GCn20

LMAO. That is boogey man politics of the highest quality right there. The CPC is not now, and never will be coming after medicare. No political party in Canada ever will. It is political suicide. I don't understand why people equate private clinics, or extension and expansions of current health care by private enterprise as health care being privatized. There can certainly be a healthy balance of public and private medical services paid for by a medicare system. Healthcare becomes privatized when we allow it to go to the highest bidder and set it's own rates for reimbursement of services while eliminating public owned medical services, if set up properly a public/private owned health care service delivery does not do anything but enhance.

It would be tough for sure. Serious battery tech is needed for our winters. Thinking about ordering my gas and groceries from China, guess I'll have to reconsider.

I agree. Also, the mining and smelting required for battery production will create massive environmental damage. Until the world can produce clean electricity and can find ways to eliminate the massive byproduct of pollution from mining, the EV is just replacing one set of problems for another. It's no magic bullet for the environment. Governments around the world need to stop putting the cart before the horse and invest climate change dollars in clean energy production before making spending dollars trying to force everyone to transition. Upgrades to electrical grids, the phasing out of dirty electricity need to happen ASAP and that s where the dollars need to go. I mean you can disagree if you like, but what part of producing dirty energy to power clean energy makes any sense whatsoever.

Yes, we would go deeper in debt but it wouldn't be money pissed into the wind with no avenue for ROI. There is a big difference between wasted money and investing.

Ok fair enough. However, it goes both ways, a few posts back I was a Trump supporting, lying, con man. Sticks and stones by both sides and that's how honest debate on ideology gets derailed. I apologize to all for my part in it. BTW< I certainly don't consider lefty as being an insult or derogatory term, just an ideology, I meant no offence. It differs from my ideology but I respect it. Our political system needs all sides of the spectrum to be successful.

I would suspect they would. That is all I am hoping for. We do not know if he is capable anymore.

Great...then keep your comments to yourself and conduct yourself with some class. I may be an "old dude" but you are seriously immature. I will agree that the right is certainly not having it's best days lately. I am hoping for better. Is that so wrong. I want the alt right to go away as badly as you do. I thought the CERB was a fiasco in it's implementation which led to billions in fraudulent claims, that are unlikely to be collected.

My argument is that the deficit is far too high and a good portion of it is due to wasteful spending and social program mismanagement. I do not care for that much. I will not argue that Alberta's government is very guilty in regard to wasted oil revenues as well. I believe conservatives stand for fiscal responsibility, small government, and efficient program delivery. Nope...don't like the Alberta conservatives one bit. They personify everything that is wrong with the right currently. Personally, I wish this faction of the CPC would go back to Reform and slowly die away like the political dinosaurs they are. There seems to be a misconception here that I am flag waving for the CPC, I am not. I am currently a displaced voter who is hoping that a small C conservative party will emerge and at the same time feels that our current government is trash. Why does criticism of the Liberals equate to support of the CPC. I have stated numerous times my vote in the federal election was a protest vote because they all have warts. I will always be right leaning in my ideology, but that doesn't mean I support the fiasco that is the conservative party right now. I am just hopeful they get their **** together so that this corrupt and scandal laden Liberal party government will be deposed of. They too are badly in need of a refresh.

You are entitled to your opinion, as I am entitled to mine. I like a Conservative run economy. There is much I dislike about the Cons as well, but this forum is so damn polarized it's near impossible for anyone to say anything positive about any party without being labelled a nazi supporter or a pinko. Certainly I am just as guilty of this as anyone else here, but I would bet I am the only one willing to admit it.

Yes...what part of my first comment did you not understand? Where in that comment am I tying deficit to price of oil? I was responding to someone who stated that the Liberals squandered our oil money, I agreed, and expounded. You are the one trying to move the goal posts.

Who is calling who names? Hypocrite.

I would want a full physical on him and workout prior to signing him. He hasn't touched turf since 2018 due to a pretty serious injury.

I didn't. I responded to a post of yours suggesting oil revenue is down since Harper. You lefties are great at deflecting. I didn't mention oil price in my criticism of deficits. I said oil revenues and all other revenues for that matter are being wasted by poor fiscal managment by our government then I responded to your off topic claim that oil revenues are down.

Furthermore, I did not ask where the money went. I asked if the spending met anyone's eyeball test. Just because money was spent doesn't mean it was spent effectively. I know full well where it went, what I care about is whether it was effectively spent. When I see the CERB abuses, just as a starting point, I really feel a ton of money was wasted in this 327 billion spending spree.

By their own figures pandemic spending increased the deficit by 240 billion dollars. We know that CERB abuse and mismanagement of funds could have kept that number down to even a lower amount but even if it was spent perfectly, which we know it wasn't, there is a small matter of a 80 billion dollar deficit on top of pandemic spending. That is outrageous in my mind. If you want to excuse it, your perogative. Oil is 140 dollars a barrel right now. We should clear our deficit off the books in no time with Keystone XL filling the million barrel a day void....oh ****...

The bottom line. What doesn't make sense is a 327 billion dollar deficit, nor anyone defending it.

Yep...as I said not just oil money frittered away. I have looked at this document many times. It's one of my main drivers for wanting Trudeau's government gone.

I think Tesla has done some work insulating their batteries since then but realistically a best case scenario in our climate is probably 20% loss of range from the cold, and likely another 10% in range from driving in snow and slush. For city drivers this will be a non issue. For rural drivers it will be a big factor.

Not just oil money. This current government has a spending problem and before Trudeau's acolytes try to come to his defence, I will simply advise them to go look at his yearly deficits and ask them where did the money go? I haven't seen it. Doesn't pass the eyeball test to me, and I am far from alone in that belief.

I would think that both Pinaymootang and Grand Rapids would need one for most of the EVs out there. I don't think I would be comfortable attempting Thompson to Winnipeg with Pinaymootang as the first available charging station. That's roughly 550 km without a charge which would definitely push the limits of even the Ultium in the winter time. The F150 lightning would never make it, and most other EVs it would be impossible. Even Grand Rapids to Thompson would be problematic for many EVs in the winter. It is 329 kms and there is nothing between GR and Thompson anymore so a solution to that stretch will be a tough one. Another tough trip would be the Pas to Thompson, with nothing available for 380km. For many remote and rural areas EV use is just not feasible at this point and time. I'm not even going to get into the many communities that simply cannot support EV charge stations because their hydro grids won't allow for it. Hopefully, some major infrastructure is developed over the next 10-15 years. There are still many communities in the North and Northern Ontario without the 3 phase power capability needed for rapid chargers. I won't even get into the various hydro companies capability to handle the power increase needed for this. Southern Ontario, for instance, already cannot produce enough energy for current needs. A national power grid would need to be developed and that is realistically 15 years away. maybe more, if Trudeau continues to dither on a national energy plan. In the US, many electrical companies have already stated that without massive infrastructure and capability upgrades that there is realistically no way they could support the power requirements of everyone driving an EV. Anyone thinking that this rise in gas price expedites EV conversion is dreaming technicolor, the appetite might be there by the people but the world is not ready for it yet.

Most EVs can be programmed to warm up while still plugged in and draw power for it directly from the charger. There is a loss of range in cold weather. That is indisputable no matter what Elon claims. There have been numerous independant cold weather tests from independant consumer auto testers and you lose 15-20% range. However with a stage 2 charge nightly that only matters for heavy use or long trips.

I do love Manitoba...but not that much...lol. I actually quite enjoy the ride by Riding mountain area...would prefer not to HAVE to do it though. Plus it is a pretty long stretch from the Pas to Thompson....might be all for nought.

Dauphin or The Pas would make my trip a couple hundred kilometers longer. I need one in Grand Rapids ideally. I would hope we get one there by then. We just got our very first stage 2 charger in Thompson a couple weeks ago so there is a lot of work to be done here too. I know that those living in the big cities can have quite a myopic view on EV infrastructure because they have it, but rural Canada is absolutely devoid of EV infrastructure currently with the exception of maybe BC and the gas stations in rural are all pretty small mom and pop operations that will need seed money to implement it.

I can't wait to get mine. I am really hoping that someone puts a charging station between Winnipeg and Thompson though or I will have to use my current Silverado. Charging stations, or lack thereof, are certainly a huge concern for anyone rural who may be looking at an EV.

Chevy hasn't finished building it's EV plant yet. Not sure why the others are so slow out of the gate too. Could very well be the chips, although, both Chevy and Ford are both predicting normal production for 2022 and 2023 on all their gas models. Chevy has 150000 on the reservation list for the Silverado EV. Most will not get one until 2025 at the earliest. That's not huge production numbers in the next few years considering they are successfully rolling out 600000 gas Silverados for 2022 alone. The Ford Lightning is not taking reservations but demand is so high that their dealers were scalping them for outrageous sums. Not even going to talk about Tesla....who took 10k down payments on Cybertrucks that were supposed to be rolled out 2 years ago and are still not even close to being on the market. Bottom line is that it is unlikely EVs become mainstream before 2030.