Ontario Politics 2016

[The Bread Guy]

Starting a broader, more general political thread than this one (saved for specific "incidents meriting wrath" dealing with specific individuals).

Let's kick this one off, then, with word of a by-election in a previously-Team Blue seat:

Premier Kathleen Wynne says she will ask the lieutenant-governor to call a byelection in the riding of Whitby-Oshawa for Feb. 11.

The seat has been vacant since August, when Progressive Conservative Christine Elliott resigned months after losing the race for party leader to Patrick Brown.

The date of Feb. 11 is just days before the legislature resumes following its winter break.

All three parties have nominated their candidates in Whitby-Oshawa: Niki Lundquist, a labour lawyer, will carry the NDP banner, regional councillor Lorne Coe is the PC candidate, while regional councillor Elizabeth Roy is running for the Liberals.

Though the byelection has not yet been formally called, the Liberals have already been running radio ads featuring Wynne promoting their candidate ...

Let the bashing begin! ;D

 

[The Bread Guy]

Holy crap - how bad do things have to get for the BOSS to say "no more"?

In a surprise move, Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Tuesday that she is cancelling all of her upcoming private fundraising events and is instructing members of her cabinet to do the same.

Wynne made the announcement in question period Tuesday in response to a query about Liberal party fundraising from PC Leader Patrick Brown.

"I think we have to lead by example and that's why I've made the decision to immediately cancel upcoming private fundraisers that I attend," said Wynne. "I've also asked the same of my ministers. I think it's important that we get this right."

The news comes a week after the Liberals held their biggest fundraiser of the year, raising $2.5 million in one night.

Wynne's announcement also marked a change in her position on fundraising.

At a March 7 press conference, the premier said that "money to run a party has to come from somewhere.

"Every party does low-end fundraising and every party does high-end fundraising," she said. "I think it's part of the democratic process."

But she admitted that changes to how parties raise funds are needed.

"Are they the right rules? Do we need to change who can give what? Absolutely!" she said. "I think we need to look at that."

Her party has been criticized recently for their fundraising tactics, specifically over fundraising quotas for cabinet ministers ...

 

[Cloud Cover]

The first thing that comes to mind is that perhaps the good Premier is about to legislate the expansion of permissive use of public funding for party purposes. You know, like a lot of other places once did ....

 

[Bird_Gunner45]

Holy crap - how bad do things have to get for the BOSS to say "no more"?

Nothing says responsible leadership like "leading by example" once you've been caught. It's like her photo op with the "black lives matter" protesters the other day... it was so fortuitous that there just happened to be a camera right there to capture the moment! She's taking a page from the PM it appears and "going to the people" (as long as the people agree with her)

 

[Brad Sallows]

Conclusion: they already have enough money.

 

[Kirkhill]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/buried-report-reveals-corporate-giants-gained-the-most-in-ontario-business-supports

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/which-companies-and-unions-donated-big-bucks-to-major-ont-parties-search-our-databases

Quick scan of the above is interesting.

Unions contribute to the Liberals and the NDP.  Businesses contribute to the Liberals and the Conservatives.  Businesses often bet on both horses.  That doesn't particularly bother me - especially given the size of the donations.

But, is it just me, or does it feel wrong, that both the Ontario Provincial Police Association, and The Law Society of Upper Canada both contributed to the Liberal Party and just the Liberal Party?

Shouldn't both the lawyers (and judges) and the coppers be barred from any involvement in politics?  We rely on their neutrality for our system to work effectively.  It doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies to think that the Coppers and the Courts find advantage with one political party.

 

[PuckChaser]

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/buried-report-reveals-corporate-giants-gained-the-most-in-ontario-business-supports

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/canadian-politics/which-companies-and-unions-donated-big-bucks-to-major-ont-parties-search-our-databases

Quick scan of the above is interesting.

Unions contribute to the Liberals and the NDP.  Businesses contribute to the Liberals and the Conservatives.  Businesses often bet on both horses.  That doesn't particularly bother me - especially given the size of the donations.

But, is it just me, or does it feel wrong, that both the Ontario Provincial Police Association, and The Law Society of Upper Canada both contributed to the Liberal Party and just the Liberal Party?

Shouldn't both the lawyers (and judges) and the coppers be barred from any involvement in politics?  We rely on their neutrality for our system to work effectively.  It doesn't give me the warm and fuzzies to think that the Coppers and the Courts find advantage with one political party.

Police and Corrections unions in Ontario were actively campaigning for the Liberals in the last election. It is completely unethical for any public service union, or member to campaign for any political party in an official capacity. Private individuals is democracy, the unions buying votes is corruption.

 

[Remius]

Police and Corrections unions in Ontario were actively campaigning for the Liberals in the last election. It is completely unethical for any public service union, or member to campaign for any political party in an official capacity. Private individuals is democracy, the unions buying votes is corruption.

This why i hate seeing my money that goes into a union being used for this kind of stuff without my consent.

 

[Cloud Cover]

I have no idea why the LSUC is paying any money to any political party. They are a governing body with discipline and enforcement responsibilities, and are supposed to be non-political with the whole idea being that they have a mandate to protect public trust in the profession  .... oh wait, never mind....

 

[Remius]

In other news, Ontario is looking at banning natural gas for heating...yes, this is actually a thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-climate-change-1.3584402

 

[George Wallace]

In other news, Ontario is looking at banning natural gas for heating...yes, this is actually a thing.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-climate-change-1.3584402

Prime example of the "Lunatics running the Asylum".

 

[ModlrMike]

It won't kick in until 2030, so if the opposition can get itself together, there might be an opportunity to stop this nonsense.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

I wonder if they ever heard the story about the goose and the gander?

Ontario, through Hydro-One, just spend god knows how many hundreds of millions to move away from coal and some nuclear over to, guess what: natural gas. !!!!!

Besides, natural gas for home heating is close to being the least polluting fuel. Sure, electricity pollutes less, but you have to generate it somehow. Right now, the percentage of Ontario home electrically heated is so low that for everyone to switch to it would require a very large amount of extra electrical generation capacity: How's that going to be generated?

And wood and oil are much more polluting than natural gas.

In fact, the only efficient "renewable" source of heating (and cooling) for a country like Canada is geothermal. But that is incredibly expansive to retro-fit into a house already built and heated by other means.

 

[cavalryman]

I wonder if they ever heard the story about the goose and the gander?

Ontario, through Hydro-One, just spend god knows how many hundreds of millions to move away from coal and some nuclear over to, guess what: natural gas. !!!!!

Besides, natural gas for home heating is close to being the least polluting fuel. Sure, electricity pollutes less, but you have to generate it somehow. Right now, the percentage of Ontario home electrically heated is so low that for everyone to switch to it would require a very large amount of extra electrical generation capacity: How's that going to be generated?

And wood and oil are much more polluting than natural gas.

In fact, the only efficient "renewable" source of heating (and cooling) for a country like Canada is geothermal. But that is incredibly expansive to retro-fit into a house already built and heated by other means.

Thus always the incoherence of Kathleen Wynne and her predecessor Dalton McGuinty.  The only people dumber than those two and their cabinets are the Ontarians who keep voting the provincial liberals into office.  I wish I could just sit back and watch Ontario suffer under the continued stupidity, but sadly I happen to live in Wynne's demented wonderland.

 

[YZT580]

geothermal is also totally impractical in an urban setting unless they also maintain larger i.e. greater than half acre lots or install vertical exchange coils which is a very expensive proposition.  Fellow Ontarians, bend over!

 

[PuckChaser]

The current Prime Minister's chief advisors were the chiefs of staff for Wynne. If you think this will only be isolated to Ontario.... the Climate Gestapo could be a federal agency soon.

 

[Brad Sallows]

>In other news, Ontario is looking at banning natural gas for heating...yes, this is actually a thing.

I am hoping they pursue that aim enthusiastically.  I expect the result to be a horrible warning, and we need more horrible warnings, preferably at the expense of people in provinces other than my own.

 

[Remius]

>In other news, Ontario is looking at banning natural gas for heating...yes, this is actually a thing.

I am hoping they pursue that aim enthusiastically.  I expect the result to be a horrible warning, and we need more horrible warnings, preferably at the expense of people in provinces other than my own.

This plan also includes more electric cars.  A whole lot more.  It will likely have an adverse effect on the oil industry in this country.

 

[PuckChaser]

This plan also includes more electric cars.  A whole lot more.  It will likely have an adverse effect on the oil industry in this country.

More likely in other countries. We import a LOT of oil that could be produced domestically. 650,000 barrels a day.

 

[Edward Campbell]

Thus always the incoherence of Kathleen Wynne and her predecessor Dalton McGuinty.  The only people dumber than those two and their cabinets are the Ontarians who keep voting the provincial liberals into office.  I wish I could just sit back and watch Ontario suffer under the continued stupidity, but sadly I happen to live in Wynne's demented wonderland.

Well, you might argue that the only people dumber than those two are the Conservatives who kept on selecting unelectable leaders ...
   

It wasn't that any of them were bad politicians, nor stupid and certainly not dishonest ... the problem was that the PC party of Ontario did not have (still does not have?) a vision that resonates with about half of Ontarians. All three leaders were divisive in their own rights and none could "connect," well enough, with most, mainstream, urban and suburban Ontarians. The Liberals simply out-campaigned (out-promised) and out-politiced the PCs. They, the Liberals, deserved to win back-to-back-to-back majorities because they understood and campaigned on what Ontario, writ large, wanted rather than on what one sector (rural and small town, conservative Ontario) thought Ontario needed.