Queen's Park Politics

[SteelTown]

That's two days in a row for Wynne in Hamilton, she's trying hard to save Ted McMeekin.

[Docere]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

That's two days in a row for Wynne in Hamilton, she's trying hard to save Ted McMeekin.

When ridings like St. Paul's (!) show signs of trouble, I think HWAD is a lost cause.

[SteelTown]

Mike Crawley
‏@CBCQueensPark

NEW: Ontario PC website has been revamped overnight. There are now costs listed with each promise. But they are not added up to give any bottom line deficit figure. #onpoli

[MolsonExport]

NDP’s momentum comes as voters reject Doug Ford’s ‘man of the people’ act

Even from the start, numerous polls showed Ford’s intensely negative approval rating. His personal ratings have consistently been lower than the PC party’s. In politics, when you step forward, you step forward on your strongest foot. This misstep showed either supreme arrogance or stupidity.

The Ford tax plan went from a major plank to an albatross. On the surface, it sounded good. But the Horwath campaign got people to look under the glossy cover. Horwath pointed out that Ford’s tax plan would give $1,100 to a person earning over $109,000 and only $18 to an average person earning between $39,000 and $49,000. And it could cost you your hospital.

People were offended. Ford’s tax plan backfired so badly that Horwath started campaigning on Ford’s tax plan. Ford’s bus says “for the people,” Horwath noted. But his tax cuts are for the rich.

Trust. Ford is guy who meets in backrooms, won’t show a plan for cuts, and is trying to give more money to people who already have the most.

The Ford tax plan went from a major plank to an albatross. On the surface, it sounded good. But the Horwath campaign got people to look under the glossy cover. Horwath pointed out that Ford’s tax plan would give $1,100 to a person earning over $109,000 and only $18 to an average person earning between $39,000 and $49,000. And it could cost you your hospital.

People were offended. Ford’s tax plan backfired so badly that Horwath started campaigning on Ford’s tax plan. Ford’s bus says “for the people,” Horwath noted. But his tax cuts are for the rich.

Trust. Ford is guy who meets in backrooms, won’t show a plan for cuts, and is trying to give more money to people who already have the most.

blogspot

[haljackey]

Just chiming in here with neat site I found

http://www.calculatedpolitics.com/project/2018-ontario/

It has a projected riding by riding breakdown based on current info available.

[ainvan]

Doug Ford's PCs reveal 'final' campaign platform that has no fiscal outlook

After months of promising to release a fully costed campaign platform, the Progressive Conservatives have published an online list of promises that doesn't include a detailed fiscal plan.

Overnight on Tuesday, the PCs quietly revised their campaign website to include "For The People: A Plan for Ontario."

The plan reveals how much each commitment is expected to cost, but makes no mention of the at least $6 billion of "efficiencies" Ford has previously said a PC government would find. It also makes no mention of when a PC government would balance the province's budget.

Both Horwath and Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne heaped scorn on the notion that Ford had released a full plan Wednesday.

"Look: This is not a fully costed plan, it's not coherent," Wynne said at a stop in Markham, Ont., where she pushed her government's transit record. "All of the things that Doug Ford has said would add up to a $40-billion hole and they have no idea how they would find that."

Horwath was equally incredulous, saying it wasn't good enough for Ford to write a "list of things he might do and put it on the internet."

People should know what Ford's plans are, what he's going to cut and what services might be at risk, the NDP leader said.

"His list of things-to-do that he put on his website is not going to help people to decide which way to vote and what's their best interest in this campaign," Horwath said.

"What's worrisome is we have a leader who's trying to take the chair of the premier in this province and he's not being honest with people."

CBC

For the people, more deficit, folks!

[Docere]

Originally Posted by haljackey

Just chiming in here with neat site I found

http://www.calculatedpolitics.com/project/2018-ontario/

It has a projected riding by riding breakdown based on current info available.

Yeah, it's not very good. Humber River-Black Creek almost went NDP last time yet they're calling it for the Liberals now? I don't see why they've called Don Valley North and Scarborough Centre for the Liberals either.

[ainvan]

[Docere]

The thing is, seat projectors often don't do a good job when you have such a dramatic shift in the electorate.

[MolsonExport]

Ontario PC Candidate: Let Students Debate Whether The Holocaust ‘Actually Happened’


Other tidbits:

Lawton’s campaign has been dogged by his well-documented history with hardline right-wing politics since Ford appointed him as a candidate last month:

• On a March 2016 episode of his Rebel Media podcast, Lawton argued racial and gender discrimination should be legal in Canadian workplaces.

• On a January 2016 episode of his Rebel Media podcast, Lawton stated that German women “deserve” to be raped as a consequence of Germany’s refugee policies.

• On a February 2016 episode of his Rebel Media podcast, Lawton told alt-right YouTuber Faith Goldy that moves to extend equality to women can be described as the “pussification” of Western society.

• In 2015, Lawton was suspended by London’s AM980 after posting that gay men who spread HIV/AIDS are “the real enemy,” not those who are “intolerant of the LGBTQ community,” pointing to stats on “sexual-orientation motivated hate crimes.”

• In 2010, the Toronto Sun credited Lawton with leading an initiative to “start a Tea Party movement in Canada” modelled after right-wing groups in the United States.

• In a 2009 blog post, Lawton called the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women – a day commemorating the massacre of 14 women at Montréal’s École Polytechnique in 1989 – a “fake holiday” and a “faux-day of remembrance” invented by “feminazis.”

[Marshsparrow]

this train wreck of an election can't be over soon enough. How many PCers regret not having picked Christine Elliott?

[Docere]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

Ontario PC Candidate: Let Students Debate Whether The Holocaust ‘Actually Happened’

I'm sure the Toronto Sun will take this up at once!

[lrt's friend]

After last night's local debate, if we vote in the PC candidate, we get what we deserve. What a bad performance.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

I don't know. Vic is still pretty well liked.

Vic Fedeli is well liked and respected across Northern Ontario even though he is PC. But I was surprised to see that he only got 41% of the votes in 2014. The NDP candidate, Henri Giroux got 25% of the votes in an election that wasn't great for his party. The 2014 Liberal and NDP vote totalled 52%. This time Giroux is running again and has the potential to get 40% and maybe a bit more. I remember in 1999 in Nipissing when the Liberal candidate came within a few thousand votes of Mike Harris and Harris was Premier! So there is certainly a small chance of Nipissing going NDP.

[Loco101]

Originally Posted by Docere

It doesn't shock me.

1. The PCs have polled consistently polled FAR better in the North than their 2014 vote share.

2. Personal popularity plays a big role in the North.

3. The provincial riding of Kenora is much more favorable to Rickford, as most reserves are now in the riding of Kiiwetinoong. He could very well have held his federal seats on these boundaries.

4. The Conservatives won both Sault Ste. Marie and Kenora during the last (federal) orange wave.

I still say that the NDP will win Kenora-Rainy River and the Sault because the Liberal vote has collapsed in both ridings. It could be very close in both if the current polls are accurate.

As for all of Northern Ontario, almost all of the undecided people in the polls will likely vote NDP. I'm not hearing about anybody deciding at this point that they want to vote PC. Almost all PC supporters made up their minds before the election campaign began.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

I'm starting to think this country needs another party (or two).

What's a conservative to do when people in their party starting blowing the racist dog whistle (i.e. Holocaust denial)? By the same token, what's a liberal to do when their party swings too far Left?

We need to reign these parties in before things go too far. I'm particularly ashamed of the PCs for their recklessness in this election. They're going to destroy the party and, if we're not careful, the province.

[swimmer_spe]

Originally Posted by Dr Awesomesauce

I'm starting to think this country needs another party (or two).

What's a conservative to do when people in their party starting blowing the racist dog whistle (i.e. Holocaust denial)? By the same token, what's a liberal to do when their party swings too far Left?

We need to reign these parties in before things go too far. I'm particularly ashamed of the PCs for their recklessness in this election. They're going to destroy the party and, if we're not careful, the province.

Going to?

Mike Harris did a great job. Mulroney did so well that they created a whole new party that was.... even worse.

[SteelTown]

The PCs will not release a fiscal plan.
"We do not know the state of Ontario’s finances and anyone who tells you they do is lying to you," PC party spokesperson Melissa Lantsman tells me in an email

https://twitter.com/CBCQueensPark/status/1001996935077744640

So Ford has broken a promise already, he promised a full costed election platform.

[Dr Awesomesauce]

Originally Posted by swimmer_spe

Going to?

Mike Harris did a great job. Mulroney did so well that they created a whole new party that was.... even worse.

Yeah, fair enough.

We might end up with a zombie government...

[wave46]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

The PCs will not release a fiscal plan.
"We do not know the state of Ontario’s finances and anyone who tells you they do is lying to you," PC party spokesperson Melissa Lantsman tells me in an email

https://twitter.com/CBCQueensPark/status/1001996935077744640

So Ford has broken a promise already, he promised a full costed election platform.

That seals it for me. When a party can't (or won't) even cost their plan, they've lost the ability to run as the 'fiscal conservative' option.