Pickering area protest sign (Flickr image courtesy of jbcurio) Residents opposing the Pickering airport have come to expect the unexpected. In their 40-plus years of struggle against a development many feel prioritizes business interests over prime agricultural farmland, the story has unfolded in fits and starts. Long periods of inactivity
Continue readingTag: Ontario politics
Politics and its Discontents: Double Dare Ya
Apparently, instead of taking his position as leader of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party seriously by articulating responsible policy, young Tim prefers to engage in children’s games: Tory leader Tim Hudak dares Liberals to call election ‘Nuff said? Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Young Tim’s ‘Transparency’
In a political landscape littered at all levels with lies, deception and expedience, it is hardly surprising that young Tim Hudak, the beleaguered ‘leader’ of Ontario’s Progressive Conservative Party, has hung former Finance critic Peter Shurman out to dry. Those who follow Ontario politics will likely be aware that Shurman,
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Toronto’s nice in the Fall – so are its eating establishments
Well, the Ontario legislature resumes sitting today. You’ll note in the story about it this morning in the Toronto Star that there is not a single mention of PC Leader Tim Hudak resigning (or even mentioning him for that matter). Unless things change in the hours before the Legislature formally
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: This Is The Best They’ve Got?
Many Ontario residents of a certain age will be aware of the fact that the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party ruled the province for forty-two years, from 1943 to 1985, a time during which the term ‘progressive conservative’ did not constitute an oxymoron. That was then. This is now. A headline
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Tim Hudak’s dissenters get a chance to air their beefs: I get a free meal (no beef tho)
I’ve spoken before about an ongoing bet I’ve had with fellow Liberal blogger Jim Calder over whether or not Ontario Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak would either voluntarily resign or voluntarily call for a leadership review before Sept 9 (the day the Ontario legislature is recalled), in the wake of
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: On Tim Hudak’s Evangelical Political Fervour
Crazed clerics are not the only ones possessed of an evangelical fervour. Young Tim Hudak, leader (at least for now) of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party, is well-known for wanting to bring back some of that old-time religion in the form of union-bashing and dismantlement, something he likes to describe
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Guest Commentary: Why Tim Hudak Has Failed To Catch Fire
Yesterday I wrote an entry offering my opinion on why Ontarians are not embracing Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak as the economic messiah he purports to be. Fellow blogger ThinkingManNeil offered a concise and insightful comment on Hudak’s problem, which I am posting as a separate entry here: I think
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Why Tim Hudak Is Such A Failure As A Political Leader
I realize that the subject of Ontario politics is likely of little interest to those residing outside of the province. Yet I can’t help but think that the dynamics at work here are not much different than anywhere else in the country, especially when one is talking about the qualities
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: If Your Name Is Tim Hudak, This Can’t Be Good
When you are leading a major provincial political party, it is never a good sign when the country’s largest-circulating newpaper makes editorial sport of you: Memo to Tim Hudak: Please stay as Ontario PC leader: Editorial You lost an Ontario election in 2011 that you were to supposed to win;
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: #imwithtim – Stay Tim stay!
I wasn’t expecting to be writing a followup post to this on Tim Hudak and leadership questions on whether he would still be here on Sept 9 or not so soon after the by-elections, but there is already some dissension in the ranks – enough to get the Toronto Sun
Continue readingAlberta Diary: Ontario’s by-elections: potentially a perfectly acceptable result for Premier Kathleen Wynne
Ontario Conservative Tim Hudak’s Vandal horde sacks Rome Upon Lake Ontario, the media narrative for last Thursday’s Ontario by-elections that was sensibly ignored by the province’s voters. Below, Ontario Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne. Was she taking a page from the Book of Alison Redford, also below? One can read too
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Byelection Results Roll In
With most of the results in, it appears the Liberals have held Scarborough-Guildwood and Ottawa South, with the NDP winning Windsor-Tecumseh and London West, and Doug Holyday squeaking it out in Etobicoke-Lakeshore. On the surface, this is a disastrous result for Kathleen Wynne, losing three seats and seeing her party’s
Continue readingCalgary Grit: By-Election Day In Ontario
Holyday isn’t going to lose any votes because of the scandal surrounding the truck behind him. But he might because of the guy to his left. Ontarians head to the polls in five ridings today, to replace five outgoing Liberal MPPs. The fate of the government does not hang on
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Tim Speaketh Yet Again
I doubt that Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has ever met a neoconservative nostrum that he doesn’t like. The latest pontification from the lad who would be Premier comes from his ‘bold’ assertion that Ontario must subsidize electricity costs for manufacturing if the province is to keep and attract
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: The NDP – Just Another Political Machine
Although I will likely vote NDP federally in the next election, I am under no illusion that the party is much different from its two major competitors. Indeed, I see it as occupying the middle ground that the Liberals once laid claim to, and quite frankly, compared to the latter’s
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: It’s All One Big Coincidence
Glad that Ontario Premiere Kathleen Wynne has put to rest that ugly speculation that the province’s change in attitude toward a subway for Scarborough has nothing to do with the upcoming provincial byelections. Recommend this Post
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Did Someone Say ‘Byelection’?
I’m certainly glad that Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne is adhering to her commitment to a new way of doing politics. I’m sure the Toronto District School Board also appreciates her integrity. Recommend this Post
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Poor Steve Ryan*
Who is Steve Ryan, you might ask? Up until today, he was the nominated candidate for the Progressive Conservative Party in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, for the Aug 1 by-elections here in Ontario. About 2 weeks ago, Forum came out with a poll saying the Liberal candidate (not even nominated yet) was a
Continue readingMusings on Canadian Politics: John Tory will save us from ourselves
John Tory announced today that he is considering campaigning to be Mayor of Toronto in 2014. All I can say is, thank god. “I’m being asked to think about [running for mayor] and I’m being honest enough to say I am,” Tory, told CP24. I say thank god because Toronto’s
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