This and that for your Tuesday reading.- Murray Dobbin points out the utter failure of an economic system built on suppressing wages for the general populace in the name of boosting stock values and profits for a few at the top:Flaherty insisted before…
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Accidental Deliberations: Monday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material to start your week.- This blog’s current tagline highlights the importance of asking cui bono? when it comes to public policy choices. On that front, points for chutzpah to Baljit Chadha, who actually has the gall to argue that a…
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: A propos of nothing
While much of the NDP’s federal election result has been painted as the result of Jack Layton’s popularity, it’s worth noting exactly how the party results compared to some of the different measures used to track leadership preferences. In the weeks be…
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Angus Reid – PCs 36, OLP 32, NDP 26
Not really very different from their last poll, which was 38-31-24. However, even though it doesn’t show a drastic change like the other three (not including Abacus), it does show a tightening of the race, in practice.So, as noted, the topline numbers …
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Wednesday Morning Links
Miscellaneous material for your mid-week reading.- For those with a few months to kill between now and next March, now may be the time to direct a browser tab toward Alice’s NDP leadership site and start hitting “refresh”.- The Conference Board of Cana…
Continue readingBlunt Objects: Two Polls Give Ontario Grits Smiles
One from Ipsos Reid and one from Nanos Research confirm the trend seen in the Harris-Decima poll that was out only a few days ago, which blew the race in Ontario wide open.First, the Ipsos Reid poll gives the Ontario Liberals the lead with 38%, with th…
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: "When did we become for immigrants?"
HT to Oakville Mayor Rob Burton (or as we like to call him, @OakvilleMayor) for pointing out the quote of the day from Burlington PC candidate Jane McKenna:
“We have 550,000 Ontarians who are unemployed and yet the government wants to pay $10,000 to hire immigrants for jobs. When did we become for immigrants? You should have one law that fits everyone.”
Wow. I got nuthin’.
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: "When did we become for immigrants?"
HT to Oakville Mayor Rob Burton (or as we like to call him, @OakvilleMayor) for pointing out the quote of the day from Burlington PC candidate Jane McKenna: “We have 550,000 Ontarians who are unemployed and yet the government wants to pay $10,000 to hire immigrants for jobs. When did
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: "When did we become for immigrants?"
HT to Oakville Mayor Rob Burton (or as we like to call him, @OakvilleMayor) for pointing out the quote of the day from Burlington PC candidate Jane McKenna: “We have 550,000 Ontarians who are unemployed and yet the government wants to pay $10,000 to hire immigrants for jobs. When did
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Dalton McGuinty at Burlington Rally (with video)
About 300 local Liberals was on hand to greet a special surprise guest at the offices of Burlington candidate Karmel Sakran on Thursday. The group included just about every candidate in the western GTA, as well as the now ubiquitous “Fire Fighters for …
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Dalton McGuinty at Burlington Rally (with video)
About 300 local Liberals was on hand to greet a special surprise guest at the offices of Burlington candidate Karmel Sakran on Thursday. The group included just about every candidate in the western GTA, as well as the now ubiquitous “Fire Fighters for McGuinty” in their yellow shirts and their
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Dalton McGuinty at Burlington Rally (with video)
About 300 local Liberals was on hand to greet a special surprise guest at the offices of Burlington candidate Karmel Sakran on Thursday. The group included just about every candidate in the western GTA, as well as the now ubiquitous “Fire Fighters for McGuinty” in their yellow shirts and their
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Tory Syndrome, the Follow Up
Well, it appears that Tim Hudak supporters are attacking former Progressive Conservative leaders, instead of Tim Hudak himself. I’m not entirely sure I’ve seen a sitting Progressive Conservative MPP, standing for re-election, attack one of th…
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Tory Syndrome
Four years ago this month, a sizeable chunk of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative supporters already had their knives out and sharpened for John Tory. This was based upon the belief that Tory was not a true conservative like Tim Hudak and tha…
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Uproar over Uploading
The recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference presented a golden opportunity for Provincial candidates to make their pitch to just about every municipal government leader in the province. This hugely influential alliance of mayors, councillors and regional chairs was anxious to hear exactly what the party leaders had
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Uproar over Uploading
The recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference presented a golden opportunity for Provincial candidates to make their pitch to just about every municipal government leader in the province. This hugely influential alliance of mayors, councillors and regional chairs was anxious to hear exactly what the party leaders had to offer Ontario’s cities and towns, and they certainly got an earful.
Unfortunately, some candidates weren’t telling them what they wanted to hear.
The biggest shock came when PC leader Tim Hudak was asked if his government would continue the ‘uploading’ of services from municipal and regional jurisdiction to the provincial level. This is a process that was started by the McGuinty Liberals almost as soon as they took office, designed to reverse the ‘downloading’ of costs for everything from transit to social services to court security onto municipalities by the previous Progressive Conservative government – a government that Mr. Hudak played a significant role in.
Downloading was essentially a shell game designed to make the new Provincial government look like economic wizards, when all it really accomplished was to transfer those costs from the income tax base onto the considerably less flexible property tax base. Municipal budgets have been buckling ever since.
The current Provincial government has been slowly (some say too slowly) reassuming those costs, as well as gradually eliminating the GTA pooling that saw Halton property tax dollars funding services in downtown Toronto. In Halton’s case, those savings have been parlayed into much needed infrastructure investments, as well as easing the tax burden on homeowners.
The process is only about two-thirds of the way complete, which is why AMO delegates were shocked to hear that a Tim Hudak government would put the brakes on it until they can see exactly what the province’s financial situation is. That has been taken as a nice way of saying that the uploading will stop, and may even be reversed again.
For Halton, and especially for Milton, this is of particular concern since one of the current items being ‘uploaded’ is court security – a very big deal in this prison town. Now Regional staff are estimating that halting the uploading of that and other remaining services will cost Halton an estimated $15.9 million per year in projected savings.
Reaction from AMO delegates and editorialists alike has been universally negative. One particular mayor was seriously pissed, especially when it was suggested that Hudak’s comments were at all ambiguous:
Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion said she wasn’t confused at all by Hudak’s position on uploading.
“He was very clear. He is going to stop it,” she said. “He supports it where it is at.”
Social costs must be taken completely off property taxes, she said. “Health is next then education,” she said. “The uploading has to continue in a major way and this is only the beginning. Property taxes were designed to take care of property, not humans.”
Note to candidates: irritating Hazel McCallion is NOT how you get elected in Ontario.
For the record, both the NDP and Green party leaders have firmly committed to honouring and even improving on the current government’s uploading commitments. As for Hudak, it remains to be seen whether his handlers’ attempts to downplay his remarks will appease voters.
They certainly haven’t fooled anyone who was at the AMO Conference.
Continue readingRunesmith's Canadian Content: Uproar over Uploading
The recent Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO) Conference presented a golden opportunity for Provincial candidates to make their pitch to just about every municipal government leader in the province. This hugely influential alliance of mayors, councillors and regional chairs was anxious to hear exactly what the party leaders had
Continue readingAccidental Deliberations: Friday Morning Links
Assorted content to end your week.
– The Mark is the latest to point out that the NDP’s success in winning over former Bloc members and/or sovereigntists should be considered a huge victory rather than reason for criticism:
The Globe, at least, notes …
Accidental Deliberations: Saturday Morning Links
Assorted content to start your long weekend.- Thomas Walkom highlights the message being sent to students as to what workers should expect in the years to come. And it’s well worth reflecting on whether the problem lies precisely with the politicians s…
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