Ontario election discussions

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:20 pm

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
squeaky wrote:
That article clearly states that the "cuts" Wynne is proposing a) aren't actually cuts, they're freezes and b) are both smaller and completely different from the ones Hudak is proposing. It also very clearly makes the point that Wynne's "cuts" are highly unlikely to materialize as proposed, because they're all deferred to future budgets.

Also, the cuts they're talking about here have absolutely nothing to do with the jobs plan I was talking about.

The NDP largely ran to the right of the Liberals this time around. Any sane left-leaning individual in this election should be strategically voting to keep Hudak out of power while cursing how awful their choices are this year.
Cuts, freezes. Semantics. They have the same effect. Reduced service for the public and outraged public service unions. A Liberal majority would most assuredly see them materialize.

Most of Hudak's job "cuts" will be through attrition. It's not like 100,000 people will be given pink slips. However his campaign has done a piss poor job of actually getting that message out.

Yes, the NDP did run to the right of the Liberals this year, which is nice to see. If the NDP ever wants to be elected they're going to have to pull their party a little closer to the centre, something Mulcair is doing on the Federal level.

Can't disagree that we have awful choices, but Ontario has the politicians it deserves when only 49.2% of people show up at the polls.

Lastly, I have no time for strategic voting. We're not picking horses. People should vote for the party that most closely resembles their political beliefs. We also need proportional representation ASAP.

I still haven't decided who I'll be voting for. Don't have to decide until I make my way to the polls at 6:00 p.m. I do know that it will be NDP or PC.

People should vote for the party that most closely resembles their political beliefs, unless that party happens to be the Liberals?

Craig · Post by **Craig** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:21 pm

Trinity-Spadina is actually neck and neck this year, with the NDP candidate having a slight edge:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-HCkokKrqzxQ/U ... idings.png

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 5:32 pm

squeaky wrote:
People should vote for the party that most closely resembles their political beliefs, unless that party happens to be the Liberals?

If a person's political beliefs are so warped and weak as to excuse billions upon billions upon billions of dollars worth of scandals, criminal activity, the subverting of the constitution and a whole long list of other infractions then I suppose they should.

Then again people who tie their political beliefs to parties rather than ideologies are morons anyway. The same morons that just might get that cancerous blight of a party re-elected in this province.

toweringpine · Post by **toweringpine** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 7:16 pm

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
squeaky wrote:
People should vote for the party that most closely resembles their political beliefs, unless that party happens to be the Liberals?
If a person's political beliefs are so warped and weak as to excuse billions upon billions upon billions of dollars worth of scandals, criminal activity, the subverting of the constitution and a whole long list of other infractions then I suppose they should.

Then again people who tie their political beliefs to parties rather than ideologies are morons anyway. The same morons that just might get that cancerous blight of a party re-elected in this province.

I agree about the Liberals being a cancerous blight but I sure disagree about your view of their supporters. All of my family are voting Liberal today. I cannot understand why and after enough discussion I could not sway them from it ( nor could they persuade me to vote their way ) but there is no way I could label such a group of highly successful, intelligent and politically active bunch as morons.

On the upside, my family lives in a true blue riding and all their reds votes probably won't make a difference in the outcome.

S. St. Jeb · Post by **S. St. Jeb** » Thu Jun 12, 2014 11:58 pm

lister wrote:
With the NDP winning my riding no contest (Trinity Spadina) my vote means nothing.

Oops!

S. St. Jeb · Post by **S. St. Jeb** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:00 am

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:If the Liberals aren't reduced to third party status tomorrow it'll simply confirm that Ontarians are morons.

Hmmmm. I'm sure you don't want to have anyone confuse you with a moron. Where will you be moving to?

Ale's What Cures Ya · Fri Jun 13, 2014 12:56 am

S. St. Jeb wrote:
Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:If the Liberals aren't reduced to third party status tomorrow it'll simply confirm that Ontarians are morons.
Hmmmm. I'm sure you don't want to have anyone confuse you with a moron. Where will you be moving to?

Alberta's the prime candidate right now.

lister · Post by **lister** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 7:53 am

S. St. Jeb wrote:
lister wrote:
With the NDP winning my riding no contest (Trinity Spadina) my vote means nothing.
Oops!

Well what do you know... Apparently I know nothing.

boney · Post by **boney** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 8:00 am

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
S. St. Jeb wrote:
Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:If the Liberals aren't reduced to third party status tomorrow it'll simply confirm that Ontarians are morons.
Hmmmm. I'm sure you don't want to have anyone confuse you with a moron. Where will you be moving to?
Alberta's the prime candidate right now.

Haha. I'm a native Albertan and 90% of my family is still there. If you think the Ontario Libs are corrupt and wasteful , the Albertan PC's have spectacularly up the game. If you think Hudak was right wing and out of touch, Danielle Smith and the Wild Rose Party are an special kind of crazy delusional. Alberta politics makes Ontario seem like the United Nations.

icemachine · Post by **icemachine** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 9:28 am

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:If the Liberals aren't reduced to third party status tomorrow it'll simply confirm that Ontarians are morons.

Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard. - H. L. Mencken

Bytowner · Post by **Bytowner** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 11:20 am

The PCs ran a remarkably stupid campaign under a deeply unlikable leader and were thumped for it. The government was their's for the taking and they did everything they possibly could to make themselves unelectable.

I didn't vote Liberal, but I can't begrudge those that did. I'm not shocked that Ontarians decided against punishing a government that is arguably no longer in power and electing a troupe of incompetent radio-call-in types with a downright creepy leader.

sprague11 · Post by **sprague11** » Fri Jun 13, 2014 1:09 pm

For Hudak to win, all he had to do was say "Billion dollar gas plant scandal" as his answer to every question and stay on that point. He wouldn't have even needed to bust out a platform had he ran on that. For whatever reason, Hudak thought he was smarter than he really is and decided to put the attention on himself with a hamfisted jobs plan as well as picking a fight with a very large public sector.

Not only did he turn away centrists and fed up lefties that may have voted for him just to get the Libs out, he actually caused the NDP-friendly unions to rally behind the liberals. I'm sure there was a lot of people holding their noses as they checked their liberal candidates name last night.

So he not only couldn't take down McGuinty at his most unpopular (before the gas plant scandal) but couldn't take down a government that blew at least a Billion dollars it didn't have to.

At the end of the day it's same old, same old, but at least my job is no longer in jeopardy so I can continue to feed my family and pay my mortgage. (did not vote liberal btw)

Ale's What Cures Ya · Post by **Ale's What Cures Ya** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 2:35 pm

boney wrote:
Haha. I'm a native Albertan and 90% of my family is still there. If you think the Ontario Libs are corrupt and wasteful , the Albertan PC's have spectacularly up the game. If you think Hudak was right wing and out of touch, Danielle Smith and the Wild Rose Party are an special kind of crazy delusional. Alberta politics makes Ontario seem like the United Nations.

At least the taxes are low, it's a change of scenery, there are some gorgeous mountains and I can open a beer store.

boney · Post by **boney** » Sun Jun 15, 2014 5:18 pm

Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
boney wrote:
Haha. I'm a native Albertan and 90% of my family is still there. If you think the Ontario Libs are corrupt and wasteful , the Albertan PC's have spectacularly up the game. If you think Hudak was right wing and out of touch, Danielle Smith and the Wild Rose Party are an special kind of crazy delusional. Alberta politics makes Ontario seem like the United Nations.
At least the taxes are low, it's a change of scenery, there are some gorgeous mountains and I can open a beer store.

Fair enough. Forget the bottle shop and open a brewery. Alberta has an amazing array of imports but is where Ontario was 10 years ago in terms of local craft beer.

saints_gambit · Post by **saints_gambit** » Wed Jun 18, 2014 9:39 am

boney wrote:
Ale's What Cures Ya wrote:
boney wrote:
Haha. I'm a native Albertan and 90% of my family is still there. If you think the Ontario Libs are corrupt and wasteful , the Albertan PC's have spectacularly up the game. If you think Hudak was right wing and out of touch, Danielle Smith and the Wild Rose Party are an special kind of crazy delusional. Alberta politics makes Ontario seem like the United Nations.
At least the taxes are low, it's a change of scenery, there are some gorgeous mountains and I can open a beer store.
Fair enough. Forget the bottle shop and open a brewery. Alberta has an amazing array of imports but is where Ontario was 10 years ago in terms of local craft beer.

Concur. The laws just changed and you'd be an early adopter as a hip nanobrewery.