Provincial Election

[eternallyme]

Originally Posted by Northern Light

Both Newfoundland and Quebec have managed to wipe out their religious (public) boards.

Ontario can do the same.

Though in fairness, Ontario's Catholic Boards are very large in some communities.

I think I might be inclined to try to merge French-Catholic and French Public first, as these would produce some fairly large incremental savings (being smaller boards with 2 HQs etc.) while effecting a relatively small number of voters.

It would also have the effect of dramatically improving access to French language education if you kept most (not all) of the schools open

French schools, interestingly, have not had as significant of enrolment changes - and might even be increasing in enrolment, while English public and Catholic schools have seen their enrolments collapse in the last 10 years or so.

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

How so if the Catholic school system is eliminated? I do agree that 4 school boards are too many, it should be 1 (the French boards should be eliminated as well and merged into one system).

I am definitely in favour of a voucher system where the parents have the full decisions though. All public schools would be under one board.

If you take away private school boards your going to see people puch more and more to allow religion in public schools.

[lrt's friend]

I strongly oppose an American style voucher system. This encourages different qualities of education depending on what you can afford, a degradation of the public system because of the lack of political clout of the poorer people left in the system and encourages the formation of schools based on religion and ethnic origin. One of the reasons that Canada has been so successful in having such a wide variety of ethnic groups live in relative harmony is because the vast majority attend the same public schools. This arrangement teaches different ethnic groups to work together and play together. Furthermore, education standards will become much harder to maintain with such a variety of private schools to be kept track of.

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by lrt's friend

I strongly oppose an American style voucher system. This encourages different qualities of education depending on what you can afford, a degradation of the public system because of the lack of political clout of the poorer people left in the system and encourages the formation of schools based on religion and ethnic origin. One of the reasons that Canada has been so successful in having such a wide variety of ethnic groups live in relative harmony is because the vast majority attend the same public schools. This arrangement teaches different ethnic groups to work together and play together. Furthermore, education standards will become much harder to maintain with such a variety of private schools to be kept track of.

My concern is if you have a public school made up of 60-80% ethnic origin are they acting more like a private school board meaning getting away from some canadian tradiitions etc and replacing it with other traditions etc thats what i think could happen.

[adam-machiavelli]

And what do you think happens when a school is 60-80% anglo and Protestant? The same thing obviously. I don't mind if a school incorporates multiple cultural practices and points of view. It reminds people that there is not just one "true" way of understanding ideas. I agree that when a school's student body is overwhelmingly made up of one ethno-cultural group, it can have an isolating effect that makes people too comfortable with their own beliefs. It is the responsibility of teachers, administrators, staff, parents, students, and school visitors to expose each other to multiple points of view.

[reidjr]

Originally Posted by adam-machiavelli

And what do you think happens when a school is 60-80% anglo and Protestant? The same thing obviously. I don't mind if a school incorporates multiple cultural practices and points of view. It reminds people that there is not just one "true" way of understanding ideas.

So if a school had culture practices that go aginst canadian culture and laws you would be fine with that?

[adam-machiavelli]

Originally Posted by reidjr

So if a school had culture practices that go aginst canadian culture and laws you would be fine with that?

You have just made the unfortunate mistake of taking an argument to its logical -as opposed to its pragmatic, conclusion. I refuse to rebut your statement.

[toaster]

Originally Posted by eternallyme

French schools, interestingly, have not had as significant of enrolment changes - and might even be increasing in enrolment, while English public and Catholic schools have seen their enrolments collapse in the last 10 years or so.

Do you have a quote or numbers for that? I'm just curious, as I've heard the opposite argument made too, but nobody's ever justified their claims.

[acottawa]

Anyone seen any local polling?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Anyone seen any local polling?

The Liberal incumbent is rumoured to be leading in Ottawa Vanier ....

[Capital Shaun]

Originally Posted by kwoldtimer

The Liberal incumbent is rumoured to be leading in Ottawa Vanier ....

[1overcosc]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Anyone seen any local polling?

A lot of recent polls seem to show that the Liberals are doing a lot better in Eastern Ontario than they are elsewhere in the province; Monday's Ipsos poll actually had the Liberals in first in the 613 by a sizeable margin despite being third in the whole province. Others have a similar pattern although not as dramatic.

CBC's poll aggregator and seat projector - https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/onvotes/poll-tracker/ - for the Eastern Ontario region currently predicts the PCs will win 12 seats, the Liberals 4 and the NDP 2. Those 2 NDP seats are likely Ottawa Centre and Kingston & the Islands; so this would mean the Liberals would lose only 1 seat in Eastern Ontario to the PCs (likely Glengarry-Prescott-Russell or Orleans). For the province as a whole, it projects a large PC majority and the Liberals in 3rd place with a mere 10 seats.. so Ottawa would still be mostly Liberal even as the Liberals are just barely above the threshold of official party status, and Ottawa MPPs would make up half the Liberal caucus!

[acottawa]

Originally Posted by 1overcosc

A lot of recent polls seem to show that the Liberals are doing a lot better in Eastern Ontario than they are elsewhere in the province; Monday's Ipsos poll actually had the Liberals in first in the 613 by a sizeable margin despite being third in the whole province. Others have a similar pattern although not as dramatic.

CBC's poll aggregator and seat projector - https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/onvotes/poll-tracker/ - for the Eastern Ontario region currently predicts the PCs will win 12 seats, the Liberals 4 and the NDP 2. Those 2 NDP seats are likely Ottawa Centre and Kingston & the Islands; so this would mean the Liberals would lose only 1 seat in Eastern Ontario to the PCs (likely Glengarry-Prescott-Russell or Orleans). For the province as a whole, it projects a large PC majority and the Liberals in 3rd place with a mere 10 seats.. so Ottawa would still be mostly Liberal even as the Liberals are just barely above the threshold of official party status, and Ottawa MPPs would make up half the Liberal caucus!

It would be interesting if the Liberals can hold ridings that the Tories won in the 2011 federal election (with results in Ontario similar to current polling). I tend to think they will hold Orleans, but GPR and OWN could be tough.

[rocketphish]

It's probably safe to say that this guy won't get a lot of votes

Hate crime charge hangs over Ottawa Centre candidate

Blair Crawford, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 10, 2018 | Last Updated: May 10, 2018 6:27 PM EDT

Twenty-five names and you’re in. Oh, and you can’t work for the government.

Aside from that, there’s not much stopping anyone from running for a seat of Queen’s Park, even if you were once stripped of your medical licence and have an upcoming trial for hate crimes.

All those apply to James Sears, candidate in Ottawa Centre who bills himself as “Canada’s biggest troll.”

Sears, 54, is editor of the Toronto newsletter Your Ward News a quarterly publication that has been described as “racist” and a “hate rag” by its critics. Sears chose the riding as a way to confront Yasir Naqvi, who was attorney general in November when Sears and Your Ward News publisher, Leroy St. Germaine, 76, were charged with wilfully promoting hatred against women and Jews.

Sears said Thursday that he chose to run in Ottawa Centre, specifically to confront Naqvi and work against his re-election.

Sears is one of six candidates running in Ottawa Centre and running for the CCP — Canadians’ Choice Party — which has two candidates in the election. In all, 15 parties are fielding candidates in the election while 15 more people are running as independents.

There are a few rules for candidates: They must be 18 or older on election day, a Canadian citizen and have lived in Ontario for six months. They must not be disqualified under the Legislative Assembly Act, for which the major hurdle is to not be an MP, Senator or government employee.

To be nominated they need valid signatures from 25 residents of the riding in which they intend to run. There is no registration fee. The deadline to register is May 17.

Sears has run in past federal and municipal elections and says he intends to run for mayor of Toronto in October’s municipal election. In a rambling “letter to constituents” on his website, Sears describes himself as “an aggressive advocate for the Christian patriarchy, promoting male masculinity by educating the public on the New World Order’s agenda of chemically and psychologically castrating Western men, turning many into treasonous Soviet lackeys.”

In addition to the hate crime charge, Sears also faces a charge of uttering threats because of an article he published in Your Ward News about Lisa and Warren Kinsella, who have called the publication a “neo-Nazi rag” and led a campaign to stop it from being delivered by Canada Post.

http://ottawacitizen.com/news/local-...ntre-candidate

[acottawa]

25 signatures seems like too low of a bar.

Also, when did they get rid of the registration fee?

[roger1818]

Personally I think the Carleton District should be interesting (even ignoring the fact that I live in it). It is a new riding created from parts of Nepean—Carleton, Carleton—Mississippi Mills, and Ottawa South, most of which were PC strongholds.

However, the Liberal candidate is Theresa Qadri (Councillor Shad Qadri's wife) so has a well known name.

The PC candidate (Goldie Ghamari) is largely unknown, but she has been pushing hard to get her name out there.

Grab the popcorn. Should be quite the show.

[1overcosc]

In a more typical election, I'd say Qadri would have a strong chance despite the area's history.

[Uhuniau]

Starting to get spidey-tingles about an NDP surge...

[Paul29]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Starting to get spidey-tingles about an NDP surge...

Because they're going to outspend the liberals?

[kwoldtimer]

Originally Posted by Paul29

Because they're going to outspend the liberals?

Have the media done any detailed costings of the NDP platform (or the Liberal's for that matter)? The only element of their platform that alarms me is the 1.5% corporate tax increase. No biggie in isolation, but, depending on the outcomes of the NAFTA renegotiation, I can't think of a worse time for it. In a bad/worst case scenario, both the federal and provincial government may need to be taking radical measures to keep corporations in Ontario.