Ontario Election: Tories, Grits leave door open for NDP
- Thread starter mentalfloss
- Start date
It's called paranoia. Thought you were leaving............
So, Ont. is going to split its' vote and let Hudak come up the middle a la Der Harpo!! Stranger things has happened.
Ol Bobby Rae Jim Bob took over Ontario Wonderland bout the same time as a recession was beatin us to death. I think he did pretty good considering.
I don't think folks hate the prov. Libs as much as they hate McGuinty.............and he hasn't done HALF as much to **** the province as Harris did............short memories.
Bend over and pick up the soap if we elect Hooooodat! We'll be in for another bunch of Harris. Damn, you'd think we'd learn.:-(
Quote: Earth as one"'I don't mind paying my taxes. In fact I want to pay my taxes and get the benefits which are paid for by my tax dollars. I don't want toll highways managed by foreign corporations. I want that money to go to the Ontario government."
Jesus, I remember that like yesterday: The silence of the great unwashed was deafening.............It seems that was the second shoe dropping, as support for Hammer Harris started falling soon thereafter. Does he still live in Toronto? Probably afraid to go home.
His second best trick was taking away the $34.00 (+/-) a month from single moms as he didn't want them to "spend it on beer"................Someone should have put his nuts in a vise.
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Ah, but we'd have to change the BNA Act for that. Now sure there we can legally change the Act by opening up the Constitution.
But remember, most Ontarians aren't Christians, but BNA-Actians. We must not tamper with the Holy Act. It would be blasphemy if we did!
I'm all for a little blasphemy. If the constitution needs changing then change it. I think it should be regularly updated. This is an ancient article which never should have made it in. It was done to appease French Canadians but at this point I'm sure even they wouldn't want this sort of system to exist.
He's from North Bay. And from what I've heard he still lives there.
Just to clarify, I was being sarcastic in my last post. And you're right to a degree. In fact, Quebec scrapped any kind of separate school system long ago.
I can see only two just options:
1. One school system, or
2. Some kind of voucher system or other system that ensures all participating schools are equally funded.
All or nothing is fair, but once we start granting privileges to one group over others, then justice is gone.
I completely agree. Also, I figured the blasphemy thing was in jest, but I really am for blasphemy as an agnostic.
I'd prefer one school system but I wouldn't be against the second alternative.
Hudak treats us like dolts
When you cast your ballot in the provincial election Oct. 6, will you vote with your gut, or will you vote with your head?
Forty-one per cent of Ontario voters support Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives, according to the latest poll. Only 26 per cent endorse Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals. Twenty-two per cent support the NDP .
So either Sandra Pupatello's timing is exemplary or she can take a hint. The Conservatives are headed for a majority.
It's time to take a sober second look at their platform.
The Conservatives call McGuinty the Taxman, and they've got a point. There's the health premium, the HST, eco taxes. But let's look at the Conservative plan. The numbers don't add up.
The Conservatives would lower income and business taxes, take the HST off home hydro and heating bills (a plank scalped from the NDP), take the debt retirement charge off hydro bills and introduce income splitting. At the same time, they would increase spending on health care by $6 billion and on education by $2 billion, create 60,000 more post-secondary spaces, 200,000 apprenticeship spaces, invest $35 billion in infrastructure and give gas tax revenue to more municipalities. And balance the budget.
No pain, lots of gain. You know what they say about too good to be true.
The Conservatives would save money by cutting two per cent a year from everything except health and education - which together add up to about three-quarters of the provincial budget.
The other big issue is energy. Hudak says hydro bills are rising because of Ontario's "sweetheart" deal with Samsung and the feed-in tariff rates the government pays for renewable energy. He's wrong, but that doesn't seem to matter. Most of the cost so far is for upgrading our aging and neglected power grid. According to reports, the province hasn't paid Samsung anything yet, though Samsung has spent millions, and most of the new renewable energy isn't on the grid yet.
It's worth emphasizing that the $7-billion deal with Samsung means Ontario gets $7 billion in investment, not Samsung. Samsung gets $437 million on top of the feed-in tariffs, but only if new plants and jobs are maintained for a certain period of time. The feed-in tariffs - what firms are paid to sell renewable energy to the grid - are scheduled to be reviewed this fall. They're expected to be lowered, and many of the Samsung projects will be subject to the lower rates.
I don't always agree with it, but lots of companies get lots of government money. The difference in this case is that it's being used to start new industry, instead of rescue an old one. Meanwhile, Hudak has damaged not just the burgeoning renewable energy industry of the future but Ontario's reputation as a place to conduct business. Samsung is reported to be embarrassed; its partners and other renewable energy companies are jittery.
By the way, who will make up the revenue lost by taking the HST off hydro and home heating bills and who will pay the debt retirement charge if it isn't on our hydro bills? We will, out of Ontario's general revenue. The difference will be that those who conserve energy will subsidize those who don't. We need innovative ways to produce safe, clean, renewable energy from a variety of sources, and we need to learn to conserve energy. In other words, we need longterm vision, not cheap sound bites.
Health care is the biggest issue for voters, but the Conservatives don't say much about it. They promise the same spending increases as the Liberals and many of the same objectives, from doctors for underserviced areas to long-term care beds. The main difference is that they would eliminate Local Health Integration Networks or LHINs, local organizations (which could use some revamping) that determine health care for their communities. So communities would lose their say, without making much of a dent in the province's health care budget.
The real issue in health care is how to make the ballooning cost of care sustainable. But the Conservatives don't say a word about that. Vision carries too much potential to rock the boat.
Finally, there are the chain gangs, symbolic of much of the Conservative platform. Seventy per cent of voters in the latest poll like the idea of prisoners spending 40 hours a week picking up litter, raking leaves and cutting grass. The problem is it has little merit. Picking up litter doesn't rehabilitate anyone or teach them a skill. It's not any more of a deterrent. A lot of inmates in provincial jails wouldn't even do it because they're still awaiting trial or sentencing.
But all this doesn't matter because it appeals to a knee-jerk instinct.
There are still three months before the election, and campaigns matter. The federal election became a historic vote in the last two weeks. Anything can happen. The key could be whether we want change badly enough that we allow ourselves to be treated like dolts - this is what the Conservatives are hoping - or whether voters stop to examine exactly what is being proposed.
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Hudak+treats+like+dolts/5021459/story.html#ixzz1Qfk84U5Z
When you cast your ballot in the provincial election Oct. 6, will you vote with your gut, or will you vote with your head?
Forty-one per cent of Ontario voters support Tim Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives, according to the latest poll. Only 26 per cent endorse Premier Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals. Twenty-two per cent support the NDP .
So either Sandra Pupatello's timing is exemplary or she can take a hint. The Conservatives are headed for a majority.
It's time to take a sober second look at their platform.
The Conservatives call McGuinty the Taxman, and they've got a point. There's the health premium, the HST, eco taxes. But let's look at the Conservative plan. The numbers don't add up.
The Conservatives would lower income and business taxes, take the HST off home hydro and heating bills (a plank scalped from the NDP), take the debt retirement charge off hydro bills and introduce income splitting. At the same time, they would increase spending on health care by $6 billion and on education by $2 billion, create 60,000 more post-secondary spaces, 200,000 apprenticeship spaces, invest $35 billion in infrastructure and give gas tax revenue to more municipalities. And balance the budget.
No pain, lots of gain. You know what they say about too good to be true.
The Conservatives would save money by cutting two per cent a year from everything except health and education - which together add up to about three-quarters of the provincial budget.
The other big issue is energy. Hudak says hydro bills are rising because of Ontario's "sweetheart" deal with Samsung and the feed-in tariff rates the government pays for renewable energy. He's wrong, but that doesn't seem to matter. Most of the cost so far is for upgrading our aging and neglected power grid. According to reports, the province hasn't paid Samsung anything yet, though Samsung has spent millions, and most of the new renewable energy isn't on the grid yet.
It's worth emphasizing that the $7-billion deal with Samsung means Ontario gets $7 billion in investment, not Samsung. Samsung gets $437 million on top of the feed-in tariffs, but only if new plants and jobs are maintained for a certain period of time. The feed-in tariffs - what firms are paid to sell renewable energy to the grid - are scheduled to be reviewed this fall. They're expected to be lowered, and many of the Samsung projects will be subject to the lower rates.
I don't always agree with it, but lots of companies get lots of government money. The difference in this case is that it's being used to start new industry, instead of rescue an old one. Meanwhile, Hudak has damaged not just the burgeoning renewable energy industry of the future but Ontario's reputation as a place to conduct business. Samsung is reported to be embarrassed; its partners and other renewable energy companies are jittery.
By the way, who will make up the revenue lost by taking the HST off hydro and home heating bills and who will pay the debt retirement charge if it isn't on our hydro bills? We will, out of Ontario's general revenue. The difference will be that those who conserve energy will subsidize those who don't. We need innovative ways to produce safe, clean, renewable energy from a variety of sources, and we need to learn to conserve energy. In other words, we need longterm vision, not cheap sound bites.
Health care is the biggest issue for voters, but the Conservatives don't say much about it. They promise the same spending increases as the Liberals and many of the same objectives, from doctors for underserviced areas to long-term care beds. The main difference is that they would eliminate Local Health Integration Networks or LHINs, local organizations (which could use some revamping) that determine health care for their communities. So communities would lose their say, without making much of a dent in the province's health care budget.
The real issue in health care is how to make the ballooning cost of care sustainable. But the Conservatives don't say a word about that. Vision carries too much potential to rock the boat.
Finally, there are the chain gangs, symbolic of much of the Conservative platform. Seventy per cent of voters in the latest poll like the idea of prisoners spending 40 hours a week picking up litter, raking leaves and cutting grass. The problem is it has little merit. Picking up litter doesn't rehabilitate anyone or teach them a skill. It's not any more of a deterrent. A lot of inmates in provincial jails wouldn't even do it because they're still awaiting trial or sentencing.
But all this doesn't matter because it appeals to a knee-jerk instinct.
There are still three months before the election, and campaigns matter. The federal election became a historic vote in the last two weeks. Anything can happen. The key could be whether we want change badly enough that we allow ourselves to be treated like dolts - this is what the Conservatives are hoping - or whether voters stop to examine exactly what is being proposed.
http://www.windsorstar.com/business/Hudak+treats+like+dolts/5021459/story.html#ixzz1Qfk84U5Z
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