I think it is disingenuous for Howarth and Del Duca to say that they won’t support a Doug Ford minority government before the votes are counted and cast. That is pretty much thumbing noses at the electorate and hinting that a rag tag, high spending, leftist non-coalition is a far better option for Ontario voters than collaborating with a Premier-Elect in a minority situation.
Ontario voters beware: Canadians didn’t vote for a Liberal NDP pact of convenience in Ottawa, but got one anyway. That has pretty much neutered any effective braking mechanism on out of control spending and Parliamentary oversight.
I suppose the weak link here is the media’s disinterest in pursuing what Howarth and Del Duca would do if Ford was cut down to a minority government. The pair should be pinned to the wall to be honest and explain themselves to the electorate. If they won’t give Ford enough rope to try and govern a minority with cross party support, what is their plan?
Trudeau and Singh couldn’t stand the sight of each other on the campaign trail, but golly they can work magic with a sleight of hand pulled on the Canadian electorate.
I would suspect that if Doug doesn't get his majority, we'll have the same arrangement provincially. Cynically; and perhaps it's always been this way, it seems to be more about doing anything to stay in power than having a vision and working to implement it. The day the election is over, it seems the focus goes to winning the next one rather than any long term vision. But I also believe that's because things are so bad, they have no idea what to do to even begin to fix it.
This election ought to be about the way the government's Covid response shredded our Charter rights, destroyed our childrens' education, failed to expand hospital capacity when needed despite oodles of federal money, and (by driving out unvaccinated health care workers) began the slow motion demolition of our health care system.
It isn't because the major opposition parties constantly demanded that the government do an even worse job, and because they promise to repeat and expand upon the PCs' disastrously failed Covid policies, should they be elected.
When they are being laid off in the US and fired from jurisdictions across Canada, we don't have to make them - we can steal them. Also, with sufficient money, people will come back from retirement and/or work extra shifts. Or we could just hire them away from US or other Canadian jurisdictions, laid off or not. The economic loss from our Covid measures was immense compared to the cost of capacity expansion.
Laid off in the US...you are in dreamland. I'd love to see a source for that one. Sufficient money? Doug's trying to impose a 1% contract. I really don't think you comprehend what this has been like for healthcare workers.
That's my point exactly - being cheap on pay kept capacity low, but it was a false economy, because it was used to justify lockdowns that were vastly more expensive - as well as being useless.
I can see where that idea might come from. report from less than a month after COVID shut down North America, and no one had any idea of what we were dealing with. While I don't deny that it may have happened, they didn't stay laid off for long. You'll note that the VOX and Beckers article suggests that the layoffs are non-medical staff as well, which you would expect in a for-profit system.
I think we're about as close to Putin and Zelensky agreeing on the merits of lockdowns and other restrictions. I don't really see our positions changing. I will say that massive errors were made in the timing of the restrictions which made bad situations worse. The way they were imposed on businesses unequally was also absurd. Hopefully, that's a touch of common ground. Cheers.
Sadly, expectations for Ford were so low people were thrilled that he didn't go full Trump and pretend the pandemic wasn't real. Last year's closing of playgrounds and telling the cops they were going to make sure no one left their house was so incompetent as to be bizarre. Doug may be the smartest one in his family but that's not saying much.
This election will involve the most nose plugs ever as I pinch my nose and vote. Schreiner is the only good leader...but the wrong party. The rest are all unelectable....but someone's got to win....
As someone in Ontario, the biggest issue for me is just competence. The PC government actually had their occasional moments, but they were more than balanced by really bush-league stumbles. License plates that nobody wanted that couldn't be seen at night. A pointless fight against the federal carbon tax that sucked up time, money and political capital. An approach to COVID which mostly meant trying to keep things open as long as possible -- instead of more steady measures -- then needing to lock down to preserve hospital capacity. Doug Ford is a much better retail politician than some give him credit for, but this government has stumbled on a *lot* of files.
The challenge is -- listening to last night's debate -- does anybody look at the alternatives and see a big jump up in competence? A little one? Sure. I'll vote in an alternative at this point and see what they can do. But, do I have any enthusiasm for the alternatives? Not really.
What is too bad is that the Ford government has had moments where they look like they actually could evolve into a modern progessive conservative government. There are reasons they won some trade union support (they've been big boosters of skilled trades). They've evolved their stance on labour issues, and while they may not be the working man's best friend, Ford had a point when he old Horwath that losing even a few labour unions points the the NDP as being out of touch with its traditional base. They actually done some not-terrible stuff on transit and planning; offset by the planned 'developer's highway' 413, unfortunately. Overall, they messed up too many big files to win my support.
My concern is that a PC majority will embolden them to dig into their bag of tricks for really spectacular stuff they have been too cautious to display. Ford’s dad was a Harris guy and Harris is, like Harper, always around. In my view, Ford is a marionette. Things could get really ‘interesting’.
I am not engaged because for some reason, both the Conservatives and NDP are making the same, unattainable promise: to build 1.5 million new home in 10 years. The most housing the industry ever delivered was 70,000 in 2021. This so-called plan is not to actually build homes but to lay blame at the feet of anyone who opposes any construction for any reason. When it fails (as it was designed to do) the finger pointing will begin. I’d say about 18 months before the next election…
I’ve been trying to locate the Ontario PC platform. The ontario pc website is terrible, there is not about us, no contact form. There is a video with a song and a bunch of pictures taking about ‘Get it done’ but there is no information about what ‘it’ is. I sent an email to my local candidate using the email on his website but the auto reply says you need to provide your name, address, email address and phone number for them to respond. All I was asking for is to read the platform they are proposing to accomplish if elected... It really seems on the website they are preaching to the converted. It appears I will continue to be undecided....
I think it is disingenuous for Howarth and Del Duca to say that they won’t support a Doug Ford minority government before the votes are counted and cast. That is pretty much thumbing noses at the electorate and hinting that a rag tag, high spending, leftist non-coalition is a far better option for Ontario voters than collaborating with a Premier-Elect in a minority situation.
Ontario voters beware: Canadians didn’t vote for a Liberal NDP pact of convenience in Ottawa, but got one anyway. That has pretty much neutered any effective braking mechanism on out of control spending and Parliamentary oversight.
I think it's looking at Doug's 4 years.
I suppose the weak link here is the media’s disinterest in pursuing what Howarth and Del Duca would do if Ford was cut down to a minority government. The pair should be pinned to the wall to be honest and explain themselves to the electorate. If they won’t give Ford enough rope to try and govern a minority with cross party support, what is their plan?
Trudeau and Singh couldn’t stand the sight of each other on the campaign trail, but golly they can work magic with a sleight of hand pulled on the Canadian electorate.
I would suspect that if Doug doesn't get his majority, we'll have the same arrangement provincially. Cynically; and perhaps it's always been this way, it seems to be more about doing anything to stay in power than having a vision and working to implement it. The day the election is over, it seems the focus goes to winning the next one rather than any long term vision. But I also believe that's because things are so bad, they have no idea what to do to even begin to fix it.
This election ought to be about the way the government's Covid response shredded our Charter rights, destroyed our childrens' education, failed to expand hospital capacity when needed despite oodles of federal money, and (by driving out unvaccinated health care workers) began the slow motion demolition of our health care system.
It isn't because the major opposition parties constantly demanded that the government do an even worse job, and because they promise to repeat and expand upon the PCs' disastrously failed Covid policies, should they be elected.
How do you figure we could have expanded hospital capacity when it takes 4 years to train a nurse?
When they are being laid off in the US and fired from jurisdictions across Canada, we don't have to make them - we can steal them. Also, with sufficient money, people will come back from retirement and/or work extra shifts. Or we could just hire them away from US or other Canadian jurisdictions, laid off or not. The economic loss from our Covid measures was immense compared to the cost of capacity expansion.
Laid off in the US...you are in dreamland. I'd love to see a source for that one. Sufficient money? Doug's trying to impose a 1% contract. I really don't think you comprehend what this has been like for healthcare workers.
That's my point exactly - being cheap on pay kept capacity low, but it was a false economy, because it was used to justify lockdowns that were vastly more expensive - as well as being useless.
https://www.vox.com/2020/4/8/21213995/coronavirus-us-layoffs-furloughs-hospitals
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/7-hospitals-laying-off-workers.html
https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/finance/20-hospitals-laying-off-workers.html
I can see where that idea might come from. report from less than a month after COVID shut down North America, and no one had any idea of what we were dealing with. While I don't deny that it may have happened, they didn't stay laid off for long. You'll note that the VOX and Beckers article suggests that the layoffs are non-medical staff as well, which you would expect in a for-profit system.
I think we're about as close to Putin and Zelensky agreeing on the merits of lockdowns and other restrictions. I don't really see our positions changing. I will say that massive errors were made in the timing of the restrictions which made bad situations worse. The way they were imposed on businesses unequally was also absurd. Hopefully, that's a touch of common ground. Cheers.
https://www.healthline.com/health/nursing-shortage#facts-and-stats
https://www.aamc.org/news-insights/hospitals-innovate-amid-dire-nursing-shortages
https://www.vox.com/coronavirus-covid19/22763417/us-covid-19-hospitals-nurses-shortage
Sadly, expectations for Ford were so low people were thrilled that he didn't go full Trump and pretend the pandemic wasn't real. Last year's closing of playgrounds and telling the cops they were going to make sure no one left their house was so incompetent as to be bizarre. Doug may be the smartest one in his family but that's not saying much.
This election will involve the most nose plugs ever as I pinch my nose and vote. Schreiner is the only good leader...but the wrong party. The rest are all unelectable....but someone's got to win....
As someone in Ontario, the biggest issue for me is just competence. The PC government actually had their occasional moments, but they were more than balanced by really bush-league stumbles. License plates that nobody wanted that couldn't be seen at night. A pointless fight against the federal carbon tax that sucked up time, money and political capital. An approach to COVID which mostly meant trying to keep things open as long as possible -- instead of more steady measures -- then needing to lock down to preserve hospital capacity. Doug Ford is a much better retail politician than some give him credit for, but this government has stumbled on a *lot* of files.
The challenge is -- listening to last night's debate -- does anybody look at the alternatives and see a big jump up in competence? A little one? Sure. I'll vote in an alternative at this point and see what they can do. But, do I have any enthusiasm for the alternatives? Not really.
What is too bad is that the Ford government has had moments where they look like they actually could evolve into a modern progessive conservative government. There are reasons they won some trade union support (they've been big boosters of skilled trades). They've evolved their stance on labour issues, and while they may not be the working man's best friend, Ford had a point when he old Horwath that losing even a few labour unions points the the NDP as being out of touch with its traditional base. They actually done some not-terrible stuff on transit and planning; offset by the planned 'developer's highway' 413, unfortunately. Overall, they messed up too many big files to win my support.
My concern is that a PC majority will embolden them to dig into their bag of tricks for really spectacular stuff they have been too cautious to display. Ford’s dad was a Harris guy and Harris is, like Harper, always around. In my view, Ford is a marionette. Things could get really ‘interesting’.
I am not engaged because for some reason, both the Conservatives and NDP are making the same, unattainable promise: to build 1.5 million new home in 10 years. The most housing the industry ever delivered was 70,000 in 2021. This so-called plan is not to actually build homes but to lay blame at the feet of anyone who opposes any construction for any reason. When it fails (as it was designed to do) the finger pointing will begin. I’d say about 18 months before the next election…
I’ve been trying to locate the Ontario PC platform. The ontario pc website is terrible, there is not about us, no contact form. There is a video with a song and a bunch of pictures taking about ‘Get it done’ but there is no information about what ‘it’ is. I sent an email to my local candidate using the email on his website but the auto reply says you need to provide your name, address, email address and phone number for them to respond. All I was asking for is to read the platform they are proposing to accomplish if elected... It really seems on the website they are preaching to the converted. It appears I will continue to be undecided....
The platform is the most recent provincial budget.
You would think the would at least put the executive summary on their website......