[steveintoronto]

Wynne’s latest release about fair pay for government contracts is yet another example of well meaning policy that expands government for the purpose of expanding government. So basically we will pay more for an expansion of government beaurocracy so that political insiders can get positions setting Kafka-esque rules that will increase the costs of all future government contracts the government enters into?

Terms for government contracts have existed for generations. The one you should be most concerned about are ones demanding domestic content.

Is this more to your liking Ricky?

Paola Loriggio, The Canadian Press
Published Wednesday, February 7, 2018 11:25AM EST
Last Updated Wednesday, February 7, 2018 4:47PM EST
TORONTO -- Ontario's threat of a trade war with U.S. states that adopt Buy American policies sparked swift criticism Wednesday from the opposition, who called it nothing but a "reckless" political gambit from the governing Liberals as they fight to stay in power.

Premier Kathleen Wynne announced Tuesday night that her cabinet would soon table legislation that would reduce procurement opportunities for states that pass Buy American laws by allowing provincial officials to write regulations targeting individual states.

The opposition parties saw the move as a Liberal attempt to avoid responsibility for domestic problems. [...]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/politics/wyn...y-american-criticized-by-opposition-1.3793330

I'm no fan of Wynne's, but even less of a fan of the present knee-jerk reactionary so-called Cons. What would you have? That Wynne rollover and spread Ontario's legs to get defiled? Extensive negotiations and missions occurred long before it came to making a stand. And best the "present day reactionaries" research how real Conservative regimes have handled this in the past.

When you're dealing with the likes of Trump, well....I'll spare myself of taking that point any further, it's wasted on knee-jerk reactionaries who hold him in esteem.

Meanwhile:

With elections looming, Canada cannot be complacent on policing social media
Bots, fake news and cyber attacks are all obvious threats to our democratic process, Tim Harper writes.
[...]
Federal MPs began important hearings Tuesday on data privacy concerns and their repercussions, and Privacy Commissioner Daniel Therrien made it clear the data of 622,161 Canadians harvested from Facebook could be used to influence an election in this country.

Yet there is a puzzling, laissez-faire approach from our governments, which seem to find comfort in studies that show the remnants of the mainstream media hold greater levels of trust here than their peers in other countries.

They seem to still take false security from the fact Canada has largely immune to interference or onslaughts of fake news, the likes of which we have seen in Britain, France and the United States. We like to think that we are fail-safe because we have paper ballot backups, but a cyber attack could corrupt the process before we need to start counting by hand.

The Communications Security Establishment has warned that cyber attacks on the 2019 federal election can be expected, and Facebook has promised an “election integrity’’ project ahead of that vote.

Part of that initiative will involve an education program from Ottawa-based MediaSmarts, which will try to educate citizens on how to spot fake news, differentiate between fact and opinion, and identify malicious posts.

A study for Elections Canada recommends a process for monitoring and regulating bots, which mimic the social media accounts of real people to spread propaganda and misinformation, shape public opinion or spread malicious attacks against candidates.

Rolled together, these are helpful, but largely amount to band aids. Something more substantive is required.

There are lessons for Canada in Europe.

All major parties in Germany agreed before last year’s parliamentary elections there that they would not use social media bots and would strongly condemn their use.

They also passed a law providing penalties of up to $60 million for social networking providers who did not quickly take down defamatory or fake news reports.

It worked.
[...]

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...t-be-complacent-on-policing-social-media.html

Not that I'm drawing a crooked line to Ford's coronation in the OntCon camp.....

If the OntCons had elected a leader with a sense of moral fortitude and quantifiable worth, things might be different when it comes to pointing out Wynne's failings. Coming from a complete loser, however, only counts for those who've already counted themselves out.

 

[JWBF]

Without government welfare the Tesla business model collapses. That’s Musk’s revenue stream, not car sales, but subsidies. Once the cost of extracting, producing and disposing of the lithium batteries is accounted for I’d have to think Teslas and their ilk do not warrant an environmental subsidy...

I wonder what would happen if "government welfare" was stopped to the petroleum industry?

 

[JWBF]

What's a Rexdale Raiders?

Dougie's brief rebranding of an already established team to capitalize on Robbie's football team of the same name:
https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2012/10/10/doug_ford_launches_rexdale_raiders_basketball_team.html

 

[PinkLucy]

 

[Admiral Beez]

View attachment 140517

I just wish she would have governed better. She could have fixed car insurance and hydro costs, addressed hospital wait times and crumbling infrastructure. She could have controlled deficits by sharpening the role of government in our lives and how it delivers services and how it spends, focused on private sector jobs, business success and growing prosperity, or being a Notley-like champion for her province, kicking ass to push Ontario's interests.

Instead it's four+ years of grey porridge blah, and ever-expanding government and spending, hydro rates up, auto insurance up, coverage down, little transit (14+ years of Liberal rule and not a single subway station built south of Hwy 401), and shitty decisions everywhere. If he wins, it's her fault.

And no, I'm not suggesting DoFo will handle any of the above better, but the people are angry, irrational and prepared to vote against their interest just to kick her out.

 

[narduch]

That letter from Wynne reeks of desperation.

 

[Videodrome]

http://www.canadalandshow.com/toronto-sun-provincial-election-plans/

The Sun's plans to attack the Liberals have been leaked.

 

[steveintoronto]

I'm posting this not because I necessarily support the Greens, I have no vote in this province anyway, but I do support a coalition of Libs/Dips and Greens. And a selective process for strategic voting in each riding so as not to split the vote.

On that note, an email I received today forwarded to me (a lot of friends are going this route, voting Green)(XXX is of course personal info blanked out)

Sent: Tuesday, April 17, 2018 at 3:21 PM
From: "Becky Smit, Green Party of Ontario" <campaign2018@gpo.ca>
To: XXX
Subject: #MikeAtTheMic


XXX

Momentum is growing to get Mike Schreiner a seat at the televised leaders’ debate. Today we’re launching an online petition to increase pressure on the Ontario media consortium to include all four publicly funded parties, as recognized by Elections Ontario.

Visit www.MikeAtTheMic.ca to add your name to the chorus of people demanding to hear from us alongside the other three parties.

We need more choice - not less choice - in an election that is undoubtedly about change. The decision by the Ontario Broadcasters Group flies in the face of Elections Ontario rules and the broad-based support Greens have across the province and country.

Visit www.MikeAtTheMic.ca today and help end the monopoly on power in the televised debates. The petition will be sent to the TV executives in each network of the Ontario Broadcasters Group.



Becky Smit
Provincial Campaign Manager
Green Party of Ontario

Watch our latest video: The New Green Economy



At the Green Party of Ontario, we believe that emails are a vital way to stay in direct contact with supporters like you.

To contact us, please reply to this email. Call us toll-free 18886473366. Our mailing address:



PO Box 1132 Station F
Toronto, ON M4Y2T8
Canada

 

[steveintoronto]

We did the math: the $15 minimum wage puts more money in the worker’s pocket than Doug Ford’s promised tax credit.
Mike Crowley, CBC Queens Park

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-election-doug-ford-minimum-wage-income-tax-1.4623450

Math is an elitist conspiracy! Same with Science. Who ya gonna trust? Someone smart wot I got, or someone with Fake Facts!

 

[Admiral Beez]

http://www.canadalandshow.com/toronto-sun-provincial-election-plans/

The Sun's plans to attack the Liberals have been leaked.

Jeez, why can't the papers just investigate and report on the news? But at least ToStar puts their politics out front https://www.thestar.com/about/atkinson.html

 

[animatronic]

Jeez, why can't the papers just investigate and report on the news? But at least ToStar puts their politics out front https://www.thestar.com/about/atkinson.html

I assume/hope that this is just for editorial content and not news.

 

[Jasmine18]

That letter from Wynne reeks of desperation.

I can literally see Wynne and liberal leaders likely crying tears at night thinking of all all they have done and the budget has done nothing to help their poll numbers.

I think Wynne and the poster here do not understand that the desire to Kick Wynne out of office will be stronger then Liberal attempts to make Ford into Trump North.

 

[Jasmine18]

We did the math: the $15 minimum wage puts more money in the worker’s pocket than Doug Ford’s promised tax credit.
Mike Crowley, CBC Queens Park

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-election-doug-ford-minimum-wage-income-tax-1.4623450

Other costs that you did not account for are :

Less staff hired by employers
Less hour offered to employees
benefits cut for employees
Price increased for everyone else.

I agree with increasing the min wage but I think many realize Wynne just increase the wage to bribe voters then out of any sensible economic or social policy.

I also think Ford is not out to get the Min Wage vote but frankly get moderates who think Wynne Min wage policy was a tad reckless.

 

[syn]

The Sun is a tabloid.

 

[Jasmine18]

This election is gonna get nasty, both sides will be just raw emotion and lies.