The Canadian Wheat Board (Which sets the buying price of wheat and barley in Canada, and does the actual purchasing in Canada for domestic use and export) is being phased out by the current government. What does this mean? Well, it means that AriCorps now control all of Canada's grain production costs from the seed to the harvest, as well as what it sells for. Which means they'll take a loss for a few years, which independent farmers can't afford, buy them out, and jack up the prices to whatever the market can bear. As well as sell only what makes the most profit, not what is the best for the land or population.

*Sighs* Sounds familiar, doesn't it?

But they´ll stay on the good path. Their increased economies of scale will allow them to outbid inefficient suppliers, providing a benefit for customers by lowering prices... What? You say the result is the same?

Friggin' Torries.

No he's predicting they'll outbid "inefficient" farms (families) in the short term, but in the long term gain a monopoly over the market and therefore have nobody to keep them in check when they decide to raise prices for no reason other than to increase the profit margin, and if they don't have to worry about having a high quality product to compete with other companies, they won't worry about whether the product they peddle is mediocre or not...

Then again, I'm not gonna get into a political discussion here (especially as I know nothing of Canadian politics), just providing translation if its needed. It may not be, I'm not sure .

Discussion on Canadian Politics: Tory Majority = WE'RE SCREWED!

Isn't the benefit of a parliamentary system the idea that a single party does not gain sole power as is the case now? I always thought that was what the point was... coalitions to ensure more people than just 50% of the population were served. In fact, that's why I always preferred it over what we have down here in the States.

Only in a Minority Government. If the majority of the seats are filled by one party, they pretty much have full reign.

But this is getting away from what I was aiming at and heading into Politics.

Well, when life gives you lemons...

If you can, make some investments in the agricorps that will be snapping up the farms in a few years. Put in shortly after they went through the growing pains of getting a monopoly.

It might be evil, self-serving, and against decent principle, but you'll turn a tidy profit.

You invent combustible lemons and burn somebody's house down? I'm not seeing the applicability.

When someone takes away your special blends of barley that makes certain types of beer that is popular in Canada...

You have Canadians who start wars.

Hey in the states it takes 60%, passing a lawsuit or two or three or more, and the appeals that follow leading to a supreme court challenge to get anything done in the U.S. About the only thing we can do quickly is nuke the world 3 times over.



Of course doesn't Canada have anti-trust laws for this or they toothless/non-existant?


Now put this in an SR perspective, who would be the Johnson's. What would be the runs, and what would be the fallout?

Unfortunately, that's not true. It takes 60% of the Senate to pass anything, and any particular Senator only needs 51% of the vote to get elected. If voter turn out is low (as it usually is when compared to the rest of the developed world [read: Europe]), they can get away with having support from as little 20% of the population (hypothetical figure, I have to go to work in a few minutes and can't check the most recent statistics at the moment).

That's not to say that they don't have support of 50-60% of the population, just that that many people did not vote in the election. Also, recall that the current congress has something like an 6% "excellent" approval rating while having a 68% disapproval rating... (from http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_con...al_performance)

Not entirely sure, but I think the Tories do have over 60% of the seats anyhow. Have to check that.Not too sure about Anti-Trust, but the Canadian Senate is supposed to sort out things like this. But they've been just a rubber stamp since... Um... Forever, I think.The Johnsons would be hired by the ArigCorps to speed up the failures of the independent farmers, so they lose as little market share as possible and speed up the take-over of valuable farm land as quickly as possible to start the profit building. Alternatively, the Opposition Parties (NDP, Liberal, Green) would hire Johnsons to set up demonstrations and media hacks to demonstrate how the destruction of the CWB has destroyed jobs, decimated the environment, and thrown families out on the street in the middle of a Prairie Winter.

The Liberals (And some of the less moralistic NDP and Greens) might also set up 'Runs designed to fail showing how the AgriCorps are lining up and encouraging independent farmers to fold faster and show them for the greedy corporations they are, and the illegal and immoral lengths they're willing to go to, in order to prove the need for a new CWB, and possibly tie the Tories to the deal as well and force a vote from the Governor-General (Who is the representative of the Queen when she isn't in the country.). If that works, the fallout would be the Tories not having enough seats to be an official party (again in my lifetime) and possibly a NDP Minority Government (Possibly a Liberal Minority Government, but that's not being seen as a good thing right now.).

Not quite. Passing a bill requires a simple majority (51% or better). Overcoming a filibuster takes a 60% majority. And since both parties invariably filibuster anything of substance, and neither can normally muster the 60%, we have gridlock. Isn't politics fun?

No.

What's wrong Canray? Don't you want a lovely, responsible and ethical corporation like Monsanto to move into Canada and take over our food supply? What could go wrong? :cough India cough:
I agree with you. I liked it when the Tories had a minority government. The majority they now have is not good for Canadians in general. They are trying to shift things to be more like our neighbours to the south. Nothing against the US citizens but your government is crazy and to outside appearances anyway, bought and paid for by large corporate interests.
As a shadowrun, this sounds interesting. Too bad things like the CWB would have been one of the first things to go when the corps gained extraterritoriality. I wonder if the new countries like Algonquin-Manitou maintained the idea of wheat boards when they took over or instead succumbed to corporate bribery and just let the agri-corps of the time manage it all. I'm guess the latter since soy based foods are the norm rather than cereal based foods. Unless of course, they instead just decided not to export to the new UCAS and kept the cereal crops to themselves and other NAN nations. Maybe the NAN countries enjoy real bread and beer rather than a soy or algae based food substitute. Or maybe they just let the prairie farms return to their natural state.

IIRC, The Algonquin-Manitou Council signed a deal with the Devil, er, Aztechnology... No, I had it right the first time. They had a hard time with their own agricultural business for a few years and needed gengineered grains... From my understanding, that's about all AZT is doing there. You don't exactly want to be practicing Blood Magic in the NAN.

Due to depopulation of the NAN Territories (Both due to VITAS and kicking "Anglos" out, which is everyone save First Nations and Hispanics as Aztlan was part of the NAN at the time), I'd say most of the Prairies are back to grasslands and roaming herds again. But I'd bet they do have a big discount on "real" food, while exporting it at an exceptionally high tariff because, well, who else is exporting? (And because "Frag Anglos! That's why.").

As for the Tories, the only thing I'm happy about is the registry is dying at long last, even if I would have liked to have seen the Assault Rifle listing kept on (If you need full-auto to hit something while hunting, you need to learn to aim!). The "Sniper Rifle Registry" that the NDP was also suggesting, however, I looked at and, um, most are civilian designed hunting rifles that are less accurate than the ol' SMLE/Kar98K.

Oh, it's not just an appearance, believe me. Our government is, in fact, bought and paid for by large corporate interests. Campaign contributions have been ruled a legally protected form of speech under the First Amendment, after all. And don't even get me started on the idea of Mitt "Corporations are people, too" Romney getting elected President...

"Money is Speech"... *Headdesk*

Of course, I probably only react that way because I can't afford a Congressman.

I could have sworn that the kicking "Anglos" out thing was mostly UCAS typical propagandist bullshit in all but one of the NAN members ... and that NAN member later became a failed state that got annexed by a neighbouring NAN member who was far more affluent.

Find myself thinking about a story about Wal-mart, supposedly their standard MO for a new area is to basically price stuff below cost to drive out the local stores. Then once that is done they have a effective monopoly for anywhere within a reasonable travel distance of the store.

Fun and protective. If only 51% agree to something then its not good enough to be law for any large group. This helps protect the minority from the tyranny of the majority.

Yeah, but sometimes the minority is a bunch of assholes. You know, I wouldn't mind if congress went to blows like it sometimes used to.

Most businesses sell at or below price to enter into competitive markets; its a good strategy to entice new customers to try doing business with them. If an established business can't survive a temporary price drop then it is REALLY weak. It is more expensive for the new entity to keep its prices low than for the old business because of startup costs.

In theory. In practice, it prevents anyone from doing anything.

So? Sometimes the majority is a bunch of assholes. In government the % of assholes is higher than normal, none of them have to work for a living.

That is good when it comes to government. The only time freedom and money is safe is when congress isn't passing any laws.

Careful with the politics folks.

Really? Then what happened to all the money that went down the tubes in 2008? This is clearly some strange new usage of the word "safe" of which I was not previously aware.

There are those that call that a feature, not a bug...

sorry, I should have been more general, when congress is in session nothing is safe, although it should probably be as long as government exists nothing is safe...

Or part of the inherent design... Otherwise we'd have stuck with just having a King.

The degree of what each NAN Individual Nation believed a "First Nations Person" was varied between the members, and even the tribes (The Cascade Orks let nearly everyone in.). But, yeah, no Hispanic or First Nation blood that you could prove in some way, out ya went. Of course, there was always "Missing Documentation" that could be discovered "Miraculously", as was the case of a lot of Italian/Navajo mixes that moved to Las Vegas. "Just youse be careful with dem ancient documents. Da ink ain't quite dry yet, knowwhutImean?"Supposedly my hoop. That was their strategy for a long time, probably still is.Parliament is specifically designed to be two sword-lengths-plus-one-foot from the front of the primary parties' chairs. With a line one short step from the foot of the chair.

See, they used to carry swords into Parliament.

I was really expecting to see Jack Layton get called to "Toe The Line" (A holdover from when tempers got high and swordfights might ensue), and start swinging his cane about when major issues started. *Sighs* Another one lost to cancer. That's another reason we're having issues, the Loyal Opposition (NDP) is currently without a leader... (And apparently doesn't understand that a Ruger Mini-14 is designed as a hunting rifle. But that's a different issue.).

If there's 2 or more people who interact, there's a government.
Anarchy cannot exist for long in a social species.

Yeah, too much fighting for dominance.

Oh well, at least we don't hump each others faces over it like monkey's do. Well, we do, but for different reasons.

When monkeys are upset they throw excrement. Marxist Anarchists are doing this now, just imagine if they were trolls, might be considered lethal force...

I usually go with 3 or more being the minimum level for politics to take form, but other then that i agree.

I would like it if Congress would actually filibuster when it says that it does. And I was mistaken earlier... only 51% is needed, and I mistakenly stated that 60% was (because I was counting the filibuster threat). Eitherway, the filibuster is far too overused these days. It seems that both parties filibuster EVERY SINGLE THING that the other party tries to do.

Oh yeah, that's another thing that drives me nuts. Almost nobody actually filibusters anymore; they just say they're going to, and the other side never even brings the bill to the floor because they know they won't even get a proper debate. I'd love to see limits on debating time introduced: each side gets an hour to make their case, then it goes to a straight up-or-down vote. Tyranny of the majority? Guess what: THAT'S WHAT DEMOCRACY IS. Whichever side can gather the most votes, gets to govern. If you don't like it, mobilize your own side next time.

All that money lost was not $20 bills going poof, but rather assets (like houses) losing market value, causing other assets like derrivatives (complex financial instruments that require a PHD to understand), mortgages, stocks to lose value.

Heh, that's funny. (no sarcasm)

I don't know if you remember this, but I asked once upon a time which Shadowrun novels and splash books had stuff on the NAN so I could read more. Didn't find the splash books but I found the novels in the inter-library exchange, it was even a Canadian author, nice lady who emailed me back when I thanked her and asked her a few questions about writing SR stories then.

Anyways, which stuff do I take as being not just faked by the corps? Because the events in stories like Tails You Lose wouldn't have been possible if only those recently descended from claimed NAN or Atzlan heritage remained. I'll accept that some places like the Ute IIRC did that and ended up in a tail spin because of it, but the assertion that everywhere went that way just doesn't seem to hold up under closer scrutiny (heh, closer scrutiny of fiction) IMHO. Pretty sure the ink was still drying on documents for just about anyone who was willing to work under the new management, youknowwhutImean, eh!

To get this more back on the intersection of IRL and Shadowrun, pretty sure the NAN would have told the corps (if not their own) to take a hike and would have the equivalent of the Wheat Board ... which would then export for record profits to other places not doing so hot on the higher end (not soy) food products but at a lower capacity than agri-corps would prefer. Anyone care for Cu ... I mean, NAN cigar? Freshly hand rolled by the shaman's apprentices and much more potent than what the Caribbean League sells, might even let you see the other side of life, man

Thank you, Captain Obvious. The point I was making is that twenty years of deregulation allowed a bunch of arrogant, greedy bankers to build ever more fragile houses of cards; then, when those houses inevitably came crashing down, the economy went with them. Regulation is not automatically bad. What happens when you take the governor off an engine? It destroys itself. I want to put the governors back on Wall Street. I want the SEC and the CFPB to have teeth, and be unafraid to use them. I want there to be a clear, bright line between safe, rational financial activity and the kind of shenanigans that put us into a recession; and I want anyone who strays to the wrong side of that line to go to prison.

Back to the CWB and how it relates to the Resource Rush, SVP.

Yep, what has happened is not so much that money have gone MIA. But rather that people have not been able to flip that money sink of a asset they where holding so that they could get rid of a loan they had no hope of paying down any other way. This makes banks skittish about issuing new loans, resulting in a flow reduction, meaning that other people are sitting on their money rather then spending it and the whole economy grinds to a standstill...

The problem is not lack of teeth, but a revolving door of economists that one year work for the regulators, the next for the banksters.

Never mind that the leading school of economic thought have more in common with a cult then a science...

Native American Nations Volume 1 & 2 have a bunch of (now outdated) stuff on the NAN nations. I've got both books and if you ever get over to Vancouver, let me know and let you have a browse through them.




I like this. A little deepweed in your cigar. Have to work it into a game some time. Maybe even have a PC pick up the habit.

CanRay, don't get started on the registry. That was a stupid idea from the start. It didn't control criminal access to rifles and hasn't prevented anyone from using them in crimes at all. I agree with you on the assault rifle end. Not much reason to pack one for hunting, but any rifle that you can fit a scope to and has a descent range can be used as a sniping weapon. I wish politicians would learn a little more about a subject before trying to arrange laws on it.

So if Aztechnology is in the NAN wheat producing nations to provide gene tweaked crops I suppose a wheat board could exist there still. Some additional force to keep the corp in check. Maybe Aztechnology wants to increase their hold and needs key members of the board gone. You could even work in misguided environmentalists thinking the board is one of the things stopping the nation from going completely back to nature and getting in on the game. Aztech could work with or against. Seems there is quite a bit of meat on this one to work in runs from a somewhat unexpected angle. Farming.