The other day, while watching some reactions to the Ontario Throne Speech, I couldn’t help but note a truculent and smug Andrea Horwath, the leader of an NDP party now diminished by her foolish decision not to support a progressive budget, thereby triggering an election that few wanted. She opined
Continue readingTag: ontario election 2014
Politics and its Discontents: Lisa MacLeod Revisited
The other day I wrote a commentary on recently re-elected Nepean-Carlton Ontario Progressive Conservative Lisa MacLeod. In a thinly-disguised job application/op-ed piece for the Star, Ms. MacLeod talked about what is needed for revitalized leadership of her party, brought to electoral ruin by the soon-to-be-departed leader Tim Hudak. Perhaps not
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Stephen Harper and the Political Funeral of Tim Hudak
Well I wasn't invited to the Con funeral for Tim Hudak. And Stephen Harper hasn't said a word in public about his crushing defeat. But since he sent in half his cabinet to campaign for him, and he hates the Liberals so much, I can only imagine how he must be
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: Let’s Hope They Draw The Right Lessons
Ontario — and Ontarians — are lucky. So writes Gerry Caplan: The Liberals’ luck is also Ontario’s luck. The Conservatives, and a good number of observers, believed Tim Hudak would emerge with the most seats, though not a majority. By parliamentary tradition, the Lieutenant-Governor would have been obliged to ask
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Was Tim Hudak Ontario’s version of Michael Ignatieff circa 2011?
I was thinking about that comparison as I digest a surprising Liberal majority in Ontario this AM (but the folks at Forum and Ekos with their last polls called it – so kudos to them. I think Nanos also had 1 poll out that pretty well mirrored the results). Thinking
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: His Cheese Is Slipping
Not long ago, Stephen Harper mused about scoring a hat trick in Ontario — a Tory at Toronto City Hall, a Tory at Queen’s Park and himself — the Big Cheese — in Ottawa. This morning, Rob Ford is in rehab; Tim Hudak has resigned; and Stephen Harper — who
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Amazingly Awesome Destruction of the Con Loser Tim Hudak
Well at the end of this long day, I guess it's safe to say that the people of Ontario weren't too impressed with Tim Hudak's vision of the future.They didn't like his Made in America plan to create jobs by killing them. Or the fact he couldn't count.And they did send him
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Election Night Prediction ( #onpoli #voteon )
[This is a scheduled blog post]This was my original prediction for tonight’s election results. We’ll see how well I did!
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Election Night Prediction ( #onpoli #voteon )
[This is a scheduled blog post] This was my original prediction for tonight’s election results. We’ll see how well I did!
Continue readingThe Progressive Right: Election Night Prediction ( #onpoli #voteon )
[This is a scheduled blog post] This was my original prediction for tonight’s election results. We’ll see how well I did!
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Are the Hudak Cons Trying to Steal the Ontario Election?
I guess it makes sense. Tim Hudak is incapable of coming up with an original idea, for obvious reasons.So he is always borrowing them from others.He borrowed his economic platform from the Koch brothers. Mike Harris' old gang is running his campaign.And now he's clearly taken his voter suppression idea from the
Continue readingMontreal Simon: Why I Might Vote for the Liberals in the Ontario Election.
With just two days before the Ontario election, and still not having decided whether to vote for the NDP or the Liberals, I decided to check out the lawn signs on the island, which is part of Trinity-Spadina riding.And the results were no surprise. The island is still mostly orange, with
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Ontario Election and the Never-ending Con Nightmare
It was dull grey rainy Sunday on the waterfront where I live, but at least it gave me a chance to collect my thoughts, wonder what is happening to this country I sometimes no longer recognize.And of course try to figure out who the hell I'm going to vote for
Continue readingOPSEU Diablogue: Parties respond to Alliance questionnaire on mental health
We’ve previously noted that all parties had little to say in their official platforms when it comes to mental health care. The Ontario Mental Health and Addictions Alliance recently surveyed the four main parties asking a series of specific questions … Continue reading →
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Short Circuited: Assessing Hudak’s Energy Policy
The following is a guest post by Brendan Haley: Jim Stanford and I have written an assessment of the Ontario PC’s energy policy for Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives entitled Short Circuited. In particular, we look into the idea that cancelling renewable energy policies will lead to job creation. Here
Continue readingNorthern Reflections: The Worst Choice
Kathleen Wynne gave a less than stellar performance in last night’s Ontario Leaders Debate. But, this morning, even John Ivison at the National Post writes: The PC leader spent the evening moving his arms around, as if he were about to break into Simon Says. He looked slightly swivel-eyed when
Continue readingMontreal Simon: The Ghastly Ontario Debate and the Fatal Weakness of Progressives
It only took about fifteen minutes of watching the Ontario leader's debate before I started to wish that I was watching something else. Anything else.Or just lounging around with my friends on a lovely warm evening, like I suspect most people in the province were doing.Because it was bad eh?It
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Wynne & OLP have (polling) momentum going into debate
… or so it would appear from the latest polling. Ekos had a 5 pt OLP lead yesterday, while Abacus had a 2 or 7 pt OLP lead (depending on their likely voter or all voter screen), and today Nanos finally enters the polling arena. The Nanos polling company has
Continue readingThe Progressive Economics Forum: Benjamin Zycher’s Eight-Year Itch
The controversy regarding the mathematical errors in the Ontario PCs’ “million jobs plan” went viral last week, after a critical mass of economists weighed in to confirm that the party had indeed badly misinterpreted the findings (by as much as 8 times over) of their own consultants’ studies. This sparked
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Advance polling in Ontario opens today – please #voteon
By now, most people in Ontario will have gotten their voting cards, or will shortly. If you live in Ontario, regardless of who you support, I encourage you to go out and vote. There are plenty of people literally dying in the world fighting to have the right to live
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