Ontario Budget 2014 -- Election

[jacee]

WWWTT said:

Rosario Marchesie and the other remainding T.O. ONDP MPP's will be very vocal in calling for her head!

I had some of those thoughts too, but I respect that Andrea wasn't willing to support another Liberal budget when past commitments haven't been met.

It remains to be seen how Wynne will balance the budget, but clearly Ontarians are willing to give her a chance to crawl out from under the McGuinty quagmire.

I am happy that not even blue Ontario was interested in a rerun of Mike Harris ideas two decades late via a man half a load short.

Freakin BURLINGTON and HALTON went Liberal!

First time in 71 years for Burlington!

And Chudleigh a holdover from Harris ... gone!

Lost to a woman of colour.

Women ROCKED this election!!

.

Edited June 13, 2014 by jacee

[Boges]

The Sun came up this morning, so that's a positive. At least this happened before a Friday.

[Topaz]

As for the rural areas, specially in SW Ontario, those voters went PC because of the wind turbines, but at what cost. There's no Liberals MPP south of London and that region has still high unemployment. I heard many voters, especially women say that it wasn't Wynne that did the gas plants and so didn't blame her and then Hudak coming out and saying 100,000 jobs gone, which most of those workers living in the GTA, it was Wynne's to win. So now, I guess we just wait and see if she makes any changes to the budget, since rumour has it, Ontario may get a drop in our credit ratings.

[Boges]

LOL!

You got to be freekin kidding me?!?!?!

Harper, with his 70 odd Ontario seats probably didn't sleep at all last night!

2015 couldn't come soon enough!

WWWTT

Why the principals remain the same. Devil you know vs and unknown quantity.

JT hasn't released a worthwhile platform that makes himself much difference from Harper.

He's on record as saying that the budget will balance itself it the economy grows.

Federal Conservatives couldn't make any headway during the Harris years. Now Provincial Conservatives can't seem to make any headway during the Harper years.

[Big Guy]

I believe that all of the issues have been aired and those who follow politics have made up their minds. I have already voted so have no real dog in this race but am still an interested observer.

Personally, I prefer a minority government to take power after this election. But I do not think that it will happen.

I think that the crucial vote will be made by those who are not sure when they get into the voting booth. They will have to choose from Mike Harris, Bob Rae or Dalton McGuinty. I think they will hold their noses and vote Liberal.

I predict a Liberal majority - to my chagrin.

When one is very partisan towards a political ideology it is difficult to view the process objectively. It is one thing to cheer for an ideology and another to analyze potential outcomes. I am disappointed that it is not a minority government.

[cybercoma]

You know what I find most concerning about this election. Out of all the possible voters in Ontario, Wynne got a majority government with 17.5% of their vote. Voter turnout is a serious issue, especially when Ontario has a process for declining your vote.

[Boges]

You know what I find most concerning about this election. Out of all the possible voters in Ontario, Wynne got a majority government with 17.5% of their vote. Voter turnout is a serious issue, especially when Ontario has a process for declining your vote.

If you're going to decline your vote, why bother waste the gas to go to the poll?

[cybercoma]

If you're going to decline your vote, why bother waste the gas to go to the poll?

Because it actually shows that you don't care for any of the options, as opposed to lumping you in with those that can't get to the polls and those that don't care what the outcome is.

[Boges]

Because it actually shows that you don't care for any of the options, as opposed to lumping you in with those that can't get to the polls and those that don't care what the outcome is.

If you decline your ballot, ultimately you don't care what the outcome is.

[WWWTT]

I had some of those thoughts too, but I respect that Andrea wasn't willing to support another Liberal budget when past commitments haven't been met.

I agree that it was good for Horwath to not support the liberals either.

But her stupid swing to the right helped pave the way for the liberals to garnish a majority!

Look for Taras Natyshak to make a strong challenge for the leadership!

WWWTT

[Argus]

Am I supposed to take you seriously when you compare teaching to cutting grass?

I'm not meaning to insult teachers. I do respect the work they do. I simply don't feel they need a university degree to do it, in most cases. I think the extra education is being used to justify their high salaries when a reasonably smart high school grad with the right personality and empathy could easily teach almost all primary school grades, and most high school grades, as well.

Edited June 13, 2014 by Argus

[Argus]

So I can hear the rejoicing in the province. Tim Hudak isn't going to be able to destroy civilization as we know it. He won't be blowing up hospitals and closing down schools. Rejoice! Rejoice! He was going to impose austerity and balance the budget in two years!

Instead, Kathleen Wynne will balance the budget in two years (starting next year, after this year's increase in the deficit) and she'll do it with NO PAIN! There won't be any major layoffs, no major cutbacks in services, no closures or tears for anyone! The budget will balance itself through MAGIC!

Voting for her was a pretty obvious choice!

[Argus]

Wait until sometime this summer, well Ontarionians are at their cottages, for Moody’s to downgrade or threaten to downgrade, Ontario’s credit rating…..Once this takes place I fully expect Wynne to either modify her budget or raise taxes…… we shall see.

Here's what I expect. I expect Ontario's credit to be downgraded, increaing the cost of borrowing. I expect overall interest rates to rise, increasing the cost of borrowing. I expect our debt to rise, increasing the cost of servicing it.

I think it will emerge, once the money is added up, that the public service unions spent more on this campaign supporting the Liberals than the Liberals did themselves. She owes them far too much to be slashing their jobs, salaries or benefits. And doing that is the only way to balance the budget. I do not expect Wynne to balance the budget, or even come close. But she will lower the size of the deficit by imposing very large tax increases on the middle class.

There is no other way to do it, and it has to be done, or the debt servicing costs will swallow the budget and they won't be able to borrow money except at a horrendous rate of interest.

[Boges]

This cheers me up a bit.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/06/12/matt-gurney-cheer-up-tories-wynne-will-impose-austerity-for-you-she-has-no-choice/

But here’s something that may help perk all those demoralized Ontario Tories about there: In a weird way, their defeat doesn’t matter. They’ll get their agenda through, anyway. In substance, if not in name.

Who won is, in a big way, immaterial. Oh, the result matters to the participants, of course, and in terms of the dismal message it sends about how tolerant the Ontario voter is of Liberal abuse and mismanagement. But in the big picture, who is premier or what party won the most seats wasn’t the real issue.

This is the big issue: The province is out of money. The debt load is at the maximum. Credit-rating agencies are already watching keenly, and may have already downgraded the province, had they not feared being accused of meddling during the election campaign. The party’s over, in other words, and the reckoning is here. Premier Wynne, clearly, is not one who’d prefer to lead a slash-and-burn government. It doesn’t matter. That’s what she’s going to have to do, anyway.

Because while Ms. Wynne may be the premier, it’s the ratings agencies that will set the agenda. She’s just a caretaker. The number geeks own Ontario now.

[cybercoma]

I'm not meaning to insult teachers. I do respect the work they do. I simply don't feel they need a university degree to do it, in most cases. I think the extra education is being used to justify their high salaries when a reasonably smart high school grad with the right personality and empathy could easily teach almost all primary school grades, and most high school grades, as well.

Teaching and tutoring are very different things and I think you may be confounding the two. Teachers are responsible for a lot more than simply lecturing and telling the students how to do things. They're responsible for not only students intellectual development, but also their socio-emotional development. They need to be able to do more than just show someone how to do something then grade them on how they do it. If that was all that they did, then I would say they should earn about $12-15/hr like university student tutors make. Everyone seems to think everybody else's job is so much easier than their own. There's a cognitive bias that I notice when people talk about how much others should make and I think most people are falling into that here. People who are more educated are generally paid more and more to the point those teachers with masters degrees or doctoral degrees, as well as expanded teaching credentials are likely going to move into administration as principals, superintendents, etc.

[PIK]

This cheers me up a bit.

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2014/06/12/matt-gurney-cheer-up-tories-wynne-will-impose-austerity-for-you-she-has-no-choice/

Same thing I was thinking, it does not matter what she says. The credit card is full and she is not stupid by any means. She knows she has to do something. Now it will be her to say no to the teachers this fall, since they are looking for big raises again. She may wish she did'nt win.lol

[Derek 2.0]

Here's what I expect. I expect Ontario's credit to be downgraded, increaing the cost of borrowing. I expect overall interest rates to rise, increasing the cost of borrowing. I expect our debt to rise, increasing the cost of servicing it.

I largely agree with that predicted outcome...

[Topaz]

You guys don't know this but Ontario taxpayers are very lucky that Hudak didn't get elected. Why, u ask? I was talking to someone connected to the Wind Turbine , and they were ready to sue for millions if Hudak got in and try to cancel, which is in the contracts signed, apparently and could have gone as high as the gas plants. like them or not, and I don't, we are stuck with these turbines, thanks to ALL levels of government.

[Michael Hardner]

and they were ready to sue for millions if Hudak got in and try to cancel, which is in the contracts signed, apparently and could have gone as high as the gas plants. like them or not, and I don't, we are stuck with these turbines, thanks to ALL levels of government.

Are you serious ? That's millions with an 'm' not billions with a 'b' as the Liberals spent on similar buyouts and scandals.

[Bob Macadoo]

Are you serious ? That's millions with an 'm' not billions with a 'b' as the Liberals spent on similar buyouts and scandals.

That's millions with one company, guess how many LLCs are out there with a wind turbine chit in their hand.....start multiplying.

[Bob Macadoo]

You know what I find most concerning about this election. Out of all the possible voters in Ontario, Wynne got a majority government with 17.5% of their vote. Voter turnout is a serious issue, especially when Ontario has a process for declining your vote.

Voter turnout was > 50% this time around.....find some sunshine and stay out of the puddles.

[-1=e^ipi]

Teaching and tutoring are very different things and I think you may be confounding the two. Teachers are responsible for a lot more than simply lecturing and telling the students how to do things. They're responsible for not only students intellectual development, but also their socio-emotional development. They need to be able to do more than just show someone how to do something then grade them on how they do it. If that was all that they did, then I would say they should earn about $12-15/hr like university student tutors make. Everyone seems to think everybody else's job is so much easier than their own. There's a cognitive bias that I notice when people talk about how much others should make and I think most people are falling into that here. People who are more educated are generally paid more and more to the point those teachers with masters degrees or doctoral degrees, as well as expanded teaching credentials are likely going to move into administration as principals, superintendents, etc.

... Thanks for degrading the work of tutors...

[-1=e^ipi]

I was hoping that all the major parties would lose. But the outcome I wanted didn't come true.

I might have voted for the Freedom Party, as I did in the past, but they weren't running in my riding. Thanks First-Past-the-Post system.

Might have voted for the Green Party, especially since they finally want to abolish the Catholic School system, but their complete opposition to nuclear power is retarded.

Considered libertarian, but I don't really agree strongly enough with them on anything.

So I ended up spoiling my ballot. None of the major parties deserve it.

That said, out of the 3 leaders, Wynne was probably the most competent. At least she admits when her party makes mistakes.

Edited June 14, 2014 by -1=e^ipi

[cybercoma]

Are you serious ? That's millions with an 'm' not billions with a 'b' as the Liberals spent on similar buyouts and scandals.

That's still millions on top of billions.

[cybercoma]

Voter turnout was > 50% this time around.....find some sunshine and stay out of the puddles.

It was still near 50% and low enough that the Liberals won a majority with only 17.5% of eligible voters casting a ballot for them. It's a sad reflection of the state of our democratic institutions.