The fact that I experienced physical and verbal abuse at the hands of my teachers during my Catholic education probably has a lot to do with my visceral response to arrogance. Having someone presume to sit in judgement on another is both a humiliating and ultimately enraging experience, one that
Continue readingTag: 2014 Ontario Election
BigCityLib Strikes Back: Welcome Glen Murray, Ontario’s New Minister Of The Environment
@Glen4ONT @jm_mcgrath You go get ’em. Greenbelt is one of OLP’s real achievements. Builders hated it, but finally saw it worked. #onpoli— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) June 26, 2014
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Andrew Horwath: I’m Going Nowhere
No remose. No regrets. No plan. No future. No clue.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Randy Hillier Speaks! Points Finger Of Blame!
Guy’s definitely got class. All of it 3rd. From his facebook page; he’s referring to this article. Worth noting that, when Hudak was an advocate fior ditching the Rand formula, Randy was behind him 100%. Randy’s usually just right of Attila The Hun, but in the wake of the PCPO ass-whupp’n
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Better Angels of Our Nature
Like many who follow politics closely, I consider myself to be deeply cynical. Probably the best window into the human soul, politics is the arena where often the worst aspects of our natures prevail; greed, selfishness, abuse of power all have ample opportunity to find expression in this venue. Yet
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: I can’t blame the NDP for the election call
Despite being a nonpartisan lefty, during the campaign I wasn’t particularly kind to the NDP. I derided the choice to call an election as a gamble that risked either a fairly horrible outcome (Hudak forming government), or a relatively small loss (slightly less influence within a majority Liberal government) for
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Post-Election Reflection
I don’t want to comment directly about last night’s Ontario election, given that it has been incisively and very competently observed by others already. However, I want to address a comment my friend Tom, who voted Liberal, made on Facebook: And here’s why the system is broken: @51% voter turnout
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: First Steps For New Wynne Majority
@SueAnnLevy @SueAnnLevy Ontario should name a new tax after you. Call it “The Sue-Ann Levy levy”. #onpoli— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) June 13, 2014
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Things We Learned During Ontario Election 2014: Conservative Ideologues Should Be Convulsed With Doubt And Self-Loathing
Take Andrew Coyne, for example. This guy is known among Canada’s literati as “the journalist who knows math”. He’s always saying “Well, the iron laws of Economics will prevent that!” and so forth. And when he says it what he means is that your figgers don’t add up. So what
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Timely Reminder Of Tim Hudak’s Magical Thinking
While we should be back from our trip tomorrow in time to catch the Ontario election news coverage, this seems an opportune time to remind readers of the kind of magical thinking so favoured by extreme right enthusiasts such as young Tim Hudak. Tim, as you may recall, has made
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Analysis Of Gas Plants Scandal’s Effect On Ontario Election Polls…Expressed In Concrete Poetry!
Gasplantsgasplantzgasplanzz gasplazzzgasplzzzzgaspzzzzz gaszzzzzzgazzzzzzzgzzzzzzzz zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Does Forum Poll Herald Liberal Majority?
This Ontario election may have recent precedents in Alberta and B.C. There very tired governments were up against challengers who the governing party attempted to portray as “radical” during the course of the election campaign. With some justification, in Alberta at least, as the Wildrose party of the time was
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: New Oracle Poll Has Ontario Race In Dead Heat
Near identical numbers for PC and Liberal Party: The province-wide results show no movement from the PC and NDP since the May 26th data was released. There is slow upward growth by the Liberal Party from 31% to 35% (May 5th data and this poll). The PC had 42% in
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The effect on strategic voting of Wynne ruling out a coalition
Unfortunately, for those of us who think that some form of Liberal-NDP election deal or coalition would be vastly superior to the PCs forming a government with the largest minority, Kathleen Wynne has said that she won’t form a coalition with the NDP. Unsurprisingly, as this move changes the possible
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Dear NDPers: The Time Has Come To Do The Right Thing And Abandon Your Party
Because it has already abandoned you. I mean, Jack Layton carefully prepared your federal counterparts for his “move to claim the center”. And some of the changes he made, to your constitution for example, where he removed the stuff about property ownership being inherently evil because it suppressed revolutionary fervor,
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: The NDP email on "strategic voting" is largely nonsense
The NDP has sent several emails to supporters before and during the campaign premised on the idea that the best way to stop the Conservatives is to vote for the NDP. Here is the latest: “This election, there is one simple trick you can use to stop a Conservative majority:
Continue readingProgressive Proselytizing: Riding by riding strategic voting in the 2014 Ontario Election
I’ve always advocated for strategic voting on this blog where we vote based on promoting certain goals given the constraints of both our local riding and the broader election. This can take many forms; for instance, in “safe” ridings where the outcome is all but determined I often advocate voting
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: New Ipsos, Not Bad
After all the kerfuffles New Ipsos shows OLP tied with decided voters and closer with likelys compared to last poll http://t.co/tuCCCy4Lum— Bigcitylib (@Bigcitylib2) June 6, 2014 This was their last one. Jeez, I was looking forward to being depressed this evening.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: New Ontario Poll: What Did I Say?
Before the Tuesday telecast, voters who tuned in said they preferred the Liberals over the Conservatives by 37 per cent to 31 per cent. Afterward, the Liberals were at 40 per cent and the Conservatives at 35 per cent. I said this, if you’re wondering.
Continue readingBigCityLib Strikes Back: Ontario Debate: BCLSB Analysis
Sat in a pub watching old MMA clips during the whole thing, waiting for my wife to do her physio. Drank a couple of pints, kept an eye on twitter as the poli-nerds fought it out. It was almost like I was watching the Ontario election debate, except I wasn’t
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