Ontario Provincial Politics

[Avro Arrow]

Ontario has never invoked section 33 before ever... and now we're going to use it for this?? Could Ford be any more vindictive and petty?

Probably.

Back to ford, comments yesterday were straight out of the conservative playbook with his rant about "activist judges" and carping on about being elected while the judge was appointed.

It's amazing to me how many PC supporters don't seem to understand that the judiciary is the third branch of government. This is the role they are supposed to be playing in our democracy. The judge was simply doing his job... perhaps Ford should consider sticking to his, instead of trying to be Emperor of Toronto.

time will tell but I won't be surprised if people wind up missing wynne after for years of ford.

Four years? Some of us miss her already!

 

[Marc]

All the ford supports drooling over his plans to use the not withstanding clause need to remember something very important.

ford won't be in power for ever and one day those people could find themselves in position where the clause is used to override something they support (at which point their support and comments supporting ford's use will be forgotten and it will be an evil clause that shouldn't be in the charter).

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-notwithstanding-charter-1.4818730

Same for the poster who's urge ford to do as much as possible to wipe out the liberals - the tories could wind up in the same position one day (like they did federaly after mulroney).

ford is also claiming he's protecting the votes of those who supported the tories in the provincial election but seems to be forgetting that 60% of the province's voters didn't support him or his party.

 

[Marc]

I guess we shouldn't be supervised that after using delaying tactics when in opposition the regressive conservatives are now changing the rules so they can't be used by the current opposition.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/doug-ford-ontario-legislature-procedure-rules-1.4824125

no doubt the regressives would have been the first to complain if wynne had pulled this stunt.

ford = fucking over rights & democracy.

 

[Marc]

looks like the ford government has found another tried and true conservative tactic. Change the accounting rules to make the liberals look even worse even though the Liberals were using the same approach as the Harris conservative government and ignoring a report by independant experts that that auditor-general was wrong when she said things should be changed.

https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...s-stashed-spending-finance-minister-says.html

so now they'll have an excuse to cut social services even further (watchout ODSP recipients, hospitals, schools, transit) but I'm sure the tax cuts for the big end of town and the subway tunnels for Toronto will still happen (we can't have transit getting in the way of doug the thug's beloved motor car).

 

[Owain Taggart]

I didn't like the Liberals, but those tactics just aren't right. It doesn't make me sympathetic to Ford or the Conservatives. Just more proof that he isn't fit to govern. Seems way more interested in Toronto rather than Ontario as a whole, as as usual the rest of the province will suffer.

Yeah, speaking of hospitals, our hospital is receiving another round of cuts and being really strained as a result, and the government wants to cut funding to the breast cancer clinic which has been a crucial service in treatment, and the President of the Ontario Medical Association which has been touring communities realizes how dire our situation is up here, in that the hospital has to work given the large area it serves.

https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/...dard-means-northern-patients-lose-out-1054530

 

[Marc]

I didn't like the Liberals, but those tactics just aren't right. It doesn't make me sympathetic to Ford or the Conservatives. Just more proof that he isn't fit to govern. Seems way more interested in Toronto rather than Ontario as a whole, as as usual the rest of the province will suffer.

yet ford got a big welcome from the country folks when he showed up at the ploughing event on Tuesday and then proceeded to take a shot at horvath for coming out to the event in car.

I strongly suspect that ford know stuff all about life outside of Toronto except for the little spot where the family cottage is located.

 

[Owain Taggart]

except for the little spot where the family cottage is located.

I somehow wouldn't be surprised.

 

[Marc]

wonder who paid for ford's trip to Alberta to rant and rave against the federal carbon tax.

rather ironic when asks if people voted for the carbon tax. firstly they wouldn't have voted for the liberals and secondly it was a campaign promise unlike his cuts to the Toronto council.

plus they are a conservative policy https://www.thestar.com/opinion/sta...ney-carbon-taxes-are-a-conservative-idea.html

new governments usually get a honeymoon period but not for. while they would still win office they've dropped nearly 3% since the election and down dramatically for where they were lead by brown.

 

[Avro Arrow]

I know this is an opinion piece, not an investigative report, but if there’s any truth to this (and TBH it wouldn’t surprise me), then it should be concerning to all Ontarians. Unless you’re independently wealthy, I guess.

The secret moves to increase private health care

 

[Marc]

I know this is an opinion piece, not an investigative report, but if there’s any truth to this (and TBH it wouldn’t surprise me), then it should be concerning to all Ontarians. Unless you’re independently wealthy, I guess.

The secret moves to increase private health care

yeah I read that yesterday and think it's a very bad idea.

Australia has a 2 tier system and the public health system suffers because billions of tax payer dollars are pumped in the subsidies for the private health insurers who frequently ask the govt for permission to increase their premiums at well above inflation rates (they try to get 10 - 15% increases).

Then after taking taking people's premiums they will frequently dump people back into the public system (having twins? forget about being treated in a private hospital covered by your health insurance - public you will go).

Will admit it can sometimes have benefits (my sister had a knee replacement done privately because the public system doesn't normally do them if you're under 40).

So if ford wants to go two tier, let them have their private system but not 1c of tax payer money should be directed to it though something tells me that without public money it's unlikely to survive and people won't be too keen when they see the true cost.

In the mean time the govt could actually do something useful and cut back on the over-billing and over-servicing by doctors and specialists and cut back the managerial bloat (if the lihns died a sudden death I wouldn't be sad).

Though I've having to bit my tongue a bit on political matters. My wife now works as a constituency assistant for our MPP and he sits on ford's back bench (the only one in the office who's not there because she's a party member).

 

[Owain Taggart]

As a friend of someone who was just recently diagnosed with colectoral cancer and who is having a hard enough time paying for the treatments, not to mention the limited coverage, this would probably be the last thing they'd want to hear.

 

[Marc]

As a friend of someone who was just recently diagnosed with colectoral cancer and who is having a hard enough time paying for the treatments, not to mention the limited coverage, this would probably be the last thing they'd want to hear.

I'm hoping there will be an adverse finding about ford and his bid to make his chum tavner OPP head that will will force him to resign save us from this madness (Christine Elliot was runner up in the leadership ballot despite getting more votes and she's not in favour of the 2 tier system).

Though given ford's contempt for the political process he'd probably refuse to resign.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Yeah, I mean Ford wanting to reduce Hallway medicine is amiable, and god knows we have a lot that here at our hospital, but this feels like the wrong way to go about it. In fact, to me it sounds like it might even make the situation worse by possibly putting the cost of treatments out of reach for many, and how does that solve anything?

We have a for-profit clinic here that we refuse to visit. Part of a chain. It's always packed full and the wait time horrendous. It resembles more like a hospital waiting room. And on the side they do plastic surgery.

 

[Avro Arrow]

Though I've having to bit my tongue a bit on political matters. My wife now works as a constituency assistant for our MPP and he sits on ford's back bench (the only one in the office who's not there because she's a party member).

Ouch. That must occasionally get awkward...

I'm hoping there will be an adverse finding about ford and his bid to make his chum tavner OPP head that will will force him to resign save us from this madness (Christine Elliot was runner up in the leadership ballot despite getting more votes and she's not in favour of the 2 tier system).

Though given ford's contempt for the political process he'd probably refuse to resign.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure no matter what the findings are, there's no way Ford resigns over that issue.

ETA - Please note, since we are well past the election, and no longer even in 2018, I have updated the thread title to be more generic.

 

[Marc]

We have a for-profit clinic here that we refuse to visit. Part of a chain. It's always packed full and the wait time horrendous. It resembles more like a hospital waiting room. And on the side they do plastic surgery.

the bozo who's pushing with ford on the issue was the subject of a letter to the Star today.

The letter writer went to one of his clinics in B.C and had the price for a procedure go up 3 times - once while he was sitting in the waiting room.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/let...-has-no-mandate-to-privatize-health-care.html

Welcome to American style medicine folks.

 

[Marc]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure no matter what the findings are, there's no way Ford resigns over that issue.

with the OPP deputy taking his case to the courts today, the story has been back in the news.

ford has no shame but instead whinging about why this never happened with wynne or mcginty but I don't recall them nominating close friends to run the OPP.

On top of that, the report on Global News cited a report in the Globe and Mail. ford had multiple dinners with tavner who also went out to ford cottage prior to the selection process. Also at one of those dinners was a member of the selection committee - something which in no way passes the smell test.

 

[Avro Arrow]

ford has no shame but instead whinging about why this never happened with wynne or mcginty but I don't recall them nominating close friends to run the OPP.

He just doesn’t get it, does he.

Is it time for the next election yet?

 

[Avro Arrow]

(if the lihns died a sudden death I wouldn't be sad).

It sounds like you may get your wish.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...d-local-health-integration-networks-1.4980509

 

[Marc]

It sounds like you may get your wish.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toro...d-local-health-integration-networks-1.4980509

yeah I read about that a while ago.

My wife sits on the board of a charitable foundation that is a fundraising arm for a non-profit that does assisted living.. The lihn up and announced about 18 months ago that the charitable foundation had to pay $500 a month to the non-profit. No decent reason provided, they simply had to do because the lihn said.

So a non-profit foundation that has no paid staff suddenly has to fork out $6k a year which is a big chunk of what it raises.

so yeah the lihns are no great loss.

At the time ford & co are fucking over tertiary education. Announced earlier in the week that fees would be dropped about 10% then it came out to day that free education for tertiary education for people from low income families is going to be cut as well.

Oh and I see they are doing away with compulsory student fees.

That could make things fun around here. As some of the fees are use to fund a bus service that runs to the local tertiary institution (during the week the buses leave the downtown core every 10mins). They're express runs so not only frequent than the regular routes they get their in half and they run even when regular transit has closed for the night.

Students have a bus pass that covers them 12 months and they can use it any transit here (otherwise they'll be paying around $800 a year for monthly passes).

 

[Marc]

Ford is claiming that if the carbon tax is imposed on Ontario it could cause a recession.

Given that provincial economy is going pretty strong and the employment rate is one of the best in the country (incidentally that's contrary to the tory claim increasing the minimum wage would see massive job cuts) I think a) it's just more bullshit out of ford's mouth and b) setting up to blame some-one else if there is an economic downturn.

https://www.thestar.com/politics/pr...bon-pricing-plan-could-cause-a-recession.html