[doady]

While clearly a politically bias expression look at Magna's comments in an article in the Globe and Mail today. To summarize, while corporate profits are up on strong growth the company does not plan to expand factory production in Canada any time in the future despite the drop in the Canadian dollar. The primary reason of course is insignificant growth in car sales but Canada (read Ontario) has become uncompetitive as an export base. Rising energy costs are one of the primary reasons (thank you McGuinty). The proposed Ontario pension proposal would cost Magna about 36 million dollars per year in added costs (thank you Wynne). So here is one of Ontario's primary industrial success stories basically saying not only are we not expanding but it is hard to maintain existing operations in Ontario.

The Ontario Liberal party did not create the conditions that are leading to the de-industrialization of the province but why do they insist on blowing our brains out with policy that almost purposely tries to make Ontario uncompetitive?

Pensions are only part of the problem. I think the main reasons for Ontario economic decline are: unions, the minimum wage, and the greenbelt. I think these things are what driving up the cost of doing business the most - not only labour costs but also land costs is a huge factor, and land costs have skyrocketed ever since the greenbelt was enacted. So I think what Ontario needs to do is ban unions, abolish the minimum wage, and abolish the greenbelt, and Ontario will be competitive again. Furthermore, Ontario is investing infrastructure that moves people instead of moving goods. A GO Train doesn't move any freight. The Hurontario LRT will cost over $1 billion and it won't move any freight. Hudak does seem to be aware of all these issues. He may well be the right choice for Ontario's economy.

 

[gabe]

. So I think what Ontario needs to do is ban unions, abolish the minimum wage, and abolish the greenbelt, and Ontario will be competitive again

That is the dumbest thing i have ever heard in my entire life. You must be from one those stone age countries that still allows slavery and children to work in sweat shops.


The Koch brothers and the Tea Party would love you!!

 

[TrickyRicky]

"Ontario needs to do is ban unions, abolish the minimum wage, and abolish the greenbelt"

I do not advocate any of these positions. I think that the temptation to go down this road is precisely Hudak's problem. Look at the headline today on cutting 100,000 public sector jobs. Way to alienate a huge chunk of the electorate buddy!

The reality however is that Hudak is speaking the truth. We need to make cuts at least this deep. Wynne is living in a la la land fantasy world. Hudak's mistake is that he relishes these cuts instead of understanding and articulating why we need to make these cuts. It's not the 100,000 public sector workers fault. Many of them are hard working and have difficult and stressful jobs. The problem is that the pay and benefit compensations for public sector workers is way out of line of what we can afford. You can't however reduce pay and benefits to existing workers so all you can do is freeze salaries and benefits and stop hiring. We have been dithering on this for too many years so the only option is reducing headcount. We should not relish this. It will make life in Ontario worse not better but we have no choice. We can do it or financial markets can do it for us.

 

[Johnny Au]

I might as well stay home for the provincial election. I don't like any major party. It is unfortunate that the Ontario NDP made a significant rightward shift in its promises.

 

[Johnny Au]

I might as well stay home for the provincial election. I don't like any major party. It is unfortunate that the Ontario NDP made a significant rightward shift in its promises.

...or I might vote for the Green Party, which would actually be the same as staying home (I live in Eglinton-Lawrence)

 

[King of Kensington]

"Ontario needs to do is ban unions, abolish the minimum wage, and abolish the greenbelt"

I do not advocate any of these positions. I think that the temptation to go down this road is precisely Hudak's problem. Look at the headline today on cutting 100,000 public sector jobs. Way to alienate a huge chunk of the electorate buddy!

The reality however is that Hudak is speaking the truth. We need to make cuts at least this deep. Wynne is living in a la la land fantasy world. Hudak's mistake is that he relishes these cuts instead of understanding and articulating why we need to make these cuts. It's not the 100,000 public sector workers fault. Many of them are hard working and have difficult and stressful jobs. The problem is that the pay and benefit compensations for public sector workers is way out of line of what we can afford. You can't however reduce pay and benefits to existing workers so all you can do is freeze salaries and benefits and stop hiring. We have been dithering on this for too many years so the only option is reducing headcount. We should not relish this. It will make life in Ontario worse not better but we have no choice. We can do it or financial markets can do it for us.

Ideological nonsense. You don't work off public debt by austerity but by liberating the economy's potential through public investments in order to get the economy growing. Hudak's "plan" is a plan for tanking the economy.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Ideological nonsense. You don't work off public debt by austerity but by liberating the economy's potential through public investments in order to get the economy growing. Hudak's "plan" is a plan for tanking the economy.

Some could use lower housing prices...

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Hudak does seem to be aware of all these issues. He may well be the right choice for Ontario's economy.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queensp...s_he_would_lay_off_100000_civil_servants.html


Right....

 

[Electrify]

That is the dumbest thing i have ever heard in my entire life. You must be from one those stone age countries that still allows slavery and children to work in sweat shops.


The Koch brothers and the Tea Party would love you!!

Your sarcasm detector needs some fine tuning.

Sad that Poe's law has been demonstrated north of the border as well...

 

[King of Kensington]

If Hudak wants to fire 100,000 public employees, we're talking about 20% of the public sector in Ontario.

http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/govt62d-eng.htm

That is nuts, and I've never seen any major party leader federally or in any province run on (or implement) this kind of austerity program.

And no, it would not "bring our fiscal house in order" and "save Ontario."

ETA: Apparently Hudak is including municipal employees and local school boards; i.e. he would "force" them to lay people off.

http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2014/05/11/tim-hudak-job-killer/

 

[Electrify]

But the problem is we are not better off. The debt has doubled. The unemployment rate in Ontario is lower than the national average, Ontario became a have-not province. There is much more lack of confidence in the governing Party than when Eeves was defeated in 2003. The Health tax (premium) was the largest tax increase in history* and came in at the same time that Vision Care and Chiropractor Services were de-listed.

* - Having recently done my taxes, I can say the increase was 11.4% for me and 23.5% for my wife.

Under Harris and Eves we had such great things as regular teachers strikes, health care cuts, Walkerton: the largest e-coli outbreak in North American history, welfare and affordable housing policies gutted, privatization of driver testing leading to fail quotas, merging Metropolitan Toronto into a single entity against the will of its populace, TTC operation funding eliminated, freezing of the minimum wage over 8 years of inflation, subway construction suspended and canceled, privatization of the 407 leading to the highest tolls on the continent...

Things have not been perfect under McGuinty and Wynne, but may god help us if we put in someone who makes the previous paragraph look progressive in comparison!

 

[Electrify]

...or I might vote for the Green Party, which would actually be the same as staying home (I live in Eglinton-Lawrence)

I would recommend that you vote Green. They likely will not win, but it does send the message that you feel that they would be the best party to govern, plus helps to show that there is a base of support for their policies.

 

[Rufus8]

Why is a vote for the Green Party a wasted vote?

I thought the point of an election was to select a candidate that you think will do the best job governing the province. We have Mark Daye here in Toronto Centre and I really do hope he gets elected. We mock the Americans for their two party carve up but haven't we done the same? The election was called supposedly because the NDP didn't like the budget (I don't believe that for a minute), no one mentions that important decisions have been made in the province by a Premier no one voted for.
The Liberal Party of Ontario decided who our Premier was. The voters didn't, only those name less faceless backroom Liberal operatives decided. Then they told the party members who to vote for, the sight of opposing candidates walking across the floor with their supporters to Wynn was orchestrated behind closed doors.
Here is a thought, if such conspiracies exist in Quebec is it only our snobbery or will full ignorance that prevents it from happening here?
Who is to say the billions lost in eHealth, orng or the failed gas plants were NOT part of a criminal conspiracy ala the Hell's Angels? What is the difference between a political party that orchestrates it's power base for it's own profit and the drug/gun dealers who clog our courts but not our prisons?
I think Hudak and Howarth should forget the whole inquiry nonsense and get some of that lot from Quebec to do some investigating here in Ontario.

I am voting Green.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Your sarcasm detector needs some fine tuning....

That's called blaming the reader for the writer's inability to clearly communicate.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

I thought the point of an election was to select a candidate that you think will do the best job governing the province. We have Mark Daye here in Toronto Centre and I really do hope he gets elected. We mock the Americans for their two party carve up but haven't we done the same? The election was called supposedly because the NDP didn't like the budget (I don't believe that for a minute), no one mentions that important decisions have been made in the province by a Premier no one voted for.
The Liberal Party of Ontario decided who our Premier was. The voters didn't, only those name less faceless backroom Liberal operatives decided. Then they told the party members who to vote for, the sight of opposing candidates walking across the floor with their supporters to Wynn was orchestrated behind closed doors.
Here is a thought, if such conspiracies exist in Quebec is it only our snobbery or will full ignorance that prevents it from happening here?
Who is to say the billions lost in eHealth, orng or the failed gas plants were NOT part of a criminal conspiracy ala the Hell's Angels? What is the difference between a political party that orchestrates it's power base for it's own profit and the drug/gun dealers who clog our courts but not our prisons?
I think Hudak and Howarth should forget the whole inquiry nonsense and get some of that lot from Quebec to do some investigating here in Ontario.

I am voting Green.

You do realize that nobody votes for a Premier or Prime Minister, ever. We vote for a party who decides what the leader is.

In the Single-Member Plurality electoral system we have in Ontario and Canada, a vote for the Green Party is in fact a wasted vote whether we like it or not. Since Green Party voters are so few and so spread our throughout the province/Canada, they will not have enough concentrated voters in one district to gain a plurality of the votes and therefore any representation in government. In this system, any vote that is not a vote for the winning party is essentially a wasted vote and all that voting for the Green Party does is spoil votes that would otherwise go to the Liberals or NDP and allow the ideologically and policy-wise disparate Conservative Party to win a plurality, an undesirable result for all Liberals/NDP/Green and their supporters.(That is why Liberals&NDP alike are pissed at Horwath for calling this election) The only thing that voting for the Green Party could accomplish is providing them with an election-expense rebate through voting for them. That doesn't content me however as I'd like the person I vote for in my riding to actually represent me at Queen's Park/Ottawa. Maybe providing the Green Party with an election-expense rebate contents you though?

Further, I am sure the Green Party has their own problems that would come to light if they were a major party. I like to think of the Australian Green Party which has become a significant party in their party system in recent years who are mired with controversial policies and scandalous gaffes.

We mock the Americans for their two-party system but Single-Member Plurality/First Past The Post electoral systems do ultimately result in a two-party system everywhere they are implemented worldwide. Canada would be no different if not for its large size and historical regional dominance of third parties over others.