NoLasagna Blog

 The process of creating and building a structure requires a different approach as a consumer. I’m arguing that the government should do contract bidding in the marketplace and be transparent with the people. As a regular consumer, if you have a problem with your car, you can go pick up the parts online, take it to a variety of different mechanics and service it in the future at a different location. A consumer can look around at a variety of features, benefits, prices, timelines and a near infinite amount of other metrics. What is Contract Bidding? When it comes to buildings, infrastructure and many of the items that the government builds there is a different approach. The way it works with private business is that they solicit bids from private contractors for various stages of the process. For example, architects will be contacted and will provide a cost to design, a timeline, a portfolio and whatever other information the government requests of them. This works for a v...

 There has been a lot of discussion lately regarding the expansion of the Canadian Pension Plan (CPP), so I felt this was an appropriate discussion. CPP is a program for people living outside of Quebec aged 18 to 70. Anyone earning work income have to pay into the CPP program. Currently, as an employee, you’ll pay 4.95% of your pre-tax income to CPP with a basic exemption on the first $3500 up to a total income of $54,900 (as of 2016 - this is an indexed to inflation number). This equates to a maximum of $2544.30 for 2016 as an employee. An employer also has to pay into the CPP program, for the employee, the same amount. This amounts to a max of $5088.60 for 2016. The push for expanding CPP has been mainly been from large unions; such as CUPE and the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC). The desired CPP expansion from the CLC is to double contributions. They also wish to increase CPP replacement rate (essentially pay out) to grow from 25% to 50% (also doubling). The argument for this exp...

 The narrative around trade deficits in society is wrong. It's something driven in by mainly left wing politics and generally viewed as a negative thing. The concept really took place in the United States where it has had a trade deficit for a long time. In Canada, we've had a trade surplus for a long time, but deficits are happening and in the future we'll most likely have them all the time. Trade deficit and trade surplus are an oxymoron Let's think about what the word trade means. A trade is when two individuals or groups/businesses exchange goods or services. This trade is mutually beneficial for both parties; meaning that each party trades for a more preferable outcome than their current state. The concept of deficit and surplus with regard to trade isn't a fair measurement, especially with regard to arbitrary lines in a global marketplace. If you look within the country, most seafood is purchased on the coasts. Just because a Saskatchewan wheat farmer ...