Trudeau's $9 Billion Extravaganza

[davidI]

Thoughts on this? Is it really a good use of taxpayer dollars given a large number of these students wouldn't work anyway?

Is this a stimulus package for struggling cannabis and video game retailers or is it simply Trudeau's way of encouraging young-people to continue voting for the left in future elections?

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada...tudent-benefit

I'm very thankful I am no longer a Canadian Resident / Taxpayer.

[AndyL]

Yes because paying 50% higher than welfare to a student is reasonable...

[Masked Bandit]

Mostly just buying another generation of votes but I have to concede that it's probably going to be pretty tough for students to find much in the way of work this summer.

[dirtsniffer]

May as well make it universal at this point so we can all get some before we have to pay it all back.

I was a student in 2008 and I sure as shit couldn't find a job. No government pogey for me.

[flipstah]

Legalizing weed + free money = instant young voters

[sabad66]

Definitely easy vote buying, but I do see the impact to students and why they need help.

In a 'normal' year, students would be able to work summer jobs for 4 months from May-Aug whether that's Retail, Bars, Restaurants, Office Jobs, Internships, etc. Now this year, these summer jobs aren't going to be available. A lot of students depend on this income over 4 months to help float them throughout the school year and also just to be able to enjoy themselves for a few months before going back to another 8 months of hell.

[msommers]

There are a lot of students who would normally be getting internships that won't be now. Not only are they not going to be working this summer (or fighting for limited painting/landscaper jobs perhaps), they're not getting the industry experience that is critical. May - August is a time of year where students make good money to help pay tuition and cover living expenses. Not everyone will be living at home and having their costs covered while happily collecting cheques and smoking a grand of pot per month now.

You guys are really pessimistic. We're all affected and trying to make the best of a shit situation.

[Tik-Tok]

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You guys are really pessimistic. We're all affected and trying to make the best of a shit situation.

Yeah but they didn't get help, so no one ever should.

[duaner]

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May as well make it universal at this point so we can all get some before we have to pay it all back.

I was a student in 2008 and I sure as shit couldn't find a job. No government pogey for me.

Yup. I just finished my degree and am graduating with no prospects for work. The last two summers have been very difficult for me for finding work (didn't find any other than a bit of work with my wife's business), as I am well above the 30-year-old age limit for the Canada Student Jobs Program, so that cut me out of most summer jobs. Oil and gas obviously still sucks so I can't even try going back to what I used to do.

As it is, I don't qualify for any CERB help. Although I know it is a burden on the taxpayer, it makes it so much harder with job prospects being almost non-existent.

[lasimmon]

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Yup. I just finished my degree and am graduating with no prospects for work. The last two summers have been very difficult for me for finding work (didn't find any other than a bit of work with my wife's business), as I am well above the 30-year-old age limit for the Canada Student Jobs Program, so that cut me out of most summer jobs. Oil and gas obviously still sucks so I can't even try going back to what I used to do.

As it is, I don't qualify for any CERB help. Although I know it is a burden on the taxpayer, it makes it so much harder with job prospects being almost non-existent.

You would qualify for the new Student funds they announced if you just graduated.

[duaner]

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You would qualify for the new Student funds they announced if you just graduated.

I'm pretty sure they only said those who are continuing school in the Fall and those who graduated in December 2019. I didn't think there was anything said about those graduating now. If I'm wrong, that would be great.

[jutes]

How much are we under now with all these $billions of dollars being thrown around? It has to be close to $200B.

[davidI]

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Definitely easy vote buying, but I do see the impact to students and why they need help.

In a 'normal' year, students would be able to work summer jobs for 4 months from May-Aug whether that's Retail, Bars, Restaurants, Office Jobs, Internships, etc. Now this year, these summer jobs aren't going to be available. A lot of students depend on this income over 4 months to help float them throughout the school year and also just to be able to enjoy themselves for a few months before going back to another 8 months of hell.

I agree with you there. Back in my day I was busting my ass for 300 hours/month to pay for school. At the same time, the majority of my friends / school mates seemed to enjoy summer without care since their parents were funding their entire college experience.

Maybe times have changed or some limitations will be put on the payments to limit it to those who worked the previous year/summer.

[rx7boi]

My wife asked me about CESB last night and pondered whether we should take it when it becomes available. Before she went back to school for Graduate studies in January, we already had a long term plan in place to live off of one income and for her to pick up hospital shifts during semester break.

I don't foresee us applying for CESB as long as her shifts don't get cancelled because that's been happening alot for casual employees. I am sure there are plenty of students who could use the money.

[duaner]

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You would qualify for the new Student funds they announced if you just graduated.

Just looked at one news site and it says those who have graduated since December 2019, so I might just qualify. Have to obviously wait until it actually comes out.

[Xtrema]

You can always ask all your MPs to block the bill in government and to vote NO.

I don't think it's been passed yet.

And make sure not to vote for that MP again if he/she doesn't do what you say.

Why is that so hard?

[ExtraSlow]

We as a country are moving away from the concept that benefits from the government need to come with conditions. Unconditional temporary benefits, UBI, or whatever, are totally the direction we are headed.

I actually think something like UBI could be justified on economic grounds if you were aggressive in reducing all the bureaucracy that administers the dozens of current social support programs. Shit, dropping a few thousand full time government employees would pay for tens of thousands on UBI.

Its like the John Lennon song says: "Imagine there's no EI, no OAS too. Imagine no GST and carbon tax rebates, it isn't hard to do.... "

[sabad66]

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I agree with you there. Back in my day I was busting my ass for 300 hours/month to pay for school. At the same time, the majority of my friends / school mates seemed to enjoy summer without care since their parents were funding their entire college experience.

Maybe times have changed or some limitations will be put on the payments to limit it to those who worked the previous year/summer.

Yep same here, busted my ass all summer at city golf courses including picking up any overtime/extra shifts i could. If i was in school now, that job would not be available and i would have been fucked without this CESB.

I forgot about the rich kids who had everything paid for and didn't need to work all summer. I really hope there are restrictions against paying out this CESB to that group but not sure. Although in a way i feel like as long as they spend it at businesses and don't just save it (i.e. buying tires from TireBob, eating out at restaurants, etc), it would help the overall economy.

[davidI]

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You can always ask all your MPs to block the bill in government and to vote NO.

I don't think it's been passed yet.

And make sure not to vote for that MP again if he/she doesn't do what you say.

Why is that so hard?

Because Alberta MPs have ZERO influence on anything at the Federal level...

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Although in a way i feel like as long as they spend it at businesses and don't just save it (i.e. buying tires from TireBob, eating out at restaurants, etc), it would help the overall economy.

See my previous comment re: weed and video games.

[pheoxs]

I'm gonna go against the grain here and say the student benefit is probably one of the better ways to inject cash into the economy. We've seen in the past corporate bailouts happen and then somehow CEOs are still pulling record bonuses and then money is funneled into stock buybacks so how much does that actually help the workers keep their jobs.

But let's be real, most students are pretty shitty with their money. If you give them 1,500 a month guess what, they're going to blow it on food, booze, merchandise, etc. All of that is cash re-injected into the economy into other peoples hands. It helps out the restaurants and the stores indirectly. Even if they're smart and save most of it for books/school that still helps support our public education system as well. At the end of the year nearly all that money will be re-spent into our economy whereas tax breaks for the rich/corporations will just get pushed into some kind of investment fund or leaves the country.