Today’s Contemplation: Collapse Cometh CLII–Housing ‘Crisis’: Real or Contrived?
September 28, 2023 (original posting date)
Mexico (1988). Photo by author.
Housing ‘Crisis’: Real or Contrived?
Some morning thoughts (prompted by the attached article; and a version of which I posted on my Town’s Facebook ‘Politics’ Group) that focus on my own province’s (Ontario, Canada) context regarding the issue of a housing ‘crisis’ and their attempts to ‘juice’ development/construction — well, really, to create an environment where well-connected developers can flip relatively cheaply-purchased lands. That this has been ‘outed’ and stopped for the moment is perhaps good for the ecologically-sensitive lands that were under consideration for development[1], but does little to impact the ‘growth forever’ fever running rampant amongst Ontario’s populace.
With the recent shenanigans surrounding the Greenbelt (see these previous Contemplations: September 21, January 29, March 19, June 15), I have to wonder how much impact questionable practices and behind-closed-door deal-making/influence-peddling adds to the issue of our housing ‘crisis’, and/or is this all part and parcel of manipulation/leveraging of perceptions and beliefs — narrative management for want of a better term — to help market expanding growth that benefits a few at the expense of the many.
Is this ‘crisis’ truly the result of inadequate supply (as our developers, financiers, real estate industry, politicians, etc. would like us to believe — a very ‘convenient’ narrative for those profiting from a greatly expanding housing market and the fear of missing out that the perception of ‘shortages’ creates) or is currency devaluation via credit expansion, ‘speculation’, and ‘short-term rental investments’ a more significant contributor to skyrocketing prices?
And, of course, the exponential increase in housing prices (and rents) is not simply an Ontario or Canada phenomenon; it is taking placing in many nations, particularly where currency/credit expansion has increased dramatically.
Much of this ‘new money’ seeks a place to exist (and hopefully grow, but not always) and a not non-significant portion has flowed into housing leading to the price increases we have witnessed the past decade+ (one need only look at the gargantuan increase in debt held globally to see this — it is in the hundreds of trillions of US dollars[2] — with a very dramatic increase in the rate of growth in just the last couple of years, growing some 50% in less than a decade; and this has occurred, not coincidentally I would argue, when we have witnessed housing costs jump dramatically). It has also led to an increasing concentration of housing in the hands of the ‘wealthy’ — as they can more easily access credit and/or have funds to ‘shelter’ — leading to the less ‘advantaged’ being shut out of the market.
Not only have we witnessed a huge flow of money into AirBnB and the like (there are literally over a thousand of such dwellings in York Region alone), but the ownership of multiple dwellings by quite a number of people also removes supply from the market (I recently heard a radio interview with a real estate agent who claimed to have 100+ homes in his personal portfolio — homes that he ‘owned’).
None of these contributing factors are considered in the mainstream narratives surrounding housing. All we hear, repeatedly, is that supply is inadequate and demand ‘demands’ that we build hundreds of thousands, no millions, more. Only such an ‘investment’ (and the opening up of ‘locked’ lands as a recent government advertisement asserts) can address the crisis (and don’t even get me started on the resource/energy constraints/limits and/or ecological systems destruction aspects of this growth forever insanity).
The narrative about supply and demand on its surface makes sense, but only in a world where all the other contributing factors are ignored. Few if any of these other variables penetrate the Overton Window that the profit-makers/-takers/-extractors have created: our housing ‘crisis’ and ‘affordability’ can ONLY be addressed by way of rapid and significant expansion of supply!
Complex issues are, well, complex and we have allowed a less-than-complete (I’d argue convenient to the profiteers) narrative to steer the conversation and thus most people’s beliefs. The ‘experts’ keep saying it’s supply and demand that requires ongoing and ramped up construction of homes, so it must be true.
But ‘truth’ is a funny thing. The recent propaganda, er, I mean marketing by the provincial government (at taxpayer expense, no less) in Ontario about housing supply/demand makes the assertion that Ontario has become home to ½ million new residents in the past year so we absolutely have to build a million and a half more homes as quickly as possible. The problem with this ‘truth’ is that this number of immigrants taking up residence in Ontario is actually more than the official immigration number for all of Canada and, of course, not all of these immigrants remain in Ontario. A lot do, but certainly not 115%.
And if this relatively minor ‘mistake’ is being asserted widely in part of the narrative management around the housing ‘crisis’, what else is not being accurately disseminated/reported? (NOTE: while a teacher several decades ago, I uncovered a similar marketing falsehood in a document the provincial government of the time was distributing where they asserted that research demonstrated that student results had been steadily declining. In my attempt to see the research that supported this — I spoke to a dozen+ ‘officials’ in the Ministry of Education and Education Quality and Accountability Office — it became clear that the statement in the document was unsupported: there was no such research and those I spoke to eventually admitted this, stating “there is no supporting documentation, little long-term comparable assessment data, and no systematic study has been carried out by the Ministry.” The assertion in the document was pure fabrication to steer perceptions/beliefs in order to justify/rationalise government policy/actions. In other words, the government was lying and depending upon people’s tendency to defer to authority/experts in order to ‘manage’ beliefs.).
Questions about so many aspects of this issue of a housing ‘crisis’ have been left unanswered or rather conveniently ignored as the whole growth machine carries on and the folks steering things continue to make money hand-over-fist… what could possibly go wrong?
But how typical of government to highlight a societal ‘problem’ and then, conveniently, offer a ‘solution’ that just happens to address the primary motivation of our ruling caste: the control/expansion of the wealth-generation/-extraction systems that provide their revenue streams and thus positions of power and prestige. More for the ‘advantaged’ as the ‘disadvantaged’ pay the price.
‘Representative’ Democracy: A Ruse To Convince Citizens That They Have Agency In Their Society
A friend recently posted on my FB timeline the link to an article about the plans of our provincial government in opening up sections of Ontario’s Greenbelt[1] to housing development and the legal action against this that is being contemplated by one of Ontario’s many First Nations communities.
He asked me the following: “I wonder how many people who vote for Doug Ford will give this some thought the next time they do a routine land acknowledgement?”
My comment on the issue:
I think the truth of the matter is that the vast/significant majority of people will not think about this issue.
The human tendency to defer/obey ‘authority’ results in most people believing the propaganda/marketing of the government.
Most citizens believe when they are informed governments are ‘consultative’, a ‘social service’, and acting on behalf of it citizens — something constantly reiterated in today’s mainstream/legacy media.
For most, what the politicians say is gospel, especially if they’re the ones they voted for.
Government consultation is a ruse, regardless of party. It is for all intents and purposes a public relations stunt to give the impression that the average person has influence or impact upon decision-making and policies, and that government is responsive to citizen input.
Can you imagine the stress created by the cognitive dissonance of holding the notion that you have agency via consultation or the ballot box but also recognising that your ‘representatives’ are the public face of a ruling caste that doesn’t truly give a shit about you but is primarily motivated by a desire to control/expand the wealth-generation/extraction systems that provide their revenue streams and thus positions of power and prestige.
Most (all?) would rather deny/rationalise away the latter belief and hold on to the former one. Living with a lie is much easier and comforting than living with the significantly problematic truth that governments are in place to represent and protect the ruling caste in society — not the hoi polloi.
If you’ve made it to the end of this contemplation and have got something out of my writing, please consider ordering the trilogy of my ‘fictional’ novel series, Olduvai (PDF files; only $9.99 Canadian), via my website — the ‘profits’ of which help me to keep my internet presence alive and first book available in print (and is available via various online retailers). Encouraging others to read my work is also much appreciated.
Ontario’s former privacy commissioner is sounding the alarm about the government’s tracking of cellphone data to inform policy, after it was revealed recently that a federal agency has been analyzing the movements of Canadians since the onset of the pandemic.
“It concerns me enormously that this would enable the government to collect more and more information,” Ann Cavoukian told The Epoch Times.
“I do not want to [see] a trend where the government is consistently doing this and starting now. You can’t trust the government.”
Cavoukian, who served as Ontario’s privacy commissioner from 1997 to 2014, is founder of the advocacy group Global Privacy & Security by Design and heads the Privacy by Design Centre of Excellence at Ryerson University.
“In March 2020, [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau said that tracking cellphone users was not being considered. Well, they did it, PHAC’s been doing it, and they want to do it even more,” Cavoukian said.
First reported by Blacklock’s Reporter on Dec. 21, the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has since confirmed that it has been using cellphone data to conduct analysis of Canadians’ anonymized movements in the context of the pandemic, and that it plans on expanding the program to other health issues and continuing it until 2026.
“[Officials] say ‘as soon as the emergency is over, we’re going to return to privacy.’ They don’t. The privacy invasive measures that are introduced during emergencies, pandemics, etc., often continue well after the emergency is over,” said Cavoukian.
She believes PHAC wanted to “keep this under wraps … because they know people do not want to have their mobile devices tracked.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
There are many hard lessons learned from the pandemic. One is that our food system needs a serious reboot. Luckily, we need only look to nature’s cycles for clues on how to fix it.
In a circular food economy, food waste becomes valuable, affordable healthy food becomes accessible to everyone and innovation uses a regenerative approach to how food is produced, distributed and consumed.
A pilot initiative in the Ontario city of Guelph and surrounding Wellington County, called Our Food Future, is Canada’s first circular food economy. It is demonstrating what a regional circular food model can look and taste like.
Falling out of sync with nature
The pandemic has magnified deep inefficiencies and inequity in the food system. On one hand, we see tremendous food waste and on the other, worsening food insecurity.
The food system has evolved into a linear model of take-make-waste. We take from the ground the nutrients needed to grow food, make it into many products that line supermarket shelves, and then consume it, thinking little of the waste produced. This linear model is out of sync with the cycles seen in nature that were inherent in food production practices for thousands of years.
Food, design and systems thinking
Wading through the complexities of the food system can be overwhelming, but there are many opportunities to design a better model. First, it’s important to see the connections between food and design.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Rival developers competing to host Canada’s biggest retail warehouse, which sources say is for Amazon
Roughly half of this property in Pickering, owned by Triple Group, is classed as a protected wetland. If approved for development, commercial real estate analysts say it would skyrocket in value, potentially to more than $100 million. This view looks northwest from the corner of Bayly Street and Squires Beach Road. (Patrick Morrell/CBC)
Moves by Premier Doug Ford’s government to grant special permission to pave over a protected wetland in Pickering have generated headlines, but behind the controversy, there’s an untold story.
That story involves a battle between rival developers and rival municipalities to get the chance to build what would become the largest retail warehouse in Canada, a project worth hundreds of millions of dollars that multiple sources say is for Amazon.
The battle is playing out just east of Toronto near Highway 401, on two pieces of property less than one kilometre apart: one in the city of Pickering on a provincially designated wetland, the other in the town of Ajax on a golf course.
Whichever site clears all of its legal and zoning hurdles first will be in the driver’s seat. The landowner’s property value will skyrocket and the project will bring at least $50 million in new tax and development revenue to one of the municipalities.
While the Toronto Region Conservation Authority (TRCA) has vigorously objected to plans to build on the wetland in Pickering, it is not opposed to the plan for the golf course in Ajax.
However the Ford government has gone to great lengths to smooth the way for the warehouse to go on the Pickering wetland. That property belongs to the Triple Group of Companies, owned by the Apostolopoulos family, backers of the nearby Durham Live casino complex.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Ontario government says non-vaccinated people could face travel, social restrictions
The Health Minister of Ontario in Canada has stoked controversy by suggesting that people who do not take the coronavirus vaccine will face restrictions on where they can travel and spend time.
When asked by reporters about how the government intends to go about convincing people to get the vaccine, Health Minister Christine Elliott warned that those who refuse it will face difficulties reintegrating into society.
“That’s their choice, this is not going to be a mandatory campaign. It will be voluntary,” Elliot said, but adding that “There may be some restrictions that may be placed on people that don’t have vaccines for travel purposes, to be able to go to theatres and other places.”
When another reporter asked if the government would be introducing ‘immunity passports’, or proof of vaccination cards, Elliot said “Yes, because that’s going to be really important for people to have for travel purposes, perhaps for work purposes, for going to theatres or cinemas or any other places where people will be in closer physical contact.”
Following up on Elliot’s comments, The Toronto Sun spoke to her press secretary, who confirmed that the government is exploring several options for vaccine “tracking and surveillance.”
“This includes exploring developing tech-based solutions while also providing for alternative options to ensure equitable access to any potential ‘immunity passport,’” Alexandra Hilkene said.
Sun reporter Brian Lilley notes “That phrase will set off alarm bells and it should, not just for anti-vaxxers, but for anyone who is concerned about Charter rights and governments running roughshod over them.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Suggests those who don’t take the shot will have to wear masks.
Cole Burston via Getty Images
Ontario’s Chief Medical Officer says that those who refuse to take the COVID vaccine won’t have “freedom to move around” and will have to continue to wear masks.
Dr. David Williams was asked if he “would make some sort of mandatory vaccination recommendation.”
Williams acknowledged that “we can’t force someone to take a vaccine,” but when on to explain how people who didn’t take it would have their freedom of mobility severely restricted.
“What we can do is to say sometimes for access or ease of getting into certain settings, if you don’t have vaccination then you’re not allowed into that setting without other protection materials,” said Williams.
“What may be mandatory is proof of…vaccination in order to have latitude and freedom to move around…without wearing other types of personal protective equipment,” he added.
Williams also suggested that people would be prevented from entering certain settings without having been vaccinated if there was a “risk.”
As we previously highlighted, governments do not have to make the vaccine mandatory, they can simply make life unlivable for people who refuse to take the vaccine.
If bars, restaurants, cinemas, sports venues, airlines, employers and others all make the vaccination a mandatory condition of service, anyone who refuses to take it will be reduced to a personal form of de facto lockdown with their social lives and mobility completely stunted.
Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en members join day of action to support Ontario nation locked in conflict over development on its traditional territory.
About 50 people marched on Highway 16 in New Hazelton as part of a national day of action on Indigenous land rights. Photo by Amanda Follett Hosgood.
Northern B.C.’s main highway was closed for more than an hour Friday evening as members of the Gitxsan Nation shut down traffic in a show of support for Indigenous rights actions across the country.
The blockade of Highway 16 in New Hazelton, between Smithers and Terrace, was part of a national day of action called for by Haudenosaunee Six Nations members fighting a residential complex on their traditional territory in southern Ontario. While about a dozen events took place in Ontario and Quebec, New Hazelton’s was the only one in Western Canada.
“Everything that’s been taken from us is connected to the land,” organizer Lorinda Campbell told close to 50 people who gathered in the rain at the New Hazelton visitor centre. “We are connected to the land.”
Drumming, singing and carrying signs and banners, the group moved from the visitor centre onto the highway shortly after 5 p.m., where they occupied a bridge in what organizer Hilary Lightening called “a strong message to the government.”
“The Haudenosaunee of Six Nations have issued a call for solidarity across Turtle Island. It’s akin to the same callout that we received from the Wet’suwet’en to shut down Canada,” Lightening said before the event. “What is happening in Canada is this criminalization of land defenders.”
The Haudenosaunee have been occupying a parcel of land on their traditional territory next to the Six Nations of the Grand River Reserve in Caledonia, Ont., since July. The occupation is known as 1492 Land Back Lane, a reference to the year Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
With car sales in the US and China locked in a precipitous slowdown that is only expected to worsen, GM on Monday is expected to announce the closure of one of its Canadian plants as the company hopes to move more production to Mexico and (hopefully) bolster its lagging shares, Reuters reported. The company’s plant in Oshawa, Ontario – the plant in question – produces slow-selling Chevrolet Impala and Cadillac XTS sedans, while also completing final assembly of the better-selling Chevy Silverado and Sierra pickup trucks, which are shipped from Indiana.
The outcry from the union and local officials is already causing political pressure on GM to mount after the carmaker accepted billions of dollars in subsidies from the Canadian and US governments after filing for bankruptcy nearly a decade ago. But the company must weigh these considerations against the demands of Wall Street analysts, who believe that GM has too many plants in North America. Signaling the start of the carmaker’s latest cost-cutting initiative, the company said on Oct. 31 that about 18,000 of its 50,000 salaried employees in North America would soon be eligible for buyouts.
Two sources told Bloomberg that the announcement of the plant’s closure is expected on Monday.
The closure is not unexpected. In a message to employees last month, GM CEO Mary Barra cited the stagnant share price as a reason for tougher restructuring measures.
Unifor, the Canadian autoworkers union that represents the plant’s employees, told Bloomberg that it has been told there is no car production planned at the factory beyond next year, raising the prospect of talks to preserve jobs. Unifor National President Jerry Dias said back in April that the Oshawa complex had been slated for closure in June of this year. But he added that one top GM Canada executive had vowed that it wouldn’t close on his watch.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The question of how the Canadian provinces should deal with the issue of greenhouse gas emissions continues to be contentious and occasionally acrimonious.
The new provincial government of Ontario has declared its intention to cancel that province’s cap-and-trade system—referring to it as “a punishing, regressive tax that forces low-and middle-income families to pay more.” A week ago the province of Alberta threatened to pull out of the Federal government’s carbon pricing scheme after progress on building the Trans Mountain Expansion pipeline ground to a halt. Progressive Conservative leader Andrew Scheer has vowed to shut down carbon pricing asserting: “Conservatives know that carbon tax isn’t just bad for big business; it’s bad for everyone. And that’s why, come 2019, my first act as prime minister will be to get rid of it once and for all.”[1]
So is it? Bad for everyone?
There is no question that pricing carbon works. Over 51 countries and subnational jurisdictions are now operating carbon pricing systems, or planning to do so.[2] A report last year by two of the world’s top economists was clear: “A well-designed carbon price is an indispensable part of a strategy for reducing emissions in a efficient way.”[3]
Earlier this year, Environment and Climate Change Canada published the results of a modeling exercise which showed that a carbon pricing system applied across Canada would reduce greenhouse gas pollution by between 80 and 90 million tonnes by 2022–making a significant contribution to meeting Canada’s Paris Agreement target of a 30% reduction over the period 2005 to 2030. [4]
But some forms of carbon pricing systems seem to work a lot better than others. Can we learn a few lessons and draw some conclusions by looking at the performance of the four Canadian provinces where carbon prices have been introduced: Quebec, Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia? Of the four, British Columbia’s revenue-neutral carbon pricing system is widely regarded as a major success.[5] But the latest data on Canada’s greenhouse gas emissions paint a rather different picture.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
COMMENT: When Government turns on its own citizens.
Good day, Martin;
This climate change movement here in Ontario, Canada has gone too far. Construction of windmills in a small farming area has contaminated 16 residential water wells with that destroyed the pumps and piping that feed water to farms rendering property values to almost nothing.
Driving piles into the shale bedrock beneath the sandy soil for the foundation of windmills has disturbed the water sources. The Ministry of the environment has denied the water has been contaminated therefore avoiding an easy fix to install new systems that can easily purify the water. Instead, they will spend upwards of $50 to $100 million in legal battles to sway scientific study and avoid admittance of stupidity.
It’s like a farmer’s Flint Michigan for Canada. The ministry of environment has come out and claimed there is nothing wrong with the water. The citizens formed a group called “Water Wells First” and have been sidelined and lied to. Anyone with any sense could have figured out that if wind and solar electricity production costs are 30 to 80 cents per kilowatt-hour and sold to the public for 12 cents, the difference will be paid by the tax-payer anyway to the tune of hundreds of $millions over 20 years.
Government is contaminated when they protect their own failures and fail to protect the basic property rights of the people.
Thank you;
RH
REPLY: Governments are the worst evil in human society. Whenever they make a mistake, they will NEVER admit it. This is standard procedure in absolutely every department and it is universal infecting all governments worldwide. This is the political nature behind the curtain. Take the Refugee Crisis in Europe. Instead of admitting a mistake, they threaten all governments to take in a portion to lessen their own exposure.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
Brantford state of emergency: HIGHLIGHTS, must-see visuals of ice jam
Thursday, February 22, 2018, 7:34 AM – Wednesday was marked by flood crises in parts of southern Ontario, particularly the Grand River, where flood warnings were still in effect for much of its watershed Thursday. One person remains missing.
Ice jams and days of rain made for elevated water levels, forcing road closures in several communities throughout the day Wednesday, including Cambridge and Brantford.
The latter city was forced to declare a state of emergency, and issued an evacuation order affecting almost 5,000 people in the Holmedale, Old West Brant, and Eagle Place areas of the community, which remained in effect into Thursday morning.
Watch below: Ice chunks cover entire Ontario highway, see it here
Some ice jams did clear Wednesday, relieving flooding pressure somewhat, but leaving behind massive chunks of ice for crews to clear. At one point, a sink hole on Highway 401 westbound at Highway 24 in Cambridge forced a highway closure that lasted into the evening before all lanes reopened.
The Canadian Coast Guard spent Tuesday breaking up ice at the mouth of the Grand River on Lake Erie, and spokeswoman Carol Launderville said the CCGS Griffon returned for another round Wednesday.
“The commanding officer of the CCGS Griffon, Michael Hines, reported fast ice from one side of the Grand River to the other and nothing had started to break until the icebreaker arrived,” Launderville says. “By the end of Tuesday afternoon, open water started to form at the upper end of our track as the broken ice flowed towards the mouth of the river. The Coast Guard broke the ice to the approaches and out onto the lake. After the ice starts to move away from the mouth, the ice in the river will have a place to go.”
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
The Canadian job market has never lost more part-time jobs – ever – than in January…
Canada’s unemployment rate rose to 5.9% as total job losses for January dropped the most since 2009, but it was the 137,000 collapse in part-time jobs that stands out.
So what is driving this collapse?
Simple – Minimum Wage Hikes In Ontario.
Ontario raised the minimum wage 21 percent to C$14 ($11.26), making it the highest in Canada.
And as Reuters reports,the steep minimum wage increase that went into effect on Jan. 1 in Ontario, Canada’s most populous province,has had a rocky start as some employers cut workers’ hours and benefits to reduce its impact on the bottom line.
The provincial government, controlled by the Ontario Liberal Party, positioned it as a measure to improve the livelihood of workers in Ontario, home to the nation’s largest city, Toronto, and its capital, Ottawa.
Yet some employers responded by implementing hiring freezes, cutting hours of existing workers, eliminating paid breaks and boosting benefits costs.
Shocker – sending minimum wage costs soaring leads to less demand for low-skill employees?
Will they never learn?
Of course, some see a silver lining as average hourly earnings jumped 3.3% (vs 2.9% previous month) thanks to the min wage hike, the fastest pace since 2015.
But, it appears the minimum wage hike has sent more people ‘out’ of the work force as the participation rate plunges to its lowest since 1999…
As a reminder, The Bank of Canada hiked ‘dovishly’ in January…
The BOC also noted that “while the economic outlook is expected to warrant higher interest rates over time, some continued monetary policy accommodation will likely be needed to keep the economy operating close to potential and inflation on target.”
Minimum wage hikes, and the inevitable job losses that result from them, are a consistent topic of conversation for us…here are just a couple of recent examples:
Of course, no amount of empirical evidence (or common sense for that matter) will ever be sufficient to convince left-leaning politicians that basic economic concepts governing the relationship between supply and demand also apply to the market for labor. No, in the mind of politicians, every business ever created is an evil corporation owned exclusively by “millionaire, billionaire, private jet owners” who earn infinite profits and will casually accept whatever minimum wage hikes or tax increases are thrown at them…
That said, here in the real world, competition prevents corporations from earning excess profits (at least for an extended period of time anyway) and businesses respond to higher labor costs through capital investments designed to reduce labor (think ordering kiosks at McDonald’s) and/or other cost cutting initiatives.
In fact, for the latest example of the unintended consequences of higher minimum wages, one has to look no further than a pair of Tim Horton’s franchises in Ontario, Canada. Faced with a 21% hike in minimum wages starting January 1st, with hourly rates going to $14 from $11.60, owners of the two restaurants said they had no choice but to cut employee benefits and eliminate paid breaks to offset their higher costs. Per the Financial Post:
Employees at the Tim Hortons locations owned by the children of the co-founders of the franchise say they have reduced employee benefits and cut back paid breaks to help offset Ontario’s $2.40 jump in hourly minimum wage.
…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…
