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What kind of "socialism" does this guy subscribe to?
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Before he became leader, Mulcair enjoyed a successful and well-paid career as a government lawyer and, later, a cabinet minister in the Quebec National Assembly. His wife, Catherine Pinhas, is a psychologist practicing in Montreal. Both their children are now adults with jobs — one is a police officer, the other an engineer.
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Mulcair was hit with a judgment from a defamation case in 2005 after he accused former Parti Quebecois minister Yves Duhaime of influence peddling. He was ordered to pay Duhaime $95,000, plus legal costs.
He left provincial politics in 2007 and ran for the NDP in a byelection later that year. Even then, he stood to collect on a pension from his years as an MNA. When he was elected that fall, he began earning an MP’s salary that was then set at $150,800.
But in January 2009, he and Pinhas financed the home for the 11th time. They took out a $300,000 mortgage with the Royal Bank of Canada and then paid off the previous $249,000 mortgage from three years earlier.
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They paid $64,000 for the home in 1983, with a $56,000 mortgage from the Caisse Populaire du Lac St. Louis at 10.7 per cent interest — the going rate of the day.
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The couple obtained loans in 1984, 1987, 1988, 1990, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2009.
Nearly a year after the last transaction, Mulcair filed a report with the federal ethics commissioner, saying that he taken a line of credit with his wife from the Royal Bank.
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Today, Mulcair earns $157,731 annually as an MP plus a $75,516 stipend as Leader of the Official Opposition. When in Ottawa, he lives for free at the official residence, Stornoway.
I read this and thought it was funny -- especially the part about "Mulcair owns perhaps the middlest of middle-class cottages". Apparently Scott doesn't understand that house values are not solely based on size and outward appearance. Which is probably why this would come as a surprise to him: the average residential property assessment for Beaconsfield in 2015 is a mere $510,683. I'm not sure if the value for Mulcair's address can be determined (online) but my guess it falls near the "average". So not what I would consider modest by any means.
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Anyway, on my way down to visit my folks last Sunday, I decided to venture down Lynwood Drive, perhaps the only road in that southwest sector of Beaconsfield where I never once took up delivery of the Gazette in the late 1980s.
I just wanted to see which was the nicest house on that street, the kind of house a man of his stature might deem worthy of himself to have as his domicile. I have to say, I went right past 109, purportedly Mulcair's address, without even considering it, it was so ordinary.
What does this tell us? That Mulcair owns perhaps the middlest of middle-class cottages, while the homes (former and present) of such Canadian political luminaries as Pierre-Elliot Trudeau (Town of Mount Royal) and Brian Mulroney and Jean Charest (Westmount, both) are among the poshest of posh to be found on the island Jacques Cartier named Ville-Marie over 350 years ago?
Big whoop.
And with Warren Kinsella piling on pathetically, (complain about something real, Warren, okay?) all I can say is that my respect for Mulcair has just shot up ten-fold.
And as for that "four-car" garage? Take heart Tom, because if that's the best they can do, they got nothin'.
Beaconsfield is a legitimately middle class suburb, its average is just thrown off by the many mansions that exist along the waterfront. Mulcair's home is actually a middle class house in a normal suburb. I don't see it as fault that he has a mortgage, it means that unlike many other politicians Mr. Mulcair has been living off of his salary as a politician alone. He hasn't been involved in any of the corruption that has influenced other provincial politicians, he resigned as environment minister on principle when Charest tried something morally objectionable at a financial loss to himself, and he hasn't been involved with outside money that he owes favours to, or that will owe favours, like a position on a board, once he decides to retire. He's a principled, career politician who is a servant of the people and nothing else, and he struggles with finances like other people because of it. He doesn't live a lavish lifestyle, but probably did need to take out money against the house to finance campaigns, rather then taking money from special interests. He did it himself, I can respect that, and he truly lives like a normal person and not like an elite.
Our debt under Harper has increased by 350 BILLION dollars.
"Add on the current federal net debt of $676-billion and Canadians are currently leaving a legacy of $1.2 trillion dollars in debt to the younger generations, an increase of more than $350-billion since 2007-08."
Our debt under Harper has increased by 350 BILLION dollars.
"Add on the current federal net debt of $676-billion and Canadians are currently leaving a legacy of $1.2 trillion dollars in debt to the younger generations, an increase of more than $350-billion since 2007-08."
The current person running the country, isn't doing such a good job.
There was a financial meltdown in 2008-09, havent you heard ?
US banks, car makers going under, US economy grinding to a halt> bail out money left and right
Leftists screaming for more and more stimulus $ from the feds, so he obliged but still kept that deficit down near 1% of GDP which is a feat in by itself....look again at those numbers you linked
You can pin a lot of sins on Stephen Harper but excessive spending sure aint one of them
There was a financial meltdown in 2008-09, havent you heard ?
US banks, car makers going under, US economy grinding to a halt> bail out money left and right
Leftists screaming for more and more stimulus $ from the feds, so he obliged but still kept that deficit down near 1% of GDP which is a feat in by itself....look again at those numbers you linked
You can pin a lot of sins on Stephen Harper but excessive spending sure aint one of them
One single government building costed tax payers $1.2 billion in construction costs? With amenities so luxuries it's beyond most 5-star hotels. And conveniently, and there is no way for auditors to actually verify how the money was spent on this building, because everything was declared "a matter of national security." If this is what Harper's fiscal conservatism meant, I want some of that too. $1 billion of free money and no oversight on how I spend that money.
Last edited by bostonkid123; 04-05-2015 at 09:23 PM..
I'm not going to speculate about the causes of his alleged financial problems - like you do - but Mulcair has had a varied and lucrative career (thanks to our free and capitalist society) and lives in a place where the average property value is just over $500k (sorry, but a few mansions "along the waterfront" can't skew the figure all that much, but if Mulcair's abode is much less than the average then I'd love to see the actual figure). If you think that he's living in a "middle class house in a normal suburb" yet insist he's labouring under excessive financial burdens, then you really have to question why he's clinging on to the house - the first thing "normal" people would do in this situation is downsize and pay off debts and start living within their means. Even if Mulcair isn't in financial difficulty, what does this say about the leader of a party that wants to turn Canada into a Cuba-style socialist paradise? Certainly he could make do with a two-bedroom apartment at $750 to $1000/month like so many Canadians have to.
Beaconsfield is a legitimately middle class suburb, its average is just thrown off by the many mansions that exist along the waterfront. Mulcair's home is actually a middle class house in a normal suburb. I don't see it as fault that he has a mortgage, it means that unlike many other politicians Mr. Mulcair has been living off of his salary as a politician alone. He hasn't been involved in any of the corruption that has influenced other provincial politicians, he resigned as environment minister on principle when Charest tried something morally objectionable at a financial loss to himself, and he hasn't been involved with outside money that he owes favours to, or that will owe favours, like a position on a board, once he decides to retire. He's a principled, career politician who is a servant of the people and nothing else, and he struggles with finances like other people because of it. He doesn't live a lavish lifestyle, but probably did need to take out money against the house to finance campaigns, rather then taking money from special interests. He did it himself, I can respect that, and he truly lives like a normal person and not like an elite.
OMG ! A new building?!?!?!? With water fountains???? Can't they just meet at Timmies??? They have free WIFI now!
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