Queen's Park Politics

[SteelTown]

The 40th Ontario general election is scheduled for October 6, 2011.

Dalton McGuinty - Liberal - Incumbent Premier
Tim Hudak - Ontario PC
Andrea Horwath - New Democrat
Mike Schreiner - Green

107 seats in the 40th Legislative Assembly of Ontario
54 seats are needed for a majority

[Pimpmasterdac]

PCs & Hudak are gonna win a majority government!

Liberals & McGuinty are gonna get mopped up

NDP & Horwath are gonna pick up seats, depending on the anger towards McGuinty, possibly official opposition if they campaign well.

Election couldn't come soon enough!!!

[ForestryW]

Originally Posted by Pimpmasterdac

PCs & Hudak are gonna win a majority government!

Liberals & McGuinty are gonna get mopped up

NDP & Horwath are gonna pick up seats, depending on the anger towards McGuinty, possibly official opposition if they campaign well.

Election couldn't come soon enough!!!

I hope you're wrong.

As a student, I fear what will happen with Conservative majorities in both Ottawa and Toronto.

[Pimpmasterdac]

Originally Posted by van Hemessen

I hope you're wrong.

As a student, I fear what will happen with Conservative majorities in both Ottawa and Toronto.

Fiscal solvency and less social spending to start!

Honestly as a student Hemessen, we're in less need of social services. I just graduated and Hudak doesn't sound like he's going to gut OSAP or any post-secondary educational spending. Just cut a lot of the waste McGuinty and his gang have done the last 8 years.

[vid]

Originally Posted by Pimpmasterdac

Just cut a lot of the waste McGuinty and his gang have done the last 8 years.

Such as?

I thought the Northern Ontario Growth Plan was vague and contradictory. Then I heard Tim Hudak speak.

Honestly, I don't think anyone is worth voting for right now. I think we'll get a PC minority.

[Pimpmasterdac]

Originally Posted by vid

Such as?

e.Health, OLG, gold plated pensions for liberal appointees as far as scandals.

Health Premiums, eco-fees, HST, "green energy" act as far as additional costs.

Need any more?

[Jamaican-Phoenix]

Originally Posted by Pimpmasterdac

Fiscal solvency...

ROFLMAO!!!

That's the best damn joke I've heard yet this year. Conservatives these days seem to be anything but fiscally conservative.

[Pimpmasterdac]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

Conservatives these days seem to be anything but fiscally conservative.

Oh Really?!

Since McGuinty running a ~$17 billion deficit despite all his idiotic tax increases is fiscally solvent and sensible.

Or Bob Rae Liberal/NDP turncoat who was running deficits ~$17 billion during his majestically term in Ontario. In his 5 years he doubled our provincial debt!

When Harris resigned Ontario had a $200 million surplus and Eves left with a $5.6 billion deficit, sure a deficit but better than any these Liberal or NDP jokers have been able to do!

[vid]

Originally Posted by Jamaican-Phoenix

ROFLMAO!!!

That's the best damn joke I've heard yet this year. Conservatives these days seem to be anything but fiscally conservative.

The Harris conservatives weren't fiscally conservative either, but they found a way to make it look like they were.

Originally Posted by Blitz

I see them doing well in eastern Ontario and parts of the GTA, probably not as well in the north or southwest.

The PC candidate in my riding is the former president of Lakehead University (and highest paid civil servant in NWO for five years in a row—over 350,000 taxpayer dollars a year!!) and he thinks Wi-Fi is evil.

The PC candidate in Thunder Bay—Superior North is a former RIM CEO who's only real vision is "an NHL team in Thunder Bay!!11!"

Yeah, "fiscal conservatism"! That said, the PCs will probably do better than the Liberals up here. They've delivered a lot of pork on the past few years, but it happened too late. The north will probably go NDP.

No parties are promising to give the north more decision making power over its regional economy so I don't see how any of them can really help us. The PCs have so far said that the Liberal's Northern Growth Plan is crap and will scrap it, but their equivalent plan for the north is equally vague.

[troy87]

Really???That is the best damn joke I've heard yet this year!

[Dr Nevergold]

I would warn against taking anything seriously from someone named pimpmaster... LOL

On a more serious note, what exactly is this frustration with McGuinty? It is frustration with length of power, which every politician deals with. Everyone loves 'change' and loves a refresh in power. McGuinty's biggest problem is he has been in power 8 years, time that has passed, and he isn't a fresh face. After the disaster of Harris/Eves he was the freshest face and welcomed with open arms.

With that said, Hudak is a single-message candidate with no plans. All he has plans to do is cut, cut, cut. In fact, his entire campaign could be summed up in key dumbed-down phrases: "cut spending" and "cut taxes" just like a typical right winger. No plans, no innovation, no vision of where to take Ontario. The problem is that Hudak doesn't plan on offering any real tax cuts, it is just a fake carrot thrown to draw attention and votes. He supports the HST as a concept. The HST was tax simplification.

McGuinty has done a lot of good things for Ontario, but along with that comes some controversial moves like the HST. Fact is, Hudak and the Conservatives support the HST, there won't be change in that area, and that is the cornerstone of his campaign of "tax cuts, spending cuts" in which he sounds like a broken record.

McGuinty has an accomplished record: better health access, better education plans, a revolutionary clean energy program that is the envy of North America. Investments in transit in the cities, particularly with the funding for Transit City's Eglinton LRT in Toronto, and the jobs created from that at the plant up in Thunder Bay to build the new streetcars.

McGuinty has more to say than a dumb "tax cuts, spending cuts" platform. He has some results to brag about... If he can overcome the HST controversy (which is a joke, the only real increase anyone saw was on energy costs, but it came with tax cuts in other areas) then he'll be re-elected. If people just want a fresh face, and a repeat of Mike Harris, they have the choice of Hudak's dumb "tax cut, spending cut" message with no vision or leadership.

As far as the other parties involved, I think we all learned on May 2nd that a vote for the NDP in Ontario is a vote for a Conservative government in this province. If you want a Hudak government, then vote Horwath.

If you want a green energy program, if you want better hospitals and schools, better transit and roads, and all the things provinces are supposed to be involved in... Vote to keep the McGuinty government. He's done a good job at guiding the province through good and bad times.

[Dr Nevergold]

^Harper wasted billions on G20 spending not related with the G20 (with a B) and people looked over it, particularly Ontarians who gave him a majority government. Why should ehealth and OLG matter to Ontarians on a provincial level? It isn't like Hudak really would change things, he supports the HST and that is what Ontarians are 'worried' about and what gives McGuinty the image of raising taxes (it was relatively tax neutral and came with other tax cuts).

Yea, ehealth was a screw up, but the concept is over, the program has been cancelled for years. The liberals did cut their losses and cancel that project when they realized how badly managed it was. As far as who was in charge of that, do you have proof that Sarah Kramer (the CEO of the ehealth program) is still in Liberal politics in Ontario? What is she doing today, exactly? What I saw is that McGuinty wanted to revolutionize health records and convert it to a modern database system, he handed the program over to who he thought would be good leaders, and they screwed the program up and wasted a billion $$$. So he cut the program and let them go. Nothing that exciting if you ask me... He has vision and leadership and tried to make a big accomplishment with the conversion of health records, and he failed.

The real jokers are the Hudak no-plans, tax cut spending cut hoax.

[Dr Nevergold]

^The 'change' factor is what it is all about, plus the fact that McGuinty's push for the HST. Between those two things, that will be the loss for the party if it loses this election. I'd like to see at least another Liberal government before the Tories ultimately take over again (it is bound to happen eventually). Ontario can't afford Hudak right now, it is in the middle of a huge green investment when the province desperately needs those kinds of jobs to replace jobs lost during the last recession. Ontario has made important investments into transit that it cannot cut back on.

There doesn't need to be another embarrassing hole dug on Eglinton Ave just for it to be filled back in, for example... Hudak is just not right for Ontario at this time and juncture. Tax cuts, spending cuts aren't what Ontario needs. Ontario needs innovation and investment.

[vid]

Hudak has offered plans, they're just vague.

Ontario's NDP has governed before and could govern again if they run a good enough campaign. All it took for the Liberals to recapture their majority in 2007 was a silly comment from the PC leader at the time, and something could happen to the Liberals this time. It's their election to lose.

Of course, in Canada, it is always the incumbent's election to lose.

[Dr Nevergold]

I don't think this is the Liberals' election to lose, this election is up in the air because McGuinty has the drag of time against him. People like fresh faces, particularly swing voters that go wherever the wind blows them. McGuinty has never been particularly inspiring, he's just a leader. The Liberals have to make the case and draw lines in the sand, and make Hudak answer tough questions. Thus far I haven't seen them do so, although McGuinty is finally snapping out of it and realizing an election is barely 2 months away. Hudak on the other hand has been running a 24/7 campaign since last fall in 2010. I have heard his ads all over the radio here in Niagara region non-stop for a year preceding this election, with the mantra "tax cuts, spending cuts" about the only thing he can say.

Hudak is doing what right wing conservatives do best... Pander to fear and greed. He's screaming "tax cuts, spending cuts" every millisecond of every campaign stop and message, invoking the dislike of the HST. But Hudak has no plans to remove the HST... He is capitalizing on it without a proper response from the Liberals. The OLP should be running ads poking fun at Hudak, showing he has nothing to offer but "tax cuts, spending cuts" without actually reducing taxes or cutting anything. McGuinty needs to offer a challenge: make Hudak pledge he'll get rid of the HST if he becomes Premier. Ask the question over and over what he intends on replacing the HST with.

The only thing the HST did was raise prices of gas slightly and increase energy bills (which, if Canadians realize that it is still a fraction of what people in the states pay even with the higher HST price). Okay, so that is true... It also lowered taxes in key areas such as some income tax reductions, got rid of the PST/GST double taxation problem, among other issues...

[Richlord11]

This 40th Ontario general election will be very important for Ontario. I´m really looking forward to a day with big "D".

[Dr Nevergold]

^Like I said, I take the words from someone named pimp with a grain of salt. You do realize everything you said came back down to the same emotional argument... Cut taxes, cut spending, cut the bureaucracy and everything magically solves itself thereafter... That isn't a plan, it is a joke to get your vote. It isn't my choice to make, it is all of Ontario's choice to make. Hudak would be a mistake, McGuinty has delivered results over the past 8 years. It'd be nice to have another term before the Tories come in to sit on their thumbs, but we'll have to see in October what happens.

[Pimpmasterdac]

What great results has McGuinty delivered? How is Ontario better now than it was 8 years ago

[Dr Nevergold]

Yes, and you're ready to mop them up. I know... Stop, rewind, repeat. You've made your simplistic "cut taxes, cut spending, cut bureaucracy and everything will magically work" spill several times. I got it, it is the typical conservative emotional appeal... Doesn't really mean anything, especially since Hudak hasn't pledged to reverse the HST, but I've heard the message loudly, and clearly.

The fact is you don't care about the McGuinty record of accomplishment, so it serves no purpose to re-explain the investments in transit, education, health care, green energy, and a restructuring of the tax code (via the HST) so that Ontario becomes easier to do business in.

I've already told you that there are reservations I have on certain policies, such as some nanny laws like the car being impounded after 40kmh over the limit, but overall his administration has been good for Ontario.

Under the previous PC government, Ontario was crippled. Hospitals had serious funding gaps and were deteriorating, the Eglinton Subway that the Rae administration helped fund was literally cancelled as it was under construction and the hole filled up with dirt.

Ontario was in a period of regression, and it is because of the conservative concept of not taking risks and investing in the future and making bold moves and plans. Ontario still had debt, and McGuinty inherited a bad budget.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I was old enough to remember Ernie Eves as he took over the crumbling Harris government. The "Common Sense Revolution" regressed Ontario by a number of years and left the province in debt without any serious investment.

McGuinty restructured the tax code, he didn't increase taxes to some rediculous level. The HST was coupled with tax reductions in other areas, and a few fees like the health fee that have increased. Big deal... There isn't some gravy train to mop up, it is a mythical gravy train.

[Pimpmasterdac]

Originally Posted by Brandon716

The fact is you don't care about the McGuinty record of accomplishment, so it serves no purpose to re-explain the investments in transit, education, health care, green energy, and a restructuring of the tax code (via the HST) so that Ontario becomes easier to do business in.

Yes health care that now includes bureaucratic LHINs and has catered to hospital union demands rather than the best interests of Ontarians .

Education, since lowering the bar on literacy tests and math tests, and dumbing down the curriculum makes it appear kids are doing better than reality. As McGuinty caves into the demands of OSSTF rather than get a fair collective bargains for the province.

Green energy?! This is the same McGuinty that promised in 2007 to shut all coal fired generators, and said the PC plan was bad since it would have shut it down by 2013 (which is what McGuinty will do). As well the feed-in tariff is going to contribute to unnecessarily expense energy costs in the next few years.

Originally Posted by Brandon716

Under the previous PC government, Ontario was crippled. Hospitals had serious funding gaps and were deteriorating, the Eglinton Subway that the Rae administration helped fund was literally cancelled as it was under construction and the hole filled up with dirt.

You seem to leave out that many of these infrastructure and healthcare cuts were not Harris's doing but the slash and burn mentality of Chretien/Martin on the federal level with provincial transfers. But conveniently Harris is seen as the evil healthcare hating ogre while Chretien/Martin are seen as fiscal geniuses.

When McGuinty came in 2004 the provinces signed the health accord and now McGuinty is seen as the big friends of healthcare (and their organized unions)

Originally Posted by Brandon716

Ontario was in a period of regression, and it is because of the conservative concept of not taking risks and investing in the future and making bold moves and plans. Ontario still had debt, and McGuinty inherited a bad budget.

I'm not sure how old you are, but I was old enough to remember Ernie Eves as he took over the crumbling Harris government. The "Common Sense Revolution" regressed Ontario by a number of years and left the province in debt without any serious investment.

McGuinty restructured the tax code, he didn't increase taxes to some ridiculous level. The HST was coupled with tax reductions in other areas, and a few fees like the health fee that have increased. Big deal... There isn't some gravy train to mop up, it is a mythical gravy train.

McGuinty inherited a bad budget?! Thats rich. He got a $5.6 billion deficit from Eves, Harris had to clean up an NDP deficit of ~$17 billion after Rae, and when Hudak takes power is gonna have to clean up McGuinty's ~$17 billion deficit.

As well you seem to totally discredit the PC government, when they actually invested more in healthcare in their term than any previous government. But again that wouldn't fit it with labelling all CPC/PC parties as "regressive". Meanwhile despite his "healthcare premium" (i.e. income tax hike) McGuinty de-listed total services from OHIP that we now have to pay for out of pocket.

Finally Hudak's job isn't going to be easy. Having to cut public sector jobs and actually taking a stand against outrageous union demands will make him look like some evil, extreme right-winger that's only concerned about tax cuts. Ontario needs to cut frills and make sure the services that we currently have as still there 10-20 years from now.

Again when I say Hudak is gonna mop up, I mean he's gonna mop up the Liberals in the election, easily coast to a majority. He's had lead now for 6 months, which is currently at 10% and most non-politically attuned people have never heard of him! McGuinty is having senior cabinet ministers and people jumping the sinking ship.

As well your from Hudak's area the PCs have been proponents of the Mid-Peninsula Corridor highway, which would be a great economic boom for you area and for Ontario!