Canada can fairly claim to be the best-governed country in the world

[anitram]

From David Frum.

Canada, quietly humming along. Many, many reasons for this. I think that Frum's conservative leanings are the reason for his over-praise of Stephen Harper. I didn't vote for Harper nor am I a supporter of the conservatives but I do give him credit for the way he has handled the economy. He's an economist at heart and that's why we mercifully haven't had to deal with a lot of social conservatism. With a couple of exceptions, he's generally been able to muzzle that chunk of his party to near silence. I take issue with a number of his policies, but economic stewardship is not one.

Under Stephen Harper, Canada can fairly claim to be the best-governed country among advanced democracies in the world. Thursday’s federal budget locks up Canada’s lead.

Right now, the major economies share a common economic problem: With the world slowly and fitfully emerging from the worst economic crisis since the 1930s, they must begin to plan to reduce their debt burdens — but not so fast that they crush demand and abort the recovery. The United Kingdom exemplifies the dangers of moving too fast: your recovery falters.

The United States exemplifies the risks of moving too slow: The inability of its political system to agree on any plan to balance the budget has cost the world’s biggest economy its Triple-A credit rating.

...

Canada has been seeking to move at a pace that’s just right — and with the 2012 budget, Canada continues to succeed. Barring an unexpected slump into renewed recession, Thursday’s budget moves Canada to budget balance over the next three years. There will be no tax increases. Federal spending growth will be restrained, but outlays will still rise: from $272.9 billion in the year just ended to a projected $296.6 billion in 2015-2016.

...

By 2015-2016, Canada will have reduced both spending and debt to pre-recession levels. Nobody else on earth will be able to say anything like that.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/...-in-the-world/

[Canadiens1131]

I read this editorial also, and although Harper is pretty shit I have to agree that his stance on reducing spending has helped guide the country nicely through tough fiscal times. The government has looked almost swift to react to economic problems compared to the United States government, which is currently in a poisoned well thanks to that summer of Affordable Care Act bile and misinformation from Republican super PACs and the GOP's inner cabal.

I think we also have to look at the big picture and remember that Canada had stricter (look out for this word, INDY, I know you hate it) regulations on banking that prevented the wacky speculative investment banking and lack of capital reserves that fucked over the US financial system so much.

[anitram]

Really good article on the differences between the US and Canadian banking systems here:

Our so-called genius banks - Canada - Macleans.ca

One of the odder turns in the financial crisis has been the emergence of what can only be described as a worldwide cult of the Canadian banks. Yes, those Canadian banks: fat, slow, bone-stupid, deniers of loans and graspers of fees, easy targets for generations of low-rent columnists and politicians on the make.

Yet look at them now, the toast of five continents. The Financial Times calls Canada’s banks “the envy of the world.” Newsweek’s Fareed Zakaria gushes that, thanks to its banks, “Canada has done more than survive this financial crisis. The country is positively thriving in it.” Barack Obama, no less, confessed during his recent visit that Canada “has shown itself to be a pretty good manager of the financial system in ways that we haven’t always been here in the United States,” while Paul Volcker, the former Federal Reserve chairman and eminence grise in the Obama administration, has touted Canada’s banks as the model for what a reformed American system should look like.

...


And it’s true that, by virtually any measure, Canada’s banks are in healthier shape than their international rivals: profitable, well-capitalized, even raising $9 billion in capital since the fall through fresh share issues—an unheard-of feat in today’s markets. As American banks have tumbled, collapsed, or merged, Canadian banks have risen in relative terms. Of the 10 largest banks in North America, measured by assets, four are now Canadian; a decade ago, we had none in the top 10. Just seven banks in the world retain a AAA rating from Moody’s Investors Service. Two—Royal and Toronto-Dominion—are Canadian.

...


What explains the less-awful performance of the Canadian banks, when compared to their international counterparts? For many, the answer lies in the stringency of the Canadian regulatory system, the most conservative, by some accounts, in the world. Viewed strictly in prudential terms, there is some truth in this. Where the international standard, as set out in the first Basel Capital Accord—a 1988 agreement among the world’s leading monetary and banking authorities—required banks to hold no less than $4 in “tier 1 capital” (common equity, published reserves and equivalents) for every $100 they lent out, and where U.S. regulators consider a bank well-capitalized at a six per cent ratio, Canadian regulators set the bar at seven per cent.

...


The truer statement about the Canadian approach to financial regulation is not that it’s tighter, but that it’s different. Where other countries adopt a detailed, “rules-based” approach to regulation, Canada uses a more discretionary, “principle-based” approach. The Office of the Superintendent of Financial Institutions doesn’t set out a fixed formula for what it considers adequate provision against loan losses, for instance, but it knows it when it sees it—and has the power to step in to compel banks to make the necessary adjustments. Likewise, where other countries’ bank regulators have involved themselves in a wider range of concerns, from privacy to racial profiling, ours have kept the focus on risk—risk, whatever its source or precise form.

An example: long before the 1999 reforms lifting the long-standing ban on American banks owning other types of financial institutions, Canadian banks were free to do the same. After the Mulroney government’s 1987 deregulation bill, most of the country’s large investment houses were swallowed up by the Big Five. But whereas each subsidiary of an American banking conglomerate might be subject to a different regulatory authority, according to whether it was classed as an insurance company, investment bank, or commercial bank, in Canada power was consolidated in the OSFI to regulate the whole entity. So, far from destabilizing the banks, the brokers’ absorption into the banks served to stabilize the brokers. Where a Lehman Brothers or Bear Stearns had neither parents with deep pockets nor prudential regulation to save it from disaster, our investment banks had both.

...

Similarly, the Canadian banks’ more restrain-ed behaviour is probably best explained as a consequence of historical accident—dumb luck, in other words. In broadest strokes, where financial regulation in America, with its populist, agrarian tradition, has historically been tilted to the benefit of creditors—notably in the matter of mortgage interest deductibility—ours has tended to favour the lenders.

[yolland]

In that last sentence--does "creditor" mean something different in Canada than it does in the US? Because I can only make sense of the sentence if I assume he actually meant "borrowers."

[INDY500]

Thursday’s budget moves Canada to budget balance over the next three years. There will be no tax increases. Federal spending growth will be restrained

Balanced budget, no tax increases, spending restrained... kinda the opposite of the budgets submitted by our president and the Democrats Party of Government.

So to Canada for her fiscal sanity. Too bad it's now against your law to criticize Islam or tell jokes about lesbians however.

And doubly too bad about no Canadian Stanley Cup winner since 1993.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by INDY500

Too bad it's now against your law to criticize Islam or tell jokes about lesbians however.

You watch too much Fox News. They like to talk about the Elmasry case (which they don't bother telling anyone was dismissed by multiple tribunals).

Yolland, I think that's probably supposed to be debtor not creditor.

[Jive Turkey]

Originally Posted by INDY500

Too bad it's now against your law to criticize Islam or tell jokes about lesbians however.

Not true, but maybe you're not being serious

Originally Posted by INDY500

And doubly too bad about no Canadian Stanley Cup winner since 1993.

Ya, but they're all Canadian players

[INDY500]

Originally Posted by anitram

You watch too much Fox News. They like to talk about the Elmasry case (which they don't bother telling anyone was dismissed by multiple tribunals).

The fact that "hate-speech tribunals" even exist is bad enough but that's for another day and another thread.

[anitram]

Originally Posted by INDY500

The fact that "hate-speech tribunals" even exist is bad enough but that's for another day and another thread.

There is no such thing.

Our provincial human rights tribunals are the equivalent of your state civil rights commission. And I know that you have one in Indiana.

Again, you're sounding like a Fox News viewer.

[purpleoscar]

I have few complaints with the current government. Yet Canada will still benefit more if the U.S. can finally recover economically. I hope that there's still time to reform the Senate before the next election.

[digitize]

Originally Posted by INDY500

Balanced budget, no tax increases, spending restrained... kinda the opposite of the budgets submitted by our president and the Democrats Party of Government.

There might be a correlation between this and the fact that Canada never crashed into as deep of a recession as the United States. Specifically, it didn't have a financial sector that imploded.

[INDY500]

Originally Posted by digitize

There might be a correlation between this and the fact that Canada never crashed into as deep of a recession as the United States. Specifically, it didn't have a financial sector that imploded.

What's the excuse going forward? The Ryan/GOP bill balances the budget in... wait for it... 2040, and the president today calls it "radical" and "social Darwinism." His budget never balances the budget and in fact adds at least 500 billion/year to the national debt as far out as projected.

[MrsSpringsteen]

Plus Canada has a transgender Miss Universe contestant, now that Trump has changed his...mind. And she's beautiful.

[ryancoke71]

Apparently, we are pretty happy as well!

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canad...-164148262.htm

[purpleoscar]

Originally Posted by ryancoke71

Apparently, we are pretty happy as well!

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/blogs/canad...-164148262.htm

Of course the unhappy people here don't want to hear that story.

[ryancoke71]

No they don't. I'm happy though, so I think it is accurate!

[anitram]

purpleoscar, any thoughts on the Alberta election?

[purpleoscar]

Originally Posted by anitram

purpleoscar, any thoughts on the Alberta election?

So far it looks like many of the conservatives of the PC party have moved to the Wildrose and especially after it was found out that taxpayers paid for meetings where no one attended for years. There's a sense we strayed from the Ralph Klein heydays. I'm a little torn though because the new drinking and driving law being passed by the PCs is something I want. Even the hapless NDP is starting to take over the liberals here though even if there is a minority government I could imagine both the PCs and Wildrose party creating a coalition. It's definitely interesting times after having PCs for decades.

The platforms for provincial elections tend to be quite vague (city elections even more vague). The PCs want to be strong on results oriented budgeting but promise lots of spending. This of course could mean more deficits. I don't know how they can balance the budget without tax increases.

The Wildrose party wants to balance the budget and cut spending in bureaucracy. This would be good in our bloated healthcare system with exorbitant salaries. They also want to move to a more European style system to reduce the huge backlogs. I'm still looking into the two platforms but so far the Wildrose are looking more realistic. I think they will take the south of Alberta including Calgary and much of the cities and North Alberta might stay PC.

[anitram]

Canada - best G20 country to be a woman.

Policies that promote gender equality, safeguards against violence and exploitation and access to healthcare make Canada the best place to be a woman among the world’s biggest economies, a global poll of experts showed on Wednesday.

Infanticide, child marriage and slavery make India the worst, the same poll concluded.

Germany, Britain, Australia and France rounded out the top five countries out of the Group of 20 in a perceptions poll of 370 gender specialists conducted by TrustLaw, a legal news service run by the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The United States came in sixth but polarized opinion due to concerns about reproductive rights and affordable healthcare.

...


HOW THEY RANK
1. Canada 2. Germany 3. Britain 4. Australia 5. France 6. United States 7. Japan 8. Italy 9. Argentina 10. South Korea 11. Brazil 12. Turkey 13. Russia 14. China 15. Mexico 16. South Africa 17. Indonesia 18. Saudi Arabia 19. India

World News: Canada best G20 country to be a woman, India worst - thestar.com

[financeguy]

It can only be a matter of time before Canada wins the gold medal in the political correctness olympics, though it faces stiff competition from the likes of Sweden.