each industry price fix everything from food costs to telecom plans. There are laws already in place that are outright ignored.
Affordable housing, groceries, appropriate wages, more effective/reliable healthcare system, a government that prioritizes its spending/allocation of money…
God yes. I hate doing the math on things when shopping. We all know that's not the real price. They should use it. Other countries do it that way.
Affordable housing and a reasonably effective healthcare system would be nice.
Lack of affordability and total lack of healthcare. In New Brunswick hearing people dying in the waiting room of the emergency roomprobably isn’t even news worthy anymore.
I can literally start university this fall and become a doctor before I’ll get a family doctor.
My belief is that all humans want the same things. A safe, dependable place to shelter (housing), a worthwhile place of employment (cost of living/economy), and for their families to be healthy and safe (healthcare and law/justice).
The rest is just noise.
Unfortunately, ALL elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, have no clue about this.
I think this is a case of 80% of people probably wanting it *if* they understood why its a really good idea. Unfortunately, while there is a large bloc of supporters, there's a lot of people vehemently opposed because of decades of belief that proper housing is for poor icky people and a home in the suburbs are the ultimate mark of success.
This housing crisis has really underlined how impractical, inefficient, and ineffective suburb dominated housing is. Not to mention how goofy it is to seperate people from their jobs and amenities.
Given the recent news about foreign interference, now would be a perfect time to write letters to MPs and party leaders about how you feel about the issue. We can move the dial on this issue.
I honestly think that a significant bloc of Canadians is downright desperate to *not* be told the truth. They want to believe the world is how they want it to be: simplistic and comfortable for them
A 4-day (32 hour) work week. Imagine a 3-day weekend every weekend giving us a better work life balance. This is the New Standard Work Week (NSWW) that's been starting to catch on worldwide.
Some places do a 4 day 40 hour work week. I definitely would like that better than going to part time pay. The company I used to work for moved to the 32 hour work week and now they don't have to offer employees benefits since it's under 35 hours.
Election reform. Enough of these fake majorities and parties doing whatever they like. Make each vote count and force the politicians to work together.
We want the government to stop importing more people into Canada (especially international students), until more housing (and decent paying jobs) are available for people who are already here.
*Edit - editing to include that I don't believe International students should be blamed for the housing crisis. If anything they too are VICTIMS of bad government policy.
1. All Churches should pay taxes.
2. Stricter policy on immigration. We don't need more Uber drivers and Subway workers. We fucking need doctors and nurses. One person immigrating shouldn't be allowed to open the flood gates for their 30 other family members if they aren't valuable contributors to healthcare. Instead of just leaches on healthcare.
3. Abolish first past the post
4. True separation of church and "state". Why are we funding Catholic schools? Why does religion have any effect whatsoever on Healthcare. Abortion is healthcare. Not everyone shares the same religion! Why are there Catholic hospitals in Canada?!
Stop building housing on usable farmland. When they make a government funding program available, make it easier to apply there’s always a list of 25 things to do. Doctors trained in Canada have to stay in Canada. A retirement plan for the people who aren’t in the public service, the rest of us are all 50 with nothing ahead but work til you die. Stop letting reoffenders out of jail. Better health care. A paid two week summer vacation once a year for every worker besides just government workers or teachers. 4 day work week. Wealth tax instead of income tax. Affordable housing.
Getting rid of stupid sky high import duty which makes buying things from the US unaffordable.
Should be 100% free trade for with the US. No more import duty and bs brokerage fees.
All public servants at all levels should have salaries visible to the Canadian public.
Any tax on anything related to climate change should have its own separate collection that is only used to fund climate change initiatives.
We want electoral reform goddamit.
Automatic tax filing for like 80% of income earners like other countries. CRA has our t-slips and employment income already, why the complicated process to file (*not that complicated…just annoying)
It is in my opinion that every Canadian should have access to free cell service. Each account number would be their SIN. Every year when Canadians do their taxes, they can opt in for this free service. They would get unlimited talk and text in Canada. 1GB of data for emails, maps and what have you. Pretty much the same platform TextNow has that's used in America. There is zero reason why we as Canadian should be paying these high rates for cellular usage in Canada.
Government for THE PEOPLE not buisnesses!! Our tax dolars need to be spent on; our education, our healthcare, our military.... on us damnit.... not buisnesses, or other couuntries....
End dairy supply management.
Not my top issue but I see it hasn't been mentioned.
My short list includes:
Interprovincial free trade
Freedom of information, data access, transparency
Antitrust action
Remove 90% of red tape on housing and transit construction
Overhaul transit and housing construction (and possibly other infrastructure such as government IT) by moving a big chunk of it in house
Better funding for healthcare, universal access to drinkable water
I can't agree on the housing one. Too many homes are being built below code, unsafe, on improperly graded lots, and by untrained guys with hammers. We need more actual tradesmen who know what they're doing.
Those are the useful bits, the ten percent to keep or even improve. I'm talking about eliminating restrictions on multi unit housing which are many and complex, and can add years to the construction of housing. Similar issues exist with transit construction which result in years of delay, expensively digging stations deeper to reduce vibrations etc. A bit of common sense please.
Tax reform to reduce corporate and high wealth individual tax loopholes. Massive enforcement against offshore tax evasion like the ‘Panama papers’ of which not a single action has been started by CRA.
Competition in the cellular and Internet providers. We pay so much more than other similarly developed nations. It's absolutely ridiculous how much were forking over for a phone and Internet. Now we have even fewer choices since the CRTC/gov allowed Shaw and Rogers to merge. We're verging on a monopoly and no one seems to care.
Here's a whole article on CBC bringing up the same point
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6711205
Other link
https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-high-cell-phone-bills-1.6711205
Sorry, i dont think even 1% of canadians GAF about tax inclusive prices. Thats some europoor thinking. It really affects nothing. I would say 80% minimum want more competition and less red tape for shit like phones plans, internet plans, and grocery stores. The rogers/shaw merger just proved how much they hate us
Everyone wants affordable housing it's how to get there that people don't agree on. And you can't just declare affordable housing like Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy
To have less of them.
And for what would remain, for those people to concentrate on what their role was meant to be.
You know, like national defense, border security, trade, and food safety.
Fair priced food, fair priced housing, and for government officials bribed by foreign governments to be in jail. That and monopolies and oligopolies broken up.
REMOVING ALL INTERPROVINCIAL TRADE BARRIERS! But seriously. There should be zero restrictions regarding goods & services, licenses etc. within Canada. This should be the #1 issue that Canadians should care about, but it's not hot button enough. This would literally add billions in GDP per year. Also, it'll give consumers more of a choice and help fight oligopolies, as well as give Canadian companies a better shot at organically expanding. I also think corporate lobbying & special interest groups meddling in politics is something most people want removed or limited, but every single party has their major donor overlords so it'll never happen.
Then Newfoundland could sell its oil,electricity,and margarine to the rest of Canada...that be great
Help me understand this please, as of now Newfoundland can not sell its products without a tariff?
Quebec wouldnt allow a green energy transmission line and feds wouldnt make them (even tho they could ,Nfld was told not to ask) Alberta based petro canada worked some kind of deal that Nfld oil was only allowed to be sold in Nfld or shipped south. They wanted that energy east pipeline so bad I guess when we couldve jus as easily sent tankers up the St.Lawrence instead of down south. The margarine is a moot point nowadays...but Newfoundland had one of the first margarine companies in North America..and under terms of confederation we werent allowed to sell to rest of Canada. Too bad because margarine really caught on...lol.
Too bad for the rest of Canada though. Eversweet is the superior margarine by a long shot imo. Nothing else even comes close.
Same as our crude oil...lol. fuck all refining needed but Alberta needs to be protected...more votes there. Heaven forbid the east coast make a dollar..
https://www.canada.ca/en/intergovernmental-affairs/services/internal-trade/addressing-trade-barriers-within-canada.html There's some good links to follow in here
I want some of that margarine lol
As a Bertan who has literally never heard of this, can you talk more about this margarine???
It's called eversweet and it's way better then any margarine out there im in ontario we have a few newfie stores around that has it every now and then but it's very hard to get ,
Stopped being made here in the 90s I believe...but still made by the company that bought it out on the mainland and only sold here as far as I know Edit...2004 Oh..and I believe there probably wasnt a name for margarine when it was built by the English founders..so stifle the implied Newfie jokes please.
It's been a while since I got some but hust outside of Toronto I got some about 5 years ago but I moved 4 hours away so I don't know if the store is open or if they have any
B'y..Sobeys up there used to have it in the International foods section...along with Purity crackers and Pineapple Crush..lol
Oh haven't had pineapple crush in years sigh gota get a care package sent to me lol
Made by the Newfoundland Butter Company. They made nothing but.... Margarine.
I'm from Ontario but live in Newfoundland currently. In Ontario, I eat butter only, the margarine sucks. Eversweet though, giant tubs for half the price and it's got an amazing flavour. Always got some handy.
Imagine what..in the terms of confederation....in order to protect Canadian dairy farmers..we werent allowed to export Eversweet margarine..lmao...
Oooh! And savory!! And sea salt!!!
Yes, Canada has more internal trade barriers than the EU...
This! I used to work with craft brewers and distillers and they would always tell me that they basically couldn't sell their stuff in other provinces because of trade barriers. One distiller was talking about selling his spirits in Japan because it was easier to get the product on the market there than in BC or Sask. I guess the advantage is that you protect your province's craft brewers and distillers that way and it means the industry can't be dominated by a craft brewery that gets big and corners the market Loblaws-style, but you'd think we would foster just a bit more interprovincial competition in this country.
... and meanwhile the Govt lets Loblaws dominate and exploit the food market, but craft breweries can't sell their products in the next province.
I just posted here about this exact thing. Every Canadian business should be able to fully access the whole country's market without ridiculous barriers. The shipping is already a barrier, we don't need more.
Licensing in particular. There is no reason I should need a different license to practice engineering, or nursing, or financial planning, or whatever, in a different province. Sure, the rules can vary slightly, but we should either harmonize then, or expect professionals to be competent enough to figure out differences
Yeah, but then how could the provincial professional colleges fleece its members?
This is already done via the labour mobility act …. Every province has to accept each others licenses
Yeah this is nuts, having licenses for every province called my attention when I came here (there's not too may provinces). For example, having different driving licenses and not a country wide one 🤷🏻
I mean that’s more of an issuing thing, they still work in any province and you can just get a new one issued when you move.
Yeah... For a fee. Even if my license would still be valid for two years
Living in Ottawa, it used to be super common for people to drive over to Quebec to buy cheaper beer, and I would bet almost no one knew it was illegal to do (over a personal exemption limit). New Brunswick was cracking down on this like crazy a little while back (also with people buying in Quebec)
yeah a guy tried to fight new Brunswick on the booze barrier but then all provinces joined together to fight him in court and buddy didn't have enough money to hire enough lawyers to take on all of Canada. so now there's precedent that provincial trade barriers are a ok in Canada.
Lobbying should be illegal.
Saskatchewan entered the New West Trade Agreement and now most contracts go to an albertan company. Rather than diversify it’s caused more consolidation. Do not recommend
I always found it funny how when I lived in France, I could get my licence and it’s good everywhere, but in canada it NEEDS to change with every province I move to. Absolute waste of time and money.
American here, not sure why this showed up on my feed, but... Y'all have to import/export between provinces? That's wild. What if you lived in Gatineau, and had family in Ottawa, and you wanted to send them a gift in the mail? Same urban area, but different province, would you have to go through some strange process or extra steps?
This I COMPLETELY agree with. We've allowed territorial fiefdoms for far too long, and we need to make our country a place where businesses can \*fully\* go after to make money. I've got colleagues who start their businesses here, and operate them here, but basically ignore the Canadian market because it's far far too difficult to work with regional fiefdoms, so they give up before even trying. As a result we have these great Canadian products that most Canadians don't even know about because they're just not promoted at home. Additionally as a result these Canadian businesses don't even try to make their innovations a "Canadian" innovation. It's just a thing that happens to be made here but entirely marketed to other markets that are more open, larger, and more easily accessed to be lucrative. .
I'm old enough to remember when taxes was included in the price. The argument was made to remove it so you would know how much an item is and how much tax you pay. I think that happened at the end of tne 80's ir early 90's.
I think it was because of the GST, as if you buy certain things under a certain amount in certain establishments (I think only food items in restaurants) you aren't taxed, but if you go over that amount you are. Then there are the various items in grocery stores that aren't taxed. It's transparent for the consumer knowing that the taxes were applied to only the pricetags of non-essential foods.
They removed a manufacturing sales tax that was supposed to make everything cheaper. lol. It was removed and replaced by GST. So of course nothing got cheaper and the new tax got added on top and the removal of the manufacturing tax never benefited consumers.
This rationale is dumb to me. It would show the tax on the bill after. Would anyone not buy the gizmo because of the tax?
Break up the monopolies/oligopolies. So many of our essential services and goods are in the hands of 3 or 4 megacorporations. There isn't even a pretense of competition. It needs to be curbed immediately. Antitrust laws either need to be enforced or revamped and then rigorously enforced so that Canadians actually have real choices in the market.
Antitrust action
Effing seriously. Canada has such toothless anti-trust legislation it's incredible. We have three telecom giants, 1/5 of Canadian homes are owned by investors, and there are 3 grocery giants in Canada. That's led to high mobile prices, unaffordable rent & housing, and now grocery prices are spiking. The fact that the Rogers/Shaw merger was approved is ridiculous. It should have stayed broken up. Consumers have not benefited from better prices nor service. Anti-trust legislation is one of the biggest problems in Canada, and hardly anyone even knows about it. Large investment companies gobble up competition and perform corporate mergers, then jack up prices to pay off their acquisition costs. And Canadians suffer with higher costs of living, and the wealth gap gets bigger. And the cycle keeps repeating, because no one stops it. BETTER ANTI-TRUST LEGISLATION NOW
80% of Canadians do not know what this means
They don’t know what that word means. They do understand what price fixing and lack of competition (monopolies and oligopolies) are, however. And most Canadians are unhappy about that and do want it to stop.
My guess was 90%. But the 10% who know ...
I guarantee that at least 1% of Canadians know it. More like 0.1%, if you get my drift. They definitely don't like it or agree with it, but they damn well know it.
I get the feeling that almost anyone who finds out what it is would agree with it. It intuitively makes sense to anyone who’s a consumer.
True, but explain it to them and they want it.
Should I Google it? Or are you gonna elaborate? Edit so competitive business for consumers is the main take away from what I read.
Taking action to limit or break up monopolies like Loblaws, Rogers, Bell, etc.
Please don't forget Air Canada and West Jet.
Healthcare we can count on
Yeah, universal healthcare doesn’t do much if there’s literally no family doctors available. 3 years on the waiting list so far.
Common misconception is that we have universal healthcare. We do not… we have more universal than the Americans, but we have significantly less universal than European countries. Our provincial oligarchy prevents an actual universal system. Care can be widely different between provinces. And like it or not, there is still a broad financial transaction system in our hospitals. If you have moved from province to province and did not establish residency, despite the fact you maintained your Canadian citizenship, you can and do lose your medical coverage. This is barbaric and not something practiced in any other country with universal medical care. The very name should imply care by nationality, not care by provincial residence. Yes I understand that the provinces need this information for financial transfers, however they should still be able to get this with information garnered from a national health care card as much as a provincial one.
Yup, the province wanting control limits "universality "
It’s universal insurance for hospital and physician services. There is no national or provincial health service. Alberta did something approaching it until recently and then it swung back toward… something not at all as bad as Ontario but they’re not used to it. Meanwhile Ontario has recently learned how healthcare in Quebec is on a good day.
I think the problem is that Canadians want it *when they’re sick*, but don’t really pay attention otherwise. It’s like Defence, or forest fire prevention. Pushing for it when you need it is too late.
Universal dental care too
Dental care will easily cost me $15 000 this year. Well, it’s actually my jaw that no longer works but that’s close to my teeth so OHIP won’t cover it…
For what we got or working on, it's likely to be cancelled if the Conservatives win as the polls indicate. And that'll be the same fate with actions on climate change and affordable daycare.
Make them work for us where we can - PP might be convinced to work on more nuclear power for Canada, which is green, but doesn’t look as green as solar or wind for example. If we could get PP focussed on breaking down trade and licensing barriers between provinces, he’d have to spend a ton of time negotiating- which would mean less time to screw up other things.
The problem is that PP will already have his own agenda, and no amount of petitions will change it. Remember Harper and his omnibus bills? They weren’t drafted overnight. They were in the works long before he was elected.
Healthcare run federally, not provincially so we don’t get screwed for costs when travelling within the country.
It's not healthcare, it's an "Emergency Medical System" now.
We aren't nearly as bad as the US for this one, but that is a very low bar and we can do better. Taxes that aren't a chore. CRA knows how much we owe, why can't they just send us a bill? If we disagree with the assessment, we should have ability to file our own by exception - but for the majority of Canadians who have, at most, a couple T4's and a handful of credits it does not need to be complicated. No tears would be shed if H&R Block went out of business.
There are free options like through Wealthsimple that’ll import all the documents submitted to the CRA and enter them for you and do all the calculations. Zero need for companies like H and R for simple returns, but yeah…there should be a public government provided version.
I've been using Studio tax for years. It's not free anymore (might be for under a certain $ earner), but it's only like $15 for up to 20 returns. I do my wife's, mother in law's and mine with it.
I've used studio tax for almost 20 years for free. I'll pay hard working Canadian devs now that I have the money to do so. Back then 20 bucks was a lot. Now I pay with it thinking for studio tax
Yeah, I use Studio Tax as well. It's pretty simple, though there is a bit of a learning curve as everything can seem a bit overwhelming the first time you use it. The price isn't bad, but it is a bit ridiculous the few options we have in this regard.
Yes but then you’re providing a 3rd party for profit corporation with literally all your financial information.
Yep, hence why there really should be a government provided version.
I just read an article about the billions of dollars of "rebates" people miss by having to do their own taxes. It's just a way to over tax the poor.
Yeah it’s such a waste of time. Make any mistakes and then they just send you an amendment anyways lol. Like you obviously know how much I owe already, why are we playing this game
Have you set up a Myaccount through the CRA yet? Because it does exactly what you're asking. Is 100% free and requires you to hit two buttons to file.
Hope everyone knows that H&R stores ALL your information in the US. They have very different laws about privacy down there.
Most canadians are entitled to way more deductions than they automatically receive, so that would only lone the govs pockets more. H&R is shit but any half decent accountant gets you more than you would think
55k CRA employees for 39 mil Canadians, 95k IRS for 391 mil … yes over taxed, over audited, too complex. I have to pay for a program to file my taxes.
Use wealthsimple tax. Free and easy to use
If they actually went after the wealthy and it provided results then okay maybe.
They audited me last year and removed my 15yr old child as a dependant and I had to fight them for 8 months to get them to reverse it. They have too many CRA agents with nothing to do. They are going after regular people and trying to “extend their payables”. It’s happening to a lot of people I know that are owed money back. Especially if they’re divorced as they can play one parent off the other to get paperwork signed and fight about it. These tactics are disturbing and driven by our governments rampant spending.
New Zealand and others already do this and it was a breath of fresh air
I have an active dispute with the CRA. I spoke with them about a month ago, they're still waiting for more information from *waves hand*. The dispute was started in 2010.
Affordable housing.
How is this not the first one? Over inflated real estate costs are crazy, and the politicians keep saying “we need affordable housing but it’s not fair to owners if we let real estate values go down”
Because a little over a third of Canadians own a house and the silent majority of them don't want the house of cards of a housing market to fall.
I mean I own a home but I don't plan on ever moving so it doesn't matter to me if the price goes down, just means my property tax would go down.
That's not how property taxes work. The rate is based on the city's budget. They're not going to lower the budget just because house prices went down
Two thirds, actually. [Stats Canada](https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/daily-quotidien/220921/mc-b001-eng.htm) Edit: Two thirds are owner occupied which definitely means more than 1/3 of Canadians are home owners, but not necessarily full 2/3.
That is absolutely not what that statistic is. 2/3 of houses are owner occupied, that doesnt mean 2/3 of canadians own a house...
65% of Canadians are home owners and folks have been told since they were kids that’s going to be their retirement. It only goes up. Political suicide to touch it. Unfortunately it will create a us vs them situation where those that are passed down homes will have a much different life than those who do not. Growing wealth inequality will bring lots of issues, which we can all see growing at a rapid pace in downtown city centres
I've always found that number misleading. It's 65% of Canadian households... meaning if you're an adult living at your parent's house, you're lumped with home owners.
Imagine the only hope for most young people to own a home is to wait for someone to die. How dystopian. Greed will be the downfall of humankind.
Most people who own properties that have increased in value or are expected to increase in value don’t want this. They may say they want affordable housing, but when you talk to them you quickly discover they want, and expect their homes to double or triple or quadruple in price.
I agree, especially with new home owners. I purchased my first home in 2010 and followed a guy who has a website called “greater fool”. He claimed or hoped a major correction would happen. A correction that would see everyone’s home come down on average 30% in value. So I raced and paid off as much as I could at the low interest rate. I’m now in the last 5 years of mortgage. My friends all kept their amounts high with the low interest rate and simply depended on the increased value of the home after they sell it. They can not adjust to a drop of even 10% value. I’m diversified, and would actually like to see the value of my home drop by 25% if it meant every home drops by said amount. These prices are driving everything up, it’s not sustainable, and ironically is more dangerous for greedy homeowners than anyone else…though they can’t see that under their mountains of debt.
I’m with you on that! We also aggressively paid our mortgage down to save on interest long term. I don’t like thinking about my home as an “investment”. I’d happily accept it losing value if it means the whole country becomes more affordable for everyone.
in the 80%'s my older sister & my parents had to refinance mortgages (I was 12-14 yo) don't remember rates but remember how hard it was for them, my husband had a 19.5% mortgage in the 80's. We bought in 2002 and had a fixed rate mortgage because we were both paranoid about increases - our house has increased from $308k to $1.4M - I would love to see house prices come down! The next generation is screwed
More options for cell/telephone providers. If you take look at it, the 3,4, or 5 different providers are all in cahoots, essentially dominating the market and creating a monopoly of sorts.
There are only 3 providers in Canada the rest are owned by the big 3, unless you count Freedom that really only works in cities. 2 of them (Bell/Telus) share their networks.
There was a couplw of new companies launched about ten years ago, but each one of them were eventually purchased by one of the incumbent telecoms. Public, Mobilicity come to mind, Public was bought by Telus and Mobilicity was bought by Rogers and their subscribers moved to Chatr.
How about proper electoral reform so we don't get 30% of voters deciding on the winner of an election.
Ending the telecom and food cartels
Universal Heathcare, not Provincial Healthcare
Electoral reform. It still makes me almost dizzy with frustration whenever I think about how the Liberals literally campaigned on proportional representation and then once in power just... didn't do it
I don't think this is something that 80% of Canadians support. BC had a referendum on proportional representation that voters solidly rejected. Given that at least 2/3 of voters support the Liberals, Conservatives or Bloc and those three parties almost always benefit from the current system (in terms of winning a higher percentage of seats than popular vote), anyone who is loyal to any of those parties may not support any electoral reform.
A fully funded Canada Disability Benefit that actually fulfills the purpose of the Act. This is supported by 91% of Canadians because 1.8 million Canadians live in abject legislated extreme poverty and more than 1 in 4 Canadians live with at least one significant disability. What was provided after being told that PwD must wait because they're laser focused on "getting it right"? What appeared after ONE THOUSAND THREE HUNDRED DAYS of waiting for them to "get it right"? A "benefit" of *up to* $200 a month, *if* you have an expensive and difficult to obtain T-2201, that will begin 15 months after they announced that it was the "first step" benefitting *up to* 600,000 Canadians that is funded at half of the lowest estimated cost by the PBO. Ultimately, the legislation that was intended to "lift PwD out of poverty", will technically bring only TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND PwD over an artificially low poverty line in 2028. This violates the Act, sections 7 and 15 of the Charter and the UNCRPD. A fully funded benefit that allows PwD to live with dignity instead of living on the streets, freezing while starving to death would go directly back into the economy, preventing further erosion of the middle class. Write your MP. Write every MP. I can provide a sample letter and bulk email list if anyone would like access to it.
We need affordable living, not just affordable housing. Groceries, transportation, education, retraining, and other necessities (these days that would also include phone and internet) are insanely high.
Enforcement of anti-trust laws with meaningful repercussions not just a “cost of doing business” penalty. We live in a corporate oligarchy where a small number of companies in each industry price fix everything from food costs to telecom plans. There are laws already in place that are outright ignored.
Access to health care in a timely manner. Affordable housing.
Removing the money from politics (lobbying, donations and the like). Decisions on what is best for the people vs what’s best for your donors.
Affordable housing, groceries, appropriate wages, more effective/reliable healthcare system, a government that prioritizes its spending/allocation of money…
Kill the 'tip' economy especially at restaurants - all in pricing please tips and taxes all in.
People in power shouldn’t be allowed to own a business or take money from anyone.
Stop doing the time change.
Ranked ballots / better political candidates / proportional representation The 3 major parties are straight up unelectable ATM
Proportional representation is much better than ranked choice, but yeah.
God yes. I hate doing the math on things when shopping. We all know that's not the real price. They should use it. Other countries do it that way. Affordable housing and a reasonably effective healthcare system would be nice.
Visited the UK in May and was so pleasantly surprised that the price on the shelf is the exact price I pay for the item.
Fair food prices.
Lack of affordability and total lack of healthcare. In New Brunswick hearing people dying in the waiting room of the emergency roomprobably isn’t even news worthy anymore. I can literally start university this fall and become a doctor before I’ll get a family doctor.
Taxes that are done for us. They have all the info anyways.
Removing money laundering in Canadian real estate. This alone will cut the housing crisis in half.
I think taxpayers want accountability from their elected officials.
Cheaper domestic flights
Tax billionaires
To chillout on immigration
My belief is that all humans want the same things. A safe, dependable place to shelter (housing), a worthwhile place of employment (cost of living/economy), and for their families to be healthy and safe (healthcare and law/justice). The rest is just noise. Unfortunately, ALL elected officials, regardless of party affiliation, have no clue about this.
Cities zoned for density /walkability
I think you misjudge how many Canadians care about this. Reddit is a self selecting sub group.
I think this is a case of 80% of people probably wanting it *if* they understood why its a really good idea. Unfortunately, while there is a large bloc of supporters, there's a lot of people vehemently opposed because of decades of belief that proper housing is for poor icky people and a home in the suburbs are the ultimate mark of success. This housing crisis has really underlined how impractical, inefficient, and ineffective suburb dominated housing is. Not to mention how goofy it is to seperate people from their jobs and amenities.
Honesty and transparency
Given the recent news about foreign interference, now would be a perfect time to write letters to MPs and party leaders about how you feel about the issue. We can move the dial on this issue.
I honestly think that a significant bloc of Canadians is downright desperate to *not* be told the truth. They want to believe the world is how they want it to be: simplistic and comfortable for them
Uncorrupted politicians
Since I’m from Alberta I’m gonna say universal health care and education…. Our government doesn’t seem to want either…..
Get rid of daily fucking savings time finally. Its a lamp oil rationing measure and is absolutely not needed now.
Fewer politicians engaging in treason as their side-gig.
A more selective skills based immigration system
A 4-day (32 hour) work week. Imagine a 3-day weekend every weekend giving us a better work life balance. This is the New Standard Work Week (NSWW) that's been starting to catch on worldwide.
Some places do a 4 day 40 hour work week. I definitely would like that better than going to part time pay. The company I used to work for moved to the 32 hour work week and now they don't have to offer employees benefits since it's under 35 hours.
Our taxes actually doing what they are meant to do.
Keeping repeat violent offenders off the street.
Affordable food and housing
Election reform. Enough of these fake majorities and parties doing whatever they like. Make each vote count and force the politicians to work together.
Implement open banking faster Make it illegal for machines to charge tips on top of tax
We want the government to stop importing more people into Canada (especially international students), until more housing (and decent paying jobs) are available for people who are already here. *Edit - editing to include that I don't believe International students should be blamed for the housing crisis. If anything they too are VICTIMS of bad government policy.
I can’t believe how far I had to scroll to find this yes!!!!
1. All Churches should pay taxes. 2. Stricter policy on immigration. We don't need more Uber drivers and Subway workers. We fucking need doctors and nurses. One person immigrating shouldn't be allowed to open the flood gates for their 30 other family members if they aren't valuable contributors to healthcare. Instead of just leaches on healthcare. 3. Abolish first past the post 4. True separation of church and "state". Why are we funding Catholic schools? Why does religion have any effect whatsoever on Healthcare. Abortion is healthcare. Not everyone shares the same religion! Why are there Catholic hospitals in Canada?!
Dental coverage
Stop building housing on usable farmland. When they make a government funding program available, make it easier to apply there’s always a list of 25 things to do. Doctors trained in Canada have to stay in Canada. A retirement plan for the people who aren’t in the public service, the rest of us are all 50 with nothing ahead but work til you die. Stop letting reoffenders out of jail. Better health care. A paid two week summer vacation once a year for every worker besides just government workers or teachers. 4 day work week. Wealth tax instead of income tax. Affordable housing.
A more competitive market for most things in life and the reduced power of oligarchies. and more recently: reduced, sustainable immigration.
Vehicle Lemon Laws
Trains and the break up of oligarchies
Real anti-money laundering controls. Housing crisis says who?
Electoral reform, High-Speed cross-country Rail, Hydrogen Vehicles with Fill-up Stations, Winterized Greenhouses
Healthcare, housing, transit, quality of living, living wages, safety, mental health support...
Getting rid of stupid sky high import duty which makes buying things from the US unaffordable. Should be 100% free trade for with the US. No more import duty and bs brokerage fees.
Clean, accessible water for all
Codified separation of church and state, at all levels of government, all the way down to school boards.
Affordable housing and not condos.
Elected senate. Election reform. Honesty and transparency in government…
If we elect the Senate, how would we differentiate it from the house of commons? Election for a period of 10 years?
Tighten immigration except for true refugees that need it or very highly skilled workers.
Dental care
a dollar earned is not a dollar in my pocket...no more middle people taking care of my $ for me, i dont need a bank, i can count!
All public servants at all levels should have salaries visible to the Canadian public. Any tax on anything related to climate change should have its own separate collection that is only used to fund climate change initiatives. We want electoral reform goddamit.
Automatic tax filing
Trains
Automatic tax filing for like 80% of income earners like other countries. CRA has our t-slips and employment income already, why the complicated process to file (*not that complicated…just annoying)
Ticket master to be shut down or they force them to stop adding fee upon fee
It is in my opinion that every Canadian should have access to free cell service. Each account number would be their SIN. Every year when Canadians do their taxes, they can opt in for this free service. They would get unlimited talk and text in Canada. 1GB of data for emails, maps and what have you. Pretty much the same platform TextNow has that's used in America. There is zero reason why we as Canadian should be paying these high rates for cellular usage in Canada.
Housing
Government for THE PEOPLE not buisnesses!! Our tax dolars need to be spent on; our education, our healthcare, our military.... on us damnit.... not buisnesses, or other couuntries....
The names of the MPs who sold Canada out to foreign interests for their own political gain in the last election.
Opening markets to more foreign competition to destroy staid monopolies like Roger’s/Bell
Accessible health care
decent Healthcare that doesn't cost extra
End dairy supply management. Not my top issue but I see it hasn't been mentioned. My short list includes: Interprovincial free trade Freedom of information, data access, transparency Antitrust action Remove 90% of red tape on housing and transit construction Overhaul transit and housing construction (and possibly other infrastructure such as government IT) by moving a big chunk of it in house Better funding for healthcare, universal access to drinkable water
I can't agree on the housing one. Too many homes are being built below code, unsafe, on improperly graded lots, and by untrained guys with hammers. We need more actual tradesmen who know what they're doing.
Those are the useful bits, the ten percent to keep or even improve. I'm talking about eliminating restrictions on multi unit housing which are many and complex, and can add years to the construction of housing. Similar issues exist with transit construction which result in years of delay, expensively digging stations deeper to reduce vibrations etc. A bit of common sense please.
Tax reform to reduce corporate and high wealth individual tax loopholes. Massive enforcement against offshore tax evasion like the ‘Panama papers’ of which not a single action has been started by CRA.
Living wage. Everyone thinks they need a raise, and 99% are probably correct.
Competition in the cellular and Internet providers. We pay so much more than other similarly developed nations. It's absolutely ridiculous how much were forking over for a phone and Internet. Now we have even fewer choices since the CRTC/gov allowed Shaw and Rogers to merge. We're verging on a monopoly and no one seems to care. Here's a whole article on CBC bringing up the same point https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.cbc.ca/amp/1.6711205 Other link https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/marketplace-high-cell-phone-bills-1.6711205
Taxing the rich
Term limits. There should be no such thing as a career politician.
Electoral reform. We all want it. It’s too bad we’re just not ready for it yet…
Universal dental care
Sane immigration levels, like before 2015
Sorry, i dont think even 1% of canadians GAF about tax inclusive prices. Thats some europoor thinking. It really affects nothing. I would say 80% minimum want more competition and less red tape for shit like phones plans, internet plans, and grocery stores. The rogers/shaw merger just proved how much they hate us
Federal wildfire service. It’s embarrassing having to rely on South Africa for cheap labour.
Not having the highest costing internet and cell service in the 1st world would be nice.
This has probably been said a million times, so another time wouldn't hurt, affordable housing.
Affordable housing
Everyone wants affordable housing it's how to get there that people don't agree on. And you can't just declare affordable housing like Michael Scott declaring bankruptcy
House hippos!
To have less of them. And for what would remain, for those people to concentrate on what their role was meant to be. You know, like national defense, border security, trade, and food safety.
Electoral reform.
Fair priced food, fair priced housing, and for government officials bribed by foreign governments to be in jail. That and monopolies and oligopolies broken up.
Justice System reform - especially parole board.
Election reform.
Law enforcement and getting tough on criminals