This wasn’t unexpected, but here is the official news: Premier Kathleen Wynne has called byelections for Feb. 13 in Thornhill and Niagara Falls…The riding of Niagara Falls became vacant after Liberal MPP Kim Craitor resigned. Thornhill MPP Peter Shurman stepped down after a very public dispute with PC Leader Tim
Continue readingTag: Ontario politics
Progressive Proselytizing: The Great Conservative Lie
Virtually all incidences of modern Conservatism – Canada and the US, federally, state/provincially and municipally, from politician to politician – has a consistent central theme. Campaign planks comes and go, but this is the frame of the Conservative movement. It is also a lie, known by all who say it
Continue readingthe reeves report: Canada must help U.S. pay to contain Asian carp
Canada has an obligation to help the United States pay for physically separating Lake Michigan and the entire Great Lakes basin from the Mississippi River watershed to contain the spread of Asian carp, though the cost may reach $18 billion or more. The latest report from the U.S. Army Corps
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Domestic Abuse?
Anyone who has experience with the elderly, be they grandparents, parents, or extended family members, knows that their medical needs are often complex, and their isolation profound. As we age, there is no assurance that despite our best efforts to keep healthy and vigorous, we will not find ourselves in
Continue readingCalgary Grit: 2014: Year in Preview
We don’t know what will make headlines in 2014. After all, most political predictions are about as accurate as a Forum poll. So I won’t try to guess how 2014 plays out, but here are a few things we can reasonably expect to see this year: With the new electoral
Continue readingthe reeves report: Cyclist safety bill passes second reading at Queen’s Park
Crowd riding north on Church Street to ‘Save Jarvis’ Ontario’s efforts to expand cycling infrastructure across the province may have taken a subtle but significant step forward on Dec. 12 with the second reading passage of legislation that would require paving one metre wide shoulders on all provincial, non-400 series
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario to roll out Green Bonds in 2014
GO workers wait ahead of announcement from Ontario government about green bonds (Oct. 30, 2013) Ontario made a small splash in the financial world at the end of October when Premier Kathleen Wynne and two top cabinet ministers announced the province was set to become the first Canadian jurisdiction to
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Tim Hudak’s Vacuous Vision
Young Tim’s Mad Face Readers of this blog will know that I have no use for Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak, an acolyte of Mike Harris who learned the essence of that hated leader’s philosophy when he served in his cabinet in the 1990s: divide, conquer, sow dissension, lambaste
Continue readingThe Ranting Canadian: News roundup: November 30, 2013 Here are a few thoughts about…
News roundup: November 30, 2013 Here are a few thoughts about recent Canadian political stories (in no particular order). Liberal spin on the Toronto Centre by-election Justin Trudeau and the federal Liberals have been falsely claiming they ran a wholly positive campaign in the Toronto Centre by-election, and that this
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario Government “Failed Miserably” to Protect Endangered Species
Woodland Caribou (Flickr image from Jim Winstead) The Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has shown a “shocking disregard” for its legal obligation to consult with the public on numerous changes to how species at risk and their habitat are managed in the province, Ontario’s environmental commissioner Gord Miller warned recently.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Oh Tim, Why Don’t You Stop Bothering Us?
When considering the political motivations of Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak, the boy who would be premier, there seem to be only two possibilities: he is either an indefatigable demagogue appealing to the same kind of folks (a.k.a. Ford nation) who blindly support Toronto mayor Rob Ford, or he
Continue readingthe reeves report: Asian carp capable of breeding in Great Lakes: USGS scientists
Captured grass carp at Dept. of Fisheries and Oceans research lab in Burlington, ON (Andrew Reeves) Anyone doubting whether Asian carp could successfully breed in the Great Lakes watershed got their answer Monday as researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey and Bowling Green State University in Ohio announced four grass
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: A Peak Behind the Political Curtain
If, like me, you are of the firm suspicion that governments regard the needs of its citizens as largely secondary to those of its corporate backers, you will derive much from Martin Regg Cohn’s column in this morning’s Star. Entitled How corporate Ontario gets its way at Queen’s Park, the
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario cycling strategy needs more than ‘vision’
Critical Mass in Toronto (Flickr photo by CG Cunningham) Two decades was a long time for cycling advocates in the province to wait for an overhaul of the Ontario Cycling Strategy, and the draft report released Aug. 30 has left many underwhelmed. The report from transportation minister – and avid
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Some more Ontario Liberal stuff I cringe at
Stuff like this is why, even though I like Kathleen Wynne, I’m not exactly running to renew my OLP membership card: Premier Kathleen Wynne is “deliberately dismantling” protections for everything from Crown land to prized species like polar bears, snapping turtles and lake sturgeon, Ontario’s environmental watchdog warns.In his 190-page
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Once In A While Their Voice Is Heard
It is a truism to state that the poor have little power to influence the political discussion. Those toiling away at minimum wage jobs, our silent serfs, for want of choice, are one of the invisible minorities (perhaps soon to be a majority?) seemingly easy to ignore. This was baldly
Continue readingTrashy's World: The Ontario Catholic School Board supporters had an email campaign, I guess…
So. There is this website that the Ontario Liberals have set up called “Common Ground” that is designed to elicit comments from Ontarians on new policy directions. This is not a bad idea. But good ideas can be hijacked by special interests who would clearly be positively or negatively affected
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: A rare display of unity in Ontario – #LetTimLead
Tim Hudak will not face a leadership review, the Progressive Conservative delegates decreed at their convention yesterday in London. Tim Hudak is very happy. His party supporters are very happy. The only ones possibly as happy are the Ontario Liberal Party and the NDP. They face face a lot easier
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: More On The Minimum Wage
The struggle to raise the minimum wage has been the subject of several of my recent posts. The current wage of $10.25 in Ontario is as inadequate as the $7.25 that the majority of jurisdictions in the United States pays, forcing millions to live below the poverty line even if
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The Struggle To Raise The Minimum Wage
I have written several recent posts on the campaign gaining traction across the United States to raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour from the current average of just over $7. That struggle has now come to Ontario, where those living in poverty thanks to the current minimum of
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