Ontario Byelections

[Boges]

It appears the Scarborough seat will go to the Liberals.

The Liberals made another cynical flip flop in supporting a subway to Scarborough when they were calling for an LRT.

[margrace]

Ford is at it again calling the liberals a bunch of crooks, pot calling the kettle black I guess

[Boges]

Ford is at it again calling the liberals a bunch of crooks, pot calling the kettle black I guess

What has Ford stolen? Does he have a scandal that even approaches eHealth, Ornge and the Gas Plant cancellation?

[PIK]

Listening to a NDP'er last name cullan(SP)on the radio and asked why the NDP kept propping up the libs and he said that is over and just watch in the fall as the NDP take them down. But could not answer why are we having these by elections now when we will be going to the polls in the fall?? One reason the NDP said no to a election was the cost.

[Boges]

Listening to a NDP'er last name cullan(SP)on the radio and asked why the NDP kept propping up the libs and he said that is over and just watch in the fall as the NDP take them down. But could not answer why are we having these by elections now when we will be going to the polls in the fall?? One reason the NDP said no to a election was the cost.

There's no benefit to them. They have no shot at forming a government. Right now they control the balance of power so they can force the Liberals to do things they may not do otherwise.

I've heard musing that based on the results of these elections you could end up in a situation similar to what we saw in the Federal election where the Liberals are relegated to 3rd party status.

[Newfoundlander]

There's no benefit to them. They have no shot at forming a government. Right now they control the balance of power so they can force the Liberals to do things they may not do otherwise.

I've heard musing that based on the results of these elections you could end up in a situation similar to what we saw in the Federal election where the Liberals are relegated to 3rd party status.

We heard that in 2011 too.

[socialist]

As long as Hudak doesn't win. We don't need them to gut public education the way Harris did.

[Shady]

Heading to the polls tomorrow. Will be casting my vote for Ali Chahbar in London West.

[Shady]

As long as Hudak doesn't win. We don't need them to gut public education the way Harris did.

Public education wasn't gutted.

[scribblet]

No it was not gutted, he had to cut back on funding because Paul Martin as finance minister cut education (and health transfers) to the provinces. Martin chopped $8 billion, or 24% of that funding.

[socialist]

No it was not gutted, he had to cut back on funding because Paul Martin as finance minister cut education (and health transfers) to the provinces. Martin chopped $8 billion, or 24% of that funding.

Oh, blame Martin. You guys make me laugh with your lack of knowledged of what really went down.

[scribblet]

And of course - you really know what went down....

[socialist]

And of course - you really know what went down....

I have an excellent understanding of what went down, and how it went down. If you tick off the teachers' union, good luck etting elected. We are powerful.

[Shady]

I have an excellent understanding of what went down, and how it went down. If you tick off the teachers' union, good luck etting elected. We are powerful.

Really? Harris got back to back majority governments.

[Shady]

Also, are you unaware that Martin cut funding for education?

[Boges]

Also, are you unaware that Martin cut funding for education?

Martin is an economic genius for downloading to the provinces. Mike Harris is a monster for downloading to the municipalities.

[PIK]

As long as Hudak doesn't win. We don't need them to gut public education the way Harris did.

. If only the left learned how to govern in ONT then we would not need a harris style government, but with the mess we are in it is going to take a harris to put it back together, starting with the teachers.

[Shady]

. If only the left learned how to govern in ONT then we would not need a harris style government, but with the mess we are in it is going to take a harris to put it back together, starting with the teachers.

Exactly. The NDP bankrupted the province. Harris comes in, fixes the problem, leaves, only to have the Liberals put Ontario right back in the same place Bob Rae did. Hopefully voters finally get the message. The NDP and Liberals are BAD for Ontario.

[Newfoundlander]

Oh, blame Martin. You guys make me laugh with your lack of knowledged of what really went down.

The person using "socialist" as their name talks about others having a lack of knowledge?

[Topaz]

Exactly. The NDP bankrupted the province. Harris comes in, fixes the problem, leaves, only to have the Liberals put Ontario right back in the same place Bob Rae did. Hopefully voters finally get the message. The NDP and Liberals are BAD for Ontario.

Harris was a loser and when the Tories left Ontario had an additional 5 Bil debt, which the Liberals did get rid of. The problems came in the second term of the McGuinty era, who also had to deal with the 2008 downturn, which Ontario got hit hard in maufacturing if you remember.

[Keepitsimple]

Harris was a loser and when the Tories left Ontario had an additional 5 Bil debt, which the Liberals did get rid of. The problems came in the second term of the McGuinty era, who also had to deal with the 2008 downturn, which Ontario got hit hard in maufacturing if you remember.

Just for the record - the REAL deficit that Eves left was about two billion. The Feds chipped in a billion to cover SARS expenses - but the Liberals put that into the next years revenues. Another two billion was a change in accounting procedures which conveniently put further revenues into the next years total. In hindsight, this was just the start of an incompetent, corrupt government. It's pretty clear now.

[Boges]

This might be it for Hudak. Right now they only stand to win Etobicoke. The NDP won the Southwest Ontario seats by a landslide.

PCs chocked in Ottawa.

Polling is such BS.

Edited August 2, 2013 by Boges

[Topaz]

By election over and who knew the results would ended up the way they did and this sends a message to all three parties, Liberals are in trouble, voters don't like Hudak and the NDP still have a chance in the next election. The biggest surprise was London going NDP, when its usually a PC. but there's been many lose their jobs there and perhaps that is why they went NDP. Liberals-2 NDP-2 and PC-1.

[Boges]

People are going use these results as evidence for anything that defends their opinion. In reality the PCs beating the McGuinty machine in Ottawa South was a long-shot but the scam that is polling made people believe they had a shot.

Most people will attribute the PC win in Etobicoke-Lakeshore to the Rob Ford factor and the fact that Holyday is a respected politician by everyone. It's definitely not an endorsement of Tim Hudak.

If Holyday wasn't 70 I'd want him to run for leader. Many are saying Hudak is done but who is a decent alternative? Frank Klees?

The most interesting result is in London because no one saw the NDP doing what they did. It seems to be an outright condemnation of the Liberals cynical move of nominating a guy who was leading protests against them less than a year ago. I suspect it was a protest vote for the most part, Ken Coran finished a distant 3rd.

[Argus]

This might be it for Hudak. Right now they only stand to win Etobicoke. The NDP won the Southwest Ontario seats by a landslide.

PCs chocked in Ottawa.

Polling is such BS.

I live in Ottawa South. Voting Tory wasn't easy. I did it because I'm more informed than most here, and of course, smarter.

The riding has a lot of public servants, who the federal Tories have infuriated over the last couple of years with ham-handed attacks designed more to please their rural supporters than out of any sort of real desire to cut spending. Hudak is seen as even worse, so there was little interest in the provincial Tories. There is also a significant number of lower income people here, mostly immigrants, who would be hurt by Tory cutbacks. And of course, a lot of seniors who, let's face it, tend to be ignorant about real world economics and politics.

I voted Tory not because I like them but because it's time to get in the hard-nosed bean counters who will slash spending. That's never a popular thing, which is why the left wing parties are not going to do it. They're all about 'helping people'. If that means borrowing and borrowing and borrowing, not to mention increasing taxes, then so be it. Only the short term counts anyway. And cutting spending makes people angry. We're already spending a fortune to service our debt, and that's going to get much worse as interest rates rise and borrowing continues. We already pay more to service our debt than we spend on education. What happens when interest rates double? As they might well do. That's not that big a rise, you know. Interest rates now are at historical lows, but they're going up.

We also need to get someone in to get us out of this green nightmare McGuinty has trapped us in. Buying energy from solar and wind producers at 47 cents per kwh and then reselling it to the US at 4 cents per kwh is insane, costing us a fortune, and is only going to get worse. The price of electricity has doubled, and will soon double again, all because of the Liberals' ideological desire for 'green energy' at almost any price.