The Hidden History of Bob Rae’s government in Ontario
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I think they're going for number 2.
There's no way they'll make much progress by the next election unless the NDP flub up completely.. and I'm sure the cons are going to exaggerate as many of their mistakes as possible.
Bob Rae's NDP government was completely unprepared to take the reigns in Ontario. What happened during their time in Government was the result of their incompetence and lack of experience.
This piece is simply revisionist history.
This piece is simply revisionist history.
Can you actually deny some of the article's finer points or is it just rhetoric today?
I don't think that there was an all out assault as claimed. I do think that Rae alienated a lot of the business community and certainly paid for it, but he also alienated the public service nions.
I find the piece extremely revisionist. Kind of like Jean Chretien denying that he said was going to scrap the GST, even though there was video that countered it.
I do consider the piece propaganda, keeping in mind that there is an ounce of truth in most rumor.
um... go back. waaaaaaaaaaaay back
try 1980
I know because I had an accident in '81 after Rae brought in the seat-belt law in Ontario, and if Rae had his way I'd be dead.
I wasn't wearing my seat-belt (screw you, Rae!) and lived because of it. Had I been held in my seat, I would at the very least have been a vegetable. (not sayin' I ain't one anyhow, but you get my point)
I've thought it a bad law ever since. Though I don't contest that seat-belts do save lives, say, for argument's sake, 95% of the time, that means that those Rae-forsaken 5% have been effectively legislated to die! And while legislators will often defend their acts with, "if it saves one life, it's a good law", I would like to adamantly point out with my own example, "if it kills one life, it's a bad law".
Fact is, it's a gamble, and so it may be wise to go with the odds and regularly wear your seat-belt, but it should be an adult's choice of how they want to play it. For sure, government should protect children, so mandatory seat-belt laws for them are fine by me.
Anyway, the cops never charged me for obviously not buckling up, though the fact that I lived might have got their new little law some bad press.
I've always wondered, however, since governments have no apparent qualms over sticking their meddlesome noses in people's lives, why in this country has no province or territory made a law on the compulsory wearing of thermal wet-gear for anyone riding a snowmobile or other surface craft on any body of water from September to June. Like with seat-belts tell people to suck it up, it's THE LAW, sorry, your license is suspended, you get demerit points on your license, and your insurance rates go up.
/rant
Unless I'm mistaken, the seatbelt law came into effect in 1975, under the Government of Bill Davis - and Rae put on the Boss hat in 1990.
well, something changed then. maybe he just made the penalties stiffer. like the demerit point part of it. Why on earth should one get demerit points for something totally unrelated to the effective safe operation of a vehicle? Have your insurance rates go up for not wearing one??? Total bullsh*t meddling, imb
...I got a Twenty-eight dollar ticket for the wavy hand (minus a few fingers)who rode my step bumper and obstructed Li'l Blue Astro on 35 south....
How is Photo Radar any different from Etoll on Hwy 407?
...especially when the tolls go to Spain ;-)
How is Photo Radar any different from Etoll on Hwy 407?
...especially when the tolls go to Spain ;-)
So, not only does Rae have to deaths of roughly 5% of traffic accident fatalities on his plate, he also effectively drove an insurmountable wedge in every family, whose relationships might otherwise have been saved, where an alleged domestic assault was responded to by police, by usurping the peace officer's discretion and demanding compulsory charges be laid (for an allegation!! Sh|t, no visible injuries, no sign of struggle, any drunk can make an allegation and they don't even have to confirm it when sober the next day, ffs!) and then denying any hope of communication, directly or indirectly, with the alleged victim until the issue has been resolved in the courts (which could take years and thus permanently break up the family - but not, of course, if you're willing to plead guilty to something you didn't do, you poor f*cking sap).
Who knew a stupid protest vote could go so terribly awry. (or that everybody else was employing the same strategy "oh, they'll never get in")
lol
dammit, I voted for him. I guess that negates my right to complain, eh?
my bad!
never again
I hope he leads the Liberals to their deserved demise.
Who knew a stupid protest vote could go so terribly awry. (or that everybody else was employing the same strategy "oh, they'll never get in")
lol
dammit, I voted for him. I guess that negates my right to complain, eh?
my bad!
never again
I hope he leads the Liberals to their deserved demise.
The photo radar fine is different from the fee you pay on the 407 because you don't pay it if you obey the speed limit.
Don't get me wrong, I do not support even the idea of paying the outrageous fees on the 407. I always maintained that the acronym, ETR stands for Extortion, Theft and Robbery and only those with more money than brains should ever use that piece of road and pay the toll. Having traveled in United States toll road, I can say that paying the 407 toll takes a totally certifiable idiot.
By and large the stupid suckers using the 407 pay about 10 times as normal people in the States do for the same distance.
How does the Seatbelt Law fall on Rae's shoulders when he didn't get to be Big Cheese until fifteen years after the law came into effect - and nine after your accident?
Don't get me wrong.... I hate the idea of going in with a car strapped to my back. If I'm going to live in a chair - or in a coma - through something that should have been merciful, I'd rather the latter. I've assisted in extractions where the seatbelt was the cause of death. The only real conclusion I could draw is it makes it easier to find the corpse.
Now.... Mandatory auto insurance sans reins on insurers really pisses me off. Provincial insurance was a promise Rae didn't keep.
He wasn't the devil. Mine came up to bat next....
Don't get me wrong.... I hate the idea of going in with a car strapped to my back. If I'm going to live in a chair - or in a coma - through something that should have been merciful, I'd rather the latter. I've assisted in extractions where the seatbelt was the cause of death. The only real conclusion I could draw is it makes it easier to find the corpse.
Now.... Mandatory auto insurance sans reins on insurers really pisses me off. Provincial insurance was a promise Rae didn't keep.
He wasn't the devil. Mine came up to bat next....
obviously I'm a self-induced vegetable lacking total recall. So Davis is the unwitting murderer. (does it really matter who is doing the murdering? It's still an imposed legislated gamble - like they've got some kind of right - f'ing politician bastards!)
anyway, the undoing of salvageable families in ontario is still on him (rae).
And the worst thing is? The criminal tyrants that the stupid law was supposed to address? They just ignore the bail conditions and go right back and impose their murderous threats and tyranny on everyone who continues to live in fear for their lives. Nothing solved. Just a lot of kids without mom and dad having a chance to patch it up. If it breaks up one savable family, it's a bad law. period.
I don't hate him. I just don't want to vote for him.
anyway, the undoing of salvageable families in ontario is still on him (rae).
And the worst thing is? The criminal tyrants that the stupid law was supposed to address? They just ignore the bail conditions and go right back and impose their murderous threats and tyranny on everyone who continues to live in fear for their lives. Nothing solved. Just a lot of kids without mom and dad having a chance to patch it up. If it breaks up one savable family, it's a bad law. period.
I don't hate him. I just don't want to vote for him.
Bob Rae's policies were not that radical. His biggest mistake was trying to spend his way out of the recession (exactly the way the U.S. and several European countries are trying to do now) and thereby driving Ontario's deficit up and causing Moody's to downgrade our debt. To his credit, he saw the error of this approach and reversed course, implementing austerity measures (including the infamous Rae Days) that alienated his union base. That left him with exactly no friends on either side of the political spectrum and basically ended the NDP as a political force in Ontario.
The plucky Social Democrat brought down by the united Empire of Big Business is a stirring narrative, but not even close to the truth.
The plucky Social Democrat brought down by the united Empire of Big Business is a stirring narrative, but not even close to the truth.