My parents were British and they used to have two washing bowls. Pile the dirty dishes into one and fill with warm water and dish soap. Clean water in the second bowl for rinsing. After a while the second bowl builds up residual soap so it needs to be emptied and refilled. I figure I use the same amount of water rinsing under a running faucet. But the soak thing is a great tip - leaving dishes in water to soak makes cleaning them so much easier.

As a Canadian I’m proud of my fellow countrymen for helping and accepting refugees. Although most arrive here with nothing, studies have shown they benefit our society in the long run. They contribute massively to our economy and enrich our culture. They overcome daunting obstacles and become productive members of society, and they make Canada a better, fairer and more inclusive place

I hope they can use part of those tax revenues to fix our healthcare.

Canada is no longer a shining first world example of success (if it ever was). We used to boast about how great our healthcare system was, but it’s had serious problems for years and those problems just keep getting worse. If I were a tech immigrant looking to move to a rich country I don’t think I would choose Canada at the moment.

I don’t know about Canadian news but Google has blocked bard (their AI chatbot competitor to ChatGPT). Not sure if it’s related to this but Canada is one of the few countries worldwide (along with the likes of Iran and China) where bard is not available.

You can drink beer and wine (not sure about spirits) in parks in Quebec as long as you have food. Some people just bring a few packets of chips or cookies to comply. But the police are relaxed about it (at least in Montreal)

High inflation is worse for workers than high interest rates since wage hikes always lag price rises. This round of inflation was brought to us by poor economic decisions … pumping billions of dollars into the economy without raising taxes, as well as the Ukraine war. It wasn’t caused by corporate greed, as some claim. The BoC is doing absolutely the right thing. If they don’t raise rates now they only kick the can down the road when the pain would be far worse.

I think we should let the Ukrainian military decide what weapons they need.

You can’t solve a shortage of houses by discouraging people from building them. Canada is simply not building enough housing and has not been doing so for a long time. Your proposal would have a marginal effect at best and would in any case be only a temporary solution. People who buy second homes do so in places where there are generally few jobs. And people who buy houses as an investment need to rent them … which is not necessarily a bad thing. The problem we have is that home prices have risen to such stratospheric heights primarily because of policies that discourage new development. The only way to fix that is to promote legislation that penalizes NIMBYism and encourages building in urban areas.

It’s more than just funding though.

'Canada is above the OECD average in terms of per-person spending on health care. Among 38 countries in the OECD in 2020 (the latest year for which comparable data is available), spending per person on health care remained highest in the United States (CA$15,275). Canada’s per capita spending on health care was among the highest internationally, at CA$7,507 — less than in Germany (CA$8,938) and the Netherlands (CA$7,973), and more than in Sweden (CA$7,416) and Australia (CA$7,248).".

Canada is a vast country which definitely makes the provision of health care a challenge. But Australia has around the same population density as us, spends a little less than we do and their health care is excellent.

Except that with the USSR falling the transition of power for Russia was a bit more peaceful

At the time that wasn’t a given. Gorbachev was under a lot of pressure from hardline communists within the party to crack down on the uprising and no-one really knew where the loyalties of the military lay. As it turned out Yeltsin won the day and the transition went peacefully but it could very easily have turned out differently.

Just to add to this, a Prigozhin government would likely be far worse for Ukraine. While Putin had few qualms brutalizing civilians and committing war crimes Prigozhin has none. He’s a ruthless, murderous thug. The best outcome would be that he is defeated by the Russian military but that they have to withdraw troops from Ukraine, allowing the Ukrainians to seize the initiative with their offensive. The worst outcomes don’t bear thinking about.

The damage done to indigenous people by the residential schools was enormous and the effects will take generations, and lots of effort and resources to repair. There are no quick fixes. This law allows the liberals to appear to be doing something without them actually having to do something. Burnishing their progressive credentials, whether it be on environmental policy, voting reform or indigenous rights, and then not following through with concrete action is par for the course.

18C . We live in a condo building that is well insulated so setting it any lower wouldn’t help. I agree, it’s preferable to sleep when it’s cooler. 24C in winter is insane - if you’re cold just put on a jersey or a fleece.

I closed my Facebook account in 2016 and haven’t looked back. Hoping I feel the same about Reddit