Reiterating one of his favorite themes of late, Tim Hudak, the never-ready-for-prime-time-politcal leader of the Ontario Tories, blamed the ‘union-bosses’ for denying him victory in last night’s Kitchener-Waterloo by-election. Blaming a “tsunami” of public sector union bosses who bought votes in a riding held by his party for two decades,
Continue readingTag: Ontario politics
Calgary Grit: A Reminder of the Unpredictable Nature of By-Elections
Just 17% of Kitchener-Waterlooians voted NDP provincially last fall – nearly the same number who voted NDP federally last spring, in the midst of the orange wave. They hadn’t won the riding since 1943, when they were known as the CCF. So this isn’t a riding with deep NDP roots.
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Uncommon Wisdom From The ‘Common’ People
That is the best way to assess the fact that last night, despite all of his gerrymandering, Dalton NcGuinty was decisively thwarted in his ruthless drive for the majority government he had been denied in the last general provincial election. Thanks to the people of Kitchener-Waterloo, both he and the
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Ontario voters wake up today to what they had yesterday, (sort of).
Forum Research, the polling company, must be feeling pretty good today. Their opinion polls released the day before the 2 by-elections held more or less accurate. The Liberals held Vaughan, and in a surprise upset, the NDP, who last held the riding of Kitchener-Waterloo back in 1943 when it was
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Dalton McGuinty: A Man Running Or On The Run?
I have to admit, I find the imagery extraordinarily pleasing. Like a man on trial for criminal offences entering the courthouse via an underground passage to avoid the media glare, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty stole through the back door during a Wednesday evening stop at the campaign headquarters of Liberal
Continue readingCalgary Grit: The Dog Days of Summer
Pauline Marois will make Quebecers long for the tolerant Premiership of Jacques Parizeau With politicians away from Ottawa and politics the last thing on the minds of Canadians, the summer news cycle usually slows to a crawl. Short of extraordinary events – war, disaster, or the great Census crisis of
Continue readingCanadian Soapbox: Thanks for the good times Dalton – Now Piss off!!!
Its hard not to think of Ontario teachers as a bunch of gold diggers, with Dalton McGuinty as a sugar daddy fallen on hard times. The teachers unions used to love the self styled education premier. And why not? He doted, and spent oodles on them. Jobs were protected in
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Because ….
…..some animals are more equal than others, I guess. At least that seems to be the message in McGuinty’s Ontario.* *Doctors, teachers, and most other public servants need not apply. Recommend this Post
Continue readingCalgary Grit: Why Can’t We All Just Get Along?
Ontario careens towards an election nobody wants… Ontario Liberals threaten election after NDP ‘breaks its word’ on budget Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty threatened to take Ontario to a general election Thursday if the opposition parties couldn’t agree on a deal to pass the budget. “This is about Ontario’s economic livelihood
Continue readingPolitics and its Discontents: Liz Witmer’s Political Karma
As a survivor of the Mike Harris years in Ontario, I have very vivid memories of what was undoubtedly the most mean-spirited and incompetent of provincial regimes I have ever lived through. Their economic ‘strategy’ of slashing and burning, selling key assets such as the 407 to foreign consortia to
Continue readingScott's DiaTribes: Sanity prevails in both Ontario and Alberta.
Well, this is actually a half-satisfying morning for me – one I haven’t had in Canadian political affairs for quite awhile. First, the Ontario Liberals and NDP came to an agreement yesterday that will allow the Ontario Liberals Budget to pass, and avert an election a mere 6 months after
Continue readingTrashy's World: Perhaps a step toward…
…one school system in Ontario? One can only hope. It will likely fail, but will expose the farcical inequities in our education system to those Ontarians who are, at present, blissfully unaware. But you can bet that I and the many others who want to see the end of faith-based
Continue readingthe reeves report: Fighting the deficit by defunding the Catholic school system
St. Boniface Catholic School in Toronto. The question of funding for Catholic education in Ontario is similar to the question of reforming the first-past-the-post system we employ for electing members of parliament – any rudimentary thinking on the issue would show it to be egregiously undemocratic and discriminatory, yet politicians
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario’s Auditor General slams McGuinty for ‘hasty’ green energy investments
Ontario Auditor General Jim McCarter. Ontario’s Auditor General, Jim McCarter, released his Annual Report to the legislature earlier this morning, and the 460-page document has some troubling findings about the hasty way in which Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty approved green energy investments in his second term. “While this helped these
Continue readingthe reeves report: ON Premier Dalton McGuinty rumoured for federal Liberal leadership
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty. Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty may be publicly dismissing any interest he may have in running for the federal Liberal top job, but sources close to the Premier told Globe and Mail columnist Lawrence Martin last week that McGuinty has not ruled out the possibility of moving
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario should brace for cuts ahead of March 2012 budget
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan. Matt Gurney in the National Post lays it on a little thick when he calls the Ontario Liberals – and Premier Dalton McGuinty and Finance Minister Dwight Duncan in particular – “financially illiterate” for their recent announcement that the province will
Continue readingthe reeves report: Don Drummond predicts health care will consume Ontario budget by 2030
Don Drummond speaking at the CD Howe Institute Therapy or Surgery? A Prescription for Canada’s Health System examines the state of health care provision in Canada, and offers a staunch defence of the public model. And while the report does indicate that many facets of the current system should remain
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario votes to amble into the twenty-tens
For an election that was about as little as an election can possibly be about, last nights results brought more change to Ontario than many anticipated. And despite the set election dates we have in Ontario, Ontarians should not expect to wait until 2015 before casting their next provincial ballot. But they can be forgiven … Continue reading »
Continue readingthe woodshed: Election Predictions
The polls close in a about 40 minutes. I’m betting on a slim Liberal majority or minority and a surge for the NDP.My two bets in the office pool:Libs 56PC 30NDP 21OR if Tim Hudak’s hateful campaign of wrong-head libertarianism, xenophobia and homophobi…
Continue readingthe reeves report: Ontario Votes 2011: Getting back to the Meat and Potatoes of Governing
Well, here we are. The Ontario provincial election is two days away, and the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives are locked in a dead heat, continuing to make election promises at the 11th hour; the House of Commons in Ottawa has been in session for weeks now with Stephen Harper’s Conservative majority firmly in power; and … Continue reading »
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