General Canadian Politics eh.

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Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
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Elon Musk's company SpaceX applies to offer high-speed internet service to Canadians
Elon Musk's SpaceX has applied to offer high-speed internet to Canadians living in remote areas by beaming it to them via satellites.

The Globe and Mail newspaper first reported that space exploration company SpaceX applied with Canada's telecom regulator, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), for what's known as a Basic International Telecommunications Services, or BITS, licence.

That's a requirement for any company that wants to offer what the CRTC calls "telecommunications traffic between Canada and any other country."

If they are successful in getting a BITS licence, that means SpaceX — whose formal company name is Space Exploration Technologies Corp. — could theoretically try to offer more wireless telecom services down the line, such as voice and data plans. But for now, the application focuses on high-speed internet, beamed directly into rural homes and businesses via the company's existing network of so-called near-Earth satellites.

Canada is far from the only place SpaceX is trying to offer internet service. The company is planning to offer high-speed internet services in the United States later this year through a subsidiary known as Starlink before "rapidly expanding to near global coverage of the populated world by 2021," the company says on its website.
 

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,743
RCMP fined 7 Americans last week for stopping to sightsee in Banff National Park
Alberta RCMP issued seven tickets to Americans who stopped in Banff National Park to see the sights last week despite rules observed by the Canada Border Services Agency.

"If individuals have been allowed to enter Canada for an essential purpose, they have to abide by the requirements provided to them by the CBSA," said RCMP Cpl. Deanna Fontaine.

Non-essential travel between Canada and the United States is currently prohibited. The closure is currently scheduled to end July 21, though that date could be extended.

Under current rules, Americans may come through Canada to get home or get to work in Alaska, but they must travel along a direct path. When they need to stop for food or rest stops, they must maintain distance away from the public as much as possible.

Seven tickets

Fontaine said at least six of the seven tickets issued last week were related to Americans who had stopped for long periods of time to go hiking in Banff National Park.

Each of the tickets were issued under the Alberta Health Act at a rate of $1,200 each.

RCMP have received other complaints from residents after seeing U.S. plates in the area, Fontaine said, but noted that it is up to the discretion of each individual officer to determine whether a stop in Canada is appropriate along their route of transit.

There are also legitimate reasons for the presence of a U.S. resident or a U.S.-plated vehicle in Canada amidst the pandemic, Fontaine said.

"In the park, we do have U.S. citizens who have been there since before the pandemic started," Fontaine said. "And that's not an issue. People have a right to live in peace."
CBSA rules
According to a CBSA representative, travellers seeking to transit through Canada to Alaska will be required to substantiate their purpose for travel. Should their purpose be deemed non-discretionary, they will be admitted entry.

"Should an officer have any doubts with regards to the traveller's intended purpose, the traveller will be required to prove/substantiate their purpose of travel," said Louis-Carl Brissette Lesage, a spokesperson with the CBSA, in an email to CBC News.

Brissette Lesage said providing false information to officers upon entry is considered misrepresentation and has consequences, including possibly being denied entry or being banned from returning to Canada.

Failure to comply with restrictions could lead to up to $750,000 in fines and imprisonment of up to six months, Brissette Lesage said.

Asked about the reports of tourists showing up in Banff National Park on June 12, Transport Minister Marc Garneau said a number of measures are in place and officials will continue to spot check.
 

ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,555
33,607
Hey ShatsBassoon @ShatsBassoon what's with the Albertans snitchin?
There's a Karen in every town I suppose.
Haven't read much into it, but I have heard of the alaskan loophole. Banff and Canmore have being fairly strict about their restrictions.

On a side note, locals in revelstoke have gotten fairly hostile to red plates being in their town.
sicamous_kindness_THUMB.jpg
 

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,743
There's a Karen in every town I suppose.
Haven't read much into it, but I have heard of the alaskan loophole. Banff and Canmore have being fairly strict about their restrictions.

On a side note, locals in revelstoke have gotten fairly hostile to red plates being in their town.
View attachment 7966
I seen that on the news a few weeks back, apparently the guy had moved to Revelstoke for work a couple months earlier just hadn't switched his plates yet. Some fuck keyed his truck and left that note.
 

ShatsBassoon

Throwing bombs & banging moms
First 100
Jan 14, 2015
18,555
33,607
I seen that on the news a few weeks back, apparently the guy had moved to Revelstoke for work a couple months earlier just hadn't switched his plates yet. Some fuck keyed his truck and left that note.
I don't get how concerned some people are about what everybody else is doing.
Ironically it's usually the most self absorbed pricks that are like this.
 

Freeloading Rusty

Here comes Rover, sniffin’ at your ass
Jan 11, 2016
26,916
26,743
Canadians working from home permanently should expect salary changes: experts
When Mark Zuckerberg hosted a townhall in late May with Facebook's 48,000 employees, some were tuning in from new cities they had scrambled to move to as the pandemic hit.

Zuckerberg had a clear message for them: if you plan to stay, expect a change to your pay.

"That means if you live in a location where the cost of living is dramatically lower, or the cost of labour is lower, then salaries do tend to be somewhat lower in those places," he said on the video conference, where he announced more employees would be allowed to work remotely permanently.


Zuckerberg gave Canadian and American workers until Jan. 1, 2021 to inform the company about their location, so it can properly complete taxes and accounting and use virtual private network checks to confirm staff are where they claim.

The demand is part of a new reality Canadian workers are being confronted with as employers try to quell the spread of COVID-19 and increasingly consider making remote work permanent.

The shift means many companies are having to rethink salaries and compensation, while grappling with the logistics of a new work model.

Only one-third of Canadians working remotely expect to resume working from the office as consistently as they did pre-pandemic, while one-in-five say they will remain primarily at home, according to a June study from the Angus Reid Institute.

Like Facebook, Canadian technology companies Shopify Inc. and Open Text Corp. have already announced more employees will soon have the option to permanently work remotely.

Both declined interviews with The Canadian Press, but Richard Leblanc, a professor of governance, law and ethics at York University, said he wouldn't be surprised if their staff that relocate will see their pay change.

"It's inevitable because the cost and expense structure of work has changed," he said.

"If you, for example decide, that you could do the majority of your work from well outside the Greater Toronto Area...and you want to buy a home in Guelph or in Hamilton, should we expect the base salary for those individuals might change? Yes, because your cost of living has changed and your expenses have changed."

If companies calculate salaries properly, neither the business nor workers should feel their salary adjustments are unfair, Leblanc said.

However, figuring out what to pay staff transitioning to permanent remote work is tough, especially with a pandemic raging on and forcing some businesses to lay off workers or keep companies closed.

Owners have to consider what salaries will help them retain talent, but also how their costs will change if workers are at home.

Companies, for example, may be able to slash real estate costs because they don't need as much -- or any -- office space, but may now have to cover higher taxes, pay for their workers to buy desks or supplies for their homes or offer a budget for them to use on renting spaces to meet clients.

"(Businesses) are looking at every line item on their on their income statement....because they want to make sure they can survive and thrive over the long-term," said Jean McClellan, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP's Canadian consulting practice.

Companies like GitLab, an all-remote company in San Francisco focused on tools for software developers, may offer some clues about how Canadian companies opting for permanent remote work can tackle salaries.

When GitLab started offering permanent remote work years ago it built a compensation calculator combining a worker's role and seniority with a rent index that correlates local market salaries with rent prices in the area.

Anyone can visit GitLab's site and plug in a role, experience level and location to find a salary.

GitLab's junior data engineers, for example, make between $50,936 and $68,913 if they live in Whitehorse, Yellowknife or Iqaluit, where the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation said the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,695, $1,100 and $2,678 respectively.

That salary shoots up to anywhere from $74,359 to $100,603 for those living in Toronto, Vancouver or Victoria, where CMHC reported the average rents for a two-bedroom home last October were $1,562, $1,748 and $1,448 respectively.

Leblanc warned that varying remote work salaries can create "a global competition for talent in an online world."

People who apply for permanent remote jobs, he said, may find they are fighting for the role against far more people than ever before because companies will be able to source talent living anywhere in the world.

The companies that don't offer remote work at all could also find themselves at a disadvantage, if their industry starts to value flexibility and look less favourably at companies that don't offer it.

GitLab settled on its model and calculator because the company said they offer transparency and eliminate biases around race, gender or disabilities.

Its co-founder Sid Sijbrandij wrote in a blog that the calculator was dreamed up because every time he hired someone, there was a conversation around reasonable compensation.

The negotiation would usually revolve around what the person made beforehand, which was dependent on what city they were in. Gitlab scrapped that model in favour of the calculator and also started letting workers know if they move their salary could change.

However, GitLab acknowledges that many people see paying someone less for the same work in the same role depending on where they live as "harsh." The company disagrees.

"We can't remain consistent if we make exceptions to the policy and allow someone to make greater than local competitive rate for the same work others in that region are doing (or will be hired to do)," it says.

"We realize we might lose a few good people over this pay policy, but being fair to all team members is not negotiable."
 
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BeardOfKnowledge

The Most Consistent Motherfucker You Know
Jul 22, 2015
60,547
56,268
It's revolting. They hang onto every buzzword the media and government use like it's the gospel.
I'm still frequently talking to people running in March 10 information because the media won't push any new information that comes out suggesting this might not be the end of the world. Its maddening to hear "well, it's too bad businesses are going under left and right but I'm doing okay so if it only saves one life."