This page has been archived and commenting is disabled.

Canada's Finance Minister Flaherty Resigns Unexpectedly

Tyler Durden's picture




 

In a surprising development out of Canada's cabinet, moments ago the finance minister, Jim Flaherty, a noted deficit hawk and proponent of paying down government debt, just announced his resignation.

  • CANADA FINANCE MINISTER FLAHERTY RESIGNS FROM CABINET
  • FLAHERTY SAYS DECISION TO LEAVE POLITICS WAS NOT RELATED IN ANY WAY TO HIS HEALTH

As Bloomberg and Globe and Mail add, Flaherty said he’s stepping down to pursue work in the private sector. "Yesterday, I informed the Prime Minister that I am resigning from Cabinet,” Flaherty said today in a statement e-mailed by his office. “This was a decision I made with my family earlier this year, as I will be returning to the private sector."

"As I begin another chapter in my life, I leave feeling fulfilled with what we have accomplished as a government and a country during one of the most challenging economic periods in our country’s history," he said.

Flaherty said there’s “no doubt” Canada will balance its budget as promised in the year starting April 2015, and said the decision isn’t related to his health issues

Still, there is rife speculation that it was indeed his health that was the reason for this unexpected resignation. Either way, Canada's housing mess will now be someone else's problem.

 

- advertisements -

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.
Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:24 | 4564962 Stoploss
Stoploss's picture

Good bye Canada.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:28 | 4564981 fonestar
fonestar's picture

fonestar actually wrote Flaherty to complain about the debasement of the Canadian dollar and the gov placing the blame on the penny instead.  He has the signed letter somewhere.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:30 | 4564994 Arius
Arius's picture

just heard part of Kerry's speach on Russia:  we know that the birthplace of russian religion is in Ukraine ... what does he mean really .... what religion are they? 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:31 | 4564999 Mark Carney
Mark Carney's picture

BRO!!

 

You coming to England?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:34 | 4565012 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

Turns out he's playing the part in a broadway musical rendition of the movie the bird cage. He's playing Nathan Lane's part.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:42 | 4565046 onewayticket2
onewayticket2's picture

my guess is he will buy a nail gun in the next 36 hours.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:54 | 4565089 fonestar
fonestar's picture

Iceberg spotted forward side.  Time for a new captain.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:12 | 4565137 Divided States ...
Divided States of America's picture

Its not related to HIS health, its related the the health of the Canadian Housing market...and he gets sick just thinking about it when it implodes.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:22 | 4565171 Independent
Independent's picture

I thought they were supposed to get SUICIDED

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:24 | 4565620 Graph
Graph's picture

Actually, I envision him runing through the some open field with outsreched arms and screaming:

"I am alive!....I am alive!"

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:31 | 4565844 Rakshas
Rakshas's picture

.... " NEW PHONE BOOK'S HERE!!! ........ THE NEW PHONE BOOKS HERE!!!

 

 

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 07:29 | 4566849 Oracle 911
Oracle 911's picture

I think, he was kicked out.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:27 | 4565196 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Yes! That mythical housing crash that is going to lay Canada low in any minute now.  Been hearing about that one ever since forever. Don't hold your breathe GI Joe cause it ain't gonna happen.  Canada is a ROC

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:38 | 4565230 pitz
pitz's picture

Housing prices declining in Canada isn't mythical by any stretch of the imagination.  The melt has been under way for most of the 2nd half of last year and continues even to this day.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:00 | 4565306 aVileRat
aVileRat's picture

Yup.

Jim was a good guy, who despite having a shit serious condition (and needing a few trips to the hospital) he did his job without whining or sympathy. Now compare this to your average Congressional shit bag who needs 3 weeks off in Cali. for a chest infection and makes 400,000 with no-tax. He also was a libertarian who did not bail out his banks, and fought to the point of offering resignation to NOT join the US in bailing out the big 3 USA banks.

This staunch resistance to bailing out foreign banks, and taxing foreign capital loopholes with the income trusts/property REITS did not make him many friends on Wall St. or London. He believed a country was only as good as a responsible & strong currency with a PROFITABLE and ACTIVE labour force at FULL employment rate. Shocking, I know. He also was a strong supporter of local job growth, keeping R&D at your innovation centers at all costs, and preventing offshore poaching / IP theft.

 

While many politicians are treated in contempt, Jim was a good guy.

No, I'm not Jim Flaherty.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:08 | 4565329 omi
omi's picture

>didn't bail out the banks..

That's simply not true. CAD banks got 70B bailout (whici is about the same as the 700B bailout if you look at the difference inthe size of the population) + lower interest rates asset appretiation boost (rates in canada are about 1-2% more expensive historically than in the States) + we have CHMC which insulates large amount of mortgages so that banks do not eat the losses on mortgages. Insane monoploly on starting a bank. Protected from competition. I'm not sure if it's possible to start a bank in Canada, theoreticalyl it's possible, but you wont' be allowed in the big 5 league.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:40 | 4565461 pitz
pitz's picture

Actually I wonder if there's any tie-in with the Rob Ford situation?  Flaherty was pretty choked up about him in an earlier speech. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 21:03 | 4565954 jonjon831983
jonjon831983's picture

Flaherty's Halloween Massacre 2006.  Nailed a lot of retirees/investors.

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/h/halloween_massacre.asp

"Income trusts, which were permitted to make distributions to unit holders on a pretax basis under old Canadian income tax laws, were a popular investment vehicle in the early 2000s, especially in Canada. The Canadian energy sector was hardest hit by the change, and suffered an estimated loss of about $35 billion to investors, giving rise to the term "massacre".


This change in the Canadian tax law, which was largely debated after the fact, was made to remedy a perceived loss of tax revenue."

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 22:46 | 4566309 pitz
pitz's picture

Income trusts should have never been allowed to grow as much as they did.  Flaherty did the right thing, albeit belatedely.  People who bought into them, often Ponzi schemes, suffered.  But they would have suffered anyways.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 23:39 | 4566433 pitz
pitz's picture

Canada never achieved anything resembling full employment during Flaherty's reign.  The last time Canada came anywhere near "full employment" was in the late 1990s. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:59 | 4565308 Matt
Matt's picture

Parti Quebecois to win Quebec Provincial election, hold soveriegnty referendum. CAD tanks leading up to the vote, and then who knows either way what happens. Could be the first domino, leading into interest rates, leading into mortgage crisis.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:34 | 4565647 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

As far as I am concerned, if Quebec wants to go it alone... don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.  The leadership of Quebec doesn't want out of Canada, but they do like to use separation as an extortion tool.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:16 | 4565784 WillyGroper
WillyGroper's picture

His health with regards to forward guidance.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:54 | 4565093 AlaricBalth
AlaricBalth's picture

Geez. He looks like Walter Sobchak.

"Nihilists! F*ck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos."

http://endkwote.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/image1.jpg

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:57 | 4565096 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

walter sobchak meets albert goldman lmao.

 

http://i752.photobucket.com/albums/xx170/robbyrs/vlcsnap-2012-10-24-17h1...

 

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:59 | 4565102 Dollarmedes
Dollarmedes's picture

Maybe he was asked to buy $100 billion in UST?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:49 | 4565271 dumbStruck
dumbStruck's picture

Signed in just to up arrow you.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:44 | 4565477 Nassim
Nassim's picture

The West is largely Catholic and the East Russian orthodox.

The Kingdom of Moscovy became Orthodox Christian because they checked out Islam and the religion of Constantinople. They preferred the Orthodox ceremonies.

http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/history5.aspx

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:31 | 4565003 Toolshed
Toolshed's picture

I am sure he, appropriately, filed your spew in his circular file with the rest of the trash..

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:37 | 4565024 fonestar
fonestar's picture

No, he wrote fonestar back and it was signed.  But it was basically his endorsement of Keyenesian lunacy at the Bank of Canada.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:17 | 4565156 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

An endorsement of Keyenesian lunacy and yet he has been instrumental in getting Canada's deficit to zero. Some Keyenesian he is!  Give your head a shake or go play with your imaginary bitcons.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:24 | 4565180 fonestar
fonestar's picture

Federal deficits and the Bank of Canada are two seperate issues.  The conservatives love to pay lip service to balanced budgets and tight spending while doing nothing.  Flaherty supports the Bank of Canada.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:30 | 4565210 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Getting Canada's deficit from 40 billion to zero billion is lip service!?!  Come on Fonestar! Give A little credit would you.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:41 | 4565240 fonestar
fonestar's picture

Federal deficits are not the same as total national debt!  And the national debt in Canada is greater than it ever was!

Flaherty came right out and said he supports the Bank of Canada and believes in targeted 2% inflation.  Keyensian crack-pot through and through.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:48 | 4565265 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Good grief fonestar! Paying off the debt has to wait until the deficit is zero. Come on, you must know that.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:12 | 4565773 Rylie
Rylie's picture

$40 billion to $0,  I am no fan of fonestar or Flaherty but when elected first in 2006 there was a $13 billion surpluse the liberal government created. Flaherty created a deficit before the market crash of 2008. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 21:06 | 4565971 Rakshas
Rakshas's picture

Agree, - and, while I characterize myself as harbouring a near psychotic hatred of taxes I couldn't believe they reduced the GST/HST as they did rather than paying down the debt and no matter how they sell it Canada has been running deficits since......

I've had this argument many times over the years my salient point being a 2% savings on any purchase will never be a deal breaker whether it is a one dollar item or a million dollar item conversely leaving the debt to grow unchecked will guarantee tax slavery forever.... as much as I hate and I mean HATE paying taxes I would have preferred they opt to reduce the debt first and foremost. Conservative used to mean living within your means .... not running out and getting another credit card like these fools did by reducing the Gouge and Screw Tax......

 

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:11 | 4565344 Deathrips
Deathrips's picture

Crown Corporation Bitchezzz!!!

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crown_corporations_of_Canada

 

RIPS

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:30 | 4564985 Fish Gone Bad
Fish Gone Bad's picture

 I like what they say about the US Generals that keep getting axed. "He wasn't an alcoholic".

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:31 | 4565002 pods
pods's picture

Time to find the Youporn video of him screwing the bearded midget in the green hat from yesterday's festivities?

pods

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:36 | 4564990 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

I'm starting a movement to secede from Alberta and join Russia. When I was a kid my dad would tell us that the awkward half mile or so between the "now leaving Alberta" sign and "welcome to saskatchewan" sign was Russian land. I never wished so hard in my life that he wasn't lying.

 

Perversely, no offence to Jimbo, I hope it's health, otherwise it may adversely affect the health of all canadians.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:52 | 4565090 Arius
Arius's picture

never, and i really mean never ... this is Canada!

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:06 | 4565120 GoldSilverWolf
GoldSilverWolf's picture

Don't you think he lookes tired?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:49 | 4565045 TheCanadianAustrian
TheCanadianAustrian's picture

The average resale house price in Canada just exceeded $400k, up more than 10% year-over-year. When Flaherty speaks publicly about the housing market, he always seems to be walking on egg shells. It seems like he wants to scream out about subprime, but he can't.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:50 | 4565079 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

I'm waiting for the blood to flow with baited breath.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:51 | 4565087 Bangin7GramRocks
Bangin7GramRocks's picture

Makes sense. I mean there is only like 200 countries with better weather. Why wouldn't it be a hotbed for investment and vacation homes. I knew this bubble was forming when the HGTV home shows all had hosts that said "aboot".

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:15 | 4565365 Matt
Matt's picture

Toronto is growing like crazy, spawling out every which way, while more and more highway expansion cuts through the countryside. Lots of people from all over the world seem to be flowing in, for some reason.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:02 | 4565106 pitz
pitz's picture

House prices only went "up" because the sales mix changed quite dramatically.  The low end, which is vulnerable to the subprime meltdown, actually fell.  But more higher-end units were sold, albeit at lower individual prices. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:24 | 4565182 Independent
Independent's picture

LOL so true I watch the HGTV shows and my jaw drops at the price of Canadian houses, Im like come on folks that place is like living in Antartica in the winter.  Why would I pay Hawaii prices for ICE

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:45 | 4565248 TheCanadianAustrian
TheCanadianAustrian's picture

Weather has absolutely nothing to do with it. It's been hard baked into the psyche of Canadians that buying is better than renting, period. As long as people are being approved for zero-down, 2.5% ARM loans for a starter home that consumes 50% of the net income of a couple, they WILL sign on the dotted line. That's all there is to it.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:44 | 4565250 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Why don't you real estate genius's tell me why the Canadian housing crash hasn't already happened.  You've been wailing about for years and you've been wrong for years.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:49 | 4565258 TheCanadianAustrian
TheCanadianAustrian's picture

Why didn't Krakatoa erupt in 1882?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:50 | 4565279 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Evading the question eh!

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:49 | 4565698 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

Why didn't Lehman crash until 2008 or MF Global until 2011?

For all you out there who think Flaherty was a libertarian you need to do your research.  This guy is as much of a fascist fuckbag as the rest of the lot in power across the world these days.  Paul Martin (another fascist fuckbag crony capitalist) eleminated the deficits in the 1990's, mostly by accounting tricks and loading debt onto provinces but hey... debt repayment.  The Conservatives havee increased gov't spending considerably. They also bailed out (and continue to bail out) the banks and major corporations.

 

Fuck all theses pricks.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:54 | 4565291 pitz
pitz's picture

CMHC expansion of sub-prime credit.  Which mostly came to a halt last year.  Which is why prices have been going down ever since.  Only masked by a substantial change to the sales mix as the proverbial 'rats' try to unload their higher-end properties (albeit at lower individual prices).  Makes the headline numbers go up or stay flat, but the actual "on-the-ground" situation for the Canadian housing market is one of decline and weakness. 

Flaherty probably studied the USA circa 2007-2008 enough to realize what happens next. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:25 | 4564967 grgy
grgy's picture

He probably just about had enough of Harper and Baird. It's no fun being the only oar on a ship of fools.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:28 | 4564982 BobPaulson
BobPaulson's picture

Not seeing the difference between him and the rest of Harpo's commedy act.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:29 | 4564988 fonestar
fonestar's picture

Baird, the little pup who waits for the big dogs to bark first on Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, etc, etc.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:31 | 4564996 Canadian Dirtlump
Canadian Dirtlump's picture

Him and Harper are a fine pair. I wonder if they have had any luck growing the front of their hair out if ya know wam sayin.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:58 | 4565731 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Either smarten up or be funny, cuz that's just dumb.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:44 | 4565057 sodbuster
sodbuster's picture

Of course he resigned for health reasons- it's either resign or take a swan dive off a building, or 47 nails to the head and torso with a nail gun.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:32 | 4565215 NotApplicable
NotApplicable's picture

They're gonna need a bigger nail-gun. As it stands, his face is swallowing his chin.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:48 | 4565267 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

I agree, the Harper/Baird stand on Ukraine would make any Canadian worth his salt resign.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:52 | 4565287 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

I can't stand Harper the trained seal, but that Baird REALLY takes the prize for supreme asshole of Kanada

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:26 | 4564973 Chupacabra-322
Chupacabra-322's picture

There really are no rules and nobody that can block the NSA or the FBI or the CIA when they want to examine you - Snowden showed us that there is little if any oversight as to what can be discovered, collected, and examined. When the NSA wants to closely examine a desired target - for instance:

* a candidate running for public office
* members of the Senate Intelligence Committee
* an on-going government lawsuit
* a revolutionary new product being developed
* a Wall Street CEO, President, or Vice President
* a political group of any color
* a Supreme Court Justice or a US Senator
* a new game-changing scientific discovery
* a lawyer, prosecutor, judge, or juror involved in a key public trial
* or whatever/whomever they want to study

They now have the tools to very closely examine and perhaps even alter the target in a clandestine or covert manner.

Let's say the NSA wants to know everything about a "target" situation such as listed above. The NSA has created a "template" they populate with historical and real-time illegally collected surveillance data. This template allows them to create a “mirror image” of the target for close and intimate observation.

They set up a duplicate office of the target: matching up NSA personnel, PC's, software, smart phones, fax machines, and tablets, etc. The key is to set up each device just like their actual target person's device. Remember the NSA knows ALL your account user names and passwords for everything. Any site or service you can logon to they can logon to. So matching each target's software, hardware, user accounts (etc) to the target PC, iPhone, Android, Skype, gmail, Outlook, even using all their RSA encryption keys, browser favorites, browser history, LinkedIn, Facebook, bla bla bla. Exact match.

Target person gets a text message? … the NSA mirror person’s device gets the same text message. Target sends (or receives) an e-mail? … and the NSA counterpart's sent folder (or inbox folder) shows the same e-mail as if he/she sent it. The mirror PC browser history, phone call log, and texts all matches up perfectly and in real time with the target's devices.
So now the NSA has the ability to intervene in the target office’s day to day operation. They can intercept any e-mail, text or fax traffic and modify it before sending on to its recipient (the NSA has admitted doing man-in-the-middle intercepts).

The NSA can watch ANY target it desires in real time as they go through things like: product development, or mergers and acquisitions, court trials, senate votes, patent applications, or legal battles with the government. They know every decision being made by government officials or CEO’s (and/or their management) and how they came to that decision.

But let's say the NSA does not want to go through all this trouble to set it up right now. Well they just simply turn on the "data collection machine" and leave it running forever and the NSA can come back at any time and populate the template to see what has been going on with its target. They can turn it on at any time and run it through the system chronologically. The Utah Data Center is specifically designed to operate that way. It is not a static data collection center. There is special software and hardware designed to record, analyze, report, and manipulate the illegally collected data.

Through this "system" they learn intimately about all the political and personal viewpoints of the nation’s corporate leaders, Federal Court Judges (like U.S. District Judge Richard Leon), Supreme Court Judges, state governors, metropolitan mayors, senators, congressmen, prosecutors, etc. The NSa learns intimate details of their financial connections, professional and legal connections, romantic involvement, medical conditions, religious affiliation, political views, and even gun ownership. The NSA also illegally uncovers a ton of similar information related to non-targets (friends & families).

This illegal and tyrannical "data collection system" becomes an evil dossier like never before seen. The illegally collected data can be stored forever and retrieved for examination at any time. The system can run forever now they have the Utah Data Center online.

There are few if any laws about what gets collected, how long it is held, and what may be done with this data (such as above). So this is indeed tyranny. We now live in a police state - if you don't think so you are severely delusional. The US Military are the ones charged with designing, collecting, storing, analyzing, and reporting this private data. Think about that.
The NSA uses this system on US citizens, political groups, political campaigns, corporations, Wall Street, media, etc. They are collecting all our data by default so they can know everything about us and have it available to examine at any time. This is in direct violation of the Constitution.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:44 | 4565679 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

You are correct in your assumption as to the data gathering capabilities of our esteemed intelligence agencies however your assumption as to the end use of this data is all wrong.

 

That you are screwing your wifes, best friends boyfriend is of no interest to them.

 

Ever since the US got spanked by the USSR in the 70's over the grain harvests (analogue cellphones the size of a housebrick in a combine on the prairie) the NSA has been tasked with economic warfare.

 

That you could get rich whilst defending the freedoms of gods own people did not pass some people by.

 

It was fine whilst the economy was booming, they could ride your coat tails, now that reccession is here to stay they are climbing on your back.

 

It used to be that you could cast your vote and make a difference, not any more.

 

Well #Fuckem, I'm #NotInterested anymore, they can bang any drum they like #I'mNotBothered.

 

I'm reducing my income to reduce my tax liabilty, I've stopped spending to reduce transactional taxes, I'm claiming for everything (not because I want or need any help) because I want to increase the cost of keeping me in line.

 

I practice acts of dissent ( https://twitter.com/100Acts ) not as some kind of selfmasturbatory satisfaction but because I know that they will enact more invasive legistlation. (and perhaps more people will wake up)

 

I know the cattle trucks are lying in wait for the next time.

 

OWS asked nicely and were crushed mercilessly, fair enough, I know where I stand (and MSM don't look so shocked when the necklacing starts, you are complicit in all of this)

 


 

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:26 | 4564974 B.J. Worthy
B.J. Worthy's picture

It isn't related to his health, it's the lack thereof.

Godspeed, Mr. Flaherty.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:24 | 4565179 ronron
ronron's picture

yep he's dieing of cancer i think i heard. the guy has been around a long time in that job. he did me good for a lot of years. the good old days.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:57 | 4565727 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

You are right that he did you good, but it saddens me that you enjoyed it.  This was the lesson of 1984 - the sheep enjoy their ass raping and will do nothing to prevent further rape.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:27 | 4564977 ebworthen
ebworthen's picture

Nothing like getting out at the top.

Just ask Bernanke, and Alan Greedspun.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:27 | 4564978 Metalredneck
Metalredneck's picture

Worst housing bubble on the globe.

Waiting.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:30 | 4564991 BobPaulson
BobPaulson's picture

Slight hyperbole there. Modulo Hongcouver is it that out of the ordinary?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:27 | 4565194 ronron
ronron's picture

i agree. i live in the smallest city in ontario. my house is around 300000. can sell it in 5 minutes,

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:58 | 4565732 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

Today with free money... yes.  Tomorrow...

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:27 | 4565197 oddjob
oddjob's picture

Prices of Single Family Dwellings in Vancouver have been going up steadily since 1986. When a 4 bedroom house in Dunbar falls from 3 million to 1.75 million everybody can say I told you so.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:29 | 4564980 Rainman
Rainman's picture

A housing bubble mess in Canada !? .... who coulda known ?

Prices are only up 80% the past decade

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:37 | 4565028 yogibear
yogibear's picture

A shack selling for a million CA dollars should be a good indication of how severe it is.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:29 | 4565207 ronron
ronron's picture

on average. canadian house prices are up 80% in 25 years. i know.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:43 | 4565472 robertocarlos
robertocarlos's picture

More like 300% in 15 years. At least in my city which has over 500k residents.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:53 | 4565500 ronron
ronron's picture

move now. buy in mitchel ontario for 160000. farmers markets all around. year round. nice artigian wells. the water, oh ya. although they tend to grab an idiot by the ear.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:31 | 4564998 Bollixed
Bollixed's picture

Who's in charge of picking the pictures for this fellow, his ex-wife?

He looks like he just kissed Obama...

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:59 | 4565101 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

And, the questions remains as to where he kissed the Messiah.

By, all outward appearances it left a visibly bitter taste.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:59 | 4565309 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

Well the Bernake stepped down and that left Ol' Yeller or Obomber...

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:32 | 4565814 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

Likey Ol'Yeller!  I'd do her.  What?  So none of you find power sexy? - Joe/Drunken Clam

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:32 | 4565007 Itchy and Scratchy
Itchy and Scratchy's picture

The HFT's front ran the CAD before the news! ....as usual

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:26 | 4565406 oddjob
oddjob's picture

It moved on Poloz's comment earlier in the day about lowering BOC's interest rate if necessary.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:33 | 4565011 john milton
john milton's picture

Strike now and annex it before Vlad will

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:39 | 4565035 canstacker
canstacker's picture

So, they must have had a job opening at Goldman Sachs. Or The Power Corporation of Canada.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:41 | 4565039 The Most Intere...
The Most Interesting Frog in the World's picture

"a noted deficit hawk and proponent of paying down government debt"

Obviously, he didn't fit in...

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:42 | 4565044 yogibear
yogibear's picture

The money printers gone wild. A last ditch effort is to create demand with a huge destructive war.

Hopefully Paul Krugman is at his NY times office in NYC when the SHTF.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:42 | 4565048 papaswamp
papaswamp's picture

Mistress (or Mister). Or he thinks the feces is about to fly and wanted to not be downwind.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:43 | 4565050 maskone909
maskone909's picture

Resignation for health reasons... Too much crack cocain, just be honest. Watch out for rogue nailguns pal!!

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:46 | 4565066 tony wilson
tony wilson's picture

mi6 showed him the fotos of the child rape parties.

lord rothschilds man said debt is good now get the fuck out or we will david kelly you and play the audio of the child screams you nonce.

 

i think it is very interesting that security services around the world would rather film and record rape stuff thsn save an innocent child.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:06 | 4565111 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

delta programming

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:47 | 4565068 STG5IVE
STG5IVE's picture

He will be dedicating the next three weeks to topping off his preps and moving his family away from the city.  Guns and ammo Mr. Flaherty--guns and ammo.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 16:47 | 4565069 ArmyofOne
ArmyofOne's picture

Watch for a swan dive from some Toronto tall building.  

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:07 | 4565122 Pure Evil
Pure Evil's picture

Based on his girth, the next time they need a building in NYC to go into free fall they can always drop him out of a helicopter to smash it to smithereens.

If anything they can match him up with Chris Christie for another bridge lane closing across the Detroit river.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:00 | 4565104 pitz
pitz's picture

It is likely that the CMHC portfolio of subprime mortgage guarantees is a complete disaster.  With housing prices falling in Canada, this portfolio is under increasing stress.  Flaherty's legacy will not look good when all is said and done. 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:05 | 4565116 Carpenter1
Carpenter1's picture

Flies are beginning to drop from exhaustion at playing the Keynesian game. Insiders like Flaherty know the true depth of the problem, so it finally got to where he cannot deny reality any longer and wants out before it hits the fan.
He knows this corpse can't be resurrected, burial or cremation, only two options left.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:18 | 4565793 Sages wife
Sages wife's picture

 War, conquest, famine, and death.  The Four Horsemen are coming.  Good doc if you haven't seen it.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:23 | 4565176 BobRocket
BobRocket's picture

Jim Flaherty, ambulance chasing lawyer, corrupt politician, consumate wanker.

Here Jim, before you die, how about paying some tax ?

You entered public service because the selfish rewards were greater, you weren't even outstanding at that though were you.

No doubt the MSM will be all concerned over you, "How's your health, sir ?", tossers.

 

This man (in the broadest sense, he was probably a closet catholic and doggie fiddler) is typical of what is wrong with the whole of the 'civilised' world, self appointed, self opinionated wankers gain power (but not authority) over the rest of us and we are supposed to be grateful that all his self sacrifice has endangered his life, if he was that altruistic he could have offed himself at 21 (thereby earning a well deserved darwin) and saved the rest of us a load of pension entitlement. Bastard.

 

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:56 | 4565300 Element
Element's picture

That was epic dude ... truthy ... he was indispensable ... and then he was gone.

Anyone got a hanky?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:44 | 4565249 Loose Caboose
Loose Caboose's picture

I do recall - I can't be arsed to look it up now - a few months ago, Jimbo declared that interest rates in Canada would rise soon, regardless of whatever the Fed decides to do.  At the time I read that I thought, "oh, oh,  Jim's gone off his leash - he'll be history soon."  Won't miss the thin-lipped, puffed up, little creep one bit.  

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 17:57 | 4565304 QQQBall
QQQBall's picture

Anyone remember the promise on the tax treament of Canadian Trusts? 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:03 | 4565315 nowhereman
nowhereman's picture

God speed Jim. Americans don't relize how messed up this country was under decades of Liberal socialism.  While the Conservatives in Canada are left of U.S. conservatives they are still economically responsible.  Flaherty was the Finance Minister that saved Canada from a fate worse than Obama's neo libs. 

He tried, through policy changes, to reign in the housing bubble.  I believe he did as much as he could.  The CMHC was put in place by a previous liberal government, problem is, when the SHTF the current government wears the smell.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:37 | 4565454 ronron
ronron's picture

he served in the last liberal gov finance. switched teams after the harper win. look it up.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:55 | 4565520 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

No ronron, you be rong!  weally weally rong. look it up. Duh?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:18 | 4565528 ronron
ronron's picture

i won,t junk you cause your retarded.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:42 | 4565659 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Man up and admit you were rong, or is that asking to much?

And why the fuck would I care is you "junk" me?  Is this High School or fucking what!

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:47 | 4565488 actionjacksonbrownie
actionjacksonbrownie's picture

Lol... have you checked how much the Canadian debt has RISEN under the Harpo/Flaherty regime???

 

F35s anyone???

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:48 | 4565688 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

What's your point genius? Do I have to explain the economic history of the last ten years?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:07 | 4565752 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

You are a fucking troll.  I doubt you know what happened yesterday but you will happily spout what your masters pay you to spout.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:46 | 4565903 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Besides that, do have anything intelligent or meaningful to say?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:55 | 4565721 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

And Yes. Jim Flaherty did a excellent job being Finance Minister during these last several tumultuous years. And all of these rotten nattering know-it-all nags don't know their rectum from reality.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 21:56 | 4566159 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

If Mr.Flaherty did such a bang up job, how come the queen is still defacing the loonie?

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:03 | 4565322 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Balanced budget!!!

When it comes to governments and banks, the term is meaningless.

I think it just means the document containing the figures is so thick it can be balanced on its edge, and being so thick, and the sources of the figures are so well hidden, no one can check it anyway.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 21:03 | 4565775 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

Naw that's just another idiotic generalisation based on the woefully ignorant dogma that permeates this site. Better put your seat back in it's full and upright position Dotty, you're leaving Kansas:

http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2010/may/27/debt-deficit-oecd-c...

Note those deep in the black. Having trouble? Head exploded? I'm not surprised.

Have  a primer on how to balance books:

http://www.finfacts.ie/artman/uploads/3/Norway-sovereign-fund-Oct202010.jpg

One more eg. to wave in your nonplussed puss, and it's from Canada: T.Douglas' CCF ran seventeen  (that's 17) balanced budgets, one for every year they were in office; and introduced 'universal' healthcare while they were at it.

And all records easily verified (checked) !!! Who knew?!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLyxmD_UAK4

Are you learning yet?

Echochambermaiden Alert!

Echochambermaiden Alert!

'Conservative' myth clean up on aisle 'Canuckistan'!

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 22:49 | 4566320 pitz
pitz's picture

Tommy the Commie hid the debt in the so-called "Crown" corporations that the government owned (basically nationalized industries).  And the commie government in Saskatchewan also confiscated the private property of many.  Thankfully the new regime is apparently a little better than that.  Its taken many years to even begin to undo the damage Tommy Douglas caused that province. 

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 00:25 | 4566452 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

No putz, it was the federal 'liberals' and 'conservatives'  who raped Sask, because they hated the province for electing Douglas and the CCF, actual fiscal conservatives, time and time again; darn uppity prairie dogs set back their nationwide Neoliberal debt peonage agenda decades.

Yeah, but to that end your hero Brad 'Bilderberger' Wall is their current answer; which shows you don't even know the questions. Sask will soon be able to look to Alberta, whose royalty rates make them the laughingstock of every oil producing state, for answers about what happened to their balance sheet.

Oh nowes, save us from the 'scourge' of crown corps.lol

Eg. cel time just went up across the board in Canuckistan, where the 'invisible hand of the market bears' (colludes) some of the highest prices on the planet, and has for some time. All except for a couple of places that is, I'll let you guess where.... something to do with competition from Sask Tel, which in turn stuffs the public's coffers.

I bet they're not complaining about that particular Crown corp in REgina today.

RE:"And the commie government in Saskatchewan also confiscated the private property of many. " Riigght, you wish; or like many here,  perhaps you labour under the misapprehension that a living wage represents 'stealing' private property?

“The newspapers said we were going to socialize everything, that the government would own the farms, the corner store, the barber-shop, and the beauty parlor, and that everybody would be working for the state. When that didn't happen, they had to give some explanation. So the explanation was that we had betrayed our principles, we were no longer Socialists and we were now reactionaries, having departed from our original ideals. In effect, we were now traitors, because we didn't do the horrible things they promised we would. They had built up a straw man and now they were knocking it down.” TDouglas

thanks to you putz, that still rings true today.

 

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 00:31 | 4566517 pitz
pitz's picture

Really?  Why is downtown Calgary here all nice with nice office towers and high paid jobs, while Regina is, and remains, a complete shithole?  Did you know that Saskatchewan and Alberta at one time had the same population, 1 million?  Now we're what, 3-4X ahead of Saskatchewan?  Certainly Tommy the Commie and the failed policies of socialism had a lot to do with that.  Capital really doesn't like it when government has a policy of running the private sector out of business. 

The previous commie government even went so far as to sue an oil company here (the famous one now owned by the Chinese) for building its own electricity lines on its own property in Saskatchewan, instead of getting the government's contractor to do it.  State sponsored theft of private property is the best way to describe it, under the guise of a 'legal' system.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 00:46 | 4566547 Spungo
Spungo's picture

pitz nailed it. My dad and his 6 siblings were born and raised in Saskatchewan. Only 1 of them stayed there. 1 moved to Manitoba and the other 5 moved to Alberta. I once had a job interview in lloydminster, which is on the border between Alberta and Saskatchewan, and it was the weirdest town ever. The Saskatchewan side was the older side with lower cost housing and cheaper car insurance. The Alberta side was the newer side. Basically all of the construction in the city was on the Alberta side. I don't know what Saskatchewan's regulations are, but they don't seem to be attracting investment.

Wed, 03/19/2014 - 02:37 | 4566595 GoinFawr
GoinFawr's picture

Life is a bowl of cherries; I always end up with the pitz.

How, exactly, is 17 surplus budgets while introducing Canada's beloved (and it is beloved regardless of being imperfect) Health Care System in the face of fierce opposition from determined oligarchs a monumental fail?

Sask has lots the world needs, and a fair chunk of what they are sitting on isn't getting any less scarce. 'Capital' goes wherever it can make a buck, and back in the days of the CCF Sask simply made sure they got theirs in order to pay the bills. And that was then, when everything was cheap, plentiful, and demand was much lower. Ironically, these days the ever increasing scarcity of resources puts them in an even better bargaining position. But don't fret: your hero the Bilderberg alumni, like all those in Canada who have gone before him, has fully embraced soakanomics and will make sure any costs that can be externalized, will be. IE it won't be getting any prettier. And TPP should finally make Canada's health act wholly unaffordable. So you have that to look forward to as well.

Which means maybe Regina too can get what is in your esteemed opinion 'beautiful buildings', all owned by a couple of international tycoons and their foreign debt holders.

As long as we're keeping this exchange focussed on arbitrary value judgements:

Yeah, Cowtown is 'gorgeous', lol. Especially this time of year, eh?  Alberta: where the faster Bob and Doug extract the tar from the sands the deeper they go into debt. Brent is over 100 fiatscos/bbl and the neo 'conservative' gov't still can't balance a budget because the royalty regime is such a joke. And Western Canadian Select is sold for  20-50 dollars less than freaking WTI on the barrel, lol. Hell, once you get that pipeline deal with the US done you can sell it even cheaper and drive yourself further into the clutches of foreign debt holders! Woohoo!

 Why it's a goddamned paradise compared to, uh Fort Ma... er, Regina.

 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 18:30 | 4565418 robertocarlos
robertocarlos's picture

Canadian Tire money is the new dollar.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:20 | 4565606 Rising Sun
Rising Sun's picture

Well you can keep that french shit, just keep sending us that delicious maple syrup.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:47 | 4565686 logicalman
logicalman's picture

How can a government that borrows its money from a private bank WITH INTEREST ever balance its budget?

http://www.comer.org/

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 19:57 | 4565725 Spungo
Spungo's picture

We'll miss Mr Flaherty. He introduced the wildly popular Tax Free Savings Account, similar to an American Roth IRA. He was also responsible for tightening the lending standards on mortgages so prices would come down without needing to raise interest rates.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:05 | 4565747 logicalman
logicalman's picture

Tax free savings account with an interest rate below the level of inflation.

Whoop dee fucking doo!

Inflation is just a back door tax anyway, so 'tax free' is hardly true.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:09 | 4565759 Terminus C
Terminus C's picture

Some people still think nominal gains are actual gains.  Most people don't get the concept of inflation at all and think it is good that it goes up 2% every year.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:50 | 4565914 Blame Crash
Blame Crash's picture

Some posters put on a good show of being intelligent but....(see post below)

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 20:11 | 4565768 Spungo
Spungo's picture

"Tax free savings account with an interest rate below the level of inflation."

lol, silly American hating on something he doesn't understand. My TFSA is 100% stocks and I'm up 34% YTD.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 21:45 | 4566115 Herdee
Herdee's picture

Second Cabinet Minister in about a month to abandon ship.Prime Minister Harper is still keeping it a secret as to how much money was spent in Afgan-Land.It's in the Nation's national security interest you know.It wouldn't be the taxpayers when you look at the overall deficit which can't be paid back.The very sick part of all this is the fact that Harper is going to meet with the neo-nazi supported big shot in the Ukraine shortly and sink billions into that old Soviet relic.The first one to leave the Cabinet was Vic Toews who joined the Manitoba Bar.He got caught impregnating an 18 year old girl while in his ripe old age.His kids said he's a control freak and a pervert.His wife left him.Just the type that Harper kept on as Justice Minister for years.He did nothing to investigate the ongoing murders of missing native Indian women across Canada that now number in the hundreds.Flaherty who previously was Ontario's Finance Minister ruled over a deficit ridden Province which is in the hole to the tune of hundreds of billions.The Province had spent hundreds of billions on Candu nuclear reactors and let the maintenance deteriorate on them.Flaherty also is the type that allowed big pensions for all his buddies in an Ontario Crown Corporation which is The Ontario Liquor Control Board.You can work there stocking shelves and get a big government pension as well.(sounds like Greece doesn't it?)As far as I'm concerned,these so-called Conservatives have run the Party into the ground and these Conservative Cabinet Ministers and their Prime Minister are a bunch of right wing nutcases.Harper,Toews and Flaherty can suck my dick.

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 22:02 | 4566177 Rakshas
Rakshas's picture

.....you should have more respect for your dick....... wouldn't want to have to use the universal healthcare facilities or nothin' 

Tue, 03/18/2014 - 22:21 | 4566236 steelrules
steelrules's picture

There's a big gun grab going on up here right now and gun owners are pissed, the conservatives have always had the 3 million gun owners backs to some extent, but now it looks like the RCMP call the shots and care little what the government says, also Harper won't stand up and repeal C-68 gun laws as promised. Without 3 million votes the writing is on the wall for Harper and crew, so yeah I'd jump ship too.

Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!