Queen's Park Politics

[toaster]

Even after the election, I still can't get over the Liberals saying "we've created more jobs than the rest of the country" blah blah blah. That should be a given. You have about 40% of the entire population of Canada. If you aren't creating the most jobs, then that would be a huge problem. He turned something that should be taken for granted in Ontario to make it seem like this amazing feat. Just ridiculous. Anyway, I'm glad they only got a 54 seats. The NDP should continue to vote issue by issue, choosing to side with either the PCs or LIBs on each individual case.

[Dr Nevergold]

^In this worldwide economic malaise I don't think job creation should be taken for granted. McGuinty was responding to the reality that Hudak's main message was high taxes and shouting HST and tax grabs... He simply reminded people his tax policies have been helpful to job creation in a global financial mess. People resonated with the reasonable Liberal message and rejected the divisive, tea party like message from Hudak.

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

^In this worldwide economic malaise I don't think job creation should be taken for granted. McGuinty was responding to the reality that Hudak's main message was high taxes and shouting HST and tax grabs... He simply reminded people his tax policies have been helpful to job creation in a global financial mess. People resonated with the reasonable Liberal message and rejected the divisive, tea party like message from Hudak.

Somewhat true. If voters really resonated with McGuinty, they would've rewarded him with another comfortable majority

[toaster]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

^In this worldwide economic malaise I don't think job creation should be taken for granted. McGuinty was responding to the reality that Hudak's main message was high taxes and shouting HST and tax grabs... He simply reminded people his tax policies have been helpful to job creation in a global financial mess. People resonated with the reasonable Liberal message and rejected the divisive, tea party like message from Hudak.

But the entire country is going through the same "economic malaise". Even if the country as a whole creates 80% less jobs, Ontario should still be creating more jobs per year for the sole reason of it's population. It's like comparing California getting more jobs than Rhode Island. Well of course. McGuinty has done terrible things for jobs, especially in Northern Ontario.
The question should be whether Ontario achieved the most jobs on a per capita basis, something I do not believe is true. Otherwise, you could also say Ontario had the most people fired this year, and the most people out of work, the most people die, etc. Just because you have more people than any other province.

[Dr Nevergold]

^McGuinty was responding to a divisive Tim Hudak who was trying to make Ontario out to be some banana republic. It is part of the game of politics, it is what it is. In my opinion Tim Hudak is most responsible for the negative tone of this campaign, so I give kudos to Dalton McGuinty responding with a positive tone again and again. Even if some of it is obvious rhetoric, I don't mind hearing it over the death and destruction Hudak was talking about. What isn't important is to over-analyze political rhetoric from a campaign that is now over.

Conservatives have become so staunch and so right wing that I really don't care about rhetoric, I just support who I support and move on. I think Ontario made a good call over an obvious mistake that Hudak could have become, but that is my opinion. I know there are people on here who sit at their keyboards on Tory blogs contemplating the end of Ontario as we know it and are living in fear... I just laugh.

On a Federal level, I don't care much for Harper. I think he's led improperly on focusing on jails and jets for example. I think there are far more prudent and better ways to focus attention and investments. I absolutely dislike and have a strong distaste for Mayor Ford, but at the same time I have a positive feeling about the GTA and Ontario in general. It is a great province, it is in a great country, and Toronto is still building among the highest volume and some really high quality highrise projects. It has a banking system that thus far has been able to withstand worldwide turbulence.

I may not like Ford, but one side effect is that I love that Eglinton is getting a subway and the Rt is being rebuilt, and they are trying to complete Sheppard as a singular technology. I'm happy there isn't a costly streetcar going up in the suburbs... I never considered that rapid transit. Even though I dislike Ford on the whole, I try to find a silver lining in it, and I think Toronto will be better off in 4 years than it is today.

Despite the fact that the politics aren't always right (pun not intended), Toronto and Ontario as a whole is a great place to live, a great place to be, and a very rewarding place to be from. We hopefully can all agree to that.

My last opinion on Tim Hudak is as follows: I think if he were elected, Ontario would have gotten a lot of missed opportunities. It wouldn't have been destroyed, it wouldn't have become the banana republic he characterized McGuinty's Ontario as. But it would have missed 4-8 years worth of critical investments I believe are good and important. Just like I don't agree with Hudak, I wouldn't have felt like Canadian society is melting away, and Ontario was dissolving into madness.

It is a disagreement at the end of the day... Hudak treated it like a childish insult, and he lost. So I am content with that loss.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Wharn

Grade 3? I was in Grade 7 by the time I started teaching myself how to manipulate those infernal things. The first time I heard about them in a classroom was the second week of school, when the teacher asked "I trust everyone knows how do add and subtract fractions?". Come to think of it, I can't remember how I dealt with fractions problems on the EQAO, may have just skipped them. Still managed to pass the math section though, which shows that Harris' "impossible" tests obviously weren't tough enough.

And yes, you're correct; I am indeed younger than 23.

We first learned fractions in grade 5, I think. The "grade 3" thing was referring to Harris' reforms in general. People in grades 4 and up that year kept using the old curriculum until they finished school. It resulted in a double cohort, where grade 12s and grade 13s graduated simultaneously.

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

libtards!

That doesn't even make sense. How did this word develop?

Conservassholes makes more sense than libtards. Conservative and assholes have a sound in common and can be easily merged.

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

No my business is online.

"Oh, online sales! That is another area that is under taxed. Thanks for reminding us!" -The Liberal Party of Ontario

Originally Posted by yaletown_fella

Nothing against you by the way. Hudak couldn't have run a worse campaign so his loss. Yes, I felt he would have been preferable to McGuinty but ultimately I'm not a strategic voter so I went Green.

You could have declined the ballot like I did. I couldn't vote for the Greens this time because their candidate was a parachute candidate who lives in Scarborough, and I oppose that kind of behaviour. (Both making use of parachute candidates, and living in Scarborough! )

I considered strategically voting NDP to prevent Mauro from getting re-elected, but figured I would regret it as much as I regretted voting NDP federally 5 months ago, so I didn't do that.

The PC party is so inept at running itself that we're probably better off that they're not running the province. Hudak is a misleading "populist in name only" kind of leader, and their candidate in my riding was the highest paid civil servant in this region for a decade. Combined with their plan to reinstate flat hydro rates (contrary to free market principles and our desperate need to control energy use during peak periods) and other policy fuck-ups, I think it is better that the PC's lost. They have to chose a new leader, get some better candidates, make their policy more consistent and run a smoother campaign if they want to win.

Originally Posted by shreddog

Last May 3 when Harpo won the election, many forum members who didn't like that were stating that his win was undemocratic and unwarranted due to only a 61% voter turnout and the use of FPTP voting. They were also advocating that only the implementation of PV would bring a return to democracy to our land.

Yet now we have a defacto majority in Ontario despite the winning party only getting 37.6% of the vote with roughly a 48% voter turnout. And surprisingly these same posters - mainly anti-Cons - are very quiet. If Ontario had PV, we likely be seeing something very different today and possibly a new premier (if you believe the right and left can work together like in the UK).

I think that there is a word that describes this behaviour, but I can't just think of it right now!

It is called "Vid is now employed full time and doesn't have time to spend making a set of maps to demonstrate how unfair our electoral system is. This will have to do:"

[eternallyme]

Note that about the Green Energy Act, all the ridings the windmills will go are where the Liberals lost, in most cases badly. It seems urban people are the ones that want it - as long as it isn't in their backyards. How about wind turbines in Toronto?

[toaster]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

^McGuinty was responding to a divisive Tim Hudak who was trying to make Ontario out to be some banana republic. It is part of the game of politics, it is what it is. In my opinion Tim Hudak is most responsible for the negative tone of this campaign, so I give kudos to Dalton McGuinty responding with a positive tone again and again. Even if some of it is obvious rhetoric, I don't mind hearing it over the death and destruction Hudak was talking about. What isn't important is to over-analyze political rhetoric from a campaign that is now over.

Conservatives have become so staunch and so right wing that I really don't care about rhetoric, I just support who I support and move on. I think Ontario made a good call over an obvious mistake that Hudak could have become, but that is my opinion. I know there are people on here who sit at their keyboards on Tory blogs contemplating the end of Ontario as we know it and are living in fear... I just laugh.

On a Federal level, I don't care much for Harper. I think he's led improperly on focusing on jails and jets for example. I think there are far more prudent and better ways to focus attention and investments. I absolutely dislike and have a strong distaste for Mayor Ford, but at the same time I have a positive feeling about the GTA and Ontario in general. It is a great province, it is in a great country, and Toronto is still building among the highest volume and some really high quality highrise projects. It has a banking system that thus far has been able to withstand worldwide turbulence.

I may not like Ford, but one side effect is that I love that Eglinton is getting a subway and the Rt is being rebuilt, and they are trying to complete Sheppard as a singular technology. I'm happy there isn't a costly streetcar going up in the suburbs... I never considered that rapid transit. Even though I dislike Ford on the whole, I try to find a silver lining in it, and I think Toronto will be better off in 4 years than it is today.

Despite the fact that the politics aren't always right (pun not intended), Toronto and Ontario as a whole is a great place to live, a great place to be, and a very rewarding place to be from. We hopefully can all agree to that.

My last opinion on Tim Hudak is as follows: I think if he were elected, Ontario would have gotten a lot of missed opportunities. It wouldn't have been destroyed, it wouldn't have become the banana republic he characterized McGuinty's Ontario as. But it would have missed 4-8 years worth of critical investments I believe are good and important. Just like I don't agree with Hudak, I wouldn't have felt like Canadian society is melting away, and Ontario was dissolving into madness.

It is a disagreement at the end of the day... Hudak treated it like a childish insult, and he lost. So I am content with that loss.

Southern Ontario and Eastern Ontario may be good places to live, but McGuinty has done terrible things for Nothern Ontario. I really do think the Northern MPs should be the only ones voting on Northern Issues

[SteelTown]

NDP requests all-party meeting

http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/...-party-meeting

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is reaching out to the two other party leaders, requesting a meeting to discuss how to deal with the province's problems.

Horwath, whose party won seven additional seats in last week's election, says the results show people want all their representatives "to work together."

The request comes as the minority Liberals work to decide who should be named Speaker and as the opposition parties face the possibility of one of their members crossing to floor.

The Liberals only need one more member to reach majority, but would lose a seat if one of their members becomes Speaker, making it likely that they will court an opposition member for the role.

The Liberals have also promised to release an economic update, which Horwath says should come as soon as possible.

Her main concerns are jobs, affordability and health care.

[SteelTown]

McGuinty rejects meeting with Horwath to discuss governing Ontario

Premier Dalton McGuinty has met with Lieutenant Governor David Onley to form his new government, but there has yet to be a decision on when the House will resume or when a new cabinet will be sworn in.

McGuinty and Onley sat down for 15 minutes Tuesday morning at the Legislature, the premier’s office said.

The premier’s meeting came as NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is moving fast to get down to business after the provincial election by requesting a meeting with PC Leader Tim Hudak and McGuinty.

Horwath sent a letter Tuesday to McGuinty and Hudak, asking for a “meeting with both of you to discuss workable solutions for the short term and a plan for the long term sustainability of our province.”

Horwath tweeted just after 2 p.m. that her offer had been declined.

The Liberals were quick to pan Horwath’s idea.

“The premier met with the Lieutenant Governor this morning to inform him that he intends to form a strong, stable Ontario Liberal government,” said Jane Almeida, McGuinty’s press secretary, in an email.

“The economy is the government’s top priority. The premier has asked Finance Minister Dwight Duncan to prepare an economic update to present to Ontarians, so we know the impact the crisis in the European Union is having on job growth here in Ontario,” she said.

“There will be lots of opportunity for input from the opposition as the legislature resumes.”

http://www.thespec.com/news/election...erning-ontario

[vid]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Note that about the Green Energy Act, all the ridings the windmills will go are where the Liberals lost, in most cases badly. It seems urban people are the ones that want it - as long as it isn't in their backyards. How about wind turbines in Toronto?

Both Thunder Bay-Atikokan (Big Thunder Wind Farm, under development and extremely controversial) and Thunder Bay-Superior North (Greenwich Windfarm, nearly complete) voted Liberal by larger margins than last time. In Thunder Bay's case, the wind farm actually is in people's back yards; my big concern is that they're not paying any taxes on their 2.6 mile long back yards.

Originally Posted by toaster

Southern Ontario and Eastern Ontario may be good places to live, but McGuinty has done terrible things for Nothern Ontario. I really do think the Northern MPs should be the only ones voting on Northern Issues

I think Northern Ontario should have regional governance, with an elected body to oversee regional issues under the supervision of the province.

[flar]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

Note that about the Green Energy Act, all the ridings the windmills will go are where the Liberals lost, in most cases badly. It seems urban people are the ones that want it - as long as it isn't in their backyards. How about wind turbines in Toronto?

The green energy thing is absolutely hated in rural areas. I just got back from rural Kent and Lambton counties. In Dover township (or whatever it's called now), I saw a row of windmills not far from a protected wetland that is a major gathering place for migrating birds. Up near Sombra, I saw a huge solar facility being built on some of the best farmland in Canada. What a waste. Then there's Lambton Generating station, closing after millions were spent on scrubbers. They don't take out the CO2 but they remove almost everything else. There are two coal powered plants directly across the river in Michigan, without scrubbers, churning out all kinds of nitrous and sulpher.

You won't find much love for McGuinty down there.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by flar

The green energy thing is absolutely hated in rural areas. I just got back from rural Kent and Lambton counties. In Dover township (or whatever it's called now), I saw a row of windmills not far from a protected wetland that is a major gathering place for migrating birds. Up near Sombra, I saw a huge solar facility being built on some of the best farmland in Canada. What a waste. Then there's Lambton Generating station, closing after millions were spent on scrubbers. They don't take out the CO2 but they remove almost everything else. There are two coal powered plants directly across the river in Michigan, without scrubbers, churning out all kinds of nitrous and sulpher.

You won't find much love for McGuinty down there.

Also most people down there don't even believe in climate change anymore. That may have been a factor as well.

[flar]

I don't think that plays much of a role. Talking to people, I think it comes down to practical arguments. People say they can't put in enough windmills and solar panels to equal the output of Lambton Generating Station. They see it as a huge waste of money to build new, less efficient, equipment when there is already a working generating station. They see rising prices for electricity. They see good farmland becoming unproductive. They see increased foreign dependence for electricity and food. One thing about rural Canadians, many have a conservative streak but most are more pragmatic than ideological.

[bornagainbiking]

Fertile land should be sacred. There are enough old brown fields to use or to be real abstract why don't we be like Europe. And use existing roofs.
I drove up to Port Elgin the back way and I saw several existing and more future installations on barn roofs and in areas on the farms that the farmer choose.
Forget the huge solar farms and subsidize the individual home owners. This would utilize wasted space and save land use. California can use acres of desert and maybe we could put up wind farms out along the great lakes in remote areas. Like they do in the Soo near Gros cap.
We need our farmlands and will need it more in the future.
I hear some concern about certain issues like birds and noise, well what about the air quality for people and animals from coal fired. Lung cancer, asthma etc etc etc. We need air and water to survive.
Remember solar will be it's strongest to run your AC when the heat is out. Perfect supply and demand.
Save our farmland...and remember by local. The 100 mile rule.

[SteelTown]

Ontario’s new cabinet:

Premier, Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs: Dalton McGuinty

Minister of Finance and deputy Premier: Dwight Duncan

Minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs: Ted McMeekin

Attorney General: John Gerretsen

Minister of Children and Youth Services: Eric Hoskins

Minister of Citizenship and Immigration: Charles Sousa

Minister of Community Safety and Correctional Services, Francophone Affairs: Madeleine Meilleur

Minister of Community and Social Services, Liberal house leader: John Milloy

Minister of Consumer Services: Margarett Best

Minister of Economic Development and Innovation: Brad Duguid

Minister of Education, Women’s Issues: Laurel Broten

Minister of Energy: Chris Bentley

Minister of the Environment: Jim Bradley

Minister of Government Services: Harinder Takhar

Minister of Health: Deb Matthews

Minister of Labour, Seniors: Linda Jeffrey

Minister of Municipal Affairs and Housing and Minister of Aboriginal Affairs (separate ministries): Kathleen Wynne

Minister of Natural Resources (includes Forestry): Michael Gravelle

Minister of Northern Development and Mines, cabinet chairman: Rick Bartolucci

Minister of Tourism and Culture: Michael Chan

Minister of Training, Colleges and Universities: Glen Murray

Minister of Transportation and Minister of Infrastructure (separate ministries): Bob Chiarelli

http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/...isive-politics

[Tony]

Originally Posted by bornagainbiking

Fertile land should be sacred. There are enough old brown fields to use or to be real abstract why don't we be like Europe. And use existing roofs.
I drove up to Port Elgin the back way and I saw several existing and more future installations on barn roofs and in areas on the farms that the farmer choose.
Forget the huge solar farms and subsidize the individual home owners. This would utilize wasted space and save land use. California can use acres of desert and maybe we could put up wind farms out along the great lakes in remote areas. Like they do in the Soo near Gros cap.
We need our farmlands and will need it more in the future.
I hear some concern about certain issues like birds and noise, well what about the air quality for people and animals from coal fired. Lung cancer, asthma etc etc etc. We need air and water to survive.
Remember solar will be it's strongest to run your AC when the heat is out. Perfect supply and demand.
Save our farmland...and remember by local. The 100 mile rule.

Agree! Wow that's rare!

[SteelTown]

Frank Klees will run as Speaker. This will give the Liberals a majority.

This a good stab to Hudak. Frank Klees came in second during the PC leadership.

[SteelTown]

Construction halted on Mississauga gas-fired generating station

http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/...rating-station

TORONTO Ontario’s Liberal government says it has finally reached an agreement to halt construction of a gas-fired generating station in Mississauga.

Premier Dalton McGuinty did an about-face in the middle of the fall election campaign to announce the Liberals would halt construction on the gas plant.

However, construction continued for another two months and even the huge gas generators were delivered to the site weeks ago.

Energy Minister Chris Bentley has issued a statement saying Greenfield South Power agreed to immediately stop building the gas plant.

Bentley says the company and the Ontario Power Authority are still looking to find another location for the generating station.

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by SteelTown

Construction halted on Mississauga gas-fired generating station

http://www.thespec.com/news/ontario/...rating-station

TORONTO Ontario’s Liberal government says it has finally reached an agreement to halt construction of a gas-fired generating station in Mississauga.

Premier Dalton McGuinty did an about-face in the middle of the fall election campaign to announce the Liberals would halt construction on the gas plant.

However, construction continued for another two months and even the huge gas generators were delivered to the site weeks ago.

Energy Minister Chris Bentley has issued a statement saying Greenfield South Power agreed to immediately stop building the gas plant.

Bentley says the company and the Ontario Power Authority are still looking to find another location for the generating station.

Double standard for the Liberals - listening to urban NIMBYs but ignoring rural NIMBYs. (Although I would argue they weren't true NIMBYs in the wind power issue killing the Liberals in rural Ontario, but rather it was the bigger picture in that they believe climate change is a scam).