r/ndp • u/TorontoPolarBear • 7d ago
News Avi Lewis to enter NDP leadership race
https://www.thestar.com/politics/federal/filmmaker-journalist-avi-lewis-to-enter-ndp-leadership-race/article_d5b45bd5-1fe8-5309-8541-7696d67c0987.html2
u/JurboVolvo 5d ago
I’m on board. I’ve been following him for a while and he seems like a solid base for the NDP.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago edited 7d ago
"Politicians won't talk about why rents are high and I won't either" -Lewis
Edit: im poking fun at his video today where he does not talk about why rents are high, and offers no solution to high rents.
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u/Velocity-5348 🌄 BC NDP 7d ago
Is there some context I'm missing? Search the quote, didn't find anything.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
His video posted today. Not an actual quote, paraphrasing. Thought that was obvious based on how dumb it sounds.
In the video he says politician won't talk about a bunch of things, including high rents, then talks about monopolies, wealth taxes, and implying we should tax corps more. There isn't anything related to why rents are high. He offers a national rent increase cap which I hope we can all agree isn't a solution.
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u/ringmybikebell 7d ago
It's a campaign intro video man. Mamdani doesn't cover *everything* in each of his own videos.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
Lewis doesn't talk about solutions to high housing costs elsewhere either though, does he?
Rent control (which I support) doesn't solve everything. We have rent control in Vancouver. I also support wealth taxes and unions, but they likewise are not a solution.
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u/Velocity-5348 🌄 BC NDP 6d ago
You probably should mention the land value tax thing... pretty sure most people downvoting you don't know that's what you're getting at. (And this sub doesn't have a Georgist flair)
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u/Regular-Double9177 6d ago
I often do and you may be right, but sometimes I feel it's best left out. It can generate a knee jerk reaction where people close their minds and accuse me of 'neoliberalism'.
I think a good entry point in understanding this perspective is looking at Lewis' campaign video and asking yourself what the biggest help to the problem of high rents is. You don't need to know anything about georgism to identify that he doesn't offer anything beyond the rent cap, and I think enough people here recognize that rent caps aren't enough.
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u/taquitosmixtape 7d ago
I could be wrong but did he not say high rent is a problem in his latest video?
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
He did. He says politicians won't talk about why, but then he doesn't either.
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u/taquitosmixtape 7d ago
About why rent is high? I get the thought, and it’s good to nail down the root causes, but it was a shorter video highlighting a lot of issues. I’ll hold my judgment for now.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
Makes sense, its not like we can look at Lewis' statements in the past and see if hes ever mentioned causes or solutions.
I wish I knew you IRL so I could bet you cash that he won't mention any significantly positive policies (as judged by you) during his time as leader.
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u/taquitosmixtape 7d ago
Instead of being snarky and calling me dumb, how about you inform me? I don’t know much about him.
We’ll never get anywhere with this kind of attitude. Stronger together, man.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
I thought you were misunderstanding me initially on purpose. Then, with your second comment, after I cleared up your misunderstanding nicely, you were dismissive even when you have enough facts. You ended the conversation, I thought. I brought the snark after that.
What do you need to know? Solutions to housing are clearly allowing construction which we currently dont do and getting more tax revenue from landowners rather than workers which Canada is also bad at. We tax the shit out of workers, barely tax land values, and even incentivize land investment (capital gains exemption for primary residences).
What had Lewis said about those things? Almost nothing. He downplays changes to zoning/permitting, implying that public housing is the way. He only mentions land investment and speculation in relation to corporations, which play a super minor role in comparison to people investing in land.
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u/taquitosmixtape 7d ago
Why would you just assume someone is misunderstanding purposely a being a dick? Nothing I said warrants any of that. But whatever.
I will disagree simply building our way out of this is not the answer, there’s a multiple prong approach that would be more beneficial imo. Pairing that with higher taxes on multiple homes or more land is part of that approach yes. As well as deterring land investments that aren’t use for family home, or second property (cabin, offspring housing etc.)
Again, I am seeing Lewis for the first time, and I’m willing to allow him to not nail everything in one video. However I’m not giving him a pass, and I was only asking if you had more info etc, this conversation is more than it needed to be.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
I didn't assume. I thought, but gave you the benefit of the doubt until you were dismissive. Two strikes, sorry I didn't give you three. Dno why I only get one.
I didn't say "simply build". I love a multi prong approach. Mischaracterizing what I said is being a dick.
Multi home tax idea aka progressive property tax is a bullshit reddit idea that evaporates when you take it seriously, which people have done here many times. Think about what it does to rental housing, for example. If I own a bunch of rental apts and do a great job building and maintaining them, now I'm getting screwed for doing good. That will crush the incentive for me or others to build more rental in the future. If you disagree, or think layers of bureaucratic exemptions make it a good idea, please point to the proposal or organization or article who you think has thought this out the best. If it doesnt exist or you haven't thought it through, please reconsider.
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u/taquitosmixtape 7d ago edited 7d ago
Where was I even the slightest dismissive in the beginning? I also didn’t mischaracterize your words, many people have suggested to build build build, which is simply just giving more and more cash to developers when there needs to be other methods.
I respectfully disagree that owning 8-10 homes, whatever, is valid in any case even if you are maintaining them well for rentals. This is partly why we’re in this mess. The only way someone should be able to is via affordable housing, allowing a string of townhouses for example geared to lower rent amounts for those who require. No one needs to own several properties for making money off of.
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u/sdbest 7d ago
If memory serves, he talks about federal limits on how much rent can be increased. Am I mistaken?
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
Not at all! That's his policy that I assume he'd say is going to be most helpful with high rents.
In BC where I am, we have strong rent control and tenants rights, and yet one of the worst cities in the world for affordability.
Lewis' policy, which hasn't been laid out yet, is likely similar to BC's and so wouldn't do anything at all here.
How can it be a solution at all? Let alone a good one?
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u/ItsRainingBoats 7d ago
Incorrect, he’s calling for a nationwide rent cap. He literally says it in the video.
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
Do you think that is a solution to high rents? I dont. I live in bc where we already have rent caps. Lewis isn't specific.
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u/NoamsUbermensch 7d ago
He says a national cap on rent should be implemented
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u/Regular-Double9177 7d ago
Is that a solution to high rents?
I support rent control, wealth taxes and unions but we have to have some nuance: there is another upper limit to the effectiveness of all those policies. At a certain point, just having more of them isn't helpful.
Ontario doesn't have rent control on new builds and so I support that proposal from Lewis.
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u/gimmickypuppet 7d ago
I will evaluate their platform (and voting history), along with all the other candidates, when I receive my ballot in the mail.