Long time reader and first time poster here. I love following the talk in Toronto regarding the development (especially transit) and since we have a decent discussion going on about the provincial election, I figured I would offer my point of view as something to consider.
I've long been a conservative supporter which is not the standard in Toronto but I've generally found that my values fall a little bit more to the right of centre than anywhere else. Unfortunately this time around I am unhappy with all of the choices that we have been left with. With NDP Andrea Horwath I really can't tell what she stands for since she voted down a budget that I surely thought she would be in favour of. With Kathleen Wynne I think she is getting a bit of a bad rap for the errors made by McGuinty, but focusing specifically on her, I am not a fan of the Ontario Pension Plan as I think CPP reform would be more beneficial. That being said it doesn't look like Stephen Harper has any intention to improve CPP to provide for a more secure retirement for Canadians. Then we have Tim Hudak. He is supposed to be my guy. Unfortunately he is just too far to the right for my taste. First it was his push for Right to Work legislation. For anyone who knows anything about RTW laws they will see that all of the states with RTW have lower average wages, poorer working conditions for employees and a lower standard of living. Look at a map of the USA and ask yourself which states you would want to live in if you had to choose one. California maybe? New York? You will notice a trend that these are not Right to Work states like Alabama for example. The initial impact of Right to Work definitely shows a slight increase in the employment rate, but it is not really helping society if more people are working and making a fraction of their previous wages. While Hudak has thankfully publicly backed away from this policy, he still maintains many documents on his website touting Right to Work as the way to go. I think that this strategy of pitting workers and workers in the public/private sector is nothing more than a strategy to collectively drive all wages and benefits down, eventually make all pensions both public and private a thing of the past and see health benefits disappear.
Despite the presence of these documents on Hudak's website I was still willing to give him a chance until last week. When he made the announcements that A) He plans to layoff 100,000 people and B) He plans to give a 30% tax break to corporations, that was the last straw for me for a number of reasons. We have already been told by the former Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney that corporations are sitting on billions of dollars right now that they are not investing. Giving them 30% less in taxes with no conditions to create jobs and pass those savings on to new employees is not going the situation. Having 100,000 former middle class families turning to the unemployment line is going to put an increased burden on EI in the immediate term and the bigger impacts will be felt by all of us in both the public and private labour markets. Having 100,000 more people desperately looking for work plays into the hands of large corporate employers and nobody else. It is simply supply and demand - create an excess supply of labour and there will be huge pressure on the wages and benefits of everyone who is employed. Wanted that raise? Were expecting that bonus? I know I and many others can expect to lose out on these things only to be told by our Manager that "Looks at how bad things are out there for people right now, you should just be happy that you have a job". I cannot get on board with this culture of creating fear for all employees in both the public/private sector to the point that we should just be happy with the status quo and never strive to see things collectively become improved for society.
As someone with a Masters in economics, I figured Hudak would also be aware that by laying off so many middle class income earners, there will be a huge ripple effect on the economy. Do renovations? Painting? Building Decks? Well I know that all of the clients who are teachers or government workers of any sort are not going to have the money to hire you to do work any more. Less new cars will be purchased, less money to put kids in sports for many families bringing up the costs for those of us who can still afford it. The list goes on and on. Ripple effect will be absolutely devastating. Something tells me that Tim is well aware of this and that it is exactly what his corporate friends would like. I also find it extremely hypocritical that his wife seems to have bee on the Sunshine list for several years taking in excess of $200,000 in some years.
All that said I really am sickened by the lack of good choices. I am disgusted by the Gas Plants and E-Health, etc.....but I don't know how fair it is to lay that all on Wynne when she was not in power at the time. Andrea is just giving me nothing to get excited about at all and Tim well....you've read what I wrote above by now. I think one of the big problems is that none of the leaders are focusing on the fact that manufacturing leaving the province of Ontario is not a partisan issue or problem, it is the effect of globalization and corporations choosing higher profits by moving plants to places like Bangladesh, Laos and Thailand rather than have products made in Canada. Reality is that regardless of which party is in power we need to collectively reinvent ourselves as a province and nation and find a new way to innovate our economy.
On that note.....this whole situation sucks. I hate all three options. That being said I feel that Tim Hudak is actually the worst of the three so I will vote for the non conservative candidate in my riding who historically gets the highest percentage of the votes. My hope is that this will result in a very slim minority government that requires the parties to reinvent themselves and hopefully the next time around the PCs will elect a leader with a vision that I can get behind.
-B