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Ontario Fall election


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Unrelated to the last post, but I'm a student at Ryerson University downtown Toronto and there are huge campaigns here for students to say no to tuition increases. Also the Student Union has released these flyers grading each party on there education plans. They have it as:

1. NDP

2. Green

3. Liberals

4. Conservatives

I have a huge problem with this. Me, being a Conservative am very upset not only due to the rankings but how they portrayed the info.

I'm posting here so I can get some feedback or to warn other students about voting for parties like NDP. Although tuition may be high now, you must consider that AFTER university or college, etc. you will be looking for a job. The Conservatives as it is, have the seemingly best platform to make Ontario more powerful in terms of our economy and job availability. Although with other parties, (like the Liberals' 'goodie' of reducing tuition by 15%) the promises may happen, but where will the funding come from to make them happen. Taxes will rise, and we will be in major debt (definitely if NDP or even (if by some stroke of luck) the Green party gets elected). We need a party like the Conservatives in power right now, they are our best chance to actually improve Ontario.

Students, please be cautious of your vote, this election is one that is more important than many in the past, choose wisely.

I suspect all the funding for the Liberal platform comes from the winfall they received with the move to the HST. There is lots of money to reduce the cost of government just as they are promising, as well a lowering the tuition. That is a good as a done deal...

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NDP MP shuts down his Hill office as staff work Ontario election

The NDP MP from Welland, Ont., has closed up his Parliament Hill office until after the Ontario provincial election. A note on the door refers visitors to his constituency office, which remains open.

Apparently, Allen’s Hill staffer, Rona Merritt, has taken leave to help out with the Ontario NDP campaign.

http://afewtastefulsnaps.net/?p=1265

NDP MP accused of using Commons resources for Ontario provincial candidate

A federal New Democrat is being accused of using parliamentary resources to stump for a candidate running in the Ontario provincial election.

Liberal MP Judy Sgro says a mailout sent from the NDP's Mike Sullivan is an attempt to advance a partisan cause and potentially evade Ontario's campaign finance rules.

A copy of the pamphlet circulated to the media features a letter signed by Sullivan that calls for the removal of the HST from daily essentials and a pledge that the NDP will remove it from electricity and home heating.

That's a key plank of the Ontario NDP's platform in the current provincial election.

But Sullivan says it's a wider NDP issue that isn't limited to the provincial element of the party.

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Sullivan did not comment on the photograph of the provincial NDP candidate which also appears in the mailing.

Sgro says the pamphlet appears designed to achieve partisan goals, a violation of House of Commons rules.

She is calling on the Speaker of the House of Commons to investigate.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/ndp-mp-accused-of-using-commons-resources-for-ontario-provincial-candidate-130594838.html

Saint Jack must be frowning from on high.

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Ontarian Debate Viewers Say McGuinty Narrowly Wins Debate (33%), Horwath (29%) Bests Hudak (25%)

While McGuinty Continues to be Person Who Sounds and Acts Most Like a Premier, Impressions of Horwath Skyrocket, Seen as Leader with Best Policies, Most Likeable

http://ipsos-na.com/news-polls/pressrelease.aspx?id=5350#.ToL00tGga3V.twitter

New EKOS poll also puts McGuinty ahead of Hudak now:

Lib: 34.9%

PC: 31.4%

NDP: 24.7%

Green: 7.6%

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ontario_general_election,_2011

Edited by mentalfloss
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Dalton's doing it again!

If you can't see this as a cynical ploy to buy votes then you're not paying attention.

So you wanna build a plant in Oakville. No those people are rich and they have a Liberal MPP so we won't build it there. What about Etobicoke/Missisauga border. Nope the election race is too close.

Another energy project boondoggle that will cost taxpayers plenty.

A company that planned to build a series of huge wind farms in Lake Ontario is suing the provincial government for $2.25-billion, claiming it unfairly cancelled all offshore wind projects earlier this year.

Trillium Power Wind Corp. spent millions of dollars over many years planning its projects, and had dutifully followed the government’s application processes, the suit claims, but the rug was pulled from under its feet when the province said it would not consider any offshore development until more scientific studies were done.

Trillium’s statement of claim, filed Wednesday in Ontario Superior Court, also alleges that the decision was made for purely political reasons, to appease wind-power critics in the run-up to next week’s provincial election.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/wind-energy-firm-trillium-power-sues-ontario/article2183816/

The way it's going, Dalton will have to raise taxes, again, to fund his incompetence.

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Buy out and gag. If there's no problem with the turbines, why forbid the people from talking? Why have to buy them out in the first place? There's just too many questions for me to feel anything but uneasy when it comes to a gigantic wind turbine in my backyard.

Well, not MY back yard per se, but the landowner next to me.

Here's an expansive report by the CBC who investigated land values where turbines are located.

Ontario wind power bringing down property values

Ontario's rapid expansion in wind power projects has provoked a backlash from rural residents living near industrial wind turbines who say their property values are plummeting and they are unable to sell their homes, a CBC News investigation has found.

The government and the wind energy industry have long maintained turbines have no adverse effects on property values, health or the environment.

The CBC has documented scores of families who've discovered their property values are not only going downward, but also some who are unable to sell and have even abandoned their homes because of concerns nearby turbines are affecting their health.

---

Meanwhile, the industry rejects claims of lower land values.

"Multiple studies, and particularly some very comprehensive ones from the United States have consistently shown the presence of wind turbines does not have any statistically significant impact on property values," says Robert Hornung of the Ottawa-based Canadian Wind Energy Association (CANWEA).

While acknowledging a lack of peer-reviewed studies in Ontario, Hornung says CANWEA commissioned a study of the Chatham-Kent area, where new wind turbines are appearing, and found no evidence of any impact on property values.

"In fact," says Hornung, "we've recently seen evidence coming from Re/Max indicating that we're seeing farm values throughout Ontario, including the Chatham-Kent area, increasing significantly this year as wind energy is being developed in the area at the same time."

However, Ron VandenBussche, a Re/Max agent along the Lake Erie shore, said the reality is that the wind turbines reduce the pool of interested buyers, and ultimately the price of properties.

---

"Homes inside the windmill zones were selling for less and taking longer to sell than the homes outside the windmill zones," said Luxemburger.

On average, from 2007 to 2010, he says properties adjacent to turbines sold for between 20 and 40 per cent less than comparable properties that were out of sight from the windmills.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2011/09/30/ontario-wind-power-property-values.html

Homeowners affected are now having difficulty putting up their properties as collateral to obtain credit.

CBC News has learned that already one bank in the Melancthon area is not allowing lines of credit to be secured by houses situated near wind turbines. In a letter to one family situated close to the turbines, the bank wrote, "we find your property a high risk and its future marketability may be jeopardized."

Of course, an Environment Ministry lawyer said what is making residents sick is not the turbines, but worrying about property values.

"That's what makes them sick is that, you know, they'll get less money for their properties, and that's what's causing all this annoyance and frustration and all of that."

Is it any wonder McGuinty and his Liberals have so little support in affected and rural ridings?

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No matter how much you hate him, he's still been slowly trending up in all of the polls.

Urban polls, maybe. I'm not so sure about rural, southwestern and northern Ontario. I'd love to see a breakdown.

I'm sure he'll do well in the GTA, especially since he's campaigning as if that's all that matters!

However it turns out, I'll be very interested in the geographic breakdown. He may win, albeit with a minority but I'm betting he'll be a premier for big city folks ONLY!

I don't expect he'll do that well in Caledonia...

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Urban polls, maybe. I'm not so sure about rural, southwestern and northern Ontario. I'd love to see a breakdown.

The most recent poll by regional breakdown that I'm aware of is the following WB. It was taken Sept. 23 to 25.

(See chart on page 5.)

http://abacusdata.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Ballot-Ontario-Sept-26-2011.pdf

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That's what the polls said about Ignatieff leading into the May elections. We all know how that turned out.

The one who's really trending up is Horwath. Ontario Orange Crush?

Did you follow the polls leading up to May?

Liberals were stagnant or dropping from poll to poll.

We all know the only poll that matters is election day and, as seen in the federal election, enough voters are fickle enough to change their vote last minute to prevent something from happening that they don't like.

What I'm looking to see though, is if Harper goes back to his insane right wing view after the Ontario election.

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Liberals were stagnant or dropping from poll to poll.

Thanks for the link. You're right. I hadn't realized they did so poorly in those polls.

What I'm looking to see though, is if Harper goes back to his insane right wing view after the Ontario election.

I don't quite understand why you raise Harper's name. Maybe you meant Hudak?

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I don't quite understand why you raise Harper's name. Maybe you meant Hudak?

No. I am wondering if Harper is playing "conservative lite" because he knows that there are a lot of provincial elections going on right now.

He would, ideologically, want as many provinces as possible on the same page. That's all.

Just look at Rob Ford and his negative impact on Hudak.

Harper can't even keep his MP's from speaking out publicly against abortion, a topic the party has claimed it had no interest returning to. Yet he claims his party his more moderate.

Edited by MiddleClassCentrist
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We all know the only poll that matters is election day and, as seen in the federal election, enough voters are fickle enough to change their vote last minute .....

Not necessarily true in this election since voting started a month ago with mail-in voting and then 10 days of advance voting. People could have made up their minds early and locked in their votes.

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No. I am wondering if Harper is playing "conservative lite" because he knows that there are a lot of provincial elections going on right now.

Come on MCC. You have more common sense than to suggest Harper would amend his legislative agenda in order not to influence provincial elections.

Harper can't even keep his MP's from speaking out publicly against abortion, a topic the party has claimed it had no interest returning to.

I guess that muzzle wasn't on tight enough, eh? :lol:

Who knows if Vellacott and Trost will be disciplined for venturing into that territory. All parties have MPs who occasionally speak on matters their caucus would prefer not be broached.

In any case, Harper pledged to Canadians that abortion is not up for debate as long as he's Prime Minister. I doubt he'll change that position. It's plain he loves to govern and will strive to stay in charge.

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No matter how much you hate him, he's still been slowly trending up in all of the polls.

Remember when Ontario's "Big Blue Machine" was filled with brilliant political strategists who knew everything there was to know about how to win elections? Well, they're all gone. For the second straight election the Tories have introduced a candidate without a shred of charisma, with no vision, and with a policy platform built by cowards who are terrified at the thought of plain speaking. Vote for Hudak and... and... and he's not McGuinty, is basically the entirety of their platform. Why? Because there are hard choices to be made and they don't want to say so. Because pointing out how McGuinty has ridden Ontario's economy down into the ground would require explanations of how they intend to resurrect it, and again, they don't want to make those explanations.

As a start, there needs to be a total freeze on any hiring or pay increases for Ontario's overpaid, bloated public services. Of course, the unions would instantly react in a predictable fashion, screaming bloody murder. The teachers would howl about how Hudak is trying to destroy education. The nurses and health care workers would scream about how he's trying to destroy the health care system (neither will explain how not giving them even higher wages will destroy anything). Hudak and his 'brain trust' are terrified of facing that, so they're swerving and dodging and shuffling and not really saying much about it. Just like they're not saying much about electricity for fear of energizing the left. To listen to Hudak, a Tory government would do everything the Liberals are doing, only would do it better for less money. And they think they're going to get elected with that?

Of course, McGuinty is lying through his teeth, but that's par for the course for him. Nobody even particularly thinks badly of him for it any more. They just assume he's lying, no matter what he says and shrug it off.

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Of course, McGuinty is lying through his teeth, but that's par for the course for him. Nobody even particularly thinks badly of him for it any more. They just assume he's lying, no matter what he says and shrug it off.

Stick to the lies we know are lies, rather than guess what the truths are from others. It's probably what people are thinking. "Yeah, I know McGuinty lies but, life hasn't been that bad under him." And what people fail to think about is that their life has been so good because the government has been spending more than it gets.

I'm pretty sure, every public secture union is expecting wage freezes under any party. I'd be surprised if the teachers' federation doesn't expect it coming. Wage freeze shouldn't even be a striking issue at this point. Now, wage rollbacks, that might be.

Edited by MiddleClassCentrist
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Horwath announces what she wants in exchange for her support in the event of a minority government.

Horwath released her “five priorities” for the first 100 days of a NDP government — and the spending pricetag tops $2.8 billion.

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Her priorities for the first 100 days of government are lower taxes for small businesses and companies that create jobs; the HST off hydro and home heating; frozen tuitions and child care fees; weekly cap on gas prices; elimination of wait lists for home care and long term care; up to $5,000 tax credit for home energy retrofits and frozen transit fares.

The final priority on her list is to “live within our means” with a commitment to balance the books by 2017-18, the same year that her opponents have promised, cap hospital CEO salaries and scrap the planned Tory and Liberal corporate tax cuts.

http://www.torontosun.com/2011/10/02/horwath-makes-her-priorities-known

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I wonder if the The Sun will mention the cost of that massive highway Hudak has just pledged to bring next to Niagara.

I doubt it would go ahead if the communities affected make their case.

Hudak committed to spending millions on infrastructure. There's no reason why he can't draw on that fund for that purpose, if the project's a go.

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I doubt it would go ahead if the communities affected make their case.

This is one of those issues where you have to live here to understand, Capricorn. I suspect you're too used to Ottawa traffic densities.

There are no communities solidly pro or con the idea of this highway. People have mixed feelings everywhere. The more rural towns tend to worry about a change to their lifestyle. More urban areas are just so damn sick of sitting on the 401 or 403, wasting their life away in gridlock, that they are much more in favour of a new highway.

Especially when you consider that a new highway would be an extremely rare thing to witness - government being a little ahead of the game for once! Normally, by the time a government gets around to building a new highway it's only half as much as we needed and took twice as long to build, or even worse!

The stretch from Hamilton to Toronto is getting so bad that the shipping costs of goods is driving up prices noticeably. Outside salespeople are becoming a rarity in this area, not because technology is replacing the need for personal contacts but because it is simply impossible to be able to see a profitable number of clients in any one day. 25 years ago a salesperson may have made calls to 7-8 locations daily. In the GTA, he or she would be lucky to achieve 3!

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This is one of those issues where you have to live here to understand, Capricorn. I suspect you're too used to Ottawa traffic densities.

There are no communities solidly pro or con the idea of this highway. People have mixed feelings everywhere. The more rural towns tend to worry about a change to their lifestyle. More urban areas are just so damn sick of sitting on the 401 or 403, wasting their life away in gridlock, that they are much more in favour of a new highway.

That's interesting. A mix of rural and urban can certainly give rise to competing interests in such large infrastructure projects.

Especially when you consider that a new highway would be an extremely rare thing to witness - government being a little ahead of the game for once! Normally, by the time a government gets around to building a new highway it's only half as much as we needed and took twice as long to build, or even worse!

We experienced that when the East/West Queensway (a component of Hwy. 417) was built here. At the time, the boneheads at City Hall decided to run it right through the heart of the City. As soon as it was completed it was outdated.

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We experienced that when the East/West Queensway (a component of Hwy. 417) was built here. At the time, the boneheads at City Hall decided to run it right through the heart of the City. As soon as it was completed it was outdated.

I dunno, the Queensway worked fine back in the day and was well used. Gridlock now?

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