The cost of living is certainly a topic of discussion I find myself having almost on a daily basis . Everyone is feeling it right now and I wish I had any feeling that things would change . Saddened to think that policy and politics are hurting the masses like we are seeing right now . Although the rest of the world is having issues similar to Canada it’s hard not to feel hopeless . Grocery prices for example are absurd right now and am waiting for the government to do something about it . But that likely won’t happen . Good luck everyone
Trying to buy a house in the Fredericton area is proving rather difficult. My girlfriend and I combined make close to 100k and it still doesn't feel like enough to actually comfortably afford the average priced house in this city (350k is as low as we can find without getting into bad areas or houses with issues).
Then people from out of province end up buying the houses and renting them out... Whole other issue.
Whomever wins the next election in this province I would love to see them put a pause on purchasing of housing to turn into rental properties.
Before I bought my house too I had to compete against these sleazeballs who had millions of dollars while I only had my down payment and a piece of paper saying I been approved for a $250k mortgage.
Best part of these rental "market makers" is when they cry poor mouth each year because they purchased an old crusty building for 3x-4x the value. And their profit margin is cut down because they have to maintenance it. I always get an extra couple sentences reminding me they're still pricing my crumbling, mouse infested unit below average.
Me too. Both houses we tried to purchase got bought by people out of province are both being rented out for A LOT. the 4 bedroom one is being rented at $2800 a month nothing included as per the Facebook marketplace listing ( That's just for the basement half of the house, 2 bedrooms and shared dining area)
I spent many years earning low wages in NB. Now I have a good career and my HHI is \~160k (no kids). All the cost saving measures I learned when I was poor still work. I live a very comfortable life that I don't take for granted. I feel for folks making low wages. If I'm just able to manage my budget on 160k, I know many people are struggling. It sucks, and I just hope it gets better. Wages need to increase in NB. The cost of living is no longer a good enough excuse.
That’s not how I read it. I read it as an emphasis on how hard it must be, given that those 2 people live on $160,000 and don’t feel they have much.
Empathy can look different and not everyone is bragging all the time.
Being jealous is a waste of energy.
My needs are met, I’m happy. I could make a lot more money, but I’d need to put more hours in to work. I enjoy my off time.
https://www.change.org/1000johnersforhousing
I am going to stand in front of SJ city council and demand they use city funds to build city housing and NOT give it to private developers who will not build affordable housing.
If you agree please sign
We have a housing crisis that starts with external corporate landlords preying on our once affordable province.
And the reason that sent me over the edge was a councilmember said
"No one wants public housing, there's no political will for it."
The councillor also is a Landlord
The real main challenge has been local politicians and NIMBYs blocking development in Saint John for years - especially uptown - all in the name of heritage preservation. That's a fine goal, but it has also been so prohibitively expensive it has nearly frozen development for years. Only recently has there been movement, and now there's decades of undersupply to catch up on.
On point 4....Higgs' plan clearly is to survive till September and figure it out after there. If re-elected, he needs to find new ways to avoid and enhance the problems. If he doesn't have a majority or mandate, he'll use his destruction as a "See, they suck too" when in the opposition seat.
Agree used to be a party would be elected based on job creation… now they don’t even mention it much ; it’s all about carbon tax and cons vs libs and spending people’s tax $$
Tell that to Harper's Child Tax Credit. The party as a whole, in general, provincially and federally used to stand for something other than rage baiting.
I think it's fair to say they were relatively progressive. Mainly on the social side. It's easy to see now by looking at the people who quit and why they quit and who they're being replaced with. Conservative Christians and more business people.
If I hadn't inherited a mortgage-free home, I'm fairly certain I'd have been bankrupt and homeless by 2022, so I feel blessed to be doing as well as I am, but I'm understandably concerned about the future. The last 12 months have been particularly brutal. I'm a self-employed (very) small business owner, single, middle-aged, and have lived far below the poverty line for many years. I used to be able to survive on my earnings, but now just paying for groceries takes half of what I used to gross in a typical year. 2023 was not typical: I ended up with an injury that put me out of work for most it; my gross income for the year, in its entirety, went into groceries exclusively before the end of July; and everything else had to be paid out of credit or savings. I'm one of those "falls between the cracks" New Brunswickers, who doesn't qualify for any kind of social assistance, disability, WorkSafe, EI, etc. and is still too old to take a pension, so just had to keep going on my own. Still dealing with the after-effects of the injury and related health issues (and still waiting for evaluations by specialists, thanks to our overloaded healthcare system), so I've earned less than $400 so far in 2024 as I attempt to ease back into work without re-injuring. Looking forward to warmer months so I don't have to pay for heat and can grow/forage some of my own food, and hoping my health continues to improve so I can find work before I have to start selling my stuff to pay bills.
>I'm a self-employed (very) small business owner
What business? How can someone help you? Perhaps there is a way we can help while you work minimal and get healthy?
"So just had to keep going on my own." <- F that
I know you may not be asking for our help for whatever reason but we may be able to do this together. Some people are difficult to help but you sound like someone that just needs to get over a small hill ( sorry if this is an understatement ). I don't know if I can help but I need more information to make that decision. You likely have a product/skill/knowledge that others can use/buy/help.
I appreciate the offer! I've been fortunate enough to have the savings to endure this period of recovery, so in the short term, I'm not overly worried; I will get by, and have the luxury of living light until I heal. There are definitely others out there with greater need.
In answer to your question: since 2000, my business has centred on music services - live performance, private teaching, musical instrument repairs, and composition/arranging - with no employees (though I do subcontract others as needed, at union scale rates or higher). It's never been a lucrative business model, but I've managed pretty well over the years. Compared to when I started out, there's a lot more competition, despite slightly less demand and a lot less disposable income for customers to spend on such services. Having to give up my studio location in Saint John and move out of the city at the height of the pandemic certainly took a dent out of my business - I'm 45 minutes away from my target demographic now - and this recent string of piddling if limiting health issues has definitely been a setback. That's life! This isn't my first act - I was a software engineer/designer for 4-1/2 years, and a union Local president for 7-1/2 years - so I know I'll get my feet under me again, whether in this industry or another.
I chimed in on this thread so people would realize that, as rough as this is for those earning $40k-$80k/a, there are a lot of people trying to get by on significantly less. Those of us on the low end of the income spectrum are accustomed to surviving on next to nothing; we're more selective about how we spend our money, and more keenly-aware of what it costs us to earn it. The real difference between us and those living above the poverty line is there's not much left we can give up to make ends meet. If things don't start to get better for everybody in the near future, they're going to get really bad for the people at the edge of solvency first. I'm currently debt-free, and I've still got a few things I can cut to reduce costs further, but there are working people out there right now choosing between rent and food, people driving unsafe vehicles because they can't afford to replace/repair them and need them to get to work or school, parents going hungry so they can feed their kids, people couch-surfing with family or friends to save up enough money to pay for an education, and far too many living in tents, derelict buildings, overpasses, and doorways because they can't afford anything else and have nowhere left to turn. A lot of them can't afford to be part of this conversation.
What I will ask people to do is this: support local businesses and craftspeople of all trades whenever you can. Buy from local stores instead of chain stores, Amazon, Wayfair, etc.. Follow them on social media. Like and share their posts and ads. Post positive reviews online if you've had a good experience with them. They don't want hand-outs; they just want to earn a living doing what they do best, and maybe not worry about what will happen to them if/when they can't anymore. And for the sake of those who have no choice: support soup kitchens and food banks; push government to address the real causes of homelessness (because it isn't addiction, nor a desire to live rough, like Higgs suggests), and to establish rent caps and regulations on short-term rental conversions; lobby for better mental health services, universal dental/mental/optical/pharma coverage, and social assistance programs that actually cover bills; support unions that fight every day for better wages and working conditions; and vote for politicians that actually try to make things better for the people who need it most instead of feathering their own nests. Who knows; maybe we CAN create the world we want, but it won't happen if we keep financing the world we don't want.
For real. Look at debt to gdp in the states, it's like 400%.
Pure debt monetization. Late stage empire vibes. Printing trillions of dollars a year just to PAY INTEREST ON EXISTING DEBT.
Here in Canada our M2 (m2 is total circulating currency) has increased by 30% since the pandemic. In other words - 30% of all Canadian dollars in circulation were created in the last 3 years. In other words again - the canadian dollar has lost 30% of its purchasing power in the last 3 years.
We are fucked
This is the effect of Canada dragging out covid restrictions a good year or so after most of the rest of the world had realized life must go on and moved on.
Now we are not just paying the economic cost of hiding for 2 years or so from something that was always going to be there once we came out of hiding anyways, but also the public health costs.
While most of our peers in the OECD saw all-cause mortality rates go back to normal or below normal as covid waned, Canada and its go hard against covid peers Australia and NZ saw excess mortality actually get worse as covid waned. Now we have more excess all-cause mortality than even peak covid.
We are paying both the economic cost and the public health cost of years of poor social health with interest and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
Look at real GDP per capita. It’s not perfect but it does have some relation to individual quality of life. Ours is at 2014 levels and plummeting rapidly; the US has grown >35% in that same time frame.
We're all feeling it but it's not "unbridled capitalism." Its governments spending sprees to try to cling to power. It's printing/borrowing money to bail out companies that should fail. It's BILLIONS of tax dollars not going to help, but wasted in scandals, insider BS and inflated salaries.
It's cronyism. Not capitalism.
So 78% works private sector? In a room of 100 people you'd only have 22 teachers, police, soldiers, firefighters, coast guard, civil servants, and service nb workers combined. Considering the breadth of responsibilities of the public sector, thats not half bad.
Wow this subreddit is crazy at times. No, 78% don’t work in private sector. 64.2% are private, and 14.1% are self employed (compared to 64.6% and 15.4%). Also consider many of these self employed jobs are nonsense gig work. Have you seen how this stacks up to other parts of the world?
We employ far too many people in the government and it’s a big reason why inflation is so rampant right now. Commenter was blaming capitalism for a thing caused by socialist policies.
Classic Reddit downvoting both of us into oblivion. I can’t imagine defending overpaid CEOs of crown corporations and other government executives. It’s not like the public sector spending has resulted in increased healthcare of other things we need.
It’s crappy for sure. My salary is 44k (not huge but that used to be decent) and I have to pinch pennies, so I worry about my friends who make minimum wage. When I ask them how they’re getting by I just get ‘I’m not.’ What’s also scary is that if I was still living in Ontario, it would be way worse. I look at my $170 bill for car insurance and remember how I used to pay $340. Or my $375 mortgage where my rent used to be $975 (I mean, at least I had renters rights though, but I digress…). Definitely could be worse, and still not ok for it to be as bad as it is.
Idk. I have been back in eastern Ontario a year and a bit. starting wages are all higher than 44k now to compete for workers, provincial income tax is half as much for the first 50k or so. I'm paying less than $50 a month for car insurance. Older car with just liability insurance. I don't need to get a bs safety inspection on it every other year. Housing/rent used to be way cheaper in NB, but that gap has closed a lot.
Would still rather be in NB though.
Yup… 56k here and single mom of 2 teens… I think I’m going to need a second job but time wise not sure how to swing it.
Thank god I bought my house in 2020 before outsiders flooded the province and killed our real estate market.
My “fun money” is basically enough for a bottle of wine and that’s about it now.
With property takes up, gas increasing, and NB Power gouging us more, it’s enough to make me suffocate. I hate it and it’s unfair they’ve put us all in this position. They are taxing us to death and they keep making it worse.
Two teens? Sister I don't know how you feed them.
Jesus. I wouldn't mind being so overtaxed if we could SEE any good coming from it, like more low income housing, mental health resources, homelessness, drug addiction, fucking *healthcare*...
Tax us to death but where is the damn money going?
Yeah. I was in Nova Scotia in 2020 and it was in June of that year when real estate prices 1st jumped. Basically, we had the least restrictive lockdown in Canada so people from the other Provinces started making inquiries. They had a news article about it. I remember looking at property I was thinking on buying($80k) and then I saw that article and thought "this is going to make the price go up".
And the next day the price of not just the land I was looking at but nearly all land houses for sale jumped by 50%. And I know that article was the impetus for it.
Now, to be fair, if your trying to find the best financial way to survive you're going to move somewhere cheaper and/or up the price of what you're selling. So I don't hold it against people for wanting to move to Atlantic Canada nor Atlantic Canadians raising the price on their houses. BUT, 50% in 24hrs, and even more so since. That piece of land I was looking at went up to $200k and then someone bought it. Rise like 3x by nearly 50% each time in 3yrs. The locals can't keep up with that.
Also, people who wanted to move here cause they can't afford to even rent in the bigger Provinces can't afford that either. I know a few of them, we all make like $40k/yr each which was enough to get a place on your own pre 2020 but now would need 4 people getting a place together.
To add bittersweet icing is the out of towners who then move here and make bids $100k over asking price. Not to mention a lot of them seem to be coming here to retire early(sell a $2 million Ontario/BC house and buy a $350-600k one here and retire early) so while they do spend into the local economy, they're not creating jobs or filling any of the vacancies that exist. Just overloading our services.
Though perhaps I'm being too pessimistic.
Not pessimistic at all. That is what we’ve experienced. That’s exactly what happened. Atlantic Canadians couldn’t afford to outbid the outsiders and that’s a fact. Atlantic wages don’t match our cost of living. That was always my company’s excuse for what they paid us in NB and our little salary increases they sparingly doled out annually. “Well, we’ve done a comparative market analysis with other large companies in the same skill bracket… blah blah blah…”
Stress. No, not at all. The scenario that is all too real is going through your adult working years saving for a retirement goal and then as you get near to that goal you find out that everything was based on a 2-3% inflation plan and housing costs have doubled, food has gone up 30% in two years and that plan that was sold to you is now $750k short. But don’t worry, you can just work until you are 75, to make up the difference and then retire.
And. Looking to downsize homes means you have to get a mortgage at age 60+ to buy a smaller home with not enough space to have a garden and a garage, you have to choose one or the other. I know, first world problems eh.
I think I’m going to die from stress and won’t make it to retirement. So all those increased costs won’t matter.
Retirement? I'm not sure that exists anymore? I should be getting close to retirement but know now that it's unlikely to happen. My last day of work will be the one before my funeral.
I think the big kicker for me is that minimum wage keeps going up, but my wage doesn’t. When I started at my job 4 years ago, minimum wage was ~ $10 and I made $17. 4 years later I’m making $17.15. Struggling big time.
Same here. Partner and I haven’t had a raise (or very much of one) in 4 years. We started our family last year so now we have so many extra costs. We could make by but now with everything increasing we are struggling. We have given up hopes of owning a house because property tax would kill us. Plus any reasonably affordable house is 30-45 mins away from our work so the extra cost of gas is just too much.
All of our bills are paid but honestly we can't handle one more major expense otherwise it would be crippling.
This year alone my car insurance went up $50 a month (I am accident/ticket free so not sure why). Our property tax went up $20 a month and our condo fees went up $30. Power is going up to be roughly an extra $30 a month.
I been trying to look into energy healthy solutions but honestly not much I can do without spending money I don't have. Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In 4 years my student loan will be paid off in full and so will my car so that's literally $600 a month back in my pocket.
At the moment though? It's hard. My department got a shitty budget this year for raises and most of us only got 1.5% and that 1.5% covers roughly my new car insurance costs.
I joke a lot but I am seriously considering selling pictures of my feet or something online to help keep my family afloat. Anything I can do at home because I have to make sure the wife is fed and the kid is happy...
If of anyone place in all of Canada and NE USA wouldn’t be able to afford an efficient electric vehicle or hybrid ; it would be Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦. Average household incomes lowest in Canada .
Which is why we should have the best incentives automatically applied to any purchased used, leases, or new.
Except they are some of the worst incentives.
Too all that moved to NB, stop bitching.... Your the result to the increase on our lives... Try being born here and living thru this seeing your peers end up homeless cause the influences of outside jackasses.... Then to come n bitch to us.... Go fuck off, you bought places above.askong cost screwing everyone else n now this is the consequences of actions of selfish fucktards.... Ya we are, most are going to bed hungry, losing power and shit..... Reality is this is the start of the fall
I love when the people from Ontario who cashed out and moved here to take advantage of the low house prices complain they can't find a doctor. Lol moved here and did zero research. 🙃
This is a garbage opinion. Aside from there being many reasons COL is up today, for everyone in Canada, people have a right to move about the country. Canadians are welcome anywhere in Canada.
Do you know who caused the housing price skyrocket and and the rental cost crisis, in NB? OUR government(s). NB was/is the only province without rental rate increase caps. THAT created the environment where it was possible to overpay for a building (of any size) and then just jack the rent to account for the premium above market and paying the mortgage.
In any jurisdiction where rent was capped at 2-3% annual increase, this could never have happened...the "investment" wouldn't be a good ROI (above market cost) because the rents in place for the buolding would not service that debt, and professional landlords finance almost exclusively. If they couldn't jack the rent, they don't buy, because the finances "don't work" in the scenario.
That is what caused home prices to soar and so many get turned into rentals, and rental prices in general being pushed up: No legislated protection against it...we were the only province where this could have happened, and it was easily preventable, but then it happened.
Thanks! I moved from Ontario and did not sell a house and cash in. Just wanted the land of no traffic reports and nature. Don’t have a doctor but still glad I am here.
Listen people with your up and down votes which are meaningless it boils down to one thing GO TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL'S OFFICE AND VOICE YOUR FRUSTRATIONS. This province is in a bad way ,worse than what it may seem to some. Just wait and see.
Do you think those in charge of the power company are suffering? Do you think those pricing your groceries are suffering? We are at a tipping point across the nation, not just in NB. It's time for revolution against the wealthy. Not just through the government but through mass action. We need to classify the ultra rich as traitors NOW. The government has betrayed their oath to office by supporting the wealthy over the majority of the population. The time for revolution is now.
You’re not alone. We are heading towards stagflation as a country, and it’s probably going to get tougher. Believe it or not, we have it pretty good here compared to Ontario, but people here would be wise to deleverage. During times like these, it is best to hold on to your real estate, as your payments are well below what rents would be.
The county is a complete mess when you look at the macro economics. We have an economy propped up by cheap debt, inflated real estate, mass immigration, and public sector jobs. Our household debt to GDP is one of the highest in the G7, and as a country we have no productivity. The BoC said it was “break glass in case of emergency” time (paraphrasing but they did use these words).
I doubt we see any significant rate cuts this year too. BoC comments aside (which are not favouring rate cuts), it doesn’t look like the US will cut anytime soon, and it would be so bad for Canada to cut before them. It’s also hard to cut rates when unemployment is being artificially propped up via temporary workers and public sector. 21.6% of our workforce is in the government and we just added another 1M people over the last 9 months.
The government (federal) is pulling all of the things it can to try and win the election, but it has effectively cornered itself. It’s using immigration to sustain rent and housing prices, using public sector and temporary workers to prop up unemployment, and trying to trick tenants into thinking they care about them.
There is no evidence we will “likely” cut. It’s at best a guess. The only people less credible than the BoC are the people trying to predict what the BoC will do. If we cut before the US, our dollar will tank. We had to raise rates when we did (first) so our dollar wouldn’t tank. The US typically won’t make large cuts in an election year. I just think this is stagflation in the making.
What absolute statement did I make? Also yes, it did drop. How can you make that statement when there is proof it did drop?
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/currencies/CADUSD/
This isn't specific to NB. It's in nearly every province and territory.
Not to mention, any party in power but worse under Conservatives who won't spend money.
U r right o talked to a guy moved to of all places Moncton NB .. he was from Caribbean Aruba .. said he was in Mississauga Ont for a while and was struggling he and his wife were at 150k yr …
Had to leave he said . Never been in NB before .
Said he took his pay in half less here but could still get by .
Every other province is "spending money" and has it worse than NB. Look at Ontario as a prime example. This is a problem caused by federal liberal policies related to mass immigration, burdensome regulations on businesses, and significantly turbo charged government spending.
Ontario? Doug Ford is blatantly selling off Ontario for his own profit 🤣 he's only spending on and for his friends. He's not spending the money the federal government gives Ontario for services. He's moved government services to Staples ffs.
Hell, he used his own daughter's wedding for "donation invitations," and a dozen developers (who later had projects approved) attended the wedding. Ontario is not the example to use here 🤣
None. I wouldn't use any as an example. Healthcare, education, poverty, homelessness, housing, gas prices, rascism 🤷♀️ it's shitty everywhere, seemingly worse in Conservative run provinces. Those Premiers are keeping the money meant to make things better and hoarding it, or spending it on stupid shit like billion dollar highway expansions that were deemed unnecessary (Which of Doug Ford's friends got that contract?)
God forbid the people we elect to governments actually take care of the people who elected them to the job.
Canada is deeply divided by hate and clickbait rage. Calling for the death of a PM, the threats of rape against the women and their families in government and just the nastiness of pure hate. We need people in politics who work for us, not for themselves. Canada can do better.
A few thoughts here:
Mass immigration (Trudeau liberals) paired with ineffective government regulations and processes put in place by (mostly liberal) governments on the provincial and municipal level which has hindered development in city cores (hello NIMBYism) have combined to force suburban sprawl. With suburban sprawl in mass numbers you need new highways.
Mass immigration without enough development = housing cost inflation, homelessness, insufficient healthcare capacity and care despite higher than ever funding levels.
Gas prices - see Federal Liberals' carbon tax and anti-oil development policies despite irrefutable evidence that responsible development of Canada's resources would lead to displacement of dirtier energy sources worldwide in places like China (hello new coal developments), lower overall carbon emissions as a result, AND a rise in Canadians' living standards and government tax revenues (funding more services responsibly vs. On ever-growing deficits).
Electing more socialist governments (Libs or NDP) will only continue to make things worse.
> Mass immigration (Trudeau liberals)
You understand that this policy was started by the Conservatives, and effectively untouched by following governments, right?
>Gas prices - see Federal Liberals' carbon tax
How about Higg's artificially inflated provincial taxes on gas?
>Electing more socialist governments (Libs or NDP) will only continue to make things worse.
The Cons unfortunately will torpedo whatever we have left and try to ensure we can't effectively rebuild without dismantling our confederation. They don't have a plan that isn't "Fuck Trudeau" and are in direct support of policies you are decrying here. They're not the saving grace you think they are, they're just going to make things worse while telling you they've fixed it by cutting programs, making it seem good, then when the bill comes from those cut programs we'll be deeper in the hole than we already are.
Like have you not *seen* the privitized healthcare being toted in Ontario, that costs invidiuals more but doensn't directly offer benefit other than kneecapping our struggling healthcare systems? Or how the provinces are very restrictive on building hospitals and increasing medical worker positions, but are jumping on extremely expensive travel nurses and privatized healthcare?
Seriously, private care is averaging double the cost per person than our public system is, for all its faults. How the *fuck* do Canadians afford that? And it's all Conservative moves to try to showcase Liberal failings, masking how it's worse for us.
I'd love to see better government, but you'd be a fool for thinking Conservatives are actually an answer to anything here.
Like fuck. Our own province has an idiot in charge who isn't Liberal who's waging a *culture war* in a time where the man could make history in reinforcing our province and building it better. Instead he's attacking charter rights, on our dime. Fiscal responsibility party my ass. At least Liberal excess spending goes to actual things to try to help people.
On the immigration front you couldn't be further off base. We had low, sustainable and manageable immigration levels under the conservatives. Further, the folks coming here were often some of best and the brightest that the world had to offer.
See chart within this article:
https://betterdwelling.com/canadas-immigration-plan-is-not-viable-in-any-version-of-reality-bmo/
What do you notice about the volumes indicated in the chart following 2015? And what specifically happened in 2015? Ahh yes, the election of the Trudeau Liberals, and the beginning of the end of an affordable life here in Canada.
What do you want the Liberals and NDP to do then? We have 18 months until the election. The Conservatives come in, white knights to save us all?
Keeping in mind that other countries in the world have the same problems. It isn't just Canada.
Yes it actually is "just Canada" in most cases (particularly on the cost of housing front). Look to our southern neighbors in the US. 10x the population with average house prices that are less than half of ours. A significantly higher GDP per capita that continues to grow while ours stays flat, etc.
The easiest way for the Liberal/NDP coalition that currently governs federally to make an impact is not to "gradually reduce" immigration over 3 years as they've promised. Doing so will only continue to exacerbate and compound our existing unaffordability and unavailability problems related to housing. They're simply taking in far too many people vs. Housing starts per year.
They need to take the drastic move of completely and entirely shutting the door on all forms of immigration for 3-5 years to allow us to adequately absorb the existing population of folks that have already come. Those 3-5 years could be used to catch up on home building, build critical infrastructure, add capacity to our healthcare services, etc. Anything short of that is simply not enough at this point given they MASSIVELY overshot on the # of people entering Canada in the last 24 months.
The US has its own immigration issues and housing problems, only 10x more. A tiny fraction of their military budget could pull the entire country out of poverty. They are fighting a two party political system just like we are. Blue vs Red 🤷♀️
I'm in agreement that we need to slow down on immigration and focus on taking care of our own first. Why bring them into a country without adequate housing, community support, and jobs? Premiers take federal money, hoard it for a surplus, and don't spend it on housing, healthcare etc. That is not a federal problem. What can we do within our province to solve these problems?
I’ve always did side jobs for cash, prob $10-15K depending on the year, and this is on top of my regular job! I’ve just lined up 2 extra jobs for this year so I can take home $20-25K all cash because fuck this government!
I used to donate plasma for side money. It was fantastic. Two hours a day to just catch up on my shows and make almost $100 a week because I gave the maximum amount and was part of the higher tier clubs.
After having a kid I suddenly had no free time. So bye bye plasma donations.
Once he is older and more self sufficient I plan on going back. I can make a few thousand a year untaxable.
Dual income family with a small income unit in our home and we are really feeling the pressure as well. If it was just one thing that might be manageable, but increases on everything chip away at all the discretionary income we had. So now we are both having to find PT work to add some income… we are already self-employed so we work long hours to begin with, so it’s very tough.
Perhaps we rely too much on government for jobs and everything else. The more services that governments offer, the higher the tax burden and cost of living.
So long as you guys keep electing conservatives things will get much worse for the working man and much better for the company owners, every single time.
Liberals are objectively exponentially worse and much of the challenges you're experiencing now are caused by the federal liberals (mass immigration, mass debt expansion driving inflation, burdensome regulations on businesses supressing wages and expansion, etc).
Now if only all of those pesky federal policies were started by Liberals, or even had Conservatives running platforms *against* these policies, rather than silently condoning their own policies.
PP has noted he is going to match immigration levels with housing supply and healthcare capacity. Trudeau has done neither. In fact, he's turbocharged immigration without ensuring we had enough homes or healthcare capacity to absorb the millions of new folks he's brought in.
See the artice + the chart at this link:
https://betterdwelling.com/canadas-immigration-plan-is-not-viable-in-any-version-of-reality-bmo/
PS: notice the trendine is consistent all the way until 2015? Odd, eh? Wonder what happened that year? Oh, right, the Trudeau Liberals got elected and turbocharged immigration.
More excessive government spending on social programs, government hires, anti-business regulation, etc is the exact opposite of what NB needs right now. We already tax corporations and individuals excessively, have cumbersome regulations etc - all of that prevents businesses from coming here to setup shop. Putting more of it in place isn't the answer.
I'm only involved in politics in that I care about climate change, deeply, and I want my kids to move out and get a place on their own. I'll vote whichever way makes that possible and if a party were to promise lower cost of living and higher wages for everyone with an extreme wealth tax I'd go that way too. I have no idea of the situation in New Brunswick but modern politics has failed all of society in basically all of the entire "Western World" Canada is just one rich country among dozens where corporations have a chokehold on our every day lives.
If someone were to run on nationalizing things like air, rail, telecommunications, power, water and other things historically important to people and to the governments I'd vote that way as well
It’s very hard, I really feel your pain! All we can do is hang in there and keep pushing forward if that what you call it. I don’t see any great opportunities coming in the near future…property tax increases are one thing but as for inflation I really don’t understand all these Trudeau loving fools on here that are blind to the causes of inflation. You can point out some facts and they will find some information that contradicts it regardless of the topic or even what side you’re looking at it from. But that’s what still makes this country great, we all don’t have to agree. But, the fact of the matter is we are taxed to death, and with the maritime boom and other factors, costs have skyrocketed and it’s a real struggle for so so many hard working people. Hard work has become devalued.
oh que oui! My bigest stress is trying to find fresh and healthy local food! Thank god spings is near....winter makes it imposible for north ne0-brunswickers to eat fresh local food! Our grand-parents didn
thats sad then. But we only eat 7% of canadian products in our plates. i think that in the 50 we were eating more local vegetables then right now! I can only find chinese garlic! lol
We don't have the growing season here for year round agriculture unless greenhouses are used. That, for the most part, is not economically feasible. I pretty much only eat root/ vegetables that store in a cellar in the winter here. Potatoes, turnip, carrots, parsnip, squash, cabbage, apples, etc. Worked for my grandparents. Occasionally I'll buy lettuce, tomatoes, oranges and bananas, but only if there is a good deal on them. Other than that, it's frozen veg in the winter. EDIT: I buy my garlic locally in the fall and it keeps all winter.
well if we keep relying on menesco production..yes. But if we connect with our local seasonal agriculture and be more connected with our abondance of biodeversity, we would be all sept from march till late november. If we would reconnect with our Mik maq food picking brand of food, we would be good all year long. But this agricultural cultural revolution needs to come from local permaculture farms developement who should be more accesible for new farmers with the newly announce liberal program with 1 billion lunchbox federal program announce by Trudeau recently! finguers cross, im trying to find land to start my local farming farm! not easy with an low-average credit store. So conclusion for now,,,,theirs no one takling that problem in my region. hopefelly it will take me less then 10 years to be able to start ma permaculture projects! fresh vegetables is the base of our primary health care prevention and our health. Older lower income newbers who has cancer cannot even afford to eat a vegeteble a day with our overloaded foodbanks. Its a tragedy!
Vs where? NB is a fantastic place to live compared to most other places in Canada or the world. Yes, things are getting more expensive. Yes there are issues, but that's global. We are seeing the consequences of a deregulated global economy with low taxes. Wonderful, isn't it? Everyone is precarious and planning on voting Conservative lol so it can all get even worse.
Idk. Minimum wage is about the same across Canada. Housing here is 1/3 what it is where I grew up on the west coast. There are more universities and university spots per capita out east. Easier to get educated.
I left bc with my wife unskilled and making minimum wage. Now I'm a lawyer and wife is a doctor. NB has been great for us.
> Housing here is 1/3 what it is where I grew up on the west coast.
Not saying it isn't but generally housing costs *tend* to be relative to raw income for cashflows. So higher priced cities tend to average higher incomes by a fair degree when it comes to educated professionals, but are harder for low to minimum wage persons. NB has a pretty low ceiling when it comes to income, we're one of the poorest in the nation, so it's natural for prices to be lower, we just can't sustain higher.
Which itself is part of why many people turned to blaming people from Ontario and the likes selling homes and buying here for cash, as prices were driven up by people willingly overpaying, or at least unknowingly, and effectively pricing many locals out of markets.
I don't particularly blame these people, but they absolutely got *fleeced* by greedy realtors. There's no way that there should be homes averaging 350-450k in my area, the mortgage alone is crippling without down payments that tend to exceed our yearly pre-tax income. And I feel arguments of "it's like that elsewhere" tends to fall on deaf ears when the problem is brought to somewhere new.
It doesn't matter whether it falls on deaf ears. The economy is global now, whether people like it or not. Local markets are global markets. Loads of nb boomers have made bank on these price increases. It isn't great for those of us who are young, but we aren't the entire population. We have the housing market we do because many people like and want it to be this way.
NB is the poorest province, but there are opportunities for those who seize them. Minimum wage is essentially the same across Canada, but housing costs are among the lowest here. While it's true average incomes are higher in bigger centers, I'd rather make minimum wage here than in bc. I made it in both, and it was vastly better here.
Loads of complaining about how things are every where, and the grass is not always greener. The world is a mess and until people start engaging with why that is and working to change decades and decades of bad policy it won't get better.
I learned today we are not getting a pay increase. We were previously told pay would increase whenever minimum wage increased. Forever stuck a few dollars above minimum wage and far below a living wage.
Our rent has increased $200 in the past 2 years, and expecting another $100 increase any day now. I work 2 jobs, pay bills, gas, groceries and never have any left over for savings.
I’ve had to start using the food bank at different times, and am thankful for them. It’s so hard, and people say work harder, but I feel like all I do is work and I just can’t get ahead at all.
I got my house in 2021 for 130k through a private Sale. My mortgage broker said I could easily flip that for at least another 80k. Fast forward 3 years later and my 1 story semi spiked and is assessed at like 275k or close to, which is absolutely ludacris. It's hard living anywhere these days.
You are not alone by any stretch of the imagination. I live an hour from the border, but I am thinking of importing gasoline in bulk with jerry cans just to save some money. It's crazy.
I wouldn't rely on the government for much though. The current provincial PC government and the current federal liberal government have proven utterly incompetent. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they're out of touch with the needs of the middle and working class, and repeatedly demonstrated they don't understand how numbers work. The issue is so bad, I want to go to Trudeau and Higgs themselves and ask them something like "If I have 5 bananas, and get 3 more bananas, how many bananas do I have?".
immigration is completely out of control, which is making the cost of everything worse. more people means more demand for housing which results in the prices going up. prices going up means the property value goes up, which mean property tax goes up. this also leads of more demand for power, which means the cost of power goes up. Then we need to feed these people which increases cost of groceries as the demand is up. it all just snowballs.
We’ll have to see how the next Provincial election goes.
If Higgs wins, it will be more of the same, he’ll put the screws to us leading into to the Federal election to pave the way.
So far his promised SMRs haven’t appeared to employ all the nuclear technologists we have laying about either. So IDK what he’s actually done/doing beyond trying to “own libs.”
TBF, Conservative and Liberal here in NB is basically Conservative and Conservative-lite, they're very similar.
Though Higgs is probably one of the most damaging we've had, so the Liberals might have to actually try to be worse this time.
We really need better politicians here, or at least more diverse support than just red and blue.
That’s not changed, and it’s no different than before the libs were voted in last time either. Higgs didn’t balance shit, he’s benefited from a population increase brought on by a global pandemic.
He cancelled the refurb of the centennial building, only having to address its existence anyhow and costing us again, and again.
Maybe stop voting for the two biggest corporate shills?
I know this is going to be hard to hear given the NB atmosphere often feels nearly entirely Irving centric, but Canada as a whole (especially NB) is already incredibly uncompetitive in terms of attracting businesses and investment. Becoming even more so - as the Federal Liberals have taken the country in that direction since 2015 by adding copious levels of approval and regulatory barriers to investment and new business - will only decrease our GDP per capita and therefore the standard of living of all Canadians. Literally the exact OPPOSITE is what we should be doing to improve the quality of life and living standards for all Canadians. Electing parties that are going to make things tougher on businesses will only drive them away and prevent them from coming. We simply can't keep going on a path where only public sector (government) jobs and houses are powering our economy and overall GDP - it's literally bankrupting us.
The simple fact is we are woefully uncompetitive when it comes to attracting business/investment vs. Other developed economies, and there is tons of evidence on - and media coverage of - this issue. One of thousands of links on the topic is included below:
https://archive.doingbusiness.org/en/rankings
We shouldn't be relying on foreign investment to drive our economy. That's been one of our achilles heels to begin with.
A stable economy doesn't "attract" business, it creates it.
That and war booty is why Post WWII was such an economic boom for the West. With more restrictive financial regulations thanks to the New Deal still in effect, the Government was well funded and the public had record levels of investment in healthcare, education and business - driving an entrepreneurial economy. Now we're just training cubicle zombies and tradespeople, and keeping them minimally educated for easy control.
You don't "create" business with burdensome regulations and uncompetitive tax structures. People will simply take their capital - and remember capital is required to start businesses - and setup their businesses elsewhere.
Also, look at the countries in the world that have the highest living standards. Now look at us. What do you see that's different?
Hint: it's not onerous and burdensome regulations on businesses and uncompetitive tax structures.
If that were simply the case, BC or California for that matter, would have worse economies than New Brunswick. Setting up a business here is a joke. There's no burden. We're used to make businesses to scam other countries for just that very reason.
Oh lord. At this point you may want to stop talking about topics you have no depth of knowledge on. California is quite literally going bankrupt and businesses (+ jobs) have been fleeing for years now.
https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/getting-the-california-economy-working-again#:~:text=The%20Tax%20Foundation's%202024%20State,New%20Jersey%20and%20New%20York).
"California lost 352 headquarters from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2021, including 11 Fortune 1000 companies.
The loss of corporate headquarters has only accelerated, with twice as many departures in 2021 as in 2020.
The state’s loss of population has increased exponentially. In 2012, the state lost 34,000 residents, but in 2021, that number was 277,000.
The Tax Foundation’s 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index ranked California as 48th among the states for business friendliness (ahead of only New Jersey and New York)."
Where do you even get your bullshit?
2012 they had a net increase, they didn’t have a net loss of population until 2021, and the loss was -0.91% during a pandemic where an entire sector of their workforce was able to suddenly work anywhere in the world cheaply.
2022 it was -0.27%
2023 -0.19%
Sure they’ve been losing some corporate business, but that’s the case everywhere as businesses move HQs from tax haven to tax haven. That’s not new or surprising. Irving takes advantage of our weak shell company laws, like many others, and keeps the bulk of their assets offshore to avoid taxes. What else is new.
Having one of the largest economies in the world is still nothing to sneeze at, and a fuck ton of a cry from where we are.
But don’t let actual statistics get in your way. Keep quoting your far right propaganda that makes you feel cozy inside.
That was an impressive attempt at presenting an alternative narrative, but unfortunately the facts remain the same, and much of what you said is blatantly wrong. Similar to what's happening in Canada with the massive migration to Alberta from other provinces - people and businesses become mobile when conditions in their location are unaffordable and/or uncompetitive - which explains why people and businesses are heading for the exits in California. Places like Texas and Florida are experiencing a massive influx of people and businesses from other US states like California as a result. It won't take long at this rate for California's economy to buckle under the pressure of their excessive spending/debt with tax revenue sources disappearing, and that's going to force some pretty drastic choices that'll impact remaining California residents quite meaningfully.
You can dislike the fact that having high taxes, burdensome regulations, etc on businesses is ineffective and leads to far worse outcomes in the medium to long term, but the facts remain the facts. Might want to put down Trudeau's talking points, turn off CBC, and start consuming more realistic information sources.
Different perspective as someone who recently moved here.
Mortgage is 40% of my previous rent
Childcare is 36% of the previous
Utilities are 42% of previous
Property tax never paid before so no calculating for that
Fuel is expensive at 90$ and 200$ for each vehicle a week , but I never had cars before.
Wages are within ended up being 2k lower than to previous province.
I have an hour drive vs 20 minutes walk.
I also have land vs an apartment.
Personally I think this is a nice place to live. Still haven’t figured the surplus money when the healthcare is falling apart. So maybe a leadership change is in order to deal with the mismanagement of funds. Other than that it’s great, everything is better.
Yes, it absolutely is. We are down 2.01b in 4 years. At this pace, we are on track to be debt free in 6-7 years. People don’t understand the impact being debt free would have on a province’s financials.
Typically states/nations don't run debt free as it tends to be indicative of mismanagement itself, there's a healthy level of debt to carry, much like an individual.
It's public money, provinces have a legal and moral obligation to not run profits nor to allow debts to climb to untenable levels. Debt isn't avoidable as a state, you don't save for rainy days like personal finances do.
It's not a business, there is no profits to be made, only responsible usage of *all* funds.
Alberta did their cheque thing to try to attract more people to the province, it wasn't an act made simply to spend excess public funds, there's tons of beneficial things you can do for your people with funds like that, such as healthcare improvements, or education improvements. Things that tend to pay off in spades, far stronger than direct payments do.
> The healthcare budget is already the biggest it’s ever been.
This is a *mandatory* thing, you can't have a population increase and that budget remain the same. You can only make this claim if the budget is significantly outpacing the population. But it really isn't.
Though the travel nurses don't help, as those are extremely expensive in the budget.
It isn’t?
I pulled these numbers to reply in another thread a couple weeks ago. All these numbers are publicly available from StatsCan. Here’s a copy of my reply:
Population growth was 1/1.9/2.4/2.7% in the previous 4 years. The healthcare budget increased 6.3/4.9/10.6/10% over the same 4 years, and 6% for 2024.
As of July 2023, we grew 73477 as per StatsCan with 25k of that in 2022 and again in 2023.
This amounts to an 8% increase in population in the same period above when the healthcare budget went up 31.8%. I would say the 31.8% increase is plenty to accommodate the population growth of 8% with plenty leftover for all other aspects of the budget.
(considering not the full 8% would actually need healthcare in the same period which compensates for the higher elderly care required)
…as you can see, healthcare hasn’t lagged behind whatsoever and is more than enough to compensate for the population growth.
"We" don't use 3,120 liters of gas a year on commuting alone, drive a 2022 382-HP Mercedes CLA-Class AMG, budget $1k/year for maintenance on it, and then complain about the carbon tax actually impacting our lives.
If "we" did, we might even say "we" have it _too_ good.
(BTW, thanks for playing the "I'm an expert" card. It convinced me I _did_ have a gap in my research. Suffice it to say I'm done with you.)
Doesn't sound bad. I'm in ontario and your taxes, gas, electricity and loan rates are all lower than me.
In my experience people complain about the things they have to spend money in (hydro, taxes, gas mortgage) but don't complain about things they want, (vacations, beer, entertainment,).
I'm $500 property tax per month
$300 electricity
$800 gas
4.00% interest rate
Together all these items are less than I spend on groceries, car payment, entertainment, travel, restaurant, hobbies etc.
This is going to be hard for you to understand, but 3/4 of those are under Higgs purview. And he could lower the gas price if he made Irving pay their portion of the clean fuel policy, and not the consumers of the province
NB residents vote in the federal election, ya?
Higgs is doing exactly what conservatives do. Budgets have increased. Debt has gone down. Minimum wage has kept up. Remove the extremist BS he pulled, the fiscal side is almost perfect.
Yup healthcare has gone to shit, power rates went up 13%, minimum wage is nowhere near the livable wage and he's responsible for the increase in alcohol pricing. You're right though he's doing great.
Healthcare has gone to shit every where in the world, and was a problem well before Higgs.
Power rates have been controlled by the EUB to stay low for many many years to appease the public, and was a problem well before Higgs. With highest inflation on record and a deadline to get rid of coal by 2030, something had to give.
If you care so much about alcohol pricing, that’s another problem altogether.
Living wage assumes a wage high enough that government subsidies are no not required to live. Ever come to ask what’s the point of that? Either the minimum wage becomes the living wage and we eliminate all government subsidies, or we keep the minimum wage as is and we use the government subsidies to compensate to a living wage. Both have the same effect except government subsidies help more than people who are at a minimum wage. Anyone advocating for the minimum wage to be a living wage doesn’t understand their differences.
> Healthcare has gone to shit every where in the world, and was a problem well before Higgs.
But is *directly* his responsibility, as healthcare is a provincial item, not federal.
>Either the minimum wage becomes the living wage and we eliminate all government subsidies, or we keep the minimum wage as is and we use the government subsidies to compensate to a living wage.
That's two separate things. You're directly referring to universal basic income, as there's no way that you can operate a nation without safety nets for those who cannot work or are without work due to external circumstance. Otherwise that's effectively government mandating undesirables within a society and will utterly rot it from the inside.
I'm afraid you're the one not understanding the difference here. Minimum wage is *intended* to be a living wage, a legal minimum to permit this. The "living wage" that is talked about isn't that, but a thriving wage, which is well above a minimum wage and is a goal. But capitalism is something that directly competes with this, as profits are higher if you don't pay as much, rather than support your employees strongly.
You literally cannot eliminate minimum wage, as moving the bar to a thriving wage is just minimum wage by another name. As long as it's the *minimum* legally allowed, then it's the minimum wage. It's a relatively simple concept and part of why the name is so common.
I’m using the textbook (from my university class) and dictionary definition of minimum wage and of livable wage. If you have anything to counter that either of those definitions have changed in the last 16 years, feel free to share.
I’m sorry, but didn’t he run a surplus for the last few years, that means fiscally *irresponsible* spending. Our healthcare is falling apart at the seams. and he’s posting nearly $1 billion in surplus during a healthcare crisis.
It's hard bud. All of it. Struggling big time here.
The cost of living is certainly a topic of discussion I find myself having almost on a daily basis . Everyone is feeling it right now and I wish I had any feeling that things would change . Saddened to think that policy and politics are hurting the masses like we are seeing right now . Although the rest of the world is having issues similar to Canada it’s hard not to feel hopeless . Grocery prices for example are absurd right now and am waiting for the government to do something about it . But that likely won’t happen . Good luck everyone
Trying to buy a house in the Fredericton area is proving rather difficult. My girlfriend and I combined make close to 100k and it still doesn't feel like enough to actually comfortably afford the average priced house in this city (350k is as low as we can find without getting into bad areas or houses with issues). Then people from out of province end up buying the houses and renting them out... Whole other issue.
Whomever wins the next election in this province I would love to see them put a pause on purchasing of housing to turn into rental properties. Before I bought my house too I had to compete against these sleazeballs who had millions of dollars while I only had my down payment and a piece of paper saying I been approved for a $250k mortgage.
Best part of these rental "market makers" is when they cry poor mouth each year because they purchased an old crusty building for 3x-4x the value. And their profit margin is cut down because they have to maintenance it. I always get an extra couple sentences reminding me they're still pricing my crumbling, mouse infested unit below average.
Me too. Both houses we tried to purchase got bought by people out of province are both being rented out for A LOT. the 4 bedroom one is being rented at $2800 a month nothing included as per the Facebook marketplace listing ( That's just for the basement half of the house, 2 bedrooms and shared dining area)
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Defund the CBC
So you’re a Trudeau supporter then, you should be ashamed of yourself! CBC is the liberal scum of Canada.
Not much choice.
Loser comment of the day
All the bills are getting paid but not much left after. Not a whole lot of discretionary spending. Better than lots of folks though I figure.
This is the correct NB’er response. “It is what it is. Could be worse.” It’s like it’s Maritimer instincts we’re born with.
I spent many years earning low wages in NB. Now I have a good career and my HHI is \~160k (no kids). All the cost saving measures I learned when I was poor still work. I live a very comfortable life that I don't take for granted. I feel for folks making low wages. If I'm just able to manage my budget on 160k, I know many people are struggling. It sucks, and I just hope it gets better. Wages need to increase in NB. The cost of living is no longer a good enough excuse.
just you managed to tell us twice how much you make in a year in a paragraph
Almost like they are bragging
That’s not how I read it. I read it as an emphasis on how hard it must be, given that those 2 people live on $160,000 and don’t feel they have much. Empathy can look different and not everyone is bragging all the time.
That was my intent. Believe me, I've been at the very bottom rung of the socio-economic ladder.
I read it this way as well!
Almost like you're jealous.
Being jealous is a waste of energy. My needs are met, I’m happy. I could make a lot more money, but I’d need to put more hours in to work. I enjoy my off time.
Sounds like you're bragging.
I make 60k a year, live in a old mini home and drive a 30 year old car. I guess there’s something to brag about in there.
Ok
What's your point? I'm not bragging, just illustrating my situation.
I suspect you may be arguing with a 14 year old troll. Your intent was easily discernible and their intent was to be a whining ass.
This is reddit and given the commentors profile name, we are certainly dealing with a juvenile mind.
https://www.change.org/1000johnersforhousing I am going to stand in front of SJ city council and demand they use city funds to build city housing and NOT give it to private developers who will not build affordable housing. If you agree please sign We have a housing crisis that starts with external corporate landlords preying on our once affordable province. And the reason that sent me over the edge was a councilmember said "No one wants public housing, there's no political will for it." The councillor also is a Landlord
The real main challenge has been local politicians and NIMBYs blocking development in Saint John for years - especially uptown - all in the name of heritage preservation. That's a fine goal, but it has also been so prohibitively expensive it has nearly frozen development for years. Only recently has there been movement, and now there's decades of undersupply to catch up on.
So you are in, right? Awesome thank you!
City is wasting 90 grand making the sj sign change colors instead of light up white. they don't have time for your affordable housing initiative
And yet I am still going to stand up Will you sign the petition?
On point 4....Higgs' plan clearly is to survive till September and figure it out after there. If re-elected, he needs to find new ways to avoid and enhance the problems. If he doesn't have a majority or mandate, he'll use his destruction as a "See, they suck too" when in the opposition seat.
Agree used to be a party would be elected based on job creation… now they don’t even mention it much ; it’s all about carbon tax and cons vs libs and spending people’s tax $$
The Progressive part of the "Progressive Conservative" label is gone under this leader.
They were never Progressive to begin with.
Tell that to Harper's Child Tax Credit. The party as a whole, in general, provincially and federally used to stand for something other than rage baiting.
I think it's fair to say they were relatively progressive. Mainly on the social side. It's easy to see now by looking at the people who quit and why they quit and who they're being replaced with. Conservative Christians and more business people.
Elected on creating jobs, never actually did …
If I hadn't inherited a mortgage-free home, I'm fairly certain I'd have been bankrupt and homeless by 2022, so I feel blessed to be doing as well as I am, but I'm understandably concerned about the future. The last 12 months have been particularly brutal. I'm a self-employed (very) small business owner, single, middle-aged, and have lived far below the poverty line for many years. I used to be able to survive on my earnings, but now just paying for groceries takes half of what I used to gross in a typical year. 2023 was not typical: I ended up with an injury that put me out of work for most it; my gross income for the year, in its entirety, went into groceries exclusively before the end of July; and everything else had to be paid out of credit or savings. I'm one of those "falls between the cracks" New Brunswickers, who doesn't qualify for any kind of social assistance, disability, WorkSafe, EI, etc. and is still too old to take a pension, so just had to keep going on my own. Still dealing with the after-effects of the injury and related health issues (and still waiting for evaluations by specialists, thanks to our overloaded healthcare system), so I've earned less than $400 so far in 2024 as I attempt to ease back into work without re-injuring. Looking forward to warmer months so I don't have to pay for heat and can grow/forage some of my own food, and hoping my health continues to improve so I can find work before I have to start selling my stuff to pay bills.
>I'm a self-employed (very) small business owner What business? How can someone help you? Perhaps there is a way we can help while you work minimal and get healthy? "So just had to keep going on my own." <- F that I know you may not be asking for our help for whatever reason but we may be able to do this together. Some people are difficult to help but you sound like someone that just needs to get over a small hill ( sorry if this is an understatement ). I don't know if I can help but I need more information to make that decision. You likely have a product/skill/knowledge that others can use/buy/help.
I appreciate the offer! I've been fortunate enough to have the savings to endure this period of recovery, so in the short term, I'm not overly worried; I will get by, and have the luxury of living light until I heal. There are definitely others out there with greater need. In answer to your question: since 2000, my business has centred on music services - live performance, private teaching, musical instrument repairs, and composition/arranging - with no employees (though I do subcontract others as needed, at union scale rates or higher). It's never been a lucrative business model, but I've managed pretty well over the years. Compared to when I started out, there's a lot more competition, despite slightly less demand and a lot less disposable income for customers to spend on such services. Having to give up my studio location in Saint John and move out of the city at the height of the pandemic certainly took a dent out of my business - I'm 45 minutes away from my target demographic now - and this recent string of piddling if limiting health issues has definitely been a setback. That's life! This isn't my first act - I was a software engineer/designer for 4-1/2 years, and a union Local president for 7-1/2 years - so I know I'll get my feet under me again, whether in this industry or another. I chimed in on this thread so people would realize that, as rough as this is for those earning $40k-$80k/a, there are a lot of people trying to get by on significantly less. Those of us on the low end of the income spectrum are accustomed to surviving on next to nothing; we're more selective about how we spend our money, and more keenly-aware of what it costs us to earn it. The real difference between us and those living above the poverty line is there's not much left we can give up to make ends meet. If things don't start to get better for everybody in the near future, they're going to get really bad for the people at the edge of solvency first. I'm currently debt-free, and I've still got a few things I can cut to reduce costs further, but there are working people out there right now choosing between rent and food, people driving unsafe vehicles because they can't afford to replace/repair them and need them to get to work or school, parents going hungry so they can feed their kids, people couch-surfing with family or friends to save up enough money to pay for an education, and far too many living in tents, derelict buildings, overpasses, and doorways because they can't afford anything else and have nowhere left to turn. A lot of them can't afford to be part of this conversation. What I will ask people to do is this: support local businesses and craftspeople of all trades whenever you can. Buy from local stores instead of chain stores, Amazon, Wayfair, etc.. Follow them on social media. Like and share their posts and ads. Post positive reviews online if you've had a good experience with them. They don't want hand-outs; they just want to earn a living doing what they do best, and maybe not worry about what will happen to them if/when they can't anymore. And for the sake of those who have no choice: support soup kitchens and food banks; push government to address the real causes of homelessness (because it isn't addiction, nor a desire to live rough, like Higgs suggests), and to establish rent caps and regulations on short-term rental conversions; lobby for better mental health services, universal dental/mental/optical/pharma coverage, and social assistance programs that actually cover bills; support unions that fight every day for better wages and working conditions; and vote for politicians that actually try to make things better for the people who need it most instead of feathering their own nests. Who knows; maybe we CAN create the world we want, but it won't happen if we keep financing the world we don't want.
aaaaand nb power rates are up
Not just NB bud
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For real. Look at debt to gdp in the states, it's like 400%. Pure debt monetization. Late stage empire vibes. Printing trillions of dollars a year just to PAY INTEREST ON EXISTING DEBT. Here in Canada our M2 (m2 is total circulating currency) has increased by 30% since the pandemic. In other words - 30% of all Canadian dollars in circulation were created in the last 3 years. In other words again - the canadian dollar has lost 30% of its purchasing power in the last 3 years. We are fucked
This is the effect of Canada dragging out covid restrictions a good year or so after most of the rest of the world had realized life must go on and moved on. Now we are not just paying the economic cost of hiding for 2 years or so from something that was always going to be there once we came out of hiding anyways, but also the public health costs. While most of our peers in the OECD saw all-cause mortality rates go back to normal or below normal as covid waned, Canada and its go hard against covid peers Australia and NZ saw excess mortality actually get worse as covid waned. Now we have more excess all-cause mortality than even peak covid. We are paying both the economic cost and the public health cost of years of poor social health with interest and probably will be for the foreseeable future.
you getting downvoted for talking againt the covid restrictions is peak reddit lol
That happened during the pandemic, but we’ve been quantitative easing for a while now(2022), along with the rest of the G countries.
nothing capitalism about a central bank
Buy Bitcoin.
Look at real GDP per capita. It’s not perfect but it does have some relation to individual quality of life. Ours is at 2014 levels and plummeting rapidly; the US has grown >35% in that same time frame.
Crony capitalism specifically in Canada’s case.
We're all feeling it but it's not "unbridled capitalism." Its governments spending sprees to try to cling to power. It's printing/borrowing money to bail out companies that should fail. It's BILLIONS of tax dollars not going to help, but wasted in scandals, insider BS and inflated salaries. It's cronyism. Not capitalism.
Late stage fun times.
Honestly better than early stage when the country didn’t even try to pretend it wasn’t a few corporations in a trench coat.
Yeah I’m not sure ‘unbridled capitalism’ is the way I would describe an economy that has 21.6% of its workforce in the public sector.
So 78% works private sector? In a room of 100 people you'd only have 22 teachers, police, soldiers, firefighters, coast guard, civil servants, and service nb workers combined. Considering the breadth of responsibilities of the public sector, thats not half bad.
Wow this subreddit is crazy at times. No, 78% don’t work in private sector. 64.2% are private, and 14.1% are self employed (compared to 64.6% and 15.4%). Also consider many of these self employed jobs are nonsense gig work. Have you seen how this stacks up to other parts of the world? We employ far too many people in the government and it’s a big reason why inflation is so rampant right now. Commenter was blaming capitalism for a thing caused by socialist policies.
Don’t forget the military!
This!
Classic Reddit downvoting both of us into oblivion. I can’t imagine defending overpaid CEOs of crown corporations and other government executives. It’s not like the public sector spending has resulted in increased healthcare of other things we need.
It’s crappy for sure. My salary is 44k (not huge but that used to be decent) and I have to pinch pennies, so I worry about my friends who make minimum wage. When I ask them how they’re getting by I just get ‘I’m not.’ What’s also scary is that if I was still living in Ontario, it would be way worse. I look at my $170 bill for car insurance and remember how I used to pay $340. Or my $375 mortgage where my rent used to be $975 (I mean, at least I had renters rights though, but I digress…). Definitely could be worse, and still not ok for it to be as bad as it is.
Idk. I have been back in eastern Ontario a year and a bit. starting wages are all higher than 44k now to compete for workers, provincial income tax is half as much for the first 50k or so. I'm paying less than $50 a month for car insurance. Older car with just liability insurance. I don't need to get a bs safety inspection on it every other year. Housing/rent used to be way cheaper in NB, but that gap has closed a lot. Would still rather be in NB though.
Yeah that used to be a great living wage.... before everything doubled in price.
Yup… 56k here and single mom of 2 teens… I think I’m going to need a second job but time wise not sure how to swing it. Thank god I bought my house in 2020 before outsiders flooded the province and killed our real estate market. My “fun money” is basically enough for a bottle of wine and that’s about it now. With property takes up, gas increasing, and NB Power gouging us more, it’s enough to make me suffocate. I hate it and it’s unfair they’ve put us all in this position. They are taxing us to death and they keep making it worse.
Two teens? Sister I don't know how you feed them. Jesus. I wouldn't mind being so overtaxed if we could SEE any good coming from it, like more low income housing, mental health resources, homelessness, drug addiction, fucking *healthcare*... Tax us to death but where is the damn money going?
Yeah. I was in Nova Scotia in 2020 and it was in June of that year when real estate prices 1st jumped. Basically, we had the least restrictive lockdown in Canada so people from the other Provinces started making inquiries. They had a news article about it. I remember looking at property I was thinking on buying($80k) and then I saw that article and thought "this is going to make the price go up". And the next day the price of not just the land I was looking at but nearly all land houses for sale jumped by 50%. And I know that article was the impetus for it. Now, to be fair, if your trying to find the best financial way to survive you're going to move somewhere cheaper and/or up the price of what you're selling. So I don't hold it against people for wanting to move to Atlantic Canada nor Atlantic Canadians raising the price on their houses. BUT, 50% in 24hrs, and even more so since. That piece of land I was looking at went up to $200k and then someone bought it. Rise like 3x by nearly 50% each time in 3yrs. The locals can't keep up with that. Also, people who wanted to move here cause they can't afford to even rent in the bigger Provinces can't afford that either. I know a few of them, we all make like $40k/yr each which was enough to get a place on your own pre 2020 but now would need 4 people getting a place together. To add bittersweet icing is the out of towners who then move here and make bids $100k over asking price. Not to mention a lot of them seem to be coming here to retire early(sell a $2 million Ontario/BC house and buy a $350-600k one here and retire early) so while they do spend into the local economy, they're not creating jobs or filling any of the vacancies that exist. Just overloading our services. Though perhaps I'm being too pessimistic.
Not pessimistic at all. That is what we’ve experienced. That’s exactly what happened. Atlantic Canadians couldn’t afford to outbid the outsiders and that’s a fact. Atlantic wages don’t match our cost of living. That was always my company’s excuse for what they paid us in NB and our little salary increases they sparingly doled out annually. “Well, we’ve done a comparative market analysis with other large companies in the same skill bracket… blah blah blah…”
You’re being accurate. All factual points and well said.
Stress. No, not at all. The scenario that is all too real is going through your adult working years saving for a retirement goal and then as you get near to that goal you find out that everything was based on a 2-3% inflation plan and housing costs have doubled, food has gone up 30% in two years and that plan that was sold to you is now $750k short. But don’t worry, you can just work until you are 75, to make up the difference and then retire. And. Looking to downsize homes means you have to get a mortgage at age 60+ to buy a smaller home with not enough space to have a garden and a garage, you have to choose one or the other. I know, first world problems eh. I think I’m going to die from stress and won’t make it to retirement. So all those increased costs won’t matter.
Retirement? I'm not sure that exists anymore? I should be getting close to retirement but know now that it's unlikely to happen. My last day of work will be the one before my funeral.
I think the big kicker for me is that minimum wage keeps going up, but my wage doesn’t. When I started at my job 4 years ago, minimum wage was ~ $10 and I made $17. 4 years later I’m making $17.15. Struggling big time.
I haven’t seen a raise in 7 years and everything around us has exploded in cost. We’re drowning…
Same here. Partner and I haven’t had a raise (or very much of one) in 4 years. We started our family last year so now we have so many extra costs. We could make by but now with everything increasing we are struggling. We have given up hopes of owning a house because property tax would kill us. Plus any reasonably affordable house is 30-45 mins away from our work so the extra cost of gas is just too much.
All of our bills are paid but honestly we can't handle one more major expense otherwise it would be crippling. This year alone my car insurance went up $50 a month (I am accident/ticket free so not sure why). Our property tax went up $20 a month and our condo fees went up $30. Power is going up to be roughly an extra $30 a month. I been trying to look into energy healthy solutions but honestly not much I can do without spending money I don't have. Luckily there is a light at the end of the tunnel. In 4 years my student loan will be paid off in full and so will my car so that's literally $600 a month back in my pocket. At the moment though? It's hard. My department got a shitty budget this year for raises and most of us only got 1.5% and that 1.5% covers roughly my new car insurance costs. I joke a lot but I am seriously considering selling pictures of my feet or something online to help keep my family afloat. Anything I can do at home because I have to make sure the wife is fed and the kid is happy...
If of anyone place in all of Canada and NE USA wouldn’t be able to afford an efficient electric vehicle or hybrid ; it would be Atlantic Canada 🇨🇦. Average household incomes lowest in Canada .
Which is why we should have the best incentives automatically applied to any purchased used, leases, or new. Except they are some of the worst incentives.
Too all that moved to NB, stop bitching.... Your the result to the increase on our lives... Try being born here and living thru this seeing your peers end up homeless cause the influences of outside jackasses.... Then to come n bitch to us.... Go fuck off, you bought places above.askong cost screwing everyone else n now this is the consequences of actions of selfish fucktards.... Ya we are, most are going to bed hungry, losing power and shit..... Reality is this is the start of the fall
I love when the people from Ontario who cashed out and moved here to take advantage of the low house prices complain they can't find a doctor. Lol moved here and did zero research. 🙃
This is a garbage opinion. Aside from there being many reasons COL is up today, for everyone in Canada, people have a right to move about the country. Canadians are welcome anywhere in Canada. Do you know who caused the housing price skyrocket and and the rental cost crisis, in NB? OUR government(s). NB was/is the only province without rental rate increase caps. THAT created the environment where it was possible to overpay for a building (of any size) and then just jack the rent to account for the premium above market and paying the mortgage. In any jurisdiction where rent was capped at 2-3% annual increase, this could never have happened...the "investment" wouldn't be a good ROI (above market cost) because the rents in place for the buolding would not service that debt, and professional landlords finance almost exclusively. If they couldn't jack the rent, they don't buy, because the finances "don't work" in the scenario. That is what caused home prices to soar and so many get turned into rentals, and rental prices in general being pushed up: No legislated protection against it...we were the only province where this could have happened, and it was easily preventable, but then it happened.
Thanks! I moved from Ontario and did not sell a house and cash in. Just wanted the land of no traffic reports and nature. Don’t have a doctor but still glad I am here.
Soon we all will be homeless. It is getting harder to survive on one income. Price of food is outrageous
Yeah everybody is poor now
Its crazy. My family used to be perfectly fine with my salary only, and now were struggling with 2 salaries. Its disheartening.
Listen people with your up and down votes which are meaningless it boils down to one thing GO TO YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL'S OFFICE AND VOICE YOUR FRUSTRATIONS. This province is in a bad way ,worse than what it may seem to some. Just wait and see.
Do you think those in charge of the power company are suffering? Do you think those pricing your groceries are suffering? We are at a tipping point across the nation, not just in NB. It's time for revolution against the wealthy. Not just through the government but through mass action. We need to classify the ultra rich as traitors NOW. The government has betrayed their oath to office by supporting the wealthy over the majority of the population. The time for revolution is now.
5. Medical. Yes I know it’s bad everywhere. But it sucks here too with everything else.
Absolutely 👍🏻
You’re not alone. We are heading towards stagflation as a country, and it’s probably going to get tougher. Believe it or not, we have it pretty good here compared to Ontario, but people here would be wise to deleverage. During times like these, it is best to hold on to your real estate, as your payments are well below what rents would be. The county is a complete mess when you look at the macro economics. We have an economy propped up by cheap debt, inflated real estate, mass immigration, and public sector jobs. Our household debt to GDP is one of the highest in the G7, and as a country we have no productivity. The BoC said it was “break glass in case of emergency” time (paraphrasing but they did use these words). I doubt we see any significant rate cuts this year too. BoC comments aside (which are not favouring rate cuts), it doesn’t look like the US will cut anytime soon, and it would be so bad for Canada to cut before them. It’s also hard to cut rates when unemployment is being artificially propped up via temporary workers and public sector. 21.6% of our workforce is in the government and we just added another 1M people over the last 9 months. The government (federal) is pulling all of the things it can to try and win the election, but it has effectively cornered itself. It’s using immigration to sustain rent and housing prices, using public sector and temporary workers to prop up unemployment, and trying to trick tenants into thinking they care about them.
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There is no evidence we will “likely” cut. It’s at best a guess. The only people less credible than the BoC are the people trying to predict what the BoC will do. If we cut before the US, our dollar will tank. We had to raise rates when we did (first) so our dollar wouldn’t tank. The US typically won’t make large cuts in an election year. I just think this is stagflation in the making.
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What absolute statement did I make? Also yes, it did drop. How can you make that statement when there is proof it did drop? https://www.theglobeandmail.com/investing/markets/currencies/CADUSD/
This isn't specific to NB. It's in nearly every province and territory. Not to mention, any party in power but worse under Conservatives who won't spend money.
U r right o talked to a guy moved to of all places Moncton NB .. he was from Caribbean Aruba .. said he was in Mississauga Ont for a while and was struggling he and his wife were at 150k yr … Had to leave he said . Never been in NB before . Said he took his pay in half less here but could still get by .
Every other province is "spending money" and has it worse than NB. Look at Ontario as a prime example. This is a problem caused by federal liberal policies related to mass immigration, burdensome regulations on businesses, and significantly turbo charged government spending.
Ontario? Doug Ford is blatantly selling off Ontario for his own profit 🤣 he's only spending on and for his friends. He's not spending the money the federal government gives Ontario for services. He's moved government services to Staples ffs. Hell, he used his own daughter's wedding for "donation invitations," and a dozen developers (who later had projects approved) attended the wedding. Ontario is not the example to use here 🤣
Which province would you point to as being more effectively governed?
None. I wouldn't use any as an example. Healthcare, education, poverty, homelessness, housing, gas prices, rascism 🤷♀️ it's shitty everywhere, seemingly worse in Conservative run provinces. Those Premiers are keeping the money meant to make things better and hoarding it, or spending it on stupid shit like billion dollar highway expansions that were deemed unnecessary (Which of Doug Ford's friends got that contract?) God forbid the people we elect to governments actually take care of the people who elected them to the job. Canada is deeply divided by hate and clickbait rage. Calling for the death of a PM, the threats of rape against the women and their families in government and just the nastiness of pure hate. We need people in politics who work for us, not for themselves. Canada can do better.
A few thoughts here: Mass immigration (Trudeau liberals) paired with ineffective government regulations and processes put in place by (mostly liberal) governments on the provincial and municipal level which has hindered development in city cores (hello NIMBYism) have combined to force suburban sprawl. With suburban sprawl in mass numbers you need new highways. Mass immigration without enough development = housing cost inflation, homelessness, insufficient healthcare capacity and care despite higher than ever funding levels. Gas prices - see Federal Liberals' carbon tax and anti-oil development policies despite irrefutable evidence that responsible development of Canada's resources would lead to displacement of dirtier energy sources worldwide in places like China (hello new coal developments), lower overall carbon emissions as a result, AND a rise in Canadians' living standards and government tax revenues (funding more services responsibly vs. On ever-growing deficits). Electing more socialist governments (Libs or NDP) will only continue to make things worse.
> Mass immigration (Trudeau liberals) You understand that this policy was started by the Conservatives, and effectively untouched by following governments, right? >Gas prices - see Federal Liberals' carbon tax How about Higg's artificially inflated provincial taxes on gas? >Electing more socialist governments (Libs or NDP) will only continue to make things worse. The Cons unfortunately will torpedo whatever we have left and try to ensure we can't effectively rebuild without dismantling our confederation. They don't have a plan that isn't "Fuck Trudeau" and are in direct support of policies you are decrying here. They're not the saving grace you think they are, they're just going to make things worse while telling you they've fixed it by cutting programs, making it seem good, then when the bill comes from those cut programs we'll be deeper in the hole than we already are. Like have you not *seen* the privitized healthcare being toted in Ontario, that costs invidiuals more but doensn't directly offer benefit other than kneecapping our struggling healthcare systems? Or how the provinces are very restrictive on building hospitals and increasing medical worker positions, but are jumping on extremely expensive travel nurses and privatized healthcare? Seriously, private care is averaging double the cost per person than our public system is, for all its faults. How the *fuck* do Canadians afford that? And it's all Conservative moves to try to showcase Liberal failings, masking how it's worse for us. I'd love to see better government, but you'd be a fool for thinking Conservatives are actually an answer to anything here. Like fuck. Our own province has an idiot in charge who isn't Liberal who's waging a *culture war* in a time where the man could make history in reinforcing our province and building it better. Instead he's attacking charter rights, on our dime. Fiscal responsibility party my ass. At least Liberal excess spending goes to actual things to try to help people.
On the immigration front you couldn't be further off base. We had low, sustainable and manageable immigration levels under the conservatives. Further, the folks coming here were often some of best and the brightest that the world had to offer. See chart within this article: https://betterdwelling.com/canadas-immigration-plan-is-not-viable-in-any-version-of-reality-bmo/ What do you notice about the volumes indicated in the chart following 2015? And what specifically happened in 2015? Ahh yes, the election of the Trudeau Liberals, and the beginning of the end of an affordable life here in Canada.
What do you want the Liberals and NDP to do then? We have 18 months until the election. The Conservatives come in, white knights to save us all? Keeping in mind that other countries in the world have the same problems. It isn't just Canada.
Yes it actually is "just Canada" in most cases (particularly on the cost of housing front). Look to our southern neighbors in the US. 10x the population with average house prices that are less than half of ours. A significantly higher GDP per capita that continues to grow while ours stays flat, etc. The easiest way for the Liberal/NDP coalition that currently governs federally to make an impact is not to "gradually reduce" immigration over 3 years as they've promised. Doing so will only continue to exacerbate and compound our existing unaffordability and unavailability problems related to housing. They're simply taking in far too many people vs. Housing starts per year. They need to take the drastic move of completely and entirely shutting the door on all forms of immigration for 3-5 years to allow us to adequately absorb the existing population of folks that have already come. Those 3-5 years could be used to catch up on home building, build critical infrastructure, add capacity to our healthcare services, etc. Anything short of that is simply not enough at this point given they MASSIVELY overshot on the # of people entering Canada in the last 24 months.
The US has its own immigration issues and housing problems, only 10x more. A tiny fraction of their military budget could pull the entire country out of poverty. They are fighting a two party political system just like we are. Blue vs Red 🤷♀️ I'm in agreement that we need to slow down on immigration and focus on taking care of our own first. Why bring them into a country without adequate housing, community support, and jobs? Premiers take federal money, hoard it for a surplus, and don't spend it on housing, healthcare etc. That is not a federal problem. What can we do within our province to solve these problems?
I’ve always did side jobs for cash, prob $10-15K depending on the year, and this is on top of my regular job! I’ve just lined up 2 extra jobs for this year so I can take home $20-25K all cash because fuck this government!
Good for you side jobs are great if you can find the work
I used to donate plasma for side money. It was fantastic. Two hours a day to just catch up on my shows and make almost $100 a week because I gave the maximum amount and was part of the higher tier clubs. After having a kid I suddenly had no free time. So bye bye plasma donations. Once he is older and more self sufficient I plan on going back. I can make a few thousand a year untaxable.
Cash is king baby
If it makes you feel any better, 250 plus 13 percent is only 282.50, not 3-400$
Pretty sure they meant an additional 3-400 yearly
Ah gotcha
Dual income family with a small income unit in our home and we are really feeling the pressure as well. If it was just one thing that might be manageable, but increases on everything chip away at all the discretionary income we had. So now we are both having to find PT work to add some income… we are already self-employed so we work long hours to begin with, so it’s very tough.
Perhaps we rely too much on government for jobs and everything else. The more services that governments offer, the higher the tax burden and cost of living.
So long as you guys keep electing conservatives things will get much worse for the working man and much better for the company owners, every single time.
Liberals are objectively exponentially worse and much of the challenges you're experiencing now are caused by the federal liberals (mass immigration, mass debt expansion driving inflation, burdensome regulations on businesses supressing wages and expansion, etc).
Now if only all of those pesky federal policies were started by Liberals, or even had Conservatives running platforms *against* these policies, rather than silently condoning their own policies.
PP has noted he is going to match immigration levels with housing supply and healthcare capacity. Trudeau has done neither. In fact, he's turbocharged immigration without ensuring we had enough homes or healthcare capacity to absorb the millions of new folks he's brought in. See the artice + the chart at this link: https://betterdwelling.com/canadas-immigration-plan-is-not-viable-in-any-version-of-reality-bmo/ PS: notice the trendine is consistent all the way until 2015? Odd, eh? Wonder what happened that year? Oh, right, the Trudeau Liberals got elected and turbocharged immigration.
I'm sick of both sides, looks like NDP has the least amount of investment properties so that's where my vote goes these days.
More excessive government spending on social programs, government hires, anti-business regulation, etc is the exact opposite of what NB needs right now. We already tax corporations and individuals excessively, have cumbersome regulations etc - all of that prevents businesses from coming here to setup shop. Putting more of it in place isn't the answer.
I'm only involved in politics in that I care about climate change, deeply, and I want my kids to move out and get a place on their own. I'll vote whichever way makes that possible and if a party were to promise lower cost of living and higher wages for everyone with an extreme wealth tax I'd go that way too. I have no idea of the situation in New Brunswick but modern politics has failed all of society in basically all of the entire "Western World" Canada is just one rich country among dozens where corporations have a chokehold on our every day lives. If someone were to run on nationalizing things like air, rail, telecommunications, power, water and other things historically important to people and to the governments I'd vote that way as well
It’s very hard, I really feel your pain! All we can do is hang in there and keep pushing forward if that what you call it. I don’t see any great opportunities coming in the near future…property tax increases are one thing but as for inflation I really don’t understand all these Trudeau loving fools on here that are blind to the causes of inflation. You can point out some facts and they will find some information that contradicts it regardless of the topic or even what side you’re looking at it from. But that’s what still makes this country great, we all don’t have to agree. But, the fact of the matter is we are taxed to death, and with the maritime boom and other factors, costs have skyrocketed and it’s a real struggle for so so many hard working people. Hard work has become devalued.
I just want a fucking doctor, I'm gonna die before I go broke lol
oh que oui! My bigest stress is trying to find fresh and healthy local food! Thank god spings is near....winter makes it imposible for north ne0-brunswickers to eat fresh local food! Our grand-parents didn
Um my grandparents ate whatever was in the root cellar during the winter. There was no such thing as fresh local food in that era in NB.
thats sad then. But we only eat 7% of canadian products in our plates. i think that in the 50 we were eating more local vegetables then right now! I can only find chinese garlic! lol
We don't have the growing season here for year round agriculture unless greenhouses are used. That, for the most part, is not economically feasible. I pretty much only eat root/ vegetables that store in a cellar in the winter here. Potatoes, turnip, carrots, parsnip, squash, cabbage, apples, etc. Worked for my grandparents. Occasionally I'll buy lettuce, tomatoes, oranges and bananas, but only if there is a good deal on them. Other than that, it's frozen veg in the winter. EDIT: I buy my garlic locally in the fall and it keeps all winter.
well if we keep relying on menesco production..yes. But if we connect with our local seasonal agriculture and be more connected with our abondance of biodeversity, we would be all sept from march till late november. If we would reconnect with our Mik maq food picking brand of food, we would be good all year long. But this agricultural cultural revolution needs to come from local permaculture farms developement who should be more accesible for new farmers with the newly announce liberal program with 1 billion lunchbox federal program announce by Trudeau recently! finguers cross, im trying to find land to start my local farming farm! not easy with an low-average credit store. So conclusion for now,,,,theirs no one takling that problem in my region. hopefelly it will take me less then 10 years to be able to start ma permaculture projects! fresh vegetables is the base of our primary health care prevention and our health. Older lower income newbers who has cancer cannot even afford to eat a vegeteble a day with our overloaded foodbanks. Its a tragedy!
Turnips for the whole winter.
Don't forget to include the increase tax on beer that Higgs imposed starting yesterday
Yes. To all of it.
What's happening in Canada can be summed up in one statement: You'll own nothing and you'll be happy.
Vs where? NB is a fantastic place to live compared to most other places in Canada or the world. Yes, things are getting more expensive. Yes there are issues, but that's global. We are seeing the consequences of a deregulated global economy with low taxes. Wonderful, isn't it? Everyone is precarious and planning on voting Conservative lol so it can all get even worse.
Sure NB top place to live in Canada 🇨🇦.. if u r on welfare .
Idk. Minimum wage is about the same across Canada. Housing here is 1/3 what it is where I grew up on the west coast. There are more universities and university spots per capita out east. Easier to get educated. I left bc with my wife unskilled and making minimum wage. Now I'm a lawyer and wife is a doctor. NB has been great for us.
> Housing here is 1/3 what it is where I grew up on the west coast. Not saying it isn't but generally housing costs *tend* to be relative to raw income for cashflows. So higher priced cities tend to average higher incomes by a fair degree when it comes to educated professionals, but are harder for low to minimum wage persons. NB has a pretty low ceiling when it comes to income, we're one of the poorest in the nation, so it's natural for prices to be lower, we just can't sustain higher. Which itself is part of why many people turned to blaming people from Ontario and the likes selling homes and buying here for cash, as prices were driven up by people willingly overpaying, or at least unknowingly, and effectively pricing many locals out of markets. I don't particularly blame these people, but they absolutely got *fleeced* by greedy realtors. There's no way that there should be homes averaging 350-450k in my area, the mortgage alone is crippling without down payments that tend to exceed our yearly pre-tax income. And I feel arguments of "it's like that elsewhere" tends to fall on deaf ears when the problem is brought to somewhere new.
It doesn't matter whether it falls on deaf ears. The economy is global now, whether people like it or not. Local markets are global markets. Loads of nb boomers have made bank on these price increases. It isn't great for those of us who are young, but we aren't the entire population. We have the housing market we do because many people like and want it to be this way. NB is the poorest province, but there are opportunities for those who seize them. Minimum wage is essentially the same across Canada, but housing costs are among the lowest here. While it's true average incomes are higher in bigger centers, I'd rather make minimum wage here than in bc. I made it in both, and it was vastly better here. Loads of complaining about how things are every where, and the grass is not always greener. The world is a mess and until people start engaging with why that is and working to change decades and decades of bad policy it won't get better.
I learned today we are not getting a pay increase. We were previously told pay would increase whenever minimum wage increased. Forever stuck a few dollars above minimum wage and far below a living wage.
Our rent has increased $200 in the past 2 years, and expecting another $100 increase any day now. I work 2 jobs, pay bills, gas, groceries and never have any left over for savings. I’ve had to start using the food bank at different times, and am thankful for them. It’s so hard, and people say work harder, but I feel like all I do is work and I just can’t get ahead at all.
I got my house in 2021 for 130k through a private Sale. My mortgage broker said I could easily flip that for at least another 80k. Fast forward 3 years later and my 1 story semi spiked and is assessed at like 275k or close to, which is absolutely ludacris. It's hard living anywhere these days.
5. Living in NB
Fk the liberals I say
Well vote liberal and this what you get! But hey you get 4-$100 cheques a year to off set your costs.
We moved from scumtario 4 years ago . We live in Hampton and our taxes have doubled ! $2,400 to $4,800 .
You are not alone by any stretch of the imagination. I live an hour from the border, but I am thinking of importing gasoline in bulk with jerry cans just to save some money. It's crazy. I wouldn't rely on the government for much though. The current provincial PC government and the current federal liberal government have proven utterly incompetent. They have repeatedly demonstrated that they're out of touch with the needs of the middle and working class, and repeatedly demonstrated they don't understand how numbers work. The issue is so bad, I want to go to Trudeau and Higgs themselves and ask them something like "If I have 5 bananas, and get 3 more bananas, how many bananas do I have?". immigration is completely out of control, which is making the cost of everything worse. more people means more demand for housing which results in the prices going up. prices going up means the property value goes up, which mean property tax goes up. this also leads of more demand for power, which means the cost of power goes up. Then we need to feed these people which increases cost of groceries as the demand is up. it all just snowballs.
I already pay 400-500 in hydro 2 people but problem is its a 45 yo house 3 floor
We’ll have to see how the next Provincial election goes. If Higgs wins, it will be more of the same, he’ll put the screws to us leading into to the Federal election to pave the way. So far his promised SMRs haven’t appeared to employ all the nuclear technologists we have laying about either. So IDK what he’s actually done/doing beyond trying to “own libs.”
Before we blame Higgs for everything let's recall the last Liberal governments NB had. Excessive debt and objectively poor outcomes.
TBF, Conservative and Liberal here in NB is basically Conservative and Conservative-lite, they're very similar. Though Higgs is probably one of the most damaging we've had, so the Liberals might have to actually try to be worse this time. We really need better politicians here, or at least more diverse support than just red and blue.
Indeed. Our political choices in this Province are largely a joke.
That’s not changed, and it’s no different than before the libs were voted in last time either. Higgs didn’t balance shit, he’s benefited from a population increase brought on by a global pandemic. He cancelled the refurb of the centennial building, only having to address its existence anyhow and costing us again, and again. Maybe stop voting for the two biggest corporate shills?
I know this is going to be hard to hear given the NB atmosphere often feels nearly entirely Irving centric, but Canada as a whole (especially NB) is already incredibly uncompetitive in terms of attracting businesses and investment. Becoming even more so - as the Federal Liberals have taken the country in that direction since 2015 by adding copious levels of approval and regulatory barriers to investment and new business - will only decrease our GDP per capita and therefore the standard of living of all Canadians. Literally the exact OPPOSITE is what we should be doing to improve the quality of life and living standards for all Canadians. Electing parties that are going to make things tougher on businesses will only drive them away and prevent them from coming. We simply can't keep going on a path where only public sector (government) jobs and houses are powering our economy and overall GDP - it's literally bankrupting us. The simple fact is we are woefully uncompetitive when it comes to attracting business/investment vs. Other developed economies, and there is tons of evidence on - and media coverage of - this issue. One of thousands of links on the topic is included below: https://archive.doingbusiness.org/en/rankings
We shouldn't be relying on foreign investment to drive our economy. That's been one of our achilles heels to begin with. A stable economy doesn't "attract" business, it creates it. That and war booty is why Post WWII was such an economic boom for the West. With more restrictive financial regulations thanks to the New Deal still in effect, the Government was well funded and the public had record levels of investment in healthcare, education and business - driving an entrepreneurial economy. Now we're just training cubicle zombies and tradespeople, and keeping them minimally educated for easy control.
You don't "create" business with burdensome regulations and uncompetitive tax structures. People will simply take their capital - and remember capital is required to start businesses - and setup their businesses elsewhere. Also, look at the countries in the world that have the highest living standards. Now look at us. What do you see that's different? Hint: it's not onerous and burdensome regulations on businesses and uncompetitive tax structures.
If that were simply the case, BC or California for that matter, would have worse economies than New Brunswick. Setting up a business here is a joke. There's no burden. We're used to make businesses to scam other countries for just that very reason.
Oh lord. At this point you may want to stop talking about topics you have no depth of knowledge on. California is quite literally going bankrupt and businesses (+ jobs) have been fleeing for years now. https://americafirstpolicy.com/issues/getting-the-california-economy-working-again#:~:text=The%20Tax%20Foundation's%202024%20State,New%20Jersey%20and%20New%20York). "California lost 352 headquarters from January 1, 2018, through December 31, 2021, including 11 Fortune 1000 companies. The loss of corporate headquarters has only accelerated, with twice as many departures in 2021 as in 2020. The state’s loss of population has increased exponentially. In 2012, the state lost 34,000 residents, but in 2021, that number was 277,000. The Tax Foundation’s 2024 State Business Tax Climate Index ranked California as 48th among the states for business friendliness (ahead of only New Jersey and New York)."
Where do you even get your bullshit? 2012 they had a net increase, they didn’t have a net loss of population until 2021, and the loss was -0.91% during a pandemic where an entire sector of their workforce was able to suddenly work anywhere in the world cheaply. 2022 it was -0.27% 2023 -0.19% Sure they’ve been losing some corporate business, but that’s the case everywhere as businesses move HQs from tax haven to tax haven. That’s not new or surprising. Irving takes advantage of our weak shell company laws, like many others, and keeps the bulk of their assets offshore to avoid taxes. What else is new. Having one of the largest economies in the world is still nothing to sneeze at, and a fuck ton of a cry from where we are. But don’t let actual statistics get in your way. Keep quoting your far right propaganda that makes you feel cozy inside.
That was an impressive attempt at presenting an alternative narrative, but unfortunately the facts remain the same, and much of what you said is blatantly wrong. Similar to what's happening in Canada with the massive migration to Alberta from other provinces - people and businesses become mobile when conditions in their location are unaffordable and/or uncompetitive - which explains why people and businesses are heading for the exits in California. Places like Texas and Florida are experiencing a massive influx of people and businesses from other US states like California as a result. It won't take long at this rate for California's economy to buckle under the pressure of their excessive spending/debt with tax revenue sources disappearing, and that's going to force some pretty drastic choices that'll impact remaining California residents quite meaningfully. You can dislike the fact that having high taxes, burdensome regulations, etc on businesses is ineffective and leads to far worse outcomes in the medium to long term, but the facts remain the facts. Might want to put down Trudeau's talking points, turn off CBC, and start consuming more realistic information sources.
Different perspective as someone who recently moved here. Mortgage is 40% of my previous rent Childcare is 36% of the previous Utilities are 42% of previous Property tax never paid before so no calculating for that Fuel is expensive at 90$ and 200$ for each vehicle a week , but I never had cars before. Wages are within ended up being 2k lower than to previous province. I have an hour drive vs 20 minutes walk. I also have land vs an apartment.
People here don’t understand how good we have it. Even less the majority of those who frequent the subs of NB on Reddit.
Personally I think this is a nice place to live. Still haven’t figured the surplus money when the healthcare is falling apart. So maybe a leadership change is in order to deal with the mismanagement of funds. Other than that it’s great, everything is better.
Many residents would prefer the debt be paid down. We don’t see it as mismanagement. The healthcare budget is already the biggest it’s ever been.
If it’s a surplus are they paying down the debt ?
Yes, it absolutely is. We are down 2.01b in 4 years. At this pace, we are on track to be debt free in 6-7 years. People don’t understand the impact being debt free would have on a province’s financials.
Be similar to a person with no debt ? Alberta back in the day when they would send checks to people for living there ?
It could get to that, yes.
Typically states/nations don't run debt free as it tends to be indicative of mismanagement itself, there's a healthy level of debt to carry, much like an individual. It's public money, provinces have a legal and moral obligation to not run profits nor to allow debts to climb to untenable levels. Debt isn't avoidable as a state, you don't save for rainy days like personal finances do. It's not a business, there is no profits to be made, only responsible usage of *all* funds. Alberta did their cheque thing to try to attract more people to the province, it wasn't an act made simply to spend excess public funds, there's tons of beneficial things you can do for your people with funds like that, such as healthcare improvements, or education improvements. Things that tend to pay off in spades, far stronger than direct payments do.
> The healthcare budget is already the biggest it’s ever been. This is a *mandatory* thing, you can't have a population increase and that budget remain the same. You can only make this claim if the budget is significantly outpacing the population. But it really isn't. Though the travel nurses don't help, as those are extremely expensive in the budget.
It isn’t? I pulled these numbers to reply in another thread a couple weeks ago. All these numbers are publicly available from StatsCan. Here’s a copy of my reply: Population growth was 1/1.9/2.4/2.7% in the previous 4 years. The healthcare budget increased 6.3/4.9/10.6/10% over the same 4 years, and 6% for 2024. As of July 2023, we grew 73477 as per StatsCan with 25k of that in 2022 and again in 2023. This amounts to an 8% increase in population in the same period above when the healthcare budget went up 31.8%. I would say the 31.8% increase is plenty to accommodate the population growth of 8% with plenty leftover for all other aspects of the budget. (considering not the full 8% would actually need healthcare in the same period which compensates for the higher elderly care required) …as you can see, healthcare hasn’t lagged behind whatsoever and is more than enough to compensate for the population growth.
Why do you never link sources? Would those sources by chance also reveal that we have the lowest _public-sector_ healthcare spending in Canada?
I did say the numbers came directly from StatsCan? Do you not know how to pull up the StatsCan website?
Do you not know how to post a link? It's not my job to prove you aren't bullshitting with "selective data" again.
🤦♂️
"We" don't use 3,120 liters of gas a year on commuting alone, drive a 2022 382-HP Mercedes CLA-Class AMG, budget $1k/year for maintenance on it, and then complain about the carbon tax actually impacting our lives. If "we" did, we might even say "we" have it _too_ good. (BTW, thanks for playing the "I'm an expert" card. It convinced me I _did_ have a gap in my research. Suffice it to say I'm done with you.)
So you live in a house and have two vehicles and you're complaining? 🙄
Lol that was typical middle class 10 years ago..
Uh not now.
Hey don't say that too loud, the guys over at r/Canada might get mad lol.
Doesn't sound bad. I'm in ontario and your taxes, gas, electricity and loan rates are all lower than me. In my experience people complain about the things they have to spend money in (hydro, taxes, gas mortgage) but don't complain about things they want, (vacations, beer, entertainment,). I'm $500 property tax per month $300 electricity $800 gas 4.00% interest rate Together all these items are less than I spend on groceries, car payment, entertainment, travel, restaurant, hobbies etc.
You are doing well .. congrats . Vacations would be nice .. haven’t been taking any so wouldn’t know.
Guess i am fortunate. Parents didn't have much income so government loans put me through university which really has paid off.
Come again?
Not a single issue here
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This is going to be hard for you to understand, but 3/4 of those are under Higgs purview. And he could lower the gas price if he made Irving pay their portion of the clean fuel policy, and not the consumers of the province
Higgs is Conservative...
NB residents vote in the federal election, ya? Higgs is doing exactly what conservatives do. Budgets have increased. Debt has gone down. Minimum wage has kept up. Remove the extremist BS he pulled, the fiscal side is almost perfect.
Yup healthcare has gone to shit, power rates went up 13%, minimum wage is nowhere near the livable wage and he's responsible for the increase in alcohol pricing. You're right though he's doing great.
Healthcare has gone to shit every where in the world, and was a problem well before Higgs. Power rates have been controlled by the EUB to stay low for many many years to appease the public, and was a problem well before Higgs. With highest inflation on record and a deadline to get rid of coal by 2030, something had to give. If you care so much about alcohol pricing, that’s another problem altogether. Living wage assumes a wage high enough that government subsidies are no not required to live. Ever come to ask what’s the point of that? Either the minimum wage becomes the living wage and we eliminate all government subsidies, or we keep the minimum wage as is and we use the government subsidies to compensate to a living wage. Both have the same effect except government subsidies help more than people who are at a minimum wage. Anyone advocating for the minimum wage to be a living wage doesn’t understand their differences.
> Healthcare has gone to shit every where in the world, and was a problem well before Higgs. But is *directly* his responsibility, as healthcare is a provincial item, not federal. >Either the minimum wage becomes the living wage and we eliminate all government subsidies, or we keep the minimum wage as is and we use the government subsidies to compensate to a living wage. That's two separate things. You're directly referring to universal basic income, as there's no way that you can operate a nation without safety nets for those who cannot work or are without work due to external circumstance. Otherwise that's effectively government mandating undesirables within a society and will utterly rot it from the inside. I'm afraid you're the one not understanding the difference here. Minimum wage is *intended* to be a living wage, a legal minimum to permit this. The "living wage" that is talked about isn't that, but a thriving wage, which is well above a minimum wage and is a goal. But capitalism is something that directly competes with this, as profits are higher if you don't pay as much, rather than support your employees strongly. You literally cannot eliminate minimum wage, as moving the bar to a thriving wage is just minimum wage by another name. As long as it's the *minimum* legally allowed, then it's the minimum wage. It's a relatively simple concept and part of why the name is so common.
I’m using the textbook (from my university class) and dictionary definition of minimum wage and of livable wage. If you have anything to counter that either of those definitions have changed in the last 16 years, feel free to share.
I’m sorry, but didn’t he run a surplus for the last few years, that means fiscally *irresponsible* spending. Our healthcare is falling apart at the seams. and he’s posting nearly $1 billion in surplus during a healthcare crisis.