DouglasTodd
@DouglasTodd
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Migration, demographics, religion, ethics, housing .... Columnist at Vancouver Sun / Postmedia News
Vancouver, British Columbia
Joined November 2008
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Okay. That’s a wrap. Just cycled out to pick up a few belongings at the Vancouver Sun newsroom at Broadway and Renfrew. It’s shutting down. We will all work remotely, as we have been for 3 years. Most prefer it this way. End of an era for the newspaper, which is 113 years old.
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After an announcement that made headlines around the world last year, Trudeau has quietly rolled back parts of a foreign-buyer ban after just 86 days.
Canada once again allows foreign investors to buy vacant land etc.
Good analysis by
@StephenPunwasi
65
721
963
On Monday Ottawa quietly eased restrictions on foreigners buying residential property. They'd been in effect 3 months.
"The amendments allow non-Canadians authorized to work in Canada to buy one property."
So Trudeau was just pretending. Surprise.
#vanre
48
424
835
Victoria, B.C., Imam Sheikh Younus Kathrada is at it yet again - calling for destruction of Jewish people.
But B.C. politicians, incl. from the city of Victoria, don't raise a peep.
I've asked them for their views.
They don't get back to me.
#islamophobia
#cdnpoli
Canadian Imam Sheikh Younus Kathrada: Israel Has the Right to Defend Herself? Seriously? Anyone with an Ounce of Logic Will See How Wrong That Is; Oh Allah, Bring Annihilation upon the Plundering and Criminal Jews
#Canada
#antisemitism
355
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412
75
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502
3 of 4 international students do not attend any classes at the private Ontario college.
They apply for their fees to be refunded.
They then transfer to a public college so they can qualify for a postgraduate work permit.
It's about the permit.
#cdnpoli
33
236
474
“While it remains the worst mass murder in Canadian history, an Angus Reid poll ahead of the 38th anniv. of the bombing found 9 in 10 people had little or no knowledge of the incident.”
No wonder Canadians don’t understand Khalistan activism.
#cdnpoli
39
163
405
Justin Trudeau's cabinet has been told by
@CSIS
that 117 Canadian politicians were warned of foreign interference since May 2021.
But Trudeau opposes media investigations into Chinese election interference, citing anti-Asian racism.
Via
@scoopercooper
19
237
402
"Canadians could all vanish from the face of the earth and we’d take only about 1.5% of greenhouse-gas emissions out of the global equation.... What’s China been up to? Building more coal plants, that’s what," says
@TerryGlavin
.
#CDNpoli
#ChinaTaiwan
42
127
337
Rich immigrants who moved to
#Vancouver
through Quebec's back-door investor program now own, on avg, $4.6m worth of housing. But they're only paying taxes on annual incomes of a paltry $100k. A gov.-enabled scam. Via
@GoldinYVR
,
#vanre
#vanpoli
#cdnpoli
30
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Ottawa insider warns about immigrant-investor schemes
“The strange story of Vancouver” is the name of an internal memo revealing the many things wrong with Canada's earlier business-investor programs.
That hasn't stopped Ottawa.
1/My latest.
#cdnpoli
24
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345
Immigration min. urged to crack down on international student ‘no shows.’
@StatCan_eng
found 1 in 5 people with study permits did not attend college or university in Canada.
I wrote about this in 2019.
It's abuse encouraged by Ottawa. (See below).
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Almost 30 % of American girls have clinical depression and it’s the same across the Anglosphere, says Dr.
@jean_twenge
The suicide rate for ten- to 24-year-olds has tripled.
She attributes much of it social media.
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#Vancouver
is now one of the hardest markets to buy in the world. Buyers need to dedicate 95.8% of their income to a mortgage. No other generation in Canada’s history has ever seen home prices outrun incomes on such a scale."
Via
@BetterDwelling
@RBC
33
75
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Trudeau says temporary immigration has "grown at a rate far beyond what Canada has been able to absorb."
An historic statement, while strange.
He loves to apologize for the mistakes of others, but seems incapable of apologizing for his own policies.
1/2
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90
325
.
@CSIS
says China infiltrated Canadian politics in 2022.
Ex-Vancouver mayor
@kennedystewart
says:
“I can’t help but think, in any other G7 country, this would be a red-alert...
“But here there’s cross-party collusion to limit inquiry."
Via
@scoopercooper
26
150
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2/3 Sikhs for Justice leader Gurpatwant Singh Pannun, frequently quoted, is among the most vociferous in his anti-Hinduism.
Pannun angrily declared:
“Indo Canadian Hindus, you have repudiated your allegiance to Canada. Your destination is India. Leave Canada. Go to India.”
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Breaking:
Canadian spy suspect Dr. Qiu led "synthetic bat filovirus" project with Wuhan Inst.
"Western intelligence agencies, incl. the
@FBI
, say the most likely cause of COVID was Chinese scientists working with bat viruses," says
@scoopercooper
15
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These diploma mills "weren’t selling education. They were selling permanent residency via the loophole to immigrate to Canada,” says
@MarkStrongJobs
"They were offering a way to buy your way in.”
Politicians finally admitting it.
via
@katiederosayyj
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"National home prices have officially doubled under
#Trudeau
, who campaigned on affordable housing. It took just over 6 years," says
#Vancouver
analyst
@SteveSaretsky
. Many urban voters still buy Trudeau's posturing.
#VAnre
#Vanpoli
#tore
#onpoli
#cdnpoli
#bcpoli
@HonAhmedHussen
30
111
282
Vancouver led the way as Canada's priciest city for renters, with the average one-bedroom unit listed at $2,945 and a two-bedroom at $3,863, followed by nearby Burnaby.
Thank Justin Trudeau's policies. Directly.
#cdnpoli
#BCpoli
via
@VancouverSun
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104
279
"In the context of Canada’s affordability crisis, take a look at this chart and ask if supply is really to blame here,” says
@BMO
economist Robert Kavcic.
"In no version of reality can housing supply respond to an almost overnight tripling in new bodies."
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282
Here's an empty home in the Arbutus area of
#Vancouver
.
It's valued at $2.7m.
The build-up of moss both outside and inside the window tells the story, as do other signs.
No idea if
@CityofVancouver
and
#bcpoli
collecting the vacancy tax on it
Irritating.
#vanpoli
#housingcrisis
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43
279
"Remember Nortel?" asks
@TashaKheiriddin
.
Rightly so.
"The Ottawa company was a global leader in the tech business" (but Investors) lost their shirts after it was revealed "Chinese state-sponsored hacking was really to blame, for the benefit of Huawei."
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B.C. desperately needs Ottawa to tie immigration levels to housing
@StatCan_eng
report by Annik Gougeon & Oualid Moussouni showed immigrants bought 78% of homes in
#RichmondBC
- 65%+per cent of the dwellings in Surrey and Burnaby.
- 40%+ in
#Vancouver
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"To paint the entire Vancouver Police Department as being rife with systemic racism is highly inaccurate, completely unfair and bordering on slander," says retired Cst. Wes Fung, 31-year veteran of
@VancouverPD
.
#Vanpoli
#BCpoli
#multiculturalism
14
42
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“I really don’t know what to say when our federal government admits that it has made housing in Canada better for foreign investors than for Canadians. Who are they serving?" asks
@JohnPasalis
.
@ronmortgageguy
#Vanre
#CDNpoli
#Cdnimm
#BCpoli
#tore
#onpoli
27
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Number of international students now exceeds 1.03 million, official figures show.
In 2019 total was 637k.
Less than 400k foreign students when Liberals first elected in 2015.
No wonder rents are thru the roof for everyone, including those on study visas.
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Ahmed Hussen directly impacts his own $ interests:
1 As immigration minister: he dramatically increased levels.
2 As housing min.: he does little for affordability
All while he invests more in his rentals.
Via
@WestcoastWood
@rohanarezel
@StewartPrest
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"1m people flooded into Canada, putting strains on infrastructure, esp housing. Ottawa opens up the
#immigration
floodgates and then tells the provinces & municipalites to figure out housing... It’s not going so well," says
@SteveSaretsky
We avg 200k new housing completions/yr
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Canadian real estate prices propped up by longer repayment schedules, says
@OSFICanada
.
"It's spelt 'extended amortization,' but pronounced
'investor bailout,' quips
@StephenPunwasi
.
It's keeping prices high.
1/2
#vanre
#cdnpoli
#bcpoli
#vanpoli
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Why
#Vancouver
housing prices became so out of whack with the Western world.
It suffers a double whammy in outrageous prices.
It's a gateway for foreign capital.
And it's in a country that compounds unaffordability thru unrivalled migration.
1/ My latest
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B.C. real estate firms hit for money laundering violations:
Cathay Pacific Realty Ltd. fined $206k
Le Homes Realty - $270k
Pan Pacific Platinum Services - $282k
Hats off to
@FINTRAC_Canada
Via
@WestcoastWood
#vanre
#bcpoli
@onpoli
@JohnPasalis
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54% of B.C.'s new condos are owned by investors, people who don't live in them. This "affordable" option is going to those who already own places. In Toronto the rate is 59%.
Via
@StatCan_eng
@BetterDwelling
#vanre
#vanpoli
#onpoli
#BCpoli
#vanpoli
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Productivity in Canada is down 1.4% year-over-year and has contracted outright... 10 of the past 11 quarters, says
@EconguyRosie
.
Ottawa has "camouflaged the situation via aggressive immigration."
#cdnecon
#cdnpoli
#onpoli
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Liberals now pledging 'middle class' prosperity for 'the next generation'
In 9 years a Liberal MP has uttered the words “middle class” 5,416 times.
Justin Trudeau has had 619 utterances.
Yet our GDP/capita is abysmal
#CDNecon
#cdnpoli
via
@TristinHopper
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Ottawa takes 5 years to admit the
#CRA
had done a study showing "rich migrants made more than 90% of luxury purchases in 2
#Vancouver
municipalities while declaring refugee-level incomes," reports
@ianjamesyoung70
#Vanre
#Elxn44
#CDNpoli
#BCpoli
#vanpoli
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Canada's record level of foreign students - at 807k - is 30% higher than ever.
Carleton U's
@StevePomeroy
is informed & brave enough to say the obvious:
Ottawa's exploitive policy is making rents skyrocket.
#vanre
#cdnpse
#cdnpoli
via
@BryanPassifiume
29
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The prime Little Mountain land was 'bought' for almost nothing from the
#BCLiberal
govt. by a Malaysian tycoon who donated more than $226k to the party. How many ways can British Columbians get sold out?
#Vanre
#BCpoli
#CDNpoli
#Vanre
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237
Transparency International found almost half the most expensive properties in
#Vancouver
were held by shell companies, nominees or trusts that obscure owners’ identities. Via
@joanneleeyoung
. Also working on this big
#Vanre
topic.
#BCpoli
#Vanpoli
#Tore
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Canadian Sen. Yuen Pau Woo met with leaders tied to China's espionage arm days before challenge our commission probing election interference by foreign agents.
Woo's loyalty to China over Canada is flagrant.
He gets away with it.
#cdnpoli
@scoopercooper
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“When you have people earning local incomes, paying significant taxes, competing with people from low-tax jurisdictions who are not declaring those incomes... and not paying taxes, it’s an unfair contest,” says
@Dave_Eby
via
@MikePHager
#cdnpoli
#BCpoli
19
58
233
Canadians going "full European" on immigration skepticism, says
@TerryGlavin
.
"Justin Trudeau's idea of a “post-national” state with no core values is about as fashionable in Canada now as it is in Europe."
1/2
#cdnpoli
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"Jody Wilson-Raybould (
@Puglaas
) &
@janephilpott
aren’t principled because they’re women. They’re just principled,"
@MHallFindlay
of
@CanadaWestFdn
said yesterday. Today Christy Clark proves Findlay's point: Not all powerful women are principled.
#CDNpoli
#BCpoli
#SNCLavalin
"If you're talking about 9,000 jobs and the attorney general is refusing to save them. I don't know. I think that's a pretty good argument to move the attorney general and find somebody who wants to support a growing economy," says
@christyclarkbc
#cdnpoli
1K
152
600
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81
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"The
#RCMP
uncovered an underground bank in
#RichmondBC
, Silver International, that laundered as much as $220m a year, and possibly $1 billion," reports
@Gordon_Hoekstra
. An 'Underground bank:' Quite the concept - no taxes.
#cdnecon
#BCpoli
#CDNpoli
#vanre
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The
@CityofVancouver
is having trouble delivering basic services:
- No snow removal on side streets
- No garbage pick-up at our place for 4 weeks
- Fitness centres closed for 10 days, when people have time & need for them
But taxes rise 6%/year
#vanpoli
@KenSimCity
@AdrianeCarr
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"It’s as though somebody somewhere decided that Canada should be a country of landlords & strip mall college entrepreneurs preying upon an underclass of exhausted renters, homeless people and foreign guest workers. Who voted for this?" asks
@TerryGlavin
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"After years of saying that Canada desperately needs immigrants to patch up a critical labour shortage, the Trudeau government has suddenly changed course and accused the country of being addicted to cheap foreign labour."
#cdnpoli
Via
@TristinHopper
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Canada tries to save face by talking about a "limit" on foreign students - AFTER demand drops, says
@StephenPunwasi
.
So much from Trudeau's gov. is about manipulative messaging.
Also known as BS.
No wonder polls show 9 of 10 think he's "phony."
#cdnpse
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Myth 1: Housing affordability is a supply problem & we’ll triple construction.
Reality: Canada’s housing situation is the result of massive excess demand shocks, says
@BMO
's Robert Kavcic.
"A near-tripling in pop. growth is something no supply curve can adequately respond to."
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87
212
#UBC
professor of medicine resigns over its response to rising antisemitism
Dr. Ted Rosenberg claims the university faculty of medicine has failed to address rising antisemitism on campus during the Israel-Hamas war.
Via
@joeruttle
#UBC
#bcpoli
20
77
206
A “homemaker” bought 5 luxury homes worth $21m between 2014-17 - with one mortgage. Another “homemaker” bought 12
#Vancouver
row houses for $4.1m (now worth $15 m) between 2004-07, reports Peter German via
@joanneleeyoung
#Vanre
#BC
poli
#CDNpoli
#CDNimm
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177
Labour economists disagree with Ottawa relying on 'a ready source of cheap labour' from outside the country to fill low-skill jobs. Justin Trudeau once ridiculed Stephen Harper for doing so. Now the Liberals go further.
#cdnecon
#cdnpoli
@mikalskuterud
19
74
193
1 in 48 people now in Canada are international students.
800,000.
Per capita, the number of foreign students is 4x greater than in the US.
"Canada’s plan may backfire, as more students feel exploited, esp. over housing conditions," says
@StephenPunwasi
.
22
78
201
Organized crime has infiltrated everything from real estate to government in Canada, intelligence officials say.
#ICYMI
That's why B.C.'s
@dave_eby
has asked Ottawa to rewrite the criminal code to incl. RICO-style laws.
Via
@BetterDwelling
#cdnpoli
22
60
199
The high proportion of mortgage-free homes in
#Vancouver
"points to one thing: Foreign money."
Via
@ronmortgageguy
@GoldinYVR
In Shaughnessy (avg price $3.7m) the mortgage-free rate is 61%.
Shaughnessy also has a 16% poverty rate
!?
#vanre
#bcpoli
#Tore
30
54
202
"Canada’s immigration system was never intended to supply businesses with legions of low-skilled, supposedly temporary workers," says Michael Barutciski of
@YorkUniversity
"This ultimately contributes to lower living standards."
#ICYMI
#cdnpoli
#cdnimm
16
69
201
B.C. to fast track migrants to fix ... real estate agent shortage?
@StephenPunwasi
not only one puzzled.
B.C. already has 60% more realtors per capita than New York City & 200% more than Los Angeles.
What are
@Dave_Eby
and
@KahlonRav
thinking?
#vanre
34
66
198
Decidedly undecided on whether it wd be fun or excruciating to talk often to v. famous people, but that's
@dana_gee
's beat. Here she snags
@VancityReynolds
for an exc. piece on the 70k people working in
#Vancouver
's film industry.
#Vanpoli
#cdnmedia
4
3
193
Justin Trudeau said in 2014:
“I believe it is wrong for Canada to... exploit large numbers of guest workers.”
He also said TFWs “drive down wages.”
Yet, under Trudeau's watch TFWs have doubled.
By the former head of B.C.'s civil service.
#cdnpoli
13
62
195
1 in 8 new condos in B.C. are bought by offshore owners - highest rate in country, discovers
@BetterDwelling
. "Canadian real estate has more foreign buyers than previously thought." Phenomenon stronger in
#RichmondBC
& Vancouver.
#Vanre
#BCpoli
#VAnpoli
35
85
195
If there is anyone left who doesn't believe luxury
#Vancouver
dwellings are pre-sold in
#Asia
(normally before they're on the market locally), here is yet more evidence. Photos of
#Oakridge
marketing signage in
#HongKong
at Peak Tram.
#Vanre
#BCpoli
#CDNpoli
#Tore
#HousingForAll
27
102
179
“Money laundering is out of control. Over $100b is moved through Canada every year,” says MP Adam Chambers (
@AdamChamb
). “Global criminals are flocking to Canada to wash dirty money. They know our laws are weak." Via
@betterdwelling
#cdnpoli
#onpoli
13
64
188
Toronto-area MP Han Dong says international students voted en masse in his 2019 Liberal nomination.
Dong bussed in foreign students, likely of Chinese descent, from private colleges.
@JustinTrudeau
&
@theJagmeetSingh
enable this.
Tip of the iceberg.
18
83
190
It's very disturbing the federal government, and the B.C. government, has allowed foreign-student numbers and shady schools to run rampant.
To, ostensibly, stimulate the economy.
It's going to take years to undo the damage, esp. for renters.
#bcpoli
#cdnpoli
#cdnpse
Student caps may slow rent growth, but won't solve housing woes, say economists — via
@financialpost
4
4
7
27
46
184
"Canadian real estate is unaffordable, but you don’t appreciate how bad the reality is until you look at its G7 peers," says
@BetterDwelling
. While Ottawa evades. (In chart Canada is the red line)
#housingcrisis
#vanre
#torontorealestate
#onpoli
#BCpoli
22
80
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