Comments on: Unemployment in Quebec is always by choice, apparently

By: bdgbill

bdgbill — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 15:15:51 +0000

@ Tim - Good point. In my situation, the only people I know who are not working all happen to be in that (under 25) age bracket.

I live downtown and I certainly see LOTS of people that age who are working. Most of them are doing miserable retail or food service jobs for low pay.

I am becoming such an old fogey in my late 30’s. I keep catching myself thinking of everyone under 30 as shiftless squeegee punks - lol

By: Neath

Neath — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 14:57:55 +0000

Yea, being bilingual is an excellent point. This type of talk has been going on since Day One. Moses’s generation used to bitch about young people who hated desert crossings, and on and on it goes……..

By: Tim

Tim — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 03:05:27 +0000

@bdgbill: But, in my opinion, there’s no need to target the under-25 bracket. Remove all mention of age in that sentence—and maybe some other criteria like metro Montreal, agreedly—and it still applies: Show me an able-bodied 20-year-oldperson fluent in English or French, in Montreal, who can’t find a job and I’ll show you a shiftless, lying bum.

By: bdgbill

bdgbill — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:29:29 +0000

Show me an able-bodied 20-year-old who can’t find a job and I’ll show you a shiftless, lying bum.

I don’t know, I tend to agree with this comment. Maybe not out in the hinterlands but surely in metro Montreal.

I know some people in this age bracket that are not working. The problem is usually not that they can’t find a job, it’s that they cannot find a job they like.

I’m 38 and i don’t like my job. I do it because I have to. I would consider it shameful to be on welfare and would only do it a last resort.

By: Fred

Fred — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:17:25 +0000

@tim:

‘Coz it’s easier to target the population responsible for all the problems we are facing right now: The ones that weren’t even born when decisions affecting us right now were taken. Also, everybody knows that babyboomers are always right and angelic. ;)

I might ask for his contact. Looks like he’s getting some sweet sweet buds…!

By: Tim

Tim — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 13:47:45 +0000

While we’re at it…

… 183,000 work-eligible layabouts are arsing the poodle and selling the pups on pogey, 20,000 of them under 25.

Hmm, why does Duff choose to pick on 10% of the target population? Supposing that the remaining 90% are evenly distributed in years from 26 to 65*, that means there are 39,500 46-to-55 year olds on the dole. I say: show me an able-bodied 45-year-old who can’t find a job and I’ll show you (a) someone who’s likely been a drain on the system for longer than your 20-year-old, and (b) another 45-year-old standing in line behind him.

And then there’s this lovely non sequitur:

The new Quebec Pension Plan is a foil-lined closet with a grow light, automatic waterer and a couple of high-grade marijuana bushes pumping out a weekly crop of bud.

Sounds like the man knows a bit on the topic—and I don’t mean public pension fund management. I wonder what Jim did during his 20’s? (I know, I know, ad hominem tu quoque… but it’s FUN!)

* demographically speaking, of course, they’re more likely concentrated around, y’know, Jim’s age.