I am unimpressed with any party leader's platform in this election. After fifteen years of Liberal party mismanagement, my province now has the highest sub sovereign debt in the world. And doubling down on disastrous expensive green energy scams has caused hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs to move to the US and reduced vulnerable Ontarians to fuel poverty.
This article is by James Black.
In 2013, city council designated Toronto as a "sanctuary city," committing to provide social services to people regardless of immigration status, incentivizing illegal immigration to the city.
Last week, the provincial NDP made the feelgood proclamation that, if elected, it would extend this policy provincially.
While at university, I spent a year working for a solo-practice law firm that specialized in refugee cases.
I barely made minimum wage but, for a progressive-minded college student, it was a dream job.
Working at a small firm, where I was one of only four employees, afforded the opportunity to interact with clients that would not have been available at a larger practice.
I still remember the haunted look on the face of a Bangladeshi man as he described watching his brother executed by a paramilitary death squad.
I remember a Salvadoran farmer, beaten nearly to death while his farm burnt to the ground for participating in an uprising against MS-13 extortion.
Thankfully, while I was there, we never lost a single genuine refugee case.
But, for every authentic case, there were dozens of phony claims.
In Ontario, refugee claimants are eligible for legal aid, social assistance, subsidized housing and work permits while awaiting their hearing.
One Mexican family, supposedly fleeing cartel violence, filed two applications for social assistance as single parents, double counting their three dependent children.
Months later, the father went home, more frightened of the Canadian winter than the cartel.
His wife remained, collecting both assistance cheques and working full-time under-the-table.
By the time the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected their claim, they could have flown home first class.
Two sisters, also from Mexico, claimed to both be fleeing abusive sicario boyfriends.
Upon receiving work permits, they each took two jobs, serving and bartending.
They were attractive and spoke charming broken English, which surely contributed to their making nearly $4,000 per month each in tips alone.
I don't fault their industriousness but neither of them attended their refugee hearings (or filed a tax return).
After 11 months, they returned home with a small fortune.
In 2009, then-prime minister Stephen Harper stemmed the spike in phony claims by restricting the Mexican visa-waiver program.
In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped the restriction.
The next year, Mexican refugee claims more than quintupled, as 75% of those processed in 2017 were withdrawn or dismissed.
When Trudeau tweeted his "diversity is our strength" open invitation, the backlog of refugee claims stood fewer than 18,000. Today, it is 48,967. Nearly one third of backlogged claims are from Haiti and Nigeria.
Last year, the IRB dismissed over half of Nigerian and 78% of Haitian refugee claims.
Horwath's "sanctuary" policy only attracts individuals seeking to exploit our generosity, rather than those who need it.
Ontarians will decide at the ballot box if they want their government signalling to the world we are a haven for economic migrants.
In democracy, the people are always right.
However, stifling important conversations about immigration policy with false accusations of xenophobia forces people to vote on the issues without a full airing of the facts.
Our compassion for people fleeing persecution is magnificent, and something in which all Canadians should take pride. But attracting illegal economic migrants and prioritizing them equally with legitimate refugees, or the 4.8 million Canadians who live under the poverty line, is bad policy.
Given the current social climate, one is apt to be called a bigot merely for making that point.
[size=150]Beware — NDP is more radical than ever[/size]
Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath puts a smiling face on an evil ideology.
On the surface, for those ignorant of history and global affairs, socialism may seem compassionate.
It's sold as a remedy for inequality and a vehicle to help the least well-off among us.
But socialism's methods — giving more power and control to the government, at the expense of individuals — has a track record that has led to plunder, poverty, starvation and death, wherever it's been tried.
Even in Canada, a country dedicated to the rule of law, quasi-socialist governments get greedy, confiscate too much and lose sight of the fundamentals. The hallmarks of an NDP government — whether it's today in Western Canada, or in the past in Ontario under premier Bob Rae — are higher taxes, out of-control spending, sky-rocketing debt, and a business environment that chases away private investment.
I grew up in B.C. in the 1990s during an NDP reign — it was known as the "lost decade" in the province, as countless young families fled to Alberta in search of good blue-collar jobs.
Families were torn apart just so NDP politicians could pursue their socialist utopia. And today's New Democrats are even more radical. They've taken the Marxist doctrine of economic oppression — the core philosophy of socialism — and applied it to our social structure.
They divide us into groups based on the identities we're born with, including our gender and ethnicity, and create a hierarchy of victimhood. If you're a member of a so-called oppressed group, you get extra rights and privileges — at the expense of the so-called oppressors.
Most Canadians reject this divisive identity politics, but the far-left embraces it.
If there was any doubt about the NDP'S extremism, look no further than Horwath's motley crew of candidates.
Laura Kaminker said that wearing a poppy on Remembrance Day was "collective brainwashing" and "war glorification." Tasleem Riaz compared Canadians soldiers in Afghanistan to "war criminals" and posted praise to Adolph Hitler on Facebook (although she now denies posting it herself, saying her account must have been hacked).
Jill Andrew said Toronto's black police chief deserves a "coon award," and Gurratan Singh, brother of federal leader Jagmeet Singh, held a sign saying, "F--k the Police."
Jessica Bell wrote a pamphlet for activists calling for "economic shutdown," "seizure of assets," and "property destruction," and was once arrested for participating in an illegal protest.
Chandra Pasma said having a job is "dehumanizing" and Ramsey Hart has devoted his career to shutting down mining jobs in the North.
Erica Kelly said she hoped "gun nuts" would be bombed by drones, and Dwayne Morgan believes that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were orchestrated by the U.S. government.
These people don't deserve a place in polite society, let alone a position of power in a Canadian government. Horwath has defended these extremists, saying, "people do radical things for change."
But what kind of change would these radicals bring about?
Ontario has suffered for 15 long years under a corrupt and increasingly left-wing Liberal government.
They've fleeced the province with reckless green energy policies, brought in a nefarious social justice school curriculum and will leave future generations with more debt than any other sub-sovereign government in the world.
Replacing the Ontario Liberals with the NDP is like going from a frying pan into the socialist hellfire.
A vote for the NDP is a vote to double down on identity politics and go all-in on spiraling government debt.
It would be the nail in the coffin of Ontario's economic future.
Ford is far from perfect and nobody is talking about making the spending cuts this province needs. But, compared to the two other screwballs, it's a no brainer for me.
Elections aren't about perfect choices.
They're about making the best choice from the choices we have.
The choice we make in the June 7 Ontario election has never been more important, or clear.
After 15 years of waste, scandals and political corruption — with Ontario now one of the world's most indebted, non-national governments — the reign of Premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals needs to come to an end.
We've seen the damage caused by their tax-and-spend philosophy.
Hallway medicine, runaway electricity prices, deteriorating schools and declining test scores, massive tax grabs like cap and trade, costing us almost $2 billion a year.
And, according to the Auditor General and Financial Accountability Office, bogus accounting that massively understates the province's deficits and debt.
We have two options to start righting the ship, Andrea Horwath and the NDP, or Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives.
We know what the NDP will do because it shares the Liberals' tax-and-spend philosophy of more debt and pretending public services are "free".
An NDP government will continue Liberal policies that got us into this mess, with a rigid political orthodoxy that makes it unfit to govern.
Imagine a would-be premier saying, as Horwath has, that she would never impose back-to-work legislation in any strike, regardless of the hardships imposed on the public.
We know public spending needs to be brought under control.
Horwath, already kowtowing to militant labour unions, isn't up to the job.
Instead, as we have seen from would-be NDP MPPs, what we'll get is identity politics run amok, disrespect for war vets, hatred of the police and a premier incapable of bringing her own caucus under control.
That's why Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives are the best choice for Ontario.
Ford has an all-star team of experienced, capable, high-quality candidates ready to govern for all Ontarians, to begin the difficult job of bringing public finances under control, to provide targeted tax relief to the most hard-pressed and lower-income workers and start the difficult task of fixing this province's public services.
Unlike Wynne and Horwath, Ford knows efficiencies can be found in government.
That controlling public spending will lower Ontario's $12.5 billion a year in interest payments, money saved that can be used to improve public services.
This won't happen overnight given the enormity of the financial hole the Liberals created.
But the way to start digging out begins with the election of Ford and the PCs on June 7.
Wynn has admitted the obvious.
[size=150]Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne admits she won't win provincial election[/size]
TORONTO — An emotional Kathleen Wynne admitted today that her governing Liberals will lose the Ontario election on Thursday.
The premier, whose party has been trailing behind the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats in the polls, is urging voters to elect as many Liberals as possible to prevent the other parties from forming a majority government.
Wynne wouldn't say whether she'd stay on as party leader following the vote.
She also declined to endorse the Tories or NDP.
Wynne says whichever way the vote goes, people should hope for a minority win to keep the government "from acting too extreme — one way or the other."
How Ford could save $100 million for frontline health care
A line-by-line review of Ontario expenditures to find efficiencies, as promised by Progressive Conservative Doug Ford, would undoubtedly find savings.
But if he wants to start his review with a bang, here's an idea: abolish the awkwardly named LHINs.
You could easily be forgiven for not knowing what a LHIN is. It stands for Local Health Integrated Networks.
They are fourteen independent behemoth bureaucracies created by the Liberals in 2004 — complete with fourteen CEOs each making about $300,000 a year with their own boards and each loaded with bureaucrats. They operate mostly in the shadows.
And they gobble up $100 million a year of our health care money. That's not chump change.
As for polls.
Although recent polls suggest it's neck and neck for the Tories and the NDP, Forum Research's most recent results show the PC party now pulling ahead. Forum's large sample — 2602 Ontario voters were surveyed — makes that finding significant.
But the general attitude, otherwise, toward this election?
Hold your nose and vote.
This new Forum poll differs slightly from other recent polls.
An Angus-Reid poll, for example, involving 773 people, put the PC and NDP parties in a dead heat, with the NDP at 39% — a slight advantage — and the PCs at 37%.
The Liberals trailed with only 17% of voters onside.
Interestingly, the Angus-Reid poll showed more people (33%) thought the PC party would be the best one to form government over the NDP (27%); were this a popularity contest, Andrea Horwath would win with a favourability rating that's double that of Doug Ford or Kathleen Wynne.
Mind you, Horwath's popularity has declined slightly over the last few days.
A Maclean's-Pollara poll also claims the NDP is ahead and their lead is growing.
Pollara Strategic Insights says the NDP have 43% of the decided vote, with the PC party and Doug Ford down five points at 32% and the Liberals at 17%.
The uptick in NDP support is said to be a result of the televised debate last Sunday. The Pollara poll surveyed 802 Ontario voters.
The Innovative Research Group conducted a poll that showed a tight race for the NDP (36%) and the PC party (34%), with the Liberals at 22%; an Ipsos poll also put the Liberals at 22%, but they show more support for the PC party (37%) than for the NDP (34%)
The new Forum poll released late Wednesday afternoon shows the PC party pulling ahead with 39% support from decided voters versus 35% for the NDP. The Liberal party nabbed only 19%.
The large Forum sample size adds weight to their prediction of a PC majority with 77 seats; the NDP would serve as official opposition with 41 seats, and the Liberals would win six seats.
Bozinoff uses the term "horse race" to sum up the current situation.
"The NDP had the momentum, but seem to have stalled in the aftermath of a strong performance by Kathleen Wynne in the debate. The PC numbers under Ford have rebounded and they now have him poised for the premier's chair," Bozinoff said. "And the PC party has a seat advantage ... there may be some parked votes out there — parked meaning not committed —and, of course, we don't know what the turnout will be on election day."
People may be prompted to turn up and vote, says Bozinoff, if the race continues to stay this close.
But nothing is set in stone.
Quote from: "seoulbro"
This article is by James Black.
In 2013, city council designated Toronto as a "sanctuary city," committing to provide social services to people regardless of immigration status, incentivizing illegal immigration to the city.
Last week, the provincial NDP made the feelgood proclamation that, if elected, it would extend this policy provincially.
While at university, I spent a year working for a solo-practice law firm that specialized in refugee cases.
I barely made minimum wage but, for a progressive-minded college student, it was a dream job.
Working at a small firm, where I was one of only four employees, afforded the opportunity to interact with clients that would not have been available at a larger practice.
I still remember the haunted look on the face of a Bangladeshi man as he described watching his brother executed by a paramilitary death squad.
I remember a Salvadoran farmer, beaten nearly to death while his farm burnt to the ground for participating in an uprising against MS-13 extortion.
Thankfully, while I was there, we never lost a single genuine refugee case.
But, for every authentic case, there were dozens of phony claims.
In Ontario, refugee claimants are eligible for legal aid, social assistance, subsidized housing and work permits while awaiting their hearing.
One Mexican family, supposedly fleeing cartel violence, filed two applications for social assistance as single parents, double counting their three dependent children.
Months later, the father went home, more frightened of the Canadian winter than the cartel.
His wife remained, collecting both assistance cheques and working full-time under-the-table.
By the time the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) rejected their claim, they could have flown home first class.
Two sisters, also from Mexico, claimed to both be fleeing abusive sicario boyfriends.
Upon receiving work permits, they each took two jobs, serving and bartending.
They were attractive and spoke charming broken English, which surely contributed to their making nearly $4,000 per month each in tips alone.
I don't fault their industriousness but neither of them attended their refugee hearings (or filed a tax return).
After 11 months, they returned home with a small fortune.
In 2009, then-prime minister Stephen Harper stemmed the spike in phony claims by restricting the Mexican visa-waiver program.
In 2016, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dropped the restriction.
The next year, Mexican refugee claims more than quintupled, as 75% of those processed in 2017 were withdrawn or dismissed.
When Trudeau tweeted his "diversity is our strength" open invitation, the backlog of refugee claims stood fewer than 18,000. Today, it is 48,967. Nearly one third of backlogged claims are from Haiti and Nigeria.
Last year, the IRB dismissed over half of Nigerian and 78% of Haitian refugee claims.
Horwath's "sanctuary" policy only attracts individuals seeking to exploit our generosity, rather than those who need it.
Ontarians will decide at the ballot box if they want their government signalling to the world we are a haven for economic migrants.
In democracy, the people are always right.
However, stifling important conversations about immigration policy with false accusations of xenophobia forces people to vote on the issues without a full airing of the facts.
Our compassion for people fleeing persecution is magnificent, and something in which all Canadians should take pride. But attracting illegal economic migrants and prioritizing them equally with legitimate refugees, or the 4.8 million Canadians who live under the poverty line, is bad policy.
Given the current social climate, one is apt to be called a bigot merely for making that point.
I used to be an NDP supporter before they soldout working people to rich progs.
Quote from: "seoulbro"
[size=150]Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne admits she won't win provincial election[/size]
TORONTO — An emotional Kathleen Wynne admitted today that her governing Liberals will lose the Ontario election on Thursday.
The premier, whose party has been trailing behind the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats in the polls, is urging voters to elect as many Liberals as possible to prevent the other parties from forming a majority government.
Wynne wouldn't say whether she'd stay on as party leader following the vote.
She also declined to endorse the Tories or NDP.
Wynne says whichever way the vote goes, people should hope for a minority win to keep the government "from acting too extreme — one way or the other."
She's consistently ranked the least popular premier.
Whoever wins the election in Ontario, I wish them and that province great success and prosperity.
Quote from: "Velvet"
Quote from: "seoulbro"
[size=150]Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne admits she won't win provincial election[/size]
TORONTO — An emotional Kathleen Wynne admitted today that her governing Liberals will lose the Ontario election on Thursday.
The premier, whose party has been trailing behind the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats in the polls, is urging voters to elect as many Liberals as possible to prevent the other parties from forming a majority government.
Wynne wouldn't say whether she'd stay on as party leader following the vote.
She also declined to endorse the Tories or NDP.
Wynne says whichever way the vote goes, people should hope for a minority win to keep the government "from acting too extreme — one way or the other."
She's consistently ranked the least popular premier.
There are so many reasons why that is the case.
Kathleen Wynn has all but said she won't even win her own seat. The best she can can hope for is to be a power broker in a minority government.
TORONTO — In an 11th-hour bid to save her party from decimation, an emotional Kathleen Wynne admitted Saturday that the governing Liberals will lose the Ontario election next week but urged voters to ensure neither of her rivals wins a majority.
The premier — tears streaming down her face and her voice breaking up at times — appealed to voters to set aside their feelings about her and support Liberal candidates so that they can keep the next government in check.
Her plea comes at a time when polls suggest the Liberals, who have been trailing behind the Progressive Conservatives and the New Democrats, could be at risk of losing official party status after the June 7 vote.
"If your concern is that you'd be electing me or electing a Liberal government, that's not going to happen," she said. "And so we need Liberals at Queen's Park to stop a majority for either of the other governments."
Wynne, who first entered politics as a school trustee in 2000, said at the beginning of the campaign that she believed her party could turn the tide. But as the polls painted an increasingly grim picture, she was forced to come to terms with her own waning popularity.
The decision was a hard one to make, she said, but seemed to be the only solution in an election where voters appear set on a new government but reluctant to fully hand over the reins to either of her rivals.
"It is a logical next step," she said.
Wynne wouldn't say whether she'll stay on as party leader after the election, but stressed she would keep fighting for her slate in the last days of the campaign.
"You're not getting rid of me, I'm going to be campaigning really hard right through until that last vote is cast because those local fights are really, really important," she said.
She declined, however, to endorse either the Tories or the NDP, nor would she comment on the possibility of strategic voting, a perennial issue in elections where voters appear to be clamouring for change.
Wynne said whichever way the vote goes, people should hope for a minority win to keep the government "from acting too extreme — one way or the other."
The move did not sit well with NDP Leader Andrea Horwath, who accused Wynne of "playing a dangerous game" that could propel the Tories to a majority.
"Her request today for a minority government is a demand that she be allowed to continue to hold the power at Queen's Park — something voters have already rejected," Horwath said in a statement.
"Now, a vote for Kathleen Wynne and a vote for Doug Ford mean the same thing. Let's not go from bad to worse."
Ford, meanwhile, had little to say about Wynne's announcement, noting only that the election is about change and people are fed up with the Liberals.
Liberal insiders said the party was essentially fighting for its survival.
Omar Khan, a Liberal executive council member, said the party is now working on maintaining official party status.
"We need to do everything to make sure we get at least eight seats in the legislature...so we can be in a position again to be a moderating influence on the other two parties," he said.
A senior Liberal, speaking on condition of anonymity, said "the party is facing an existential crisis."
"Right now we could win as little as zero seats, so we have to — as Liberals and I think all progressives in Ontario — need to realize that and kick into high gear over the next five days to make sure that doesn't happen," they said.
The source listed about a dozen ridings in which the party thinks they have a reasonable shot at winning, such as Vaughan-Woodbridge, Toronto –St. Pauls, two Ottawa seats and some in eastern Ontario. Wynne's own riding was not one the Liberal source listed.
A senior campaign official said Wynne started thinking about the move after her hope for a bump in polling following the last debate didn't materialize and it became clear the Liberals couldn't win.
Tamara Small, a political science professor at University of Guelph, said Wynne made a strategic — and "very unusual" — move in predicting her own government's defeat.
"It's a realization that the Kathleen Wynne brand might be more detrimental than the Liberal party brand," she said. "They're hoping they can salvage (the party)... it's about saying to people: don't abandon us. We will fix this."
By taking the blame, Wynne could be saving some of her key candidates who otherwise might have been tarnished by public opinion of her, Small said.
"So I think electorally, it's strategic, but as a leader of a party, I actually think it's really selfless. She's saying, 'I'm not going to destroy this organization with my own personal hubris."'
The move could nonetheless backfire and endanger the very seats Wynne is trying to protect by suggesting that a vote for the Liberals is a wasted vote, said David Coletto, CEO of the polling firm Abacus Data.
At this point, polls show there is less fear of an NDP government than a Tory one and this might push some potential Liberal voters to throw their support behind the New Democrats, he said.
"It's a risky strategy for the Liberals, very much a Hail Mary kind of pass at the late stages of the game," he said.
"I view it as the potential harm is greater than the gain but at this stage, I think the Liberals are doing all that they can to keep party status in the legislature and win enough seats that rebuilding is possible or much easier than if they get wiped out."
Liberal Michael Coteau, who served as minister of children and youth services until the election began, said news of Wynne's decision was shared in a conference call less than half an hour before she publicly announced it. Coteau, who wasn't on the call, said he learned of the move on social media.
http://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/newsalert-liberal-premier-kathleen-wynne-admits-she-wont-win-provincial-election-3
Kathleen Wynn is already preparing her party for rebuilding and rebranding by taking all the blame herself.
The last thing Doug Ford needs two days before the election.
http://torontosun.com/news/provincial/horwath-says-ford-family-lawsuit-raises-questions
A decision by his brother's widow to launch legal action against him came as a shock, PC Leader Doug Ford says.
"I've protected Renata in the toughest times, in front of the media ... 15 years of taking care of her both financially and personally, and I've bent over backwards, broken down brick walls to take care of Renata," Ford said Tuesday. "Where this is coming from, you're going to have to ask her. But I tell you my priority, when it comes to that, is the kids."
Renata Ford, whose husband, former Toronto mayor Rob Ford, died in 2016, claimed in a lawsuit filed Friday that her brother-in-law failed to live up to his legal obligations as the trustee of his brother's and father's estates and as a director and officer with the family business, Deco Labels.
"During the period of time when (Ford and his brother Randy) were officers and directors of the Deco Companies and in complete control of their operations, business and affairs, they have so negligently and improperly mismanaged them as to destroy their value," says the statement of claim, which has not been proven in court.
I think the results of Thursday's election in Ontario could be very good for progtards. Very bad for Canada and especially Ontarians.
http://torontosun.com/opinion/columnists/oliver-a-looming-threat-to-ontarios-economy
Be afraid, be very afraid.
Polls suggest the Ontario election has narrowed and the NDP may deprive Doug Ford of his coveted majority. A plurality might even be within its reach. That would be a major problem since an NDP government would have serious negative consequences for the Ontario economy.
In spite of her smiling demeanour and agreeable personality, Andrea Horwath's high tax-and-spend policies reflect a harmful socialist agenda — big government, fiscal profligacy, capture by union leadership, hostility to job-creating businesses, costly ideological obsessions, and socially divisive programs. This is not partisan alarmism. It's a conclusion based on her election platform, her comments and the track record of provincial NDP governments.
The Ontario economy is struggling. It is the largest subnational debtor in the world, with a crushing provincial debt of $325 billion and interest payments of $11 billion annually, greater than the budget for colleges and universities. High energy costs have eroded businesses' competitiveness, especially in the manufacturing sector. This was exacerbated by the dramatic decrease in U.S. corporate taxes from 39% to 26% compared to about 27% here, before Horwath's promised 1.5% tax hike.
Capital is flowing out of Ontario and exports are in jeopardy. The province's credit rating has deteriorated to the point that for the first time, Ontario bonds have a lower rating and trade at higher yields than those of Quebec.
To make things more alarming, we are ending the ninth year of an economic recovery, meaning an economic slowdown or recession is highly likely during the term of a new government. Pressure for stimulative spending to counter a downturn will be intense, automatic stabilizers, like social assistance programs, will kick in, and government revenues from taxes will decline with reduced corporate profitability. Deficits could then spiral out of control and we would face a credit crisis.
Instead of preparing for the inevitable rainy day, an NDP government would do the opposite. [size=150]Horwath intends to spend $30 billion more over the next five years and has no path to a balanced budget. She would raise taxes by $20 billion, which shows that asking the wealthy to pay a little more is NDP speak for taxing the middle class a ton.
[/size]
Ontario represents about 38% of Canada's GDP, so what happens here will affect the entire country. When I was minister of finance, we worried about the direction of Ontario's economy. Now the alarms bells are deafening.
There are other problematic platform promises. Horwath would repurchase all the shares of Hydro One held by private investors, which means reneging on a commitment to investors not to increase government ownership. The buyback would be financed from Hydro's dividends. In contrast, Doug Ford promised to send dividends to residential, small business and farming ratepayers, thereby reducing their rates by 5% or an average of $70 a year. Finally, Horwath's proposal would take about 30 years to complete.
Howarth was clear that she would never legislate a striking union back to work, thereby putting the interests of teachers before our children. Also, we know Ontario students do not test well. Rather than improving education, she would remove the embarrassment by eliminating the tests. And the list goes on, including candidates with limited relevant experience but disturbing and radical opinions.
[size=150]This election presents a stark choice between an NDP leader who would double down on failed Liberal policies that inflicted terrible harm on the economy and Ontarians and a Progressive Conservative centrist who cares about people and would put us on the road to recovery.[/size] All the smiling and spinning won't change that reality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKXgyLKs7io
These radicals could form the government of Ontario.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smCSbBOzgeM
At the early May Reena Foundation fundraiser, two days before the writ was dropped, PC leader Doug Ford mentioned to me he knew his opponents would throw everything dirty they could at him during the Ontario election campaign.
He was right.
The past 30 days have been, well, insightful and full of the very "mudslinging, hatred and divisive comments" NDP Andrea Horwath keeps claiming she abhors (just before she quickly pivots and slings mud at her opponents.)
It's pretty near all been directed at Ford.
Ford's spokesperson Melissa Lantsman puts it this way: "This entire election campaign, Doug Ford has been subjected to deeply personal smears. The other parties continue to go deeper and deeper into the gutter in a desperate bid to keep the party with the taxpayer's money going at Queen's Park."
Guess in Horwath's case, it's only "mudslinging" if her rag tag group of anti-police, anti-Israel, anti-war, pro-civil-disobedience and various other nutty agenda-driven candidates are put under the microscope.
What Ford never really articulated that day, or perhaps didn't realize until thrown to the wolves, was just how intense the efforts would be.
Let's put outgoing Premier Kathleen Wynne and NDP leader Andrea Horwath aside for a moment.
In a scenario eerily similar to the presidential election that gave the United States Donald Trump, Ford has had to come up against the complicit left-wing media.
They've attacked him non-stop but have virtually given Horwath a free pass over the past 30 days as her fortunes increased in the polls, lapping up her propaganda as if it's the gospel.
I decided to join the Horwath campaign trail last week after I got sick of listening to media lob her softball questions.
Ford has been the subject of at least two social media campaigns — #notdoug and #notford, the latter one orchestrated by former TV debt counsellor Gail Vaz-Oxlade, who has gone so off the rails about a possible PC win, she told supporters on Twitter to STFU.
The big unions have been so shameless about trying to stop Doug they've taken to calling members to try to bully them into voting NDP.
I know.
I got more than one call from Unifor, our media union.
A reader who didn't want his name used said OPSEU has been doing the same.
ETFO held a virtual rally for teachers throughout Ontario last Wednesday urging them to vote (NDP) and has actually encouraged its members to volunteer on (NDP) campaigns Thursday to get out the vote.
But getting back to Wynne and Horwath, aside from their failed attempts in the early days of the campaign to paint Ford as a Trump clone, anti-immigrant and divisive, they've been downright disingenuous about the impact of his attempts to streamline government.
Never mind disingenuous. I can't believe the sheer chutzpah of the two of them as they pretend — or flat out dismiss the idea — that they had nothing to do with the sorry state of Ontario today.
I say both of them because Horwath propped up Wynne repeatedly.
I've even been told of efforts by Liberal canvassers to tell vulnerable seniors at the door that with Ford as premier rent control will no longer exist.
But the ads and the daily propaganda spewed by the two of them is downright deceitful.
I'm talking about the 20,000 jobs I've heard Horwath say will be gone under Ford.
I asked her last week where that number came from.
She said they took the four-cents on the dollar that Ford intends to reduce and extrapolated that across nurses, doctors and any other provincial public services.
"You take the 4% and you get a number," she said, claiming efficiencies is "another word for cuts." (Not that it is.)
In other words, Horwath's numbers were pulled out of thin air.
Nevertheless with the constant attempts at indoctrination of more vulnerable voters by the Liberals and NDPers, the complicit cozy media, union intimidation and social media propaganda, it's a wonder anyone can break through the noise.
Yes indeed it's been a dirty 30 days. The Ford haters must really be worried.
http://torontosun.com/news/provincial/levy-the-dirty-tricks-theyve-played
Tomorrow is decision day in Ontario. I've never seen an election like it. A very moderate Tory like Doug Ford is being subjected to the same radical, but well financed libel that Trump faced and still faces on a daily basis in Ontario. Unfortunately, this dishonest smear campaign of the fringe NDP will probably work. I am predicting Doug Ford will not get enough seats to win and Horvath will be propped up by the few victorious Fiberals.
With the corpse of the Wynne Liberals all but on the autopsy table — the cause of death being old age, arrogance, fiscal incompetence and political corruption — Ontario must now decide what devil it will hire to fix the province's woes.
This election has been one for the ages, an unorthodox ride with more twists and turns than a snake in a rockpile.
It began with the abrupt bouncing and then resignation of Patrick Brown from the PC party leadership over unverified and denied claims of sexual impropriety.
Cue Doug Ford, big brother of former Toronto Mayor Rob Ford, who catapulted into the leadership over party's former deputy leader Christine Elliott and Caroline Mulroney, daughter of our former PM.
It has ended with Liberal Premier Kathleen Wynne's unexpected throwing-in of the towel on the campaign and NDP leader
Despite the twists and turns, most pollsters predict a dead-heat run for the finish line.
It is now up to the voters.
It's time to sweep aside the heated rhetoric and hyperbolic attack ads and[size=150] vote for the team best prepared to repair the damage successive Liberal governments inflicted upon the province, including a debt hole that is $325-billion deep and growing.
As Ford put it, "[size=150]The Liberals have us in terrible debt, and hydro and taxes are through the roof. The province cannot compete."
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There is no gobbledygook in this, no talking points.
It's our collective reality.
Ontario Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne speaks to the media as Candidate Li Koo looks on during a campaign event in Toronto on Wednesday, June 6, 2018. Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press
The NDP has no plan to lay down the debt shovel, and instead plan on handing out "free" anything-and-everything as if there's no cost for their reckless brand of buy-your-vote politics.
[size=150]If the NDP does win, and they follow their promised Liberal-esque path, Ontario's debt is projected to climb to at least $377 billion by 2021 — leaving us with debt-interest payments of $16.9 billion a year.
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That's almost $17 billion going into the pockets of the rich who invest in government IOUs.
That's $17 billion that will not be going to mend an ailing health-care system already on life support, or put toward aging infrastructure or lower the outrageous cost of electricity, or give a much-needed tax break to Ontario's middle class.
Worse, [size=150]if the NDP make Ontario a sanctuary province as Horwath has blindly promised because she has some secret garden where money grows, Concerned Ontario Doctors warn such largesse will cost taxpayers a minimum of another $2.5 billion a year to dish out free and extended health care to illegals [/size]who are already flooding into the province because Toronto is a magnet to legitimate and economic refugees.
If you think our health care system is overwhelmed now, a sanctuary province status is the last thing that needs to happen.
What is needed, instead, is fiscal sanity.
Those who fear the tough medicine of former Tory Premier Mike Harris coming back to haunt them should fear more the return of Bob Rae's NDP government in the form of Andrea Horwath's cabal of activist misfits who don't know how to put down the spending shovel.
Think of that hole — that $325-billion debt hole.
And think of it growing by the billions, unchecked and out of control.
That fixes things how?
http://torontosun.com/news/provincial/bonokoski-only-the-tories-will-put-down-the-shovel-and-stop-digging
Andrea Horvath will make Bob Rae look like a good fiscal manager.
Minority NDP guv in Ontario, eh?
Looks like Liberal Kathryn Wynne may end up holding the balance of power there after the election.
Quote from: "JOE"
Looks like Liberal Kathryn Wynne may end up holding the balance of power there after the election.
No, coalition or some type of informal arrangement between Horvath and what will be left of the Liberals. It's going to be tough for the PC's to get to 63 seats.
Quote from: "seoulbro"
Quote from: "JOE"
Looks like Liberal Kathryn Wynne may end up holding the balance of power there after the election.
No, coalition or some type of informal arrangement between Horvath and what will be left of the Liberals. It's going to be tough for the PC's to get to 63 seats.
Ford's team can still pull it off. The NDP is running a fleet of loonie candidates unfit to manage the public purse. Many common sense voters will think twice before giving them a blank check. Will NDP voters show up today. That is the big question.
Any real socialist who votes NDP is not a real socialist. I hate to say it, but Ford is the least bad option.
Ironic or what. They turned on crazy ideas and crazy spending to get rid of "her" .... and now could replace her with "her X2"
Has Ontario gone from mostly bonkers to totally bonkers?
Quote from: "cc"
Has Ontario gone from mostly bonkers to totally bonkers?
Everything I've read about Ford from Horvath and Wynn is that he is a dangerous Trump style populist. As if that's a bad thing.
Hopefully Ontario will be saved from such catastrophe .... greatly improved economy ... many more jobs .. noticeably increased paychecks .. lower taxes etc. etc.
could totally ruin this piece of heaven called Ontariario
Quote from: "cc"
My run is to Kenora. Everybody at CP at that end hates Wynn for destroying Ontario. But, some think Horvath will be an improvement. :crazy:
10 races to watch in the Ontario election
Ajax
Incumbent Liberal Joe Dickson has held the riding — previously called Ajax-Pickering — since 2007 and won in 2014 with more than 50 per cent of the vote. But the Liberals are in an uphill battle to hold the so-called 905 ridings, which encircle the city of Toronto. And there is a strong Progressive Conservative challenger in Rod Phillips. He is the former president and CEO of the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation and former chair of Postmedia's board of directors.
Cambridge
This southwestern Ontario riding used to flip between the Progressive Conservatives and the NDP, but in 2014 it elected a Liberal as part of Kathleen Wynne's majority government. As with most, if not all, Liberal ridings in this election, Cambridge is considered in play. Incumbent Kathryn McGarry served for two years on the backbenches, then was made natural resources minister, but her profile was boosted in January when she was promoted to transportation minister.
Guelph
Two recent polls have Green Party of Ontario Leader Mike Schreiner winning this riding. It would be the first seat in the legislature for his party. Schreiner finished third in the riding during the last election, narrowly behind the Progressive Conservative candidate. But the race was thrown open when the incumbent and prominent Liberal Liz Sandals announced she would not run again.
London North Centre
Former deputy premier Deb Matthews has held the riding since 2003, but is not running for re-election. The NDP currently hold two other ridings in the city of London and came in second to Matthews in 2014. The Progressive Conservative candidate formerly held the riding as a federal Conservative MP.
Ottawa Centre
The riding is considered a Liberal stronghold, with the party holding it since 1995 and Yasir Naqvi winning it with 52 per cent of the vote in 2014. The riding includes a lot of public sector workers and students. Naqvi is a popular politician and has a high profile as attorney general, but the NDP is nipping at his heels. New Democrat candidate Joel Harden ran out of lawn signs 10 days into the campaign due to demand.
Peterborough-Kawartha
This bellwether riding has voted for the winner in every election since 1987. The incumbent is Jeff Leal, agriculture minister, who has represented Peterborough since 2003 and won the last election handily, but he will be in a tough fight. It could shape up to be a three-way race. A projection has this riding as too close to call.
St. Catharines
Liberal Jim Bradley has represented St. Catharines for a whopping 41 years and this could be the election that ends that streak. Previously safe Liberal seats are in play all over the province, including this one. The NDP believes it has a good chance of taking this riding, but the Tories came in second to Bradley in 2014.
Scarborough Centre
This bellwether riding has voted for the winner in every election since 1971. Liberal Brad Duguid held the riding since 2003, but did not run for re-election. This could be a three-way race, with both the Tories and the NDP competitive here, though projections give an edge to the NDP. This was one of the ridings in which the Progressive Conservatives overturned disputed nominations.
Sudbury
This riding has been Liberal since 1995 except for a brief period following the 2014 election. The NDP narrowly won the seat over the Liberals, but the New Democrat stepped down a few months later, prompting a byelection. That byelection sparked a scandal that led to two Liberals standing trial for Election Act bribery charges, though they were ultimately acquitted. Glenn Thibeault, who had been the NDP MP for the riding, was elected for the provincial Liberals in that byelection. He has served as energy minister at a time when hydro prices became the most contentious file in the province and a source of much anger toward the Liberals. The NDP, typically strong in the north, could snag this riding back.
University-Rosedale
This riding, like most in downtown and central Toronto, will be a pitched battle between the Liberals and the NDP. Though the Liberals are expected to lose a lot of their seats in this election, University-Rosedale, as well as Toronto-St. Paul's and Toronto Centre, are ones that the Liberals stand a chance of winning.
A hacked Facebook page containing a supposedly inspirational meme from Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was never reported to police or Facebook, NDP leader Andrea Horwath confirmed Wednesday.
"I'm too busy on the (campaign) bus doing my job," she said, referring to the meme posted on the personal Facebook page of Scarborough-Agincourt NDP candidate Tasleem Riaz.
Riaz insisted when approached by reporters last week that she didn't post it — that she was hacked at least twice "a few years back" when she was out of the country. Hacking is a criminal offence.
"Honestly, honestly, I'm the person who's spreading love and peace in the community," Riaz said at the time.
When I asked Horwath about the status of the page on the fourth stop of her last day on the campaign trail — this one on Keele St. and attended by former NDP councillor Howard Moscoe and former MPP Rosario Marchese — I was heckled by a few members of the rowdy crowd.
According to information provided to the Toronto Sun, a Facebook page in Riaz's name is still up and contains the meme.
"It is my understanding some hateful person has put up another hateful Facebook page suggesting it is Tasleem's which it is not ... I'm disgusted by this entire situation," Horwath said, to cries of "Disgusting! Shame!" from the crowd.
"But I can tell you whoever is putting the hate out there and tagging it to Tasleem is a disgraceful human being not only for the content but what they're doing to Tasleem," she added to applause.
There you have it. This pretty much sums up the NDP leader's response (or lack thereof) to this controversial candidate and others who are hostile towards Israel, hostile towards the police, carbon tax-obsessed, poppy-hating, civil disobedience-promoting candidates revealed in the past two weeks.
That's what I call disgusting and shameful.
http://torontosun.com/news/local-news/levy-hacked-facebook-post-never-reported-to-the-police
If this was someone close to Doug Ford he would be under overwhelming pressure to drop them as a candidate.
A lot of mixed reactions. Hopefully it's a good thing, with politics it never is. Just sit back and watch. Enjoy the show!
I miss Robbie... He was always good for a laugh!
Quote from: "Berry Sweet"
It's definitely a good thing. The Liberals destroyed Ontario. The NDP wanted to double down on it's failed policies. Social media is owned by rich prog assholes. Don't listen to them. The people won for a change.