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This Is Canada's Depression: Surging Crime, Soaring Suicides, Overwhelmed Food Banks "And The Worst Is Yet To Come"
Back in March, we brought you “Drugs, Prostitution, Violence Plague Oil Boom Towns Gone Bust,” in which we detailed the plight of towns like Sidney and Bainville, Montana, where the slump in oil revenue has made it all but impossible for local authorities to cope with surging crime rates that some attribute to the influx of oil workers the communities experienced in the good old days of high crude prices.
The problem, apparently, was that despite the dramatic slump in oil, companies hadn’t yet begun to cut jobs or slash capex and so, officials were left with less money to put towards policing their growing populations.
As dangerous as it may be for small towns to experience exponential growth in what The Washington Post described as “highly paid oil workers living in sprawling ‘man camps’ with limited spending opportunities,” what’s even more dangerous is the prospect that suddenly, the majority of those workers will be jobless. That is, if there’s anything that’s more conducive to raising the crime rate than legions of highly paid young men living in small towns with “limited spending opportunities,” it’s legions of formerly highly paid young men stuck in small towns with limited job opportunities.
With that in mind, America can look north to Calgary for a preview of what’s in store for America’s oil boom towns.
Although Alberta’s largest city bares little resemblance to Sidney and Bainville, the three do have one thing in common: oil. "Calgary boasted one of the lowest jobless rates in Canada as crude prices rose over $100 a barrel [but] it’s now reeling after a global glut pushed prices down by two-thirds,” Bloomberg notes.
For our part, we’ve spent quite a bit of time documenting the city’s trials and travails:
- "Canada Crude Contagion: Calgary Home Prices Drop Most In 2 Years"
- "Canada's Biggest Oil Casualty To Date: Calgary's Nexen Shutters Oil Trading Desk"
- "The Canadian Housing Bubble Has Begun To Burst"
- "Canada's Oil Patch Confidence Crashes"
- "Canada Mauled by Oil Bust, Job Losses Pile Up – Housing Bubble, Banks at Risk"
- "The Stage Is Set For A Massive Housing Market Correction in Canada's Oilpatch"
As we noted earlier this year, resource revenue makes up nearly a third of Alberta's annual revenue:
"Alberta’s real GDP is expected to expand in 2015, but at a much slower pace of 0.6%. This is down from the Second Quarter forecast of 2.8%," provincial authorities wrote in March, in their quarterly fiscal update. That underscores just how significant the swift decline in crude prices is for the province. Since then, the government's projection for 2015 GDP has fallen by a full percentage point, as the economy is now expected to contract by 0.6%. Here's more from the latest fiscal update:
The sharp decline in oil prices has substantially reduced capital spending in the energy sector. Oil and gas investment is expected to fall over 30% in 2015, with weakness carrying into 2016. Conventional investment has been hit especially hard. Rig activity has declined almost 50% through the first seven months of 2015.
Lower oil prices are weighing on production and exports. Although exports remain an important driver in Alberta’s economy, the forecast for oil production has been revised lower since March. This mainly reflects unplanned disruptions in oil sands production and the significant slowdown in conventional drilling. In addition, weakness in the oil and gas sector has spread to other sectors of the economy. Alberta machinery manufacturing has fallen 20% since January. This can be mainly traced to declining industrial machinery and equipment manufacturing, which primarily serves the oil industry.
Needless to say, this has had a dramatic impact on jobs. As we reported on Tuesday, Canada is expected to lose some 100,000 oil and gas sector jobs by the end of the year. Jobs like those Jillian Berling-MacKenzie, 25, and her boyfriend used to have. Here's Bloomberg:
Jillian was one of the lucky few of her graduating geology class to secure full-time work this year, at oil company ConocoPhillips. She bought a house with her boyfriend, also a newly graduated geologist with a job, before they both became victims of the cuts. A friend’s company has provided some contract work paying slightly more than employment insurance as Berling-MacKenzie tries to land positions just about anywhere, seeing no postings she qualifies for in her field.
And then there's Keely Eng, 27, who was fired from an engineering position in March at Nexen and is now so worried about her future in the field that she simply threw in the towel and decided to go to medical school:
The dearth of opportunities has Keely Eng, 27, seeking a career change. Eng was let go from an engineering position in March at Nexen, the Cnooc Ltd. subsidiary. Dreading an extended job hunt, Eng took medical school exams and has applied to several programs.
And don't forget about Kevin Mulligan, 61, who was let go by Stampede and now works with his wife making Christmas decorations:
Kevin Mulligan, 61, was among Stampede workers who “got the Tuesday boot,” he said. The former park maintenance manager, six years from retirement, is helping his wife with a Christmas wreath-making side business to supplement severance payments while job-hunting.
“My new job is finding a job,” Mulligan said.
As The Financial Post notes, Alberta's troubles go beyond falling crude prices. "Apart from the protracted price declines, Alberta’s oil and gas sector has also had to contend with a 20 per cent hike in corporate taxes, a carbon tax and new regulatory policies to limit rein in carbon emissions," the Post writes, adding that "a new provincial royalty regime is to be announced in January, leaving Alberta oil and gas producers under a cloud of uncertainty [while] the new federal government also plans to unveil new policies, including a review of the regulatory process, which the sector sees as more burden in an already difficult environment for the industry."
As we pointed out three weeks ago, the real casualties in Canada are no longer metaphorical economic objects, but the very people who until recently enjoyed comfortable lives only to succumb to an unprecedented collapse in the local economy. According to the chief medical examiner's office, 30% more Albertans took their lives in the first half of this year compared to the same period last year. Here are the numbers:
- From January to June 2014, there were 252 suicides in Alberta.
- During the same period this year, there were 327.
- If the trend continues, Alberta could be on track for 654 suicides this year.
- In an average year, there are 500, according to the Centre for Suicide Prevention.
Well, in the latest abysmal news out of Alberta, Bloomberg reports that food bank use and crime are now soaring amid the protracted slide in crude. "Calgary’s unemployment rate rose to 6.9 percent in November from 4.6 percent a year earlier, Statistics Canada data show, as 21,100 more were put out of work," Bloomberg writes. "Home sales have fallen 21 percent this year as the average price skidded 2.6 percent, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board." Here's more:
Crime is rising, home prices are falling and food banks are overwhelmed in Calgary as job losses spread. And the worst isn’t yet over in the heart of Canada’s oil patch.
Some of the city’s largest employers are poised to cut more jobs in 2016 as they reduce spending for a second straight year, adding to an estimated 40,000 oil and natural gas positions lost across the nation since the crude price rout began 18 months ago.
“We all know someone who has lost a job,” Naheed Nenshi, the city’s mayor, said in a speech this month, lamenting the “funeral"-like atmosphere in the business community.
Brown Bagging for Calgary’s Kids is providing 16 percent more school lunches than in September -- about 2,900 across 187 schools. The rise is unprecedented, said Tanya Koshowski, the group’s executive director. Food bank use jumped 23 percent in Alberta in the year ended March 2015, the country’s biggest increase, according to Food Banks Canada.
Police are pointing to economic decline and rising drug use to explain Calgary’s crime surge. In the first 10 months of 2015, commercial break-ins almost doubled from a year earlier, bank robberies were up 65 percent and home invasions increased 52 percent, Calgary Police Service data show.
Here are the graphs from CPS:


And here are the visuals from Food Banks Canada:

While it's not possible to definitively identify the proximate cause, it seems clear that the same mindset which is driving the suicide rate higher is also compelling Albertans to commit crimes. As Nancy Bergeron, who has answered distress centre phone lines for a few years, puts it, "people are just at wit's end."
Why? Because, as we put it previously, "simply because the price of a commodity has dropped to a third of what it was just over a year ago, and the shocking impact has been a paralysis of every aspect of financial, economic and social life, first in Alberta, and soon everywhere else across Canada, as the local recession (on its way to a depression) spreads across the country and eventually crosses the U.S. border."
One person who isn't concerned is Greg Cosma, a 58-year-old engineer was let go from Cenovus in October and now builds houses for Habitat For Humanity as a volunteer.
His message to new graduates hoping to find gainful employment in Canada's oil patch: “If you’re good at something, you have a future. Don’t sweat it.”
* * *
Full Calgary Police Service report
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How does one feel sorrow for a welder that was likely pulling in over $200K a year and is now unemployed? Should we also feel sorrow for the formerly overpaid $125K truck drivers or the $110K camp cooks? They lived and worked in a bubble that has now burst: ant, meet grasshopper.
That specific area of Ajax is a shit-hole and the demographics are "dark", ripe with a train of "Dindu's".
Also, it's not the first time this type of violent crime has happened in the exact same area.
Don't just lock the doors -- pack your protection. Fuck the idiots who can't see this and hope the PO-Lice will save them -- DRPS are mostly fucking meter maids or ticket cutters.
Luckily the Canadians can posess hand guns if they have a permit....
The hand guns must, however, be locked in a gun locker/vault with a trigger lock locked in place also.
The ammunition, must be locked in another/seperate container/vault/locker.
This scenario would prompt a real life Survior challenge.
On the bright side, there aren't many kids shooting themselves or their friends while playing with Dads "piece".
We need a fact check on this. I mean Michael Moore said that there is no gun violence in Canada so this story can't be right......
Black criminals in hoodies. Is it still legal to say such a thing?
"Yip also tweeted that the attacker, a black man, yelled "F--k white people" before allegedly attacking the victim, who is white. He said the alleged attacker's machete was "probably the length of my arm. It was pretty big, a substantial weapon.""
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/machete-attack-near-eaton-centre-1...
Still, Canadian media may be worse than American as it tries hard to present itself as objective and human. It's a much more 'sophisticated' method of propaganda compared to the American doublespeak.
police said the homeowner was assaulted and their hands were tied
Strewth! how many homeowner's were there?
Hi Ya H H . Coming from Detroit this is a great added Time buying factor ..time Is always a great friend in those pesky home invasion customers looking a hot lead buffet This can be installed very easy and a great addition .. Depending how many windows you have. https://youtu.be/96x2tO9Xuxw
A nigger by any other name is still a nigger. No matter where they go, no matter where they live . . .
For some reason the movie Canadian Bacon sounds like a good movie for tonight...
RIPS
John Candy RIP! Another great Canadian.
Maybe the best Canadian. Mike Myers is another good one though yah might think he is Scottish.
http://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/scottish-soccer-hooligans/2...
http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1126145049/
Canucks 'never' sneak into America. Believe me, we are not blind nor that stupid. I'm not sure how dumb you think Canadians are. We're a hell of a lot more informed that you seem to think.
I get it. For example , I know why Canadians always say 'EH".
'EH' is short for Asshole.
Welcome to Canada, Eh?
We are happy to see you, Eh?
We love America, Eh?
Yes, when speaking with Americans with your attitude that is exactly what "EH" means.
He has a personal vendetta out for Canadians, he hates us more than the Kardashians. You cannot get through to him. He has such a low self-esteem he has to post porno in his avatar to make himself fee like a man.
Not exactly. You would be surprised what $20 and a few beers will get you. If I want, I can live 'Porno' every day.
http://www.self-shot.biz/category/by-country/nicaragua/page/2/
Warning: explicit content.
As for my attitude, praphrasing George Carlin: when you are born into this world, you get a ticket to the Freak Show. When you are born in America, you get a front row seat. I am watching the show from down south, with my local hottie.
Yeah, there are a few like him. There are some who, the second they detect a comment comes from anybody who is not an American, it's an automatic thumbs down. They don't even read the comment. It could be "god bless America", but if it comes from a not-American, thumbs down. Who frikken cares? lol
I'm sure it's not about American patriotism. He's already informed you that he's escaped and watching the freak show from way, way, south of many borders where the fringe benefits include $20 pussy. Ex-GI. So while it's not that, he no doubt disliked Canadians during his early years until enlisting.
It's in our blood. I already explained it above. You're too different for us to love. Shucks, we don't even love others in neighboring states or opposite coasts, NSE or W.
It is what it is. Don't take it personal. You should be asking yourself why care anyway.
Nice comment. I hear ya. Part of the issue is that Canadian and American cultures really are very different. I don't understand the thinking of Americans a lot of the time, and I'm sure the opposite is true as well. The main difference is that Americans seem to think that if somebody thinks differently, they are automatically an enemy. To Canadians that makes no sense whatsoever. Just because people from a different country don't share "exactly the same" views as we do (a Swede for example), that does not make them our enemy, nor does it even make them "bad". They could still absolutely be our friends. That's the main difference in my humble opinion.
I beg to differ. Canadians are increasingly becoming just like Americans. I have been visiting Canada since the early 70's and I can tell firsthand that American media and culture have come to dominate Canadian MSM since those days, when they didnt have any American influence at all (via newspapers, radio, internet and especially cable TV).
Canada used to be anti war, and have a non interventionist foreign policy. Not so anymore. They are completely on board with the War and Terror and other US brainwashed ideas about the world. Those thinking Trudeau will change all those policies are delusional.
With all due respect, I don't understand how you could confuse what I said with the opinion you just posted. You are 100% correct. The MSM in Canada is indeed becoming almost as bad as that in the USA. And you are absolutely correct, back in the 70's the media was far less dominating in Canada than they are today. Canada did indeed use to be ani war... AND WE STILL ARE. We "still" prefer a non-interventionist policy, but the media has become very powerful and a lot of Canadians are slowly swaying to that darker side.
Having said all that... that has nothing to do with what I said in my post that you replied to. If you re-read what I said, you will hopefully see that you are talking about an entirely different topic than I was.
Sad but true. I am not sure why this hate the Canandians or dislike this bunch or the other.
Face it - people are pretty much a like and are usually decent.
The exceptions are Somalis, Turks, money changers and a few others.
The problem is all govts/politicians are evil shits who try to divide people. See the endless wars in Europe.
The problem for America and Canada, like other countries, is the central bank zios run the show.
I like Canadians - in fact in Europe, I was often asked if I was a Canadian. It was probably because I was not rude, demanding, nasty, ditry, sloppy, boorish, ignorant, impolite or a loud blowhard.
I dont hate anyone, especially Canadians. My Dad has lived in BC since 1964 (94, and he is still American).
I am not taking any sides either...just talking about my observations of 35 to 40 years of my life watching this.
Swede indeed! Ha ha ha. Yeah, all those Americans of Swedish decent in Minnesota have been such a problem--always stealing, raping, murdering. Oblivious you are by the example you chose.
uh alberta sir; NO ONE cares. your self absorbed arrogance is astounding. we don't spend time wondering how smart/dumb you are. but thank you for illustrating the dumb part
That could be the "funniest comment of the day". An American calling somebody else "arrogant". Thanks for the chuckle. :-)
"self absorbed arrogance" at that! That's worth more than a chuckle! How about rotmmf?
What's this "we" shit??
Alberta Rocks: We share a problem with our neighbours to the south. Ignorant rapists and fuckheads trying to sneak across our southern border. Let's be kind to them and simply let them destroy themselves with their belief they are so good. Americans are cowards for the most part.
Yep, Americans only have a problem with one border, but a few of them seem to think there is seepage from the Canadian border. There isn't... at least not southbound. I have the same concern you do... seepage toward the north.
Isn't there a hockey game you could be attending right now?
Your (massive )seepage takes place across the border between Canada and Florida, you ignorant canuckle-head.
I'm not sure how dumb you think Canadians are
when I see the entire country stand behind this guy i'll revise my opinion of dumb fucking canucks.
http://www.comer.org/
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/rocco-galati-challenges-bank-of-canada-t...
until then you're just serfs and part of the 5 eyes + 1 cartel.
fudge +100
Freakin' snowbacks!!!
Personally, I like Canada and Canadians. I find it hard to rag on them when they're pretty much going through the same shit we are/did.
I actually prefer Canadians to Americans.
But what the Hell. What choice do either one of them really have?
* I find it hard to rag on them when they're pretty much going through the same shit we are/did. *
This is what drives me nuts about my countrymen. They saw the shit y'all went through. What did they learn from it? Nothin'. Why did they learn nothin' from it?
"Because it's different here."
It's like they think freezing your backside off 5 months of the year makes you immune to paying too much for a house, immune to needing an emergency fund, and immune to voting in a pack of idiots into power.
Like you Yanks, the choices Canadians are presented are also illusory.
Like you Yanks, the choices Canadians are presented with are also illusory.
They already mooch off our social security. I don't know the details how it works, but I have a retail shop close to an ssa office in a border town and I get a steady stream of Canadians coming in looking for directions to the ssa office.
Canadians can't collect US social security -- more likely they're retired Americans living in Canada but still want their US benefits too. So they set up a PO box in a border town and have the mail delivered there. That's one reason why Bellingham, WA has 10X as many PO boxes as a city that size really needs.
Are you sure?
NAFTA https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/canada.html
"Under the agreement, if you work as an employee in the United States, you normally will be covered by the United States, and you and your employer will pay Social Security taxes only to the United States. If you work as an employee in Canada, you normally will be covered by Canada, and you and your employer will pay Social Security taxes (contributions) only to Canada."
You are right.
Payment of benefitsEach country pays its own benefits. U.S. payments are made by the U.S. Department of Treasury each month and cover benefits for the preceding month. Benefits under Canada’s OAS and CPP systems and Quebec’s QPP system are paid near the end of each month and represent payment for that month.
Absence from U.S. territoryNormally, people who are not U.S. citizens may receive U.S. Social Security benefits while outside the U.S. only if they meet certain requirements. Under the agreement, however, you may receive benefits as long as you reside in Canada, regardless of your nationality. If you are not a U.S. or Canadian citizen and live in another country, you may not be able to receive benefits. The restrictions on U.S. benefits are explained in the publication, Your Payments While You Are Outside The United States (Publication No. 05-10137)."
https://www.ssa.gov/international/Agreement_Pamphlets/canada.html#monthly
Its seems like someone killed both cows
~"Oh Great, now that Canada is melting down, are we to expect millions of Canucks sneaking into America to mooch off our welfare systems?"~
No, but they do seem intent on importing 200 thousand "Syrian refugees" thanks to having elected another closet Marxist. How long into a Canadian winter do you expect a person who grew up in the "Muddle East" to stay where it's -50 below, especially if a) they have no jobs and b)the welfare is much better "south of the border"?
Allahu akbar, baby.
We could only be stupider if we were bigger. Like, ten times bigger; and an empire.
@deathrips
Canadians aren't any more retarded than other people. They have been almost as brainwashed as the lower 48+. They also, like the lower 48, have been educated without any historical relevancy to the present. These are human flaws which are taken advantage of by the top criminals that are always studying human triggers and what works for the few puppet masters.
I have no problem with your reference to money-changers. I only have problems with people who tar entire populations with the same brush when only a small percentage deserve the tarring.
AS with America, Canada has applauded their chaining..embraced servitude.
The difference is that in America...I tell someone whats going on and they say im crazy. In canada, i tell someone whats going on and they set out to proove how their shepard loves them.
I can understand that many are retarded..whats the global IQ average (if IQ even is a good metric) like 85?
The difference is where im from retards seldom go to great lengths to proove it citing "reliable sources". They can just convey it with a short message.
I wont junk you...
Yes these are human and animal flaws..they forget when they are being domesticated that the hand feeding them doesnt love them.
RIPS
Speaking of illiterate retards... "retardeness <sic> + obsurd <sic>?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Let me guess you're a librarian?
RIPS
You Americans just don't get it, eh. We've got government healthcare and it's all free.
Yeah, free. You don't pay for it with taxes. And, you don't stumble around blind from cataracts for months waiting for your "healthcare system" to finally authorize lens replacement surgery. Do I exaggerate? No, I do not.
I know! I used to live in Michigan and I watched the CBC broadcasts from Windsor. Man oh man where they smoking some weird crap! When the first "free trade" agreement was set up, Valerie Pringle of Midday was screaming that all the Canadian jobs would go to America. It was too funny to watch.
It's hard not to laugh out loud when I hear an American calling other countries smug and retarded.
But don't worry, everyone else just hates you for your freedom.
Deathrips... As a Canadian I will say one thing; I would never say that all Americans are a bunch of stupid inbred sister fucking retards... Instead I prefer to say something along the lines of America has a lot of great minds, they are a nation that has produced many industries, invented new technologies, great artists, musicians and story tellers, but they also have 330+ million people so yeah, a lot of them are ignorant as fuck.
For example... the flat earth movement consists mostly of uneducated bible thumping sister fucking Americans. That said, in Canada we also have a lot of bible thumping fucktards and as like another comment posted... many Canadians still worship the Queen (Which I will never understand)
As for your failure to meet a Canadian who doesn't understand the fiat scam? Congratulations... you've met one and like yourself, I have a hard time educating my fellow friends on the fiat money system... or even the concept of Gold bullion over jewelry... I have had people say to me that they have $14,000 dollars worth of gold on their finger and then I get to insult them and say "No, you have about $300 of gold, $1000 diamond and the rest is an illusion of wealth that you paid some jewelry store".
And I am sure that in your discussions you have met several Americans, not just Canadians that don't understand the fiat monetary system.
I am actually an unemployed Albertan, a residential Electrician who has had the privilege of working on many insane houses that are owned by those oil C.E.O. types... and that is the funny thing, as our food bank usage has massively increased? I am betting that it is a lot of those "oil families" who have been living high on the hog so to speak... like the Bloomberg article points out two 20 something graduate geologists both unemployed yet they recently bought a house... 20 year olds with a $400,000 mortgage or maybe even higher. In my city of Calgary? You can buy an empty lot of land for a million... I personally missed the boat, I'm 43 and still don't own a house but I've looked at my city and for the last ten years I have said that you need two incomes to buy a house... I accept the fact that I will probably die homeless, I screwed up and was having too much fun in my youth when I was making the good easy money... I also own 11 ounces of Gold and around 500 oz of Silver... not a lot by any means, but as I sit unemployed, collecting my socialist "Employment Insurance" checks from the government which pays the rent $1325 and the bills $300 and leaves me with about $200 a month to live off of... I can say that at least I have not had to use the food banks.
I'll leave the food banks for the people who are using them, people that live beyond their budget, have had too many kids, I've seen Mercedes and BMWs in the parking lots of the food banks... a lot of these people are the retards that you speak of, people that have had no foresight to save and not get into debt on a huge house and nice cars.
An electrician? Maybe you should constrain yourself to blogging trades sites--the non-financial sort. You love to throw around "retard" in a I-am-not name-calling, name-calling way. So be it. No one will ever accuse you--Mr. Electrician--of being a rocket scientist. And you need to get a job, pal.
I'm sure all those 'wealthy' Calgary homeowners can just sell their homes and reap the huge rewards. lmao. I'm not sure what everyone selling at once does to prices, but one of those Canadian banks has a motto: "You're richer than you think".
Bankers crack me up. Wonder how many Canadians actually believe that line?
Bankers crack me up. Wonder how many Canadians people including Muricans actually believe that line?
Posted it yesterday, but here it is again.
How the Calgary Real Estate Board is hiding the market horrors thusfar
http://www.greaterfool.ca/2015/12/21/nabbed/
What you need to look at is some numbers that speak the difference.
In fact, Canadians use credit cards more that any other country by a long margin.
However, 55% of credit card holders in Canada pay off the balance each month.
Many people are like myself - I use the card for everything to pay bills, buy groceries, fuel, booze, etc.
Then I pay the card off every 2 weeks - no interest - just reward points. Then, travel to sunny spots in the winter is paid.
According to Stats Can there are about 15m households in Canada, 67% are homeowners. Of that, 45% do not have a mortgage, they own their home.
Now figure this out that all of the homeowner mortgage debt in Canada is being consumed by roughly 6 million households. In terms of working people, it is probably around 10 million, where both mortgagees work.
If 55% of Canadians are paying off their credit cards every month, then why is the average Canadian household debt at 160%, far higher than 110% in the US and among the highest of all developed countries?
We had a visitor from Alberta last year that worked in a RV/ATV/Skidoo/Seadoo shop. I asked if sales were down because of the oil price collapse and the response was no -- they're still buying but now they're financing instead of paying cash. She was planning to come back for a visit this Christmas and even considered retiring here, but we haven't heard a word since.
Meanwhile Here in Obamaland We're in the Midst of the BEST RECOVERY EVER!!!!!
LOLOLOLOL!!! thank you president obama!
It sure doens't feel like a depression. Too many people with their heads in the sand. And lets be honest, now, the way money is all "Confidence" based, if no one is paying attention to the "fundamentals" and everyone pretends things are great, a depression won't "happen".
For example, here in BC, housing is on fire. multiple offers with NO subjects and selling for 40 to 50K over asking within a week of listing is normal right now. I think it screams the top, but the sheeple simply believe its a great market LMAO.
I think you're an unfortunate victim of propoganda concerning the RE market.
Propaganda? I just watched it happen with my house LOL.
Has your sale finalized yet? Local realtors are speaking hush-hush of many recent deals that are failing because the buyers can't get the financing, or their illicit money out of China anymore.
All propaganda is local. There are always regions that disprove the rule. That's why they call them exceptions to the rule. Don't assume you are all wise and of superior intellect. When you assume you make an ass of u and me.
Lots of Chinese money still sloshing around ...
(wait till the spring)
Feels like the early-mid 1980s all over again.
Not really any worse than its been for many years.
@Yes We Can But...:
It's not a depression yet but it will be. To give you an idea of how fast this all happened, consider this fact:
I sold my house in the Canadian oilpatch July 1st for full market value. It was shown 2 to 3 times per week for 6 months, it would have sole sooner if I would have knocked $20k off the price...I eventually knocked $5k off my price and sold it. I was up $94k. NOBODY was talking about this kind of oilpatch weakness. Nobody.
However, I saw it coming and was worried I should have sold it the year before. I hung in there (Fort St. John, BC, just west over the Alberta border) to see the outcome of two major projects...
#1) Dual "big inch" pipeline to the west coast to deliver Nat. Gas to a yet to be constructed LNG plant in Prince Rupert, BC.
#2) The "Site C Dam Project" being contructed just 3 kilometres from my house, I still owned my house at the time.
The Dam Project went mainly to contractors friendly with the Provincial governent from down south so no major local hiring although certain services would have been local hire.
But that Nat. Gas/LNG pipeline...our Provincial Premier (like a State Governor) decieded to re negotiate royalties with the oil company backing the project, Petronas, prior to building the pipeline! She withheld permits for construction until she could make Petronas give her her price. Petronas finally aquieced and she got her price.
With that price came three magic beans. Because a few months later when she announced she was approving the LNG Plant for construction, Petronas said "Thank you" and put the permit in their pocket. "We're not going to build this right at this moment, maybe later."
Petronas saw the Nat. Gas market sliding along with China's relations to the USA. Since China was to be the major consumer of this LNG, China didn't want the risk of their LNG tankers being sunk in the Pacific (US Navy "asia pivot") as well, China's growth was slowing. BC's Premier had squandered an opportunity to get a project under way, possibly committing Petronas to complete it even if they didn't use it right away.
Also, BC's Premier did Alberta no favours when she didn't exactly help Alberta get an oil pipeline to BC's coast, again argueing royalties prior to even beginning the project. Do you see a theme here? A woman counting her chickens before they have hatched?!
The state of the Canadian oilpatch:
What I see now is an Oil and Nat. Gas producer that has lost it's biggest customer the, United States, to Obama's, Energy Independence Program. Oil no longer flows south BUT there is no infrastructure to make oil flow east or west either! There is talk of an "Energy East Pipeline" which would patch together a hodgepodge of east/west running out of service lines to get to the easecoast where we have privatly owned refining capacity. This refiner will be happy to refine western oil when they are not refining their own.
To the west, however, USA backed environmental NGO's fund the green lobby all the way down to the "Eco-Terrorist" level in the province of BC. This has fear mongered the granola eating public into believeing pipelines are bad and rails are good. Meanwhile, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that Warren Buffet owns a lot of rail and directly benefits from selling market access to Canada. His money is no doubt paying US NGO's in preventing Canada's enrgey infrastructure development.
So...you are asking if Canada is in a depression? No...But it will be very shortly. I have no doubt.
I write this from a deck chair at a VERY resonable priced hotel in Nicaragua. I'm probably going to stay here, I can't think of too many reasons to go back to Canada...and faced with the propect of making a move to the USA...I'd blow my fucking head off too.
Interesting on the ground feedback. thx much. I'm temporarily hanging in Palm Springs, CA area. Canadian influx soon to arrive. Looking forward to chatting a few of them up...
Appreciate the analysis & post!
Have a Merry Christmas down South!!
Reichstag, you get it Bro. Both the USSA and Canuckistan are thoroughly pizzled, screwed beyond belief. At least in Nicaragua, the locals know that their governments are controlled by crooked and corrupt psychopathic liars. and only render onto Ceasar what they must.
Just wait to see what happens when those officials start to tithe hillarys foundation...
I live in Calgary.....the shopping malls are still overflowing with people buying over priced shit they don't need.
Definitely doesn't feel like a depression.
Have no fear, their new prancing little White Obama will transform Canada into a paradise fit for the dregs of the world too.
Actually the cycle is Canadians get bent over by one party then that party gets nutted. The Liberals are well on their way to fucking this one up right royal and since the PC didn't lose by that much, the cons dominate the next go once again.
A depression? In Calgary?? It's a boom bust town, what did you expect?
Happened before, will happen again. The sun's coming up tomorrow, round
and round she goes.
During the GFC I read ZH with wide eyes and uttered holy shit after every paragraph.
Now that I'm older and wiser I just laugh.
Not if you go where the jobs are. Then again, that's always the case here. Can't get an operator from Ontario to take a 9 month contract in the bush but an operator from Texas will be packing before you've even sent him his package.
A depression? Far from it. There is plenty of work if you are not an idiot.
Definition of an idiot?
1. Getting a degree in geology.
2. Getting a job in a company that is dependent on selling a commodity -- be it: oil, steel, gold, aluminum, etc. Commodities are always up and down.
Heroin, there's none of that in Canada. Oxy pills and and all that other junk exists in spades though. Largely paid for by the government.
Depends on the province. I'm dropping $250 a month out of pocket.
It's all going nicely to plan.....
http://beforeitsnews.com/conspiracy-theories/2015/12/as-events-spiral-ou...
You spambot, eh? What that aboot is?
In Canada it's a dry depression, not the same as here.
A lot part of canada's tax money comes out of Alberta to keep the liberals in the east well fed. a hard rain is gonna fall......
A new report for the government agency that tracks money laundering says the overly hot real estate market in Canadian cities has a “significant risk” for criminal activity.
http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2015/08/25/chinese-money-laundering-in-canadian-...
Nope. Most of the oil revenue is retained by the province. Ontario is the biggest tax contributer.
And I didn't say "most".......
Nope arbwhore - Alberta sends $20 billion more to Ottawa, then it receives every year, for transfer payments. That's oil money one way or another.
And these are EXACTLY the kind of horse shit games that eastern canadians play with Albertans. Sure you assholes "contribute" the highest amount (way to make yourself sound generous asshole) but the truth is you SOBs keep every last penny. You're not the ones contributing $20B more to Ottawa then it receives - as Alberta does
Canada, O Canada.
Didn't we just read this here at ZH ??
More carnage at the hands of Rothchild USA and its afflialte scum!
Psst.... they control the joysticks from ISrael, Vatican and the city of london.
RIPS
Send them Bubba Trump he can fix it with Canadiancare
Talked to an old fella yesterday. Moved out of Alberta a year ago to Manitoba.
"2016 will be hell," said he. He is no economist nor seemed to have a degree, but he has been around a long time and life is the best teacher there is.
He said the "USA is looking to start a war."
I think he may be speaking truth.
re He said the "USA is looking to start a war."
Was his name "Sherlock"?
Watson.
Profound predictions. No different than the huxster prediction you get from any 'run of the mill' psychics.
Thank the Nobel Prize Winner's war on oil to hurt Putin. Canada got screwed along with Venezuela, Nigeria, Brazil and other major oil producing countries.
I knew somehow this all to blame on Sneaky Putin©.
So does Canada want to bomb Saudi Arabia yet? It's interesting how little discussion there is in the US about everybodies friend SA opening the spigots. I wonder if the Canadian media glosses over that issue as well.
Canadian MSM is identical to that in the US, propaganda mouth pieces for corporate interests.
Truth.
Wot and fuck up the last bastion of slavery?
The Williston Experience: A Story of Boomtown Greed.
How can a drama teacher, without any meaningful experience, hope to lead Canada through the coming depression? He can't and all his "sunny days" bullshit will be seen for what it is, election propaganda.
Will do what was done 1930-ies US in style of Little Rascals and Our Gang.
Spanky, Prime Minister Canadia: "Come on gang, we a show to put on! Even President Alfalfa some crooning can do!"
I'm fairly sure Buckwheat is the current President.
No way.. Buckwheat was much smarter.
Plus, Buckwheat don't take it up the ass.
"sunny days", "green shoots", "Make America Great Again" ad infinitum going back to the 1st caveman to run for cave leader. all just buzz phrases to get elected. If they don't have a track record to back it up it's just noise and lies.
My kid was working the oil patch in West Texas. He made a lot of money. He spent a lot of money. The job went poof and he has no money. We have been unable to beat the idea of saving/investing into his thick skull. My area is full of minimum wage ex oil guys with expensive toys leftover from the good times. Any farmer knows you can have a great crop but if you sell it all/eat it all you won't have a crop the next year.
It is a western problem, the bling bling consumer and social society, working great for the powers that be. I have the same problem with my son, got accepted into a great uni, got everything given to him from my parents, including a car and board close to it, and he blew it on watching cable, I mean FFSakes. This was also a no fail uni. This is our new generation, head in the clouds.
But Mulclair would have fixed it....
Facepalm.
RIPS
Have you ever seen what's in a Canadian food box?..How about 4 pounds of Nova Scotia lobster,10 pounds of Alberta's finest steaks,a case of Labatts Blue,and an ounce of Vancouver's finest bud..
Lol, nice try. More like a few boxes of Krap Dinner, the cheapest canned tomatoes one can find (usually with an obnoxious yellow label), and maybe some random mystery meat if you're lucky. No Labatts, no BC "bud".
Kraft Dinner and back bacon must contain, as is tradition.
uh-uh... bacon waaaaay too expensice. A cut up no-name weiner if you are lucky.
On sale it is 20 CDN dollars a kilo. Don't ask me what that is in real dollars per pound.
me and another aussie mate of mine lived on kraft dinners whilst travelling round Canada, we use to add tomatoe sauce (ketchup) to spice it up. perogis were another dish we dined on whilst on limited funds and ate as many cheeseburgers as we could on the ski hill bbq we worked at. funny how we skimped on food but when it came to money for drinking we were like the money changers slaves and would load up on debt to do so without any remorse. I guess its hard for humans to ignore our animal instincts.
That was in my Christmas Cheerboard hamper. Thank God for charity.
Skip the Labatt's. It has been a crappy product for more than 20 years ever since they got acquried by InBev in '95 with a downgrade in ingredients across the board.
Another issue is that Albertans, fed right up with the arrogance of the PC party that had run this province pretty well for 45 years, finally threw the buggers out for becoming complacent... thinking they were all of a sudden somehow "entitled". The party that was voted in is surely a "one-time deal", but Albertans made their point to the government... either get with the program and run this province as well as you can... or you're gone. The problem is that the current NDP party is not at all oil friendly. They'll be gone in 3.5 years, but they'll probably do a lot of damage during that period. For example... they'll run the deficit up. Alberta was debt free a few short years ago and is 'still' very solid financially. The NDP are not good at handling money... they're great at spending it. This doesn't sit well with normally frugal Albertans.
As for day to day life... the food banks are indeed very busy. Break-ins are noticably on the increase. Yet driving through the city, or just walking the streets, this is still a lovely place to live. People are still nice. They seem to still be in their perpetual good moods. The city is clean and friendly, and the mountains are always beckoning only an hour away. I don't think I could find a place I'd rather be to ride out 'any' storm [I mean Alberta, not necessarily Calgary. There are lots of great cities here].
You bring up some good points, but give it another 6-12 months before the shit hits the Pratt & Whitney Turbofan.
What the hell happened to Preston Manning and the Reform party? They emerged out of the outrage over the Meech Lake accords back in 1988 ( or was it 87? ) They almost became the majority back in the nineties were it not for that deformed monster, Chretien!
Yup... the country was far more polarized back then too. The east was so staunchly Liberal and they 'still' have enough seats to win almost all federal elections if they vote as one. But that polarity is not so pronounced these days... and that's a much better situation. Preston is still around I guess. Still a good guy I would assume. He's only a healthy young 73, so I wish him a happy long life.
guys this is a tad high on the BS meter - sure oil is hurting us but the above article is flaming ludicruous - sounds like something written for the national enquirer
This is a U.S./U.K. plot to crush Russian protectionism over regions that are crucial to their national security; if there was a sudden Russian-back military coup in Mexico or Canada, the U.S. military would intervene in a NY minute. Hypocrisy of the highest order....
Don't think this is contained to just "oil" or "Canada". This can move swiftly into other commodities and other regions. Unrest breeds it's own violence, hunger and despair drives people to do what they would not otherwise do and it really does take "just a spark" to get a fire going.
Self-sufficency to whatever degree you can. Remember the basics, Clean Water, storable food, seeds, clothing and shelter. Defend with whatever you are comfortable with. Learn skills that never get "outsourced"
“Clean Water, storable food, seeds…”
But, how will you protect yourself from hordes of hungry homeless; or members of Mexican and Columbian drug cartels; or American street gangs who masquerade as DHS assassins, er, tax collectors?
See my comment above.
Saw this little tidbit from the Bakken recently which will surprise no one. There is always something shady going on out there, and I imagine it will be revealed little by little. If the past is any indication, this story is in transition and will likely change at least a couple more times.
"Oil production on the Fort Berthold Reservation had been grossly overstated as far back as 2012."
"Media outlets have repeatedly relied on department figures when reporting that the reservation produced almost a third of the state’s oil. Forum News Service reported in July that trust and fee wells on the reservation accounted for more than 358,000 of the 1.2 million barrels produced daily that month, when in fact it was about 200,500 barrels a day, based on the revised figures."
"Ritter stressed that the error did not affect the overall oil production figures reported, the production reported to the state Tax Commissioner’s Office for tax purposes or reports on flaring of natural gas."
http://www.thedickinsonpress.com/energy/bakken/3905228-spreadsheet-error-overstated-oil-production-fort-berthold-reservation
What you need is a Canadian style Federal Reserve to really save you!!
With a housing bubble we even envy here, you deserve it.
It's called the Bank of Canada, and our current nancy-boy Primeminister's father Pierre Trudeau, handed it over to Rothschild in the early 70's, taking it off its mandated charter of issuing interest free loans to the government.
There is actually an ongoing court case to reinstate the Bank of Canada now:
http://www.globalresearch.ca/the-case-to-reinstate-the-bank-of-canada/5430132
Great, yeah Rothschild is a great family, wouldn't want Canada to not be properly taken care of during their time of need.
I did hear that the Bank of Canada is considering NIRP, to follow along in the successful path forged by Europe and Japan.
Invest in body bags, ammunition, and guns. Growth industries here.
Tell those unemployed oil workers to join the Canadian Army and go join the coalition of the (otherwise unemployed) Americans to fight ISIS. That conflict with last years until the next terror organization is formed. I heard the chow is great! and they have free health care benes.
+100 Main.
I tried to tell em not to go in that bear cave..i really did.
RIPS
If there was any cause that people need to get behind its this. Imagine if the original charter was reinstated, it would be unprecedented, but I doubt it will ever happen.
Once invited in there are few options to rid the userpers of life. They eat your blood with fiat or force, or they die.
At least thats what they say in fables.
RIPS
The Rothschilds will do the right things by Canada irrespective of the cost to themselves. It was a far-sighted move handing over the BoC to them.
You forgot the /sarc tag.
Presumed it wasn't needed on this forum!
It would be interesting to see a chart of how many people received welfare prior to bank dergeulation and floating of currencies. Looks to me as if the west has been sold to the east, our productive sectors have being shackled by taxation and populist govt.
It always gets a bit shabby while running down the property values prior to a cheap buy out. Once they hold clear title to everything, "it will all be as right a rain".
Canada's CMHC is like Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac on steroids! They even, for a while, "insured" no-money-down 40-year subprime mortgages!
But the Banks said that was the thing to do. Why wouldn't you follow this fantastic not in any way self serving advice?
But they have free health care if you are hurt from being a victim of crime, and free healthcare for suicide counseling, and free healthcare for grief counseling, and they have lots of snow, and they have lots of hockey players, and lots of curlers, and decent beer, and lots of Chinese in Vancouver... why bother with jobs?
"jobs" are so ... yesterday.
Jobs are the shackles of the oppressed, while dependency on our masters is but a small price to pay for their unending love.
I mean, they do love us, right?
Well... if things get to bad,go tap a few trees and send me syrup.