Ontario Election: Tories, Grits leave door open for NDP

[mentalfloss]

Tories, Grits leave door open for NDP

Hudak leads in the polls, though it's surprising how narrow the gap is--only about 6%, according to an Ipsos Reid poll--considering McGuinty's popularity is lower than that of his his party. The PCs will offer tax cuts, follow the Liberals' policy on health care and education and send criminals to rake leaves.

Hudak has even offered to dock the Premier's $208,000 annual salary if he can't deliver tax relief (though he didn't say by how much). He'll remove the HST from home heating and hydro. He wants some broad tax cuts and he'll even take the debt retirement charge off home hydro bills, though since the debt is still there, funds will likely come out of provincial revenue.

Regardless, he's the anti-taxman. He thinks it's his strength.

He's banking on a taxpayer revolt at the polls, and he's pressing the point with his television advertisements, dubbing McGuinty "The Taxman." McGuinty's "sheer brilliance" at creating the health tax, and his "virtuoso move" at introducing the HST are the focus of the ads.

This would be a good sell if Hudak wasn't keeping the health premium and most of the HST in place. That's right, the very things at the centre of Hudak's assault on the Liberals, he's going to keep largely intact. So McGuinty takes the political fall and Hudak keeps the bounty.

That's the plan, anyway--one likely to be exposed as duplicitous during the campaign.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath is offering help for lower-income earners with some new ideas--relief from ambulance fees, a freeze on municipal transit fares and removing the HST from heating and hydro. But to date, the party is riding on its promise to regulate gas prices at the pumps--though there is no guarantee motorists will save money in the long run.

More is expected from the NDP during its pre-election convention this weekend.

http://www.lfpress.c...3/18324526.html

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Although I like Andrea Horvath, I would never give my vote to the NDP, not after Bob Rae.

Hudak is really the only alternative, the economy in Ontario (especially manufacturing) needs to be rejuvenated. The HST has been good for some business, but it has kicked the Renovation industry right in the teeth. People are either spending their money in the underground economy or not at all. My brother works in Reno's and prior to the HST he couldn't keep up with work. Now it's really hit and miss.

 

[lone wolf]

Hudak is Harris. No way! Ford had a better idea....

 

[DurkaDurka]

Those anti-mcguinty ad's really resonate with people though, they do a great job of defining Mcguinty as the crook he is, not that Hudak would be much better though. As for the NDP, I know next to nothing about them, provincial wise anyways.

 

[lone wolf]

Funny how they skip over the fact it was Harris who privatized Ontario Hydro - thus crippling high energy use industry

 

[mentalfloss]

The mathematically challenged Tim Hudak

Like many politicians before him, Mr. Hudak refuses to face facts – or, rather, refuses to tell voters anything remotely resembling the truth. And the truth is that, whichever party wins the election, the provincial budget will have to be cut severely. It's a truth the governing Liberals also prefer to avoid.

Mr. Hudak, who visits Ottawa on Thursday, promises to spend more on health and education, which together take about three-quarters of all government program spending. He can do nothing about rising payments on the debt. So he's left with the threadbare promise to cut spending on what remains by 2 per cent yearly, saying this can be done by not filling public-sector vacancies as they arise.

This is bad math, cleverly disguised. Even if possible – and the reductions aren't possible without cutting or scaling back whole programs – the reductions would be smaller than Mr. Hudak would need to balance a budget to whose deficit he'll add by a series of tax cuts and new spending commitments.

As in, $35-billion for new infrastructure, mostly on roads. As in, $6-billion for health care. As in, $2-billion for education. As in, income splitting and a tax cut of 5 per cent on the first $75,000 of taxable income. As in, handing over some provincial tax revenue to the municipalities.

Even these numbers deceive, since $6-billion for health care over the next four years would mean an increase of only 3 per cent yearly, or about half the increases of the past decade. Where's Mr. Hudak going to find the savings in health care while he spends another $6-billion a year?


The mathematically challenged Tim Hudak - The Globe and Mail

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

Funny how they skip over the fact it was Harris who privatized Ontario Hydro - thus crippling high energy use industry

I don't skip over anything. I don't agree with everything the Harris Government did. Selling the 407 was an idiotic thing to do. It seems to me that Ontario like other Provinces had its transfer payments cut by the Budget Balancing Magician Paul Martin. Funny people seem to forget that. Or forget that Martin also stripped the Baby Bonus from families. Couple that with the mess the NDP left behind, there were some tough decisions to be made.

One thing I do recall is that after the initial pain of cutbacks and the incessant whining by the public sector the economy in Ontario flourished for a number of years.

 

[mentalfloss]

The fact of the matter is that, as bad as corrupt as the Liberals are, the conservative budget makes 0 cents. Ontario also recognizes that the existing NDP are not the same as Rae's group. You're looking at a much more educated public that doesn't fall for those sorts of politricks.

 

[lone wolf]

NDP Ontario's budget was cut by Martin's sleight of hand.


BTW ... did I say YOU skipped something? Are you the guy writing Tory propaganda?

 

[earth_as_one]

Funny how people forget it was the NDP that built Highway 407 and tried to pay with it through tolls. It was Conservative Harris which sold the 407 to a Belgium consortium for 10 cents on the dollar to finance his short term tax cuts. They are also the same cruel bastards that cleaned out psychiatric wards and tossed sick people into the streets and cut support for welfare and people living at or below the poverty line. Thanks to Premiere Harris the wealthy Ontarians are wealthier, while the poorer and middle class are poorer. BTW, I am a net beneficiary of Harris policies. But unlike Harris and his supporters, I'm not a cruel heartless SOB. I actually care about others including the less fortunate and feel a social responsibility to make sure that children from poor families are well fed, have a home, warm clothes and can afford a decent education. In the long term, that means these children grow up to be productive members of society, rather than getting stuck in an endless cycle of poverty.

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.

I want everyone to pay their fair share of taxes and I want our leaders to spend our tax dollars wisely. If some individuals try to fraudulently exploit the social welfare system, they should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Instead the conservatives used a few examples of Social welfare fraud to justify lower the living standard of millions of poor people, so that wealthier people didn't have to pay their fair share of tax burden. People at or below the poverty line should not pay any taxes. The more wealth you earn, the bigger your tax burden. The Conservatives have always been about shafting the poor and middle class and spending for short term gain and long term pain. their system involves pushing the tax burden onto the poor and middle class to the benefit of the wealthy so they can buy more luxuries and live a more opulent lifestyle. This shift is not to the advantage of the wealthy. What happened in Egypt and Tunisia should be a wake up call for the wealthy. Extreme poverty leads to political instability and civil war. When the have nots have nothing, that means they have nothing to loose. Desperate people do desperate things. In a rich Canada like Canada, no one should be living in poverty or on the streets.

Unfortunately most people want the short term gain (ie reduced taxes) now just like the conservatives and don't think about the long term implications of cutting services, like road maintenance and health care.

If you don't understand what I mean then I suggest you watch this short classic about Mouseland:

 

[mentalfloss]

Corporations paying for provincial gas tax?

I LIKE IT!


HST gas relief promised by Ontario NDP

Ontario's New Democrats say they will remove the provincial portion of the harmonized sales tax on gasoline if elected this fall. Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday her party can't cut the eight per cent portion overnight, but will work to make life more affordable one step at the time.

Her plan would reduce the tax on gasoline by one per cent every year, she said.

To pay for the plan, which will cost $500 million, the NDP will shift some of the tax burden back to businesses. Horwath didn't explain how businesses would pay for her plan as she opened a pre-campaign convention on Friday. She says more details will come when she unveils her platform Saturday.

The NDP has already promised to cap gasoline prices and remove the province's chunk of the HST from home heating and hydro bills. The party also says it will stop fare hikes for public transit by subsidizing the system across the province, remove ambulance fees for people who need to be transported to hospital, and raise corporate taxes.

HST gas relief promised by Ontario NDP - Toronto - CBC News

 

[Retired_Can_Soldier]

NDP Ontario's budget was cut by Martin's sleight of hand.


BTW ... did I say YOU skipped something? Are you the guy writing Tory propaganda?

No actually you didn't. I don't know why I thought you were addressing me now that I look at it.

 

[lone wolf]

Who's up to bat in Ontario concerns me greatly. I have to get by on the benevolence of ODSP and the whims of the Masters of this province following a crippling on-the-job accident (and several subsequent screwings-over) while in the employ of this Province of Opportunity. Too well I remember Harris' war against the poor and the disabled. Never again will I vote Tory....

 

[earth_as_one]

The Conservatives will win the next Ontario election, elected in part by millions of people who will see their health and other social benefits cut. Which proves that in general.... people are dumb.

 

[cranky]

Who's up to bat in Ontario concerns me greatly. I have to get by on the benevolence of ODSP and the whims of the Masters of this province following a crippling on-the-job accident (and several subsequent screwings-over) while in the employ of this Province of Opportunity. Too well I remember Harris' war against the poor and the disabled. Never again will I vote Tory....

how is it that you blame the tories? directly or indirectly?

 

[Cliffy]

Who's up to bat in Ontario concerns me greatly. I have to get by on the benevolence of ODSP and the whims of the Masters of this province following a crippling on-the-job accident (and several subsequent screwings-over) while in the employ of this Province of Opportunity. Too well I remember Harris' war against the poor and the disabled. Never again will I vote Tory....

Gordo took a page from Harris' book and tried to cut off those on mental and physical disability, but finally reneged when 9 people in the province committed suicide.

 

[lone wolf]

how is it that you blame the tories? directly or indirectly?

Directly - in the sugar-coated platforms and rainbows-and-sunshine promises offered up in the Harris campaign to vilify Rae's collision with reality.

 

[mentalfloss]

Directly - in the sugar-coated platforms and rainbows-and-sunshine promises offered up in the Harris campaign to vilify Rae's collision with reality.

 

[WLDB]

The current NDP has absolutely nothing in common with the NDP that Bob Rae brought into government. They were elected by an accidental protest vote and had no plan on how to govern. That was the fault of both the party and the electorate. The NDP has had successful governments in several provinces now and the party has learned from the mistakes of the Rae government. I haven't decided how I will vote yet, even though I am an NDP member. All I know is the PCs will never get my vote.

 

[Machjo]

Tories, Grits leave door open for NDP

Hudak leads in the polls, though it's surprising how narrow the gap is--only about 6%, according to an Ipsos Reid poll--considering McGuinty's popularity is lower than that of his his party. The PCs will offer tax cuts, follow the Liberals' policy on health care and education and send criminals to rake leaves.

Hudak has even offered to dock the Premier's $208,000 annual salary if he can't deliver tax relief (though he didn't say by how much). He'll remove the HST from home heating and hydro. He wants some broad tax cuts and he'll even take the debt retirement charge off home hydro bills, though since the debt is still there, funds will likely come out of provincial revenue.

Regardless, he's the anti-taxman. He thinks it's his strength.

He's banking on a taxpayer revolt at the polls, and he's pressing the point with his television advertisements, dubbing McGuinty "The Taxman." McGuinty's "sheer brilliance" at creating the health tax, and his "virtuoso move" at introducing the HST are the focus of the ads.

This would be a good sell if Hudak wasn't keeping the health premium and most of the HST in place. That's right, the very things at the centre of Hudak's assault on the Liberals, he's going to keep largely intact. So McGuinty takes the political fall and Hudak keeps the bounty.

That's the plan, anyway--one likely to be exposed as duplicitous during the campaign.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath is offering help for lower-income earners with some new ideas--relief from ambulance fees, a freeze on municipal transit fares and removing the HST from heating and hydro. But to date, the party is riding on its promise to regulate gas prices at the pumps--though there is no guarantee motorists will save money in the long run.

More is expected from the NDP during its pre-election convention this weekend.

http://www.lfpress.c...3/18324526.html

I haven't been following the election too closely yet, though I can say that to run just on cutting taxes at all costs is not conservative. A true conservative balances the budget, and as such he ought to be focussing on cutting spending, not taxes. Tax cuts should follow naturally from spending cuts and so ought not to be a serious election platform except for the dim-witted.

That said, at least last provincial election I was leaning Green and Progressive Conservative mainly on social justice, specifically with regards to the separate school system. The NDP (those champions of social justice) remained audibly mute on the subject, and the Liberals actively defended it!

How ironic that the left was defending or at least remaining mute on the separate school system while the right and centre (or we could say moderate left as there are some moderate leftists in the Green Party too) were trying to change it.