Feds have reached a deal with provinces on pot tax (somewhere between 70 and 80 per cent of the revenue)

This is going to go over like a balloon filled with cement.......but that's never stopped me before....so....

Many counties and cities in the US are bankrupt, have gone bankrupt, are facing it, or have had trustees appointed to manage budgets. One of the big drivers of costs is nested pension obligations of firefighters, police, all of the support services and unions that typically attach to government. These pensions are fully indexed, and often for life.

Longer lifespans, and the inversion of the population pyramid (like an inverted pear) means there is less workers in the economy to support structural obligations. No politician wants to be seen as raising taxes without an obvious something to point to. And blammo.....service cuts.

Once the easy ones are gone, then come the bigger ones. Deferred maintenance, delayed infrastructure....yadda yadda. There's a few sacred cows.

Police and firefighters are an example.

A few years ago, I read an interesting article on how - over the past 100 years - the incidence of fires has decreased dramatically, due to building codes and advances in homebuilding materials. Yet, there's more firefighters per capita than ever. One will note that they are first responders to more events than fires - chemical spills, car accidents, etc. Like scope creep, their jobs have grown to encompass a range of tasks. Are they the best resources for this? Are there ways to put more on call - and have fewer full time?

I notice health care has really laid into paramedics - by cutting pay for standby, charging for ambulance rides, and using thin shifts. A paramedic doesn't make alot for 8 years post secondary.

I'm not comparing it.

My point is that nobody - and I mean nobody - in a public space is going to say we need fewer firefighters, even if we do. And if a muni wants to cheaply outsource some of the 'jobs' they are doing, they'll take it in the neck from all sides.

Same with police. And say for example if we actually needed 10% less across the country to keep us as safe as we are now, how do you think that would go over with the public?

That conversation will never happen.

/r/TheCannalysts Thread Parent Link - ctvnews.ca