http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/grenier-2017-elections-1.4450669
Candidates matter and the unexpected can happen: lessons from 2017's elections
The past year of elections featured some narrow victories, surprising upsets and a few lessons to be learned
By Éric Grenier, CBC News Posted: Dec 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET3033 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
Val Stavinski
@Val Stavinski Boring, boring, just boring??? I disagree I think its an interesting circus being orchestrated by CBC and their pollster.
For example
"This doesn't mean that underdogs always win or that expectations are always wrong. But every now and then, the polls miss the mark, candidates pull off upsets and a series of events produce the least likely of outcomes. And it could happen again in 2018."
YUP Methinks Grenier and CBC overlooked the biggest underdog of them all N'esy Pas? Need I say I'm back?
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/fundy-royal-riding-profile-1.3274276
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-draft-td-canadatrust-royalbank-rbc-bmo-cibc-canada-banking-cash-cheques-1.4457823
Why old-fashioned bank drafts could leave you on the hook for big bucks
System makes money for banks, but electronic transfers would be faster with less risk for customers
By Aaron Saltzman, CBC News Posted: Dec 31, 2017 5:00 AM ET477 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.
@Michael McHenry
Our politicians like to tell us how lucky we are to live in "nice" Canada.
But the reality is that we have corporations that are just as rapacious as anywhere and in many areas far less protections for ordinary folks than in the US or Europe. This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging from investment fraud to pension security.
Our politicians like to tell us how lucky we are to live in "nice" Canada.
But the reality is that we have corporations that are just as rapacious as anywhere and in many areas far less protections for ordinary folks than in the US or Europe. This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging from investment fraud to pension security.
Content disabled.
David Amos
@Gary McCaig "This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging
from investment fraud to pension security."
True and don't forget the insurance industry. Furthermore guess who has their greedy fingers in each pie?
True and don't forget the insurance industry. Furthermore guess who has their greedy fingers in each pie?
@David Amos Methinks that there can be only one reason why CBC blocked my reply to Mr McCaig N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Methinks folks who are truly
concerned about the actions of Banksters should start checking my work
ASAP and before the next stock market crash would be wise.
A fine way to begin your research byway of the Internet would to simply Google the following words N'esy Pas?
David Amos Bank Fraud
David Amos
Stephen George
David Amos
A fine way to begin your research byway of the Internet would to simply Google the following words N'esy Pas?
David Amos Bank Fraud
@David Amos A little Deja Vu for folks to review and ponder why our government allows this malice to continue
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-s-deceptive-titles-put-investments-at-risk-1.4044702
'I feel duped': Why bank employees with impressive but misleading titles could cost you big time
"The game today is to earn clients' trust," said Larry Elford, a former certified investment manager with RBC and lead researcher of the SIPA report. "And never let them know that you are actually a commissioned salesperson and you don't have to honour that trust."
The stakes are high, says Elford, who points out that a two per cent management fee on mutual funds typically cuts an investor's retirement fund by about half over a 35-year period.
A common trick for misleading customers, according to Elford, is the banking industry's use of the term "financial advisor" — spelled with an "o."
He says "advisor" is an unregulated title that anyone can use, whereas the title "adviser" — spelled with an "e" — can only be used if the employee has a fiduciary responsibility to the client.
"Advisors can sell you the third, fourth, fifth or least beneficial product to you," Elford said. "They do that a great deal of the time if it makes them more commissions, or if their bank manager is telling them they need to sell more of the house-brand product."
The Ontario Securities Commission confirms that "adviser" is a legal term under securities law that describes a person or company that is registered to give advice about securities, whereas "advisor" is not.
In an email to Go Public, the Canadian Securities Administrators confirmed that it does not regulate most titles used by employees in the financial industry.
http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/bank-s-deceptive-titles-put-investments-at-risk-1.4044702
'I feel duped': Why bank employees with impressive but misleading titles could cost you big time
"The game today is to earn clients' trust," said Larry Elford, a former certified investment manager with RBC and lead researcher of the SIPA report. "And never let them know that you are actually a commissioned salesperson and you don't have to honour that trust."
The stakes are high, says Elford, who points out that a two per cent management fee on mutual funds typically cuts an investor's retirement fund by about half over a 35-year period.
A common trick for misleading customers, according to Elford, is the banking industry's use of the term "financial advisor" — spelled with an "o."
He says "advisor" is an unregulated title that anyone can use, whereas the title "adviser" — spelled with an "e" — can only be used if the employee has a fiduciary responsibility to the client.
"Advisors can sell you the third, fourth, fifth or least beneficial product to you," Elford said. "They do that a great deal of the time if it makes them more commissions, or if their bank manager is telling them they need to sell more of the house-brand product."
The Ontario Securities Commission confirms that "adviser" is a legal term under securities law that describes a person or company that is registered to give advice about securities, whereas "advisor" is not.
In an email to Go Public, the Canadian Securities Administrators confirmed that it does not regulate most titles used by employees in the financial industry.
@David Amos
And it's all the Liberal's fault right David?
And it's all the Liberal's fault right David?
@Stephen George WRONG It has
been the fault of EVERY parliamentarian both federally and provincially
ever since Trudeau "The Elder" and his cohorts in all the political
parties sold us out to the Banksters back in the seventies.
Why else would I be suing the CROWN after running for public office as an Independent 5 times thus far while CBC denied that my name was on the ballots and the government even denied my right to vote?
Stephen George
Why else would I be suing the CROWN after running for public office as an Independent 5 times thus far while CBC denied that my name was on the ballots and the government even denied my right to vote?
@David Amos
Poor baby.
Poor baby.
Michael G. L. Geraldson
I recently transferred money
electronically myself. It took five business days to show up in the
recipients account. I can't help but wonder if it was a glitch or the
banks way of earning a bit more money.
@Michael G. L. Geraldson The
Banksters never lose. Everybody knows they lobby the politicians very
well and support their election bids to insure that fact.
@Michael G. L. Geraldson
The old 'Golden Rule' people with the GOLD make the rules.
The old 'Golden Rule' people with the GOLD make the rules.
@davie david Oh so so sad but oh so true.
I have been reminding myself and many others of that fact for 40 years when a Rhodes Scholar friend advised me as I created my "Limited"company and began dealing with Banksters with everything I had on the line.
Brad Bendler
David Amos
I have been reminding myself and many others of that fact for 40 years when a Rhodes Scholar friend advised me as I created my "Limited"company and began dealing with Banksters with everything I had on the line.
@David Amos It's very difficult to take you seriously when you persist in the use of the word "bankster".
@Brad Bendler Everybody knows
that I did not coin that expression. However methinks I should be fair
and lay odds in a bet with you that the lion's share of the Canadian and
Yankee folks would agree that name you don't like suits them to a T
particularly after October of 2008 N'esy Pas?.
greg howard
So, in one instance the bank
says it is just "like cash", yet when cashing the draft it is "held for
three days" just like a cheque?
I guess if you are big enough, you can have it both ways.
I guess if you are big enough, you can have it both ways.
@greg howard
I have never faced a hold when depositing a bank draft, which means my experience differs from what is reported in the article.
Indeed, when I acted as an executor I was told by the lawyer to use bank drafts to avoid having the recipients face a hold.
I have never faced a hold when depositing a bank draft, which means my experience differs from what is reported in the article.
Indeed, when I acted as an executor I was told by the lawyer to use bank drafts to avoid having the recipients face a hold.
@Henri Bianchi I have
witnessed it in the USA. Trust that south of the 49th parallel Banksters
don't trust other Banksters for very valid reasons.
Louren Organzo
David Amos
David Amos
@Henri Bianchi
You need a better lawyer
You need a better lawyer
@Louren Organzo I believe you
may mean a more clever lawyer. Correct? Methinks in order to get a
better lawyer you must find a good one in the first place. My personal
experiences have taught me that there is no such thing. I know many
folks agree with me otherwise there would not be so many lawyer jokes
going way back in time to the old bard and before. N'esy Pas?
@Kevin Lacroix "Customer service"..... keep them in the dark , apologise later if need be."
YUP
Methinks the government and the legal profession operate on the same principles.
YUP
Methinks the government and the legal profession operate on the same principles.
Michael McHenry
I don't get this. I lived
in Europe for 16 years and never wrote a cheque to anyone. Everything
was paid by paperless "virements" - essentially an electronic transfer.
These were free - no fees of any kind on them. Some countries, like
Sweden mandated that banks ensure funds were delivered to the recipient
in three hours or less. My own experience in Belgium was a delivery
generally within that time frame. When I moved back to North America
(first the U.S. then Canada) it was like banking had regressed 20 years.
I remember one bank I used in the U.S. had "electronic" payments as an
option which consisted of me filling out a form on their website which
caused a paper check to be generated and sent to the recipient. And
they gave themselves 10 days to do it! Canada needs to enact
legislation that moves banking to a fully electronic payment system as
they have in Europe. Time to join the 21st century and leave the 19th
behind.
@Michael McHenry FYI I have not written a cheque in so long I truly can't remember.
However right now I am in the process of filing an application for leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and I ran into a strange thing. The court demands that litigants file both in paper and electronically (Except Pro Se non lawyer litigants such as myself are not required to do the electronic part). but demands that I send them a paper cheque or a postal money order or a bank draft or to simply bring cold hard cash.
Go Figure why I cannot pay the court's filing fee byway pf an electronic payment from the very same account that the government sends my Old Age and CPP entitlements electronically. Strange world N'esy Pas?
Carol Becker
David Amos
However right now I am in the process of filing an application for leave to Appeal to the Supreme Court of Canada and I ran into a strange thing. The court demands that litigants file both in paper and electronically (Except Pro Se non lawyer litigants such as myself are not required to do the electronic part). but demands that I send them a paper cheque or a postal money order or a bank draft or to simply bring cold hard cash.
Go Figure why I cannot pay the court's filing fee byway pf an electronic payment from the very same account that the government sends my Old Age and CPP entitlements electronically. Strange world N'esy Pas?
@David Amos Tell me why the
French government (I live in France) will only accept a special stamp to
pay for things that are government related. To renew my 10 year visa I
had to go to my local tabc shop and give them the amount in cash. They
then gave me these special stamps to pay the government for my visa.
@Carol Becker You are asking a
man of Scottish heritage to explain the actions of French men? Trust
that even though I love several of them dearly I would have no better
luck in trying to explain women and their reasoning.
However in our bilingual Canada I had to the battle the bureaucratic Feds for years to get my CPP etc because "The Bathurst Group" and Revenue Canada cancelled my SIN # years ago for no reason I will ever understand. Yet I can renew my passport with only my birth certificate and a cheque or cash because I am not dead yet.
Furthermore whereas the FEDs cancelled my SIN # I am not compelled to pay Income taxes anymore. Hence I am not complaining about that but FATCA does disturb me because the Yankee Taxman may attack my Canadian bank account.
Gary McCaig
David Amos
Brenda Estile
Brenda Estile
David Amos
Kent Worthy
Matthew Zimmerman
David Amos
Gary Jessop
David Amos
Bill Davis
David Amos
mo bennett
David Amos
William Burnham
David Amos
Gary Jessop
David Amos
Brian Meller
David Amos
However in our bilingual Canada I had to the battle the bureaucratic Feds for years to get my CPP etc because "The Bathurst Group" and Revenue Canada cancelled my SIN # years ago for no reason I will ever understand. Yet I can renew my passport with only my birth certificate and a cheque or cash because I am not dead yet.
Furthermore whereas the FEDs cancelled my SIN # I am not compelled to pay Income taxes anymore. Hence I am not complaining about that but FATCA does disturb me because the Yankee Taxman may attack my Canadian bank account.
@Michael McHenry
Our politicians like to tell us how lucky we are to live in "nice" Canada.
But the reality is that we have corporations that are just as rapacious as anywhere and in many areas far less protections for ordinary folks than in the US or Europe. This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging from investment fraud to pension security.
Our politicians like to tell us how lucky we are to live in "nice" Canada.
But the reality is that we have corporations that are just as rapacious as anywhere and in many areas far less protections for ordinary folks than in the US or Europe. This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging from investment fraud to pension security.
Content disabled.
David Amos
@Gary McCaig "This doesn't just apply to banking it applies to areas ranging
from investment fraud to pension security."
True and don't forget the insurance industry. Furthermore guess who has their greedy fingers in each pie?
True and don't forget the insurance industry. Furthermore guess who has their greedy fingers in each pie?
@David Amos Methinks that there can be only one reason why CBC blocked my reply to Mr McCaig N'esy Pas?
Brenda Estile
You should be able to
electronically transfer unlimited cash and have it show up in the
recipients account instantly without fees or services charges. Too much
nonsense.
@Ian Scott
Well, some people use the taxpayer in that manner.
Well, some people use the taxpayer in that manner.
@Brenda Estile LOL
Earl Murphy
David Amos
@Ian Scott Think if we only
had to have 10 % of actual cash in our accounts we might wish to use
and were allowed to spend or loan out the other 90 % without any backup ,
we'd all do as well as the banks .
@Earl Murphy The ghost of the
mythical Fabian will always be with us because the people who work
within the system are too fat, dumb and happy to ever act ethically just
like he predicted long ago.
Kent Worthy
Excellent article. Thanks for
the information. I was going to go forward and use a draft to pay a
debt in the states. No longer. I'm going to use an interact email
instead. Safer that way.
@Kent Worthy writes, 'I was
going to ... use a draft to pay a debt in the states. No longer. I'm
going to use an interact email instead.'
Interac e-Transfer only works in Canada.
Interac e-Transfer only works in Canada.
@Matthew Zimmerman True
Gary Jessop
There appears to be a float
involved too when you pay down your credit card. Although the payments
are electronic and potentially instantaneous, it can take up to a week
for the outstanding balance to be relieved.
@Gary Jessop We both know the reason why that is. Correct?
Methinks we should thank the Yankee Bill Janklow for such malicious nonsense and the amazing usury fees associated with credit cards etc. N'esy Pas?
Methinks we should thank the Yankee Bill Janklow for such malicious nonsense and the amazing usury fees associated with credit cards etc. N'esy Pas?
Mike Moeller
Since when should customers
think that banks would do anything to help people. They charge us to
"hold" our money. Something very wrong with that picture. They make
BILLIONS each year, and are parasites to customers.
@Mike Moeller Good socialist
attitude. Totally untrue but sure sounds good to a capitalist hater.
What a shame you haven't lived in a country where you can stand outside
the door as it closes permanently whining about your money. Canada with
your attitude seems to be intent on going back to the trees and hating
one of the best banking systems in the world is right on cue.
@Bill Davis "one of the best banking systems in the world"
It once was Thanks to Prime Minister R.B Bennett. However when Trudeau "The Elder" sold us out to Banksters around 1974 or so.
Methinks Honourble Paul Hellyer who is our oldest member of the Queen's Privy Council and second in Commonwealth seniority only to her hubby Price Philip wrote a book about titled "Good Bye Canada" N'esy Pas?
It once was Thanks to Prime Minister R.B Bennett. However when Trudeau "The Elder" sold us out to Banksters around 1974 or so.
Methinks Honourble Paul Hellyer who is our oldest member of the Queen's Privy Council and second in Commonwealth seniority only to her hubby Price Philip wrote a book about titled "Good Bye Canada" N'esy Pas?
mo bennett
banks screwing their customers, again. next!
@mo bennett YO Mo I'm back. Methinks its much to the chagrin of many Banksters N'esy Pas?
Brad Bendler
David Amos
@mo bennett Why is this so difficult to understand? Borrow money from bank, pay interest.
Use bank services, pay the pre-determined rates.
What other rules are you missing?
Use bank services, pay the pre-determined rates.
What other rules are you missing?
@Brad Bendler Methinks Mo has figured out what motivated your comment. Hence all you will hear are crickets N'esy Pas Mo?
mo bennett
mo bennett
@David Amos next time you shouldn't.
@Brad Bendler most people
would be askin' you the same ? what part didn't you understand in the
story that the bank darlings don't always 'splain all their rules to
their customers!
William Burnham
What a surprise, the rules favour the banks. Anyone ever successfully understood everything in a mortgage agreement ?
@William Burnham I do
BTW the term mortgage is sourced from the French language which means quite literally death-pledge
BTW the term mortgage is sourced from the French language which means quite literally death-pledge
Mike Johnson
Honestly everything the bank
does for 'your' security is for theirs. PINs and chips ? Basically now
the bank can say your card was present and PIN used therefore it's your
problem. Never mind that these things can easily be duplicated and
copied by just about anyone.
Before that a signature was required which lets face it is actually more difficult to fake then any digital signature.
Before that a signature was required which lets face it is actually more difficult to fake then any digital signature.
@Mike Johnson
Recently my on-line bank reissued me a credit card with a chip. When I made my first purchase the cashier simply tapped the card on the machine, handed me my receipt and I was all set! No PIN required. That must mean the card is as good as cash in the wrong hands. Will somebody please tell me I somehow got this wrong?
Recently my on-line bank reissued me a credit card with a chip. When I made my first purchase the cashier simply tapped the card on the machine, handed me my receipt and I was all set! No PIN required. That must mean the card is as good as cash in the wrong hands. Will somebody please tell me I somehow got this wrong?
@Gary Jessop You are not wrong. My debit card acts the same way. I could be cleaned out rather quickly if I lost it.
Louren Organzo
David Amos
@David Amos
I've never tried to turn it off of a CC, but most (all?) banks will disable tap on debit if you ask, my Son taught me that.
I've never tried to turn it off of a CC, but most (all?) banks will disable tap on debit if you ask, my Son taught me that.
@Louren Organzo My Bankster
was decent enough to ask me if I wanted the tap option on my debit card
and I took it because I don't have much money anyway. Hence I won't
complain about it if I ever do lose the card.
Brian Meller
Banks love to tell you how
secure bank cards, credit cards with chips, banking apps are, etc. and
that they've got your back. But be a victim of identity theft, and
they'll accuse you of giving your pin to a friend, not keeping the card
secure, etc. in order to pin the loss on you. Meanwhile, they profit on
all the outrageous fees for giving you this "service" with your own
money that they give you a pittance of interest for, if at all. They
have no shame, they have no honour. How many of you have good friends
that are bankers? That's what I thought.
@Brian Meller "How many of you have good friends that are bankers?"
Methinks that Banksters, bureaucrats, cops and lawyers don't have friends, they merely have clients. Politicians pretend they have friends but they don't even trust each other enough to have a true friend.
However the "Powers That Be" between elections must rely on the greed of the other aforementioned parties to keep them in office and allow the corrupt system to go on and on to the chagrin of the folks they purportedly serve and protect and beg for a vote from every four years or so. N'esy Pas?
Methinks that Banksters, bureaucrats, cops and lawyers don't have friends, they merely have clients. Politicians pretend they have friends but they don't even trust each other enough to have a true friend.
However the "Powers That Be" between elections must rely on the greed of the other aforementioned parties to keep them in office and allow the corrupt system to go on and on to the chagrin of the folks they purportedly serve and protect and beg for a vote from every four years or so. N'esy Pas?
Fenian Conn
The worst thing Canadian
banks have done lately is to disown the entire caste of lowest income
people and delivered them into the hands of those dreadful pay-day loan
cheque cashing outlets. Such blatant discrimination. There ought to be
a law.
@Fenian Conn "There ought to be a law"
I agree
Gord McPherson
A bank draft represents a
transfer of funds from the purchasers account to an account controlled
by the the bank that sold the draft.
The transfer of funds from the purchasers account to the bank is for the purchase of a notionally physical product. However, a bank draft represents value in the exactly same way a $20 bill ‘represents’ value.
So, if I withdraw $100,000 in small, unmarked bills, walk it across the street to another bank and deposit it, is a hold placed on my deposited funds?
The transaction, whether by draft or duffel bags full of cash, is identical. The only difference is the volume of paper and the fact that one instrument is a profitable product offered by banks - add on the float - and the other is just cash.
The excuses banks use to put holds on their own instruments is bogus.
If interbank transfers are such an odious process then how can banks borrow on the overnight market so readily?
The transfer of funds from the purchasers account to the bank is for the purchase of a notionally physical product. However, a bank draft represents value in the exactly same way a $20 bill ‘represents’ value.
So, if I withdraw $100,000 in small, unmarked bills, walk it across the street to another bank and deposit it, is a hold placed on my deposited funds?
The transaction, whether by draft or duffel bags full of cash, is identical. The only difference is the volume of paper and the fact that one instrument is a profitable product offered by banks - add on the float - and the other is just cash.
The excuses banks use to put holds on their own instruments is bogus.
If interbank transfers are such an odious process then how can banks borrow on the overnight market so readily?
@Gord McPherson "The excuses banks use to put holds on their own instruments is bogus."
Banksters cannot afford to trust other Banksters I know from personal experience.
Google David Amos Bank Fraud
and see how far down the rabbit hole I can take you
Banksters cannot afford to trust other Banksters I know from personal experience.
Google David Amos Bank Fraud
and see how far down the rabbit hole I can take you
Pat Evans
Bankers are no better than thieves and I actually find them much worse.
Bankers make a pile of money and rob the economy for basically doing/producing nothing.
Bankers make a pile of money and rob the economy for basically doing/producing nothing.
@Pat Evans Enough with the melodrama. Banks and other financial institutions provide the services their customers want.
If you aren't happy with those services, don't use them. Go back to cash only, or if you're a gambler give bitcoin a try.
If you aren't happy with those services, don't use them. Go back to cash only, or if you're a gambler give bitcoin a try.
David Amos
@Brad Bendler Methinks it must be rough when one finally realizes that one's chosen profession has been found to be in such disrepute for hundreds of years and now even CBC admits it N'esy Pas?
Erik Dravnieks
Banks are there to make
money, not for their customers good will... as user charges for accounts
made clear a decade or so ago, whilst CEO and exec compensation went
through the roof..
@Erik Dravnieks True
Terrance Van Gemert
David Amos
Robbie Adams
David Amos
Terrance Van Gemert
Look if a Cheque is not good
enough too bad.. Just how live is.. most business still use good old
fashion cheque.. EPayCheque is still a cheque always will be and always
shall be and it is 100% Traceable.
Bank Drafts are not Traceable.
Bank Drafts are not Traceable.
@Terrance Van Gemert Good point and one can Fedex a certified one overnight to most places
Robbie Adams
How did the Trudeau Government send the 55 million to the Aga Khan. Money order...Bank Draft...direct deposit????
@Robbie Adams Methinks we
should check the Pair a Dice Papers. Quite likely the cash was already
in the same Bank in the Bahamas N'esy Pas?
Robbie Adams
How did the Trudeau
Government deposit the millions to O'Khadr and the 33.3 million to the
other three. Money order...Bank Draft...
@Robbie Adams Methinks it
must have an MOU with a IOU and the cold hard cash to seal the deal was
flown off some island in the Bahamas on a helicopter last Xmass N'esy
Pas?
Aadil Jabari
I was sitting on my couch watching a movie.
My depression was overwhelming me,
So I grabbed my phone to read c bc comments for the day,
Now I have a reason to live.
My depression was overwhelming me,
So I grabbed my phone to read c bc comments for the day,
Now I have a reason to live.
@Aadil Jabari glad your still alive c b c saves lives!
@Aadil Jabari At least CBC is is good for something
@David Amos I enjoy the circus too
@David Amos
Today is brutal.
Today is brutal.
@Aadil Jabari Perhaps but tomorrow is a New Year Please try to find some fun in the madness of it all like I do.
Candidates matter and the unexpected can happen: lessons from 2017's elections
The past year of elections featured some narrow victories, surprising upsets and a few lessons to be learned
By Éric Grenier, CBC News Posted: Dec 30, 2017 5:00 AM ET
Doug Jones won the special election for Alabama's senate
seat in December for the Democrats in a state won by Donald Trump by 28
points in 2016. (John Bazemore/Associated Press)
With upsets, underdogs, failures and successes, 2017 was an election year with a few surprises.
The B.C. Liberals narrowly won the most seats in the province's May vote, but its minority government was defeated by an alliance of New Democrats and Greens.
The federal Liberals wrestled two seats away from the Conservatives in fall byelections.
Jason Kenney pulled off the triple feat of taking over the Alberta Progressive Conservatives, merging them with the Wildrose party and then winning the leadership of the newly formed United Conservatives.
Naheed Nenshi secured re-election as the mayor of Calgary when one pollster said it couldn't happen.
Andrew Scheer trailed Maxime Bernier on 12 ballots before finally winning on the 13th to become the new leader of the Conservative Party while Jagmeet Singh needed only one ballot to become the leader of the NDP.
And in Alabama, a Democrat won a Senate seat.
The coming year could see a few elections with enormous implications. Long-running governments in Ontario and Quebec are on the ropes while U.S. President Donald Trump could see his party lose control of both houses of Congress.
But before that, let's cast back to the elections of 2017 and look at what lessons can be drawn from these votes.
Candidates matter
At the right moment, under the right circumstances and with the right candidate, almost any party can win anywhere.
The Liberals demonstrated this when they were able to win two seats away from the Conservatives in byelections held in the ridings of Lac-Saint-Jean, Que. and South Surrey–White Rock, B.C.
The Liberals took just 18 per cent of the vote in 2015 in Lac-Saint-Jean before winning it by a margin of nearly 14 points in October, taking a riding the Liberals haven't won since the 1980s. In South Surrey–White Rock, the Liberals won a riding that had been held by the Conservatives and their predecessors without interruption since the 1970s.
In both cases, the Liberals were able to win thanks to strong candidates. Richard Hébert was a local mayor in Lac-Saint-Jean while Gordie Hogg had been the B.C. Liberal MLA for Surrey–White Rock for 20 years.
Godie Hogg, right, won the B.C. seat of South
Surrey–White Rock for the Liberals in a December byelection. The
Conservatives had held the seat since the 1970s. (Darryl Dyck/The
Canadian Press)
In the Quebec provincial riding of Louis-Hébert, the Coalition Avenir Québec won the former Liberal stronghold by more than 32 points in October — in part due to the turmoil surrounding both parties' candidates. The Liberals and the CAQ had to replace both of their original candidates due to past cases of harassment.
The CAQ found a good replacement in Geneviève Guilbault. But the Liberals had to settle for their reported eighth choice, Ihssane El Ghernati. Voters were not much impressed, handing the Liberals their worst performance in Louis-Hébert in over 50 years.
And then there was the Republican's Senate candidate in Alabama, Roy Moore. With controversial statements about homosexuals and slavery, he was already a flawed candidate for the Republicans before allegations of sexual misconduct with underage girls emerged.
The result? A state that preferred Trump over Hillary Clinton by a margin of 28 points in 2016 handed Democratic candidate Doug Jones a victory in one of the reddest red states in the Union.
Small parties can defy first-past-the-post
While 2017 was the year that the Liberals backed away from their campaign promise to end Canada's first-past-the-post electoral system, it was also a year in which small parties showed they could still win in a system that has traditionally been stacked against them.
The Greens in B.C. secured three seats in the May provincial election, while in Prince Edward Island the party captured its second seat in a provincial byelection in November.
Québec Solidaire, a small left-wing sovereignist party, held on to one of its seats in a byelection that put co-spokesperson Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois in the National Assembly. The party currently holds three seats and polls suggest it could jump to five or more in next year's provincial vote.
Québec Solidaire candidate Gabriel
Nadeau-Dubois reacts after winning the provincial byelection in the
Montreal riding of Gouin in May. (Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)
The good, the bad and the ugly in polling
Polls had their usual string of close calls punctuated by one big miss.
The polls were close to the mark in the provincial elections in Nova Scotia and B.C. — the latter an act of redemption after the spectacular error pollsters made in B.C.'s 2013 election. They were also able to call the results closely in a few municipal votes, including in Montreal and Edmonton.
Naheed Nenshi won the Calgary mayoral
election in October after one pollster said he would lose. (Jeff
McIntosh/The Canadian Press)
Mainstreet's polling in Calgary sparked a heated war of words between Quito Maggi, president of Mainstreet Research, and critical academics and politicos. In the end, Maggi apologized for his behaviour and his polling firm's performance — and has taken steps to improve both. The next year of elections might show whether those efforts will bear fruit.
Jason Kenney wins elections
It was a good year for Jason Kenney.
The former Conservative MP and cabinet minister secured his first victory of 2017 in March, taking 75 per cent of the vote to win the leadership of the Alberta Progressive Conservatives on a platform of merging it with Wildrose, then the province's official opposition.
Jason Kenney become the leader of the United
Conservative Party of Alberta, one of four victories to his name in
2017. (THE CANADIAN PRESS)
And in December, Kenney won a seat in the Alberta legislature in the Calgary-Lougheed byelection in a landslide, taking 71.5 per cent of the vote.
Winning one electoral contest is hard enough. Winning four is something else entirely.
Expect the unexpected
The past year proved that some candidates and parties are able to follow the most unlikely paths to victory.
Scheer became leader of the Conservative Party on the 13th and final ballot, defeating Bernier by less than two percentage points. He trailed Bernier throughout but just eked out a victory thanks to a confluence of factors — Bernier's weak performance in Quebec and the strong showing for social conservative candidates Pierre Lemieux and Brad Trost.
Andrew Scheer won the Conservative Party leadership in May on the 13th and final ballot. (Canadian Press/Frank Gunn)
With the Greens being a small third party, only a very limited number of scenarios could produce a minority legislature in B.C. But that is what happened with the B.C. Liberals falling one seat short of a majority government and the Greens winning just enough seats to hold the balance of power.
And in Alabama, Jones was able to defeat Moore thanks to a high turnout among African Americans and low turnout in counties that have traditionally voted Republican. Even with the allegations against Moore, a Jones victory required everything to go right for him on election night — and it did, giving him the win by just 1.5 points.
This doesn't mean that underdogs always win or that expectations are always wrong. But every now and then, the polls miss the mark, candidates pull off upsets and a series of events produce the least likely of outcomes. And it could happen again in 2018.
Why old-fashioned bank drafts could leave you on the hook for big bucks
System makes money for banks, but electronic transfers would be faster with less risk for customers
By Aaron Saltzman, CBC News Posted: Dec 31, 2017 5:00 AM ET
Ian Camacho found out the hard way that his lost
$17,475.57 US bank draft could not be cancelled or replaced. But TD
Canada Trust eventually refunded the money. (Ian Camacho)
Ian Camacho was stunned when he saw the CBC News story about a couple's struggle to convince TD Canada Trust to replace a lost $846,000 bank draft.
He was even more astounded when he read that TD, after the story drew international attention, backed down and released the couple's inheritance.
That's because Camacho, 63, a retired former COO of an investment brokerage — and a former risk manager at TD Securities — had pretty much the same experience when he was disbursing money from his late brother's estate.
Camacho spent months trying to get TD to cancel a bank draft he bought for $17,475.57 US that he figured was lost in the mail when it never made it to his cousin in Singapore.
"I bought [bank] drafts for everybody, thinking drafts are about as safe an instrument as you can get," Camacho said.
Although TD Canada Trust eventually refunded Camacho's money, the issue demonstrates how poorly bank customers understand bank drafts.
Here are some important facts.
Not as safe as you might think
While bank drafts are sold by banks as a secure means of payment, if they're lost or stolen or altered or damaged, it's often not the bank that's on the hook to replace the money. It's the person who bought the draft.
And since bank drafts are often used for large sums of money, people who lose them can be out a lot.
In Camacho's case, the bank requested a deposit equal to the amount of the draft, locked in for three years, and wanted him to sign an indemnity, he said. If the lost draft was cashed, "they would draw down on my deposit," Camacho said.
TD Canada Trust apologized in December to an
Ontario family and released more than $846,000, hours after CBC News
reported that their original bank draft had been lost by UPS. Lorette
and John Taylor had spent 10 months trying to recover the family
inheritance. (Petar Valkov/CBC)
It's also not just the case in Canada. The financial ombudsman of the U.K. says, "Unlike a cheque, a genuine banker's draft cannot be stopped, even if it is lost or stolen."
The question is, why?
TD says it's because bank drafts never expire.
"When you're deciding how to transport it or deliver it, you should treat it like cash," TD spokesperson Cheryl Ficker said
So how do bank drafts work?
"Bank drafts are essentially cheques on a bank's account in another bank," says David Weiman, a professor of economics specializing in banking at Barnard College, an affiliate of Columbia University. "So a bank will hold what we call a correspondent balance in another bank, and it can write cheques on that."
Why can't you cancel a draft?
So if a bank draft is essentially a cheque, shouldn't you be able to cancel it like a personal cheque or even a certified cheque?
"That's mystifying to me," says Weiman.
"What's the difference between a bank and me? As customers of the bank, why can't they cancel? There may be something in the contractual relationship between the banks that makes those transactions different, but that I can't tell you. It just doesn't seem plausible."
But perhaps an even better question is: Why are we still using any paper instrument that has to be transported physically, sometimes by a third party, to the payee?
Trillions of dollars are moved around the world with the touch of a button every day. Businesses including banks have been moving away from cash and paper toward electronic transactions because they're cheaper, more efficient, faster, and more secure.
And yet paper persists.
How the float helps banks
Perhaps one of the best reasons banks still rely on paper drafts is that they help banks do what they're best at: make money.
Because a draft is not electronic, the transfer of funds is not instantaneous.
Apple Pay, shown on an iPhone 6 in 2015, is
one of many forms of instantaneous electronic transactions. But slow.
old-fashioned paper forms such as bank drafts make money for banks, says
economics professor David Weiman. (Reuters)
"It takes a certain amount of time for these to be cleared and actually settled." says Weiman.
"In the meanwhile, of course, those funds still reside in the bank on which it was drawn. So they can continue to collect interest." he says.
"[The banks] are aggregating millions and millions of dollars. Even if they earn one per cent a day on that, it still adds up. And that's occurring every day."
The time between when a payment is made and the funds received is called the float.
A long-standing source of revenue
The float has been a source of revenue since the days when everything was done on paper and sent through old-fashioned mail, Weiman says."It was not uncommon for businesses to actually keep accounts or even banks to keep their correspondents [accounts] at out-of-the-way locations, because it would take longer to actually move the paper around to the appropriate destination so the money would stay tied up in float for longer periods of time."
Those floats earned interest the entire while.
The float is even more lucrative in the case of unclaimed bank drafts.
The Bank of Canada says those are treated the same as an unclaimed balance in a bank account.
After 10 years, if there has been no activity and the owner can't be contacted, the balance is turned over to the Bank of Canada.
That didn't happen with Camacho. After CBC News contacted TD about his situation, the bank replaced the money from the lost draft.
A happy ending
"We've reached a resolution to this situation with our customer," said TD's Ficker in an email.
"To help our customers understand more about bank drafts, we've published information on our TD Newsroom."
Camacho says he still had to sign an indemnity promising the original draft wouldn't be cashed. But he didn't have to put up a deposit.
"I was given a refund yesterday by TD and wired the funds (free of charge) to my cousin in Singapore, and she received the money this morning," he said.
And it will be electronic wire transfers from now on, he says. His days of using bank drafts are over.
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