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Next question.
"There are now 101,882 more people employed by the provincial government"
Assuming that statement is correct, how many of those 101,882 people are doctors, nurses, nurse assistants, teachers, teacher assistants? These are the very people voters in Ontario decided we needed to hire ten years ago.
Now your boss wants to fire them? Does that make sense?
"62% of 17,000 people"
???
What do these numbers mean? Where do they come from?
I found the answer to my question:
http://www.threehundredeight.com/2014/06/two-new-polls-give-ontario-liberals-lead.html
According to this poll, Hudak "won" the debate:
According to Global "no one" won the debate:
http://globalnews.ca/news/1372666/who-won-the-ontario-leaders-debate-no-one/
Frankly I do not think the Premier could have won that debate. She has had to defend actions of her government before she got the job. She is stuck with the legacy.
The real question is: will the debate - viewed by a relatively small percentage of the voting population - have an effect on the results of the election.
Personally, I doubt it very much.
We should end up with a minority government.
The only questions are: which party will form the government? how strong will the NDP do in third place?
I read a poll earlier (can't find the link right now) and it said that the Liberals were at 40% favour and the Hudaks were at 35% after the debate. Of course do we believe polls? Ehhhhhh that too is 'debatable'.
The thing is the best help for the Liberals has been Hudak. With his and his wife's past history with Harris and his job cuts and his cuts he wants to do to healthcare and education he has been self-inflicting one wound after another. The Workers Coalition party has taken out ads everywhere against him and even for the first time in history the OPP have stood up against him. His financial plan has been criticized by every respectable economist as well as in the US by a division of the US government. Of course each one has their own agendas but it's still not a good thing to have all these workers against you. Without a couple of scandals against the Liberals, Hudak wouldn't have a prayer. He thought he could win by bringing out the revenge and the hatred in people and he's found that thinking people aren't going for that fear factor anymore.
Just looking at the two main parties, well I am not pleased with some plans Wynne has. Maybe she is seeing further down the road than I'm giving her credit for, but it still worries me. Hudak, with what he has advocated he will do, there is no doubt it will be a financial failure (that's been proven elsewhere), but also he, like his mentor Harris, will divide Ontario and create more mass confusion and disruption, which will have to be repaired later, if it can. Frankly, I'd vote for Charles Manson before I'd vote for Hudak. At least with Charlie, you know who you are dealing with and he's up front. Hudak's so low, so deceptive, he could crawl under a snake wearing a top hat. Also and although this is secondary, it is also very important, Harper wants Ontario and Hudak is his puppet if he can get it.
I agree, I don't think the debate was a win for any of them. Wynne spent most of her time being a bone chewed at by two hungry dogs. Hudak went through is spiel like a recurring TV ad and his tear jerking stories were lame at best. Horwath did better than I thought but she just doesn't have the 'presence' as a leader. Wynne, despite the things the government has done is still a positive person.
Whatever happens, yes it will be a minority and whoever forms the government will not have the popular vote of the people, not by a long shot. Maybe we should have 'playoffs', ending with 2 and then it's last party standing time. In this situation, Wynne would win hands down because all the NDP votes would go to her.
However this turns out, this isn't going to be a happy province for years to come. We need in Ontario and even in Canada, some hope for the future, some light at the end of the tunnel and with a bit of luck Trudeau will provide that.
"the best help for the Liberals has been Hudak"
I agree with you.
And the NDP made a mistake forcing an election at this time as they have nothing to offer that is different or has a chance to win people over.
Yesterday, Mary suggested we go to vote at the mall today. Advance voting station is open daily until Saturday. However, I told her I was still undecided.
In my book, Hudak and his party are totally out of touch with the real world, just like Harris was a generation ago. Ontario already has one of the lowest corporate tax rate of any jurisdiction in North America. Laying off one hundred thousand teachers and other public servants to finance a corporate tax cut is.... quite frankly I am at a loss for the correct word.
The Liberals carry a lot of baggage for the mistakes made in the last eleven years. While the list prepared by Valve is quite unfair in many instances, reality is that wrong decisions have been made.
NDP has many interesting policies but many are stolen from the Liberals (cutting auto insurance rates for example) and they have no chance to form a government.
At the end of the day, since I cannot really justify a party over another, I may vote for the individual candidate instead of the party.
Well I wish there was a candidate I could look at and feel totally good about voting for, but like you, I'm at a quandary.
It's a bit easier from the perspective that I have Hudak totally crossed off the list. I wish that the Liberals and the NDP were a bit closer in the race but they aren't. I'd like to give the NDP a fresh chance but if it's a close race between the Libs and the Cons then voting for the NDP will cost a vote for the Liberals just to keep Hudak out and if he loses again then maybe next time around he will be gone totally and the Conservatives will have a better candidate.
The way our political structure is set up we often end up doing the 'strategic' vote thing and I don't like that. As you know I don't like the party concept and I believe we should be voting for our own independent representatives and then a separate vote for the provincial leader, or federal leader. I think we would get more honest representatives in some respects and we would get more people who have great ideas and vision that can't get a chance because some party did not accept them into the 'gang'.
Ontario is in trouble but it's not a disaster despite what Conservatives and Hudak supporters may want us to think. We are now at an AA1 credit rating and that's nothing to scoff at. We are now seeing the long term symptoms of free trade deals which took away good jobs and left us with increasingly less and less productivity and more and more part time and dead end jobs. The responsibility for those repairs fall on the shoulders of the Feds.
Toronto, well Mel Lastman considered leaving the Province and frankly it seems to be more and more a good idea. TO sucks so much money out of the rest of Ontario and taxpayers and they see far to little of it.
To me who won the debate is inconsequential when one looks at the bigger picture afterwards when a poll was taken representing before and after. After the debate Wynne was at 40% and Hudak 35%. With all the Liberals have to answer for one has to ask themselves why aren't the Conservatives and Hudak wayyyyyyyyy up there in the lead? Well it's Hudak, no one trusts him and for good reasons.
You have often supported Conservatives Valve, but you have a problem now. You have said your son is a cop and Hudak is out to get his fellow officers in the OPP. Hudak is out to destroy unions with 'work to rule' which he has been very quiet on lately, but he still is going to try and put it through, make no mistake about that because his corporate friends are depending on him. This will mean the slow end to unions and that will affect your son. How's Hudak look to you now?
"when the company paying my pay check has to pay 80-$100,000 less every month for hydro that is good for me and my job security.."
If I understand your comment, you are suggesting that a NDP government would cut the hydro bill to your employer by $80,000 to $100,000 a month ($1,000,000+ a year). Sounds to me like a great election promise. And you believe that to be true.
You should ask your NDP candidate, where will that $80,000 to $100,000 come from?
If one employer saves that much, how much will be "saved" by all employers in Ontario? Billions?
After all, the provincial government does not print money. That money must come from somewhere. To "save" that money to employers, what are the options?
1) raise income tax
2) raise provincial tax (part of HST)
3) layoff teachers, doctors, nurses, other public servants
4) borrow the money to increase the provincial debt leading to more income tax increases in the future to pay the interest on the debt
What is your NDP candidate proposing? Honestly? Do not be shy: ask!
''Yeah, good ridance to unions!''
Well that didn't make much sense. I believe you were in a union and your son is definitely in a union and that union has served him Very well.
