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Dean Tester
@DeanTester
🇨🇦 • Conservative • President @testerdigital
Ottawa, ON
Joined March 2009
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    Just published Episode 3 of The Untitled Political Podcast with @MelissaLantsman — we had a great conversation about her trip to Taiwan, protests in Iran, Conservative convention, and much more. Here's our discussion on what's happening in Iran — listen to the end to hear her
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    My feed is full of Liberals accusing Conservatives of "cheering" on Trump's 25% tariffs. This is completely false. Not a single person is cheering for tariffs, which would be devastating for Canadians. But many are excited about the prospect of securing our border and ending
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    Student unemployment in Ottawa is sitting around 20%, with endless stories about young people handing out hundreds of resumes and getting nowhere. And yet there are hundreds of LMIA requests for food service, admin assistants, and landscapers. What are we doing, Canada?
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    Replying to @HonAhmedHussen
    Step 1: Fail completely at your job. Step 2: Write inflammatory op-ed claiming housing costs are not the responsibility of those who make housing policy Step 3: Blame conservatives Step 4: PINNED TWEET (!!!) Step 5: Ratioed again for a ridiculous take and for failing Canadians
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    A Dutch city banned investment properties ('buy-to-let') — here's what happened: - Home prices stayed the same - Rents went up - Wealthy families replaced working class people in neighbourhoods Why? Banning investment properties doesn't add new housing supply — but it does
    🚨NEW PAPER 🚨: Do investors raise housing costs, crowd-out first-time homebuyers, and change neighborhoods? My non-twitter co-authors and I study this question by tracking the impact of ban on buy-to-let investment. We can do so almost in real-time! A 🧵(1/14)
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    When Stephen Harper was Prime Minister, Canada built 573 homes for every 1,000 population growth. That's 1.75 people per home. Under Justin Trudeau, Canada's built 389 homes for every 1,000 population growth. That's 2.57 people per home. With @SeanFraserMP as housing minister,
    Chart of population growth vs housing starts since 2006. Source: Statistics Canada
    Apparently Pierre Poilievre is talking to his webcam about building homes again. A friendly reminder of what he got built as Housing Minister under Harper: 0 new apartments 0 co-ops supported 6 affordable housing units Have a good weekend!
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    🚨 THREAD: Ottawa's planning committee just voted to delay a 30% affordable, missing middle development near a major transit station. Because they wanted 20 more parking spaces. A quick look inside the soul crushing world of NIMBY city politics:
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    Imagine that. Millennials who couldn't afford a $1,500,000 home in Toronto also couldn't afford a home that costs $1,495,000.
    Only 385 households have used the First-Time Home Buyer Incentive in Toronto, Vancouver, and Victoria, according to a Globe and Mail analysis, despite changes that were intended to make it more useable in pricier markets. theglobeandmail.com/business/artic…
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    Critics: Our hospitals are full and we have massive surgery backlogs. Ford: Ok, we'll open more publicly-funded surgery clinics to take the load off hospitals. Critics: NO YOU'RE DESTROYING PUBLIC HEALTH CARE
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    Can someone please explain to me why we can't watch CBC News Network for free online? CBC gets more than a billion dollars per year from taxpayers and is government owned and operated... ... but private sector CTV News Network is free online. 🤨
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    If a city councillor tells you they are progressive and that climate is their top issue... but they oppose infill housing in their ward because wealthy homeowners don't like tall buildings... you don't actually have a progressive city councillor who cares about climate.
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    Fixing Canada's housing crisis, summarized. Actual Fix: → Build more homes Popular 'fix': → Stop immigration (right) → End capitalism (left) Justin Trudeau's 'fix': → Pretend it's not his problem → New savings account → $$$ for cities We're in trouble.
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    Watching a Toronto planning meeting for the first time. A small apartment building going up near a major transit hub (Yonge / Eglinton). Apparently, this area is zoned as a neighbourhood where "significant growth is generally not anticipated". WHY DOES THIS EXIST IN TORONTO?
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    What if we just subsidise demand?
    Chrystia Freeland announced this morning that starting Aug. 1, first-time homebuyers can have 30-year insured mortgage amortizations if they're buying a newly built home. Currently it's 25 years. (There's no news release yet from the finance department on this)