Then you haven’t been listening. I could call her a lot of other less polite names. And I am an equal opportunity critic. I’ve got a lot iof choice descriptives for Trump and his band of fascists.
A couple of interesting opinion pieces today... This one is sort of a pre-post-mortem on Kathleen Wynne's time as premier. It sort of addresses the original topic of the thread, why is she so unpopular, but it's a different answer than most have come up with. It is also reviews all the good she's done, and is well worth a read. Kathleen Wynne was the premier we didn't deserve (This isn't a specific response to any of the posters here. I saw both these articles this afternoon, and was planning to post them before seeing what else had happened in the thread today.) It's probably commonly accepted that younger people tend to generally lean more left politically. I think it's fair to say that Trudeau's handy victory in 2015 owes no small part to millennial voters. So who do the millennials seem to be supporting in Ontario's provincial election? Well, it's... wait, Doug Ford?? Doug Ford's easy populism is working (Totally agree with the FPTP criticism, BTW...)
I think we will have to agree to disagree. She said she was going to be the "social justice premier", and I think for the most part, she has totally lived up to that.
I think my problem with Wynne, is that while she's certainly had her share of successes, she's used that as a shield and held her nose up in the air when being pointed out that there are issues needing to be addressed. Nobody is infallible, yet the growing sentiment over the years has been that during her time in office, which has been a long enough time, she's used relied on that shield more and more as a crutch rather than facing those issues and acknowledging them. And it had only grown worse the more time she was in office, getting complacent with her province at large. Wynne is certainly good at what she does, has a voice and ambition. But it's never good when a government starts taking its position for granted. That, I feel is her chief mistake. She had begun thinking that she was too big to fail.
Seems a number of tory candidates are missing the various debates in their ridings and it's starting to draw some attention. http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/pc-candidates-meeting-missing-1.4668766 The tory candidate in my riding at the last provincial election did that. He'd trot along to the business orient ones but when the time came for the ones related to social issues he was nowhere to be found. In a riding where social issues are to a big factor (we have some of the lowest rates for home affordability versus income, high senior population, lower than average wage rates) this was a big mistake. I think if the tories weren't in such a dominant position this lack of attendance would hurt them (and it's possible they feel there in a position where they are certainty to win). Though the lack of detail in ford's policy platform is probably an hindrance as well. They can't explain polities that he hasn't started to articulate in the same way they couldn't talk about hudak's policies at the last election. The Star goes further and questions whether they are being muzzled so as not to distract from from ford. https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...-ontario-tories-muzzling-some-candidates.html We should also keep in mind that there are advisers at work who helped with federal conservative campaigns so we're seeing a repeat in tactics. Oh and maybe the tories shouldn't have been too quick to try an accuse wynne of corruption vis a vis the Sudbury bi-election. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2018/05/18/neck-deep-in-swamp-and-gravy.html
^ A lot of these issues would sink other candidates in other times. Ford, however, appears untouchable. Ford voters don't care about his past Only one option for anti-Ford voters
Saw another article today in a similar vein to the ones I posted above, so I thought I'd throw it into the mix: Doug Ford's campaign is a mess but it doesn't seem to matter Plus, here's an interesting one about the divisions between us in our province: Upcoming election highlights the fractured nature of Ontario
A while back I made the prediction that the tories would run a platform that mainly consisted of not being the liberals. Then Brown came out with a platform for the election that was actually pretty reasonable. Then he gets dumped (or as he puts it "politically assassinated" and in hindsight I think there were elements within the party behind it) and that all goes out the window. We're now back to the "we're not the liberals" and I do wonder how long after the election it will be before people wake up and realise what a mistake we've made. The Liberals need to go - no if buts or whys but a majority govt under ford will not be good but maybe people will be too pissed from the liquor they bought at the local Macks to notice. Best outcome will be either tory minority or NDP (who are normally too left wing for me).
There are still people who look back fondly at the Ford brothers' time at Toronto City Hall, and praise the good job they did, and what great people they were. So for some segment of the population, I think the answer will be "never". Then again, for some of us, "waking up" won't be an issue... I'm not sure I'll even be able to fall asleep after election night! For those not right up-to-date with the campaign, here's what Marc is referring to, announced yesterday: Beer, wine in corner stores under a PC government, Doug Ford announces
Well! I think maybe when that's official, they should have Bob & Doug Mackenzie announcing it... Still, I think they've made a lot of progress by making beer available in grocery stores. BUT, I think getting into corner stores is a tall order. It took us a long enough time to get into grocery stores, and even then, some are making enough noise to try to change it back and it's not even available everywhere just yet.
The arguments about booze in corner stores etc seems to a combination of lowering prices and breaking the monopolies of the LCBO and Beer Store. From what I've read this seems to be a long standing political promise that's never been kept. The liberals promised in the 1985 campaign and never delivered and the tories never did anything about under harris (too busy fucking up hydro I guess). Putting in to corner stores Isn't going to bring prices down 1) those places are more expensive for pertty much everything and 2) they're gonna have extra costs involved. Supermarkets is fine and theoretically you have specialist stores that sell alcohol but then you could wind up with one company owning them under different brands so in the case of the beer store you swap one monopoly for another. But my biggest concern is that we're making alcohol more readily available to problem drinkers. At present if they can't get to the beer store or the lcbo or it's closed they've either gotta go without or the get one the delivery services. Under ford's plan they would simply wander down the nearest mr convenience and get some. At present the supermarkets that are licensed can only sell between certain hours. ford hasn't said whether that restriction would still apply.
Hmmm, interesting. I did not know that. I think that shows how much of a stretch it is to becoming a reality. The landscape has changed dramatically since the 80's. Beer Stores were the kind where you'd have to walk up to a counter and ask what you want to be retrieved from a backroom and nothing was on display, whereas now, everything's on display just like a regular store. Also back then, there was far less choice, and we didn't have the burgeoning craft beer industry. So, I think the needs for it have decreased. Oh yep, exactly. If it ever does happen, the price will be convenience. Interesting thing is though, in certain areas/communities where there is no beer store or lcbo, there are corner stores allowed to sell beer, but only as an agent of the lcbo. Heck, there's a gas station on Hwy 17 halfway between Mattawa and Ottawa that's one of those. Still, again, special case. Yeah, that's an argument currently being used against the supermarket sale of alcohol. I think Supermarkets have become the best compromise. Anyone who's wished to have it in corner stores at this point might as well be wishing for a unicorn. I've never really considered the delivery options. I don't think we get those up here. The closest thing would be the local brewery offering delivery of their own beer.
A number of NDP-focussed articles today... While we're on the subject of convenience store alcohol sales, Andrea Horwath has stated that the NDP would not allow that, if elected. Andrea Horwath says NDP would not allow beer, wine sales at corner stores I haven't heard this one before. The NDP also has a campaign promise to cap how much gas prices can increase at one time, to try to prevent weekend price gouging. I'm honestly not sure how well that would work in practice? NDP will block gas-price gouging on long weekends, Horwath says We've already seen upthread that the NDP are currently polling in second place (although still well behind the PCs). Here's another article which discusses the NDP being the reasonable choice for progressives who want to see the Liberal government replaced. For Ontario voters, Andrea Horwath may be 'just right' And since we can't go without mentioning Ford... he is dismissing calls from the Liberals and NDP to have the police look into the party nomination issues. Ford dismisses calls for police to investigate Ontario PCs despite evidence of interference in party nomination races Blame Patrick Brown, hide from reporters, avoid the question, and hope it goes away?
Supermarkets are only selling alcohol between certain hours (my local wal-mart is one that got the licence and the have signs up saying when it can be sold) which does help and why I don't have a problem with supermarkets being allowed to sell booze. yeah I think this would be another unicorn. Anyone with half a brain can see we're being bent over and screwed at the gas pump but the oil companies can come up with all sorts of excuses (demand in the U.S, changing over to the summer blend, refineries in the U.S shut down for maintenance to give 3 I've heard in recent months). Sure there's a shitload of tax but sure ford can take some of it off but when the oil companies jack the base price you can wind up almost back at square one. The other day gas at home was $1.25 in one part of the city and over $1.30 in another part and it's not the big of a city then a couple of weeks back gas was at $1.35 and diesel was $1.20. How do you apply any any sense or regulation to that?
Absolutely. I feel it's the best compromise. I think the idea of having it available in corner stores made more sense back in the 80's when we had far fewer options. It just feels so unnecessary right now. As for the price of gas, most of the time independent stations have the best prices. Bigger chains have their prices set by head office, whereas independents have the freedom to set it at what they want. But you'll find more of them the further north you go. There's a native gas station about halfway between Sudbury and North Bay that routinely has the lowest prices.
The most expensive gas in the city is usually a petro canada outlet but whenever the local tv station covers gas prices that's where they head to speak to motorists. Spent the long weekend at the in-laws and my father-in-law was grumbling about wynne and horvath and their spending yet fords big promises (subways and tax cuts) without the details don't seem to be making an impression. The f-i-l isn't dumb by any stretch of the imagination but he his rut that he's comfortable in and lacks any real intellectual curiosity. Mother-in-law said over the weekend that if the tories had a different candidate she would have voted ndp but the blue guy is a former federal tory who was a very good local member. op-ed piece in the star on the bullshit that's coming out of all three parties over hydro. https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...-debate-but-parties-promises-dont-add-up.html
The NDP slightly edges into first place in the latest poll from IPSOS. The regional breakdown even shows the NDP slightly ahead in the 905. It's happening guys! ONDP - 37% OPC - 36% OLP - 23%
That's a big drop in for the tories and I suspect as people are getting more of a look at doug ford they aren't liking what they see. If the tories wind up losing the election (yeah I know it's still 3 weeks to go) I wonder what ford would do. There would be demands for ford's head on a platter to start with so he'd probably wind up on the back bench and whether he'd hang around for long. Yes it's cynical, I but I expect a lot jumped into the political this ring time around with the expectation of government and ministerial positions up for grabs.