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2018 Ontario Provincial Election Discussion

At the same time, I want some checks and balances on the Conservatives as I'm not convinced that they have shed their NeoCon past.

I'm concerned about what they could potentially do to the Greenbelt and transit files.

As such, a strong Conservative minority government (around 5-8 seats below a majority) would work best for Ontario.
 
I be happy with the Tory government as I think it would blow up the Ontario Liberal Policy as its grown corrupt and out of touch.

I would like to see the government focus on the Suburbs with more highways...I understand they lead to more sprawl but the highways we have built are not able to hold populations from historic levels, how will they sustain future population growth.

My thinking is the easier traffic can move around the better for the air and our lives (time) and transit can use such paths as well.
 
Really do think the Carbon taxes will be their downfall.

I know I don't trust them to spend the new revenue wisely.
 
Jasmine18 said:
I be happy with the Tory government as I think it would blow up the Ontario Liberal Policy as its grown corrupt and out of touch.

I would like to see the government focus on the Suburbs with more highways...I understand they lead to more sprawl but the highways we have built are not able to hold populations from historic levels, how will they sustain future population growth.

My thinking is the easier traffic can move around the better for the air and our lives (time) and transit can use such paths as well.
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I have to disagree, if suburban development is inevitable, I would prefer if the designs reverted to older, denser urban forms centered around commuter rail (like the streetcar/ radial rail communities in the early 20th c).

Highways are always less economically efficient in terms of tax dollars in terms of transporting people than railways- and in fact, should be primarily reserved for freight and intercity travel like they were originally designed to be.
 
King of Kensington said:
Former NDP MPP Paul Ferreira - a good guy I know personally - has quit the party over the vote for Patrick Brown's motion.

https://www.thestar.com/news/queens...teran-cut-his-party-ties-over-tolls-cohn.html

Peter Tabuns and Cheri DiNovo skipped the vote.

The NDP seems poised again to alienate progressive Torontonians.
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This guy has ran how many times? Seems more like a personal dislike of Horwath than anything. Poor loser.
This elitism of Toronto NDPers that the party is "theirs" is ridiculous. The party was founded with the ideas of labour-left populism. Go drink your latte somewhere else, Ferreira. Also, Bisson is the critic for transportation. Why shouldn't he be commenting on a transit issue in the province? This guy will not be missed.
 
Jasmine18 said:
I be happy with the Tory government as I think it would blow up the Ontario Liberal Policy as its grown corrupt and out of touch.

I would like to see the government focus on the Suburbs with more highways...I understand they lead to more sprawl but the highways we have built are not able to hold populations from historic levels, how will they sustain future population growth.

My thinking is the easier traffic can move around the better for the air and our lives (time) and transit can use such paths as well.
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The 50's called - they want their mentality back.
 
Jasmine18 said:
I would like to see the government focus on the Suburbs with more highways...I understand they lead to more sprawl but the highways we have built are not able to hold populations from historic levels, how will they sustain future population growth.

My thinking is the easier traffic can move around the better for the air and our lives (time) and transit can use such paths as well.
Click to expand...

Your thinking would be..... wrong. Google "induced demand"
 
Labour Reports for 2016- really confirms the consequences of Ontario Liberal policy:

Employment in Quebec rose 2.2% (+90,000) in 2016, primarily in full-time work (+85,000) and driven by gains in the second half of the year. The unemployment rate has trended downward throughout the 12-month period, declining 1.3 percentage points to 6.6%.

In Ontario, employment increased 1.2% (+81,000) in 2016, mainly in part-time work (+74,000). The unemployment rate declined 0.3 percentage points to 6.4%.
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http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/170106/dq170106a-eng.htm?HPA=1

Ontario is barely treading water at this point, considering the population growth for this year.

This is extremely unacceptable- the Liberals need to pivot away from social justice and back towards fixing Ontario's economic fundamentals.
 
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jje1000 said:
This is extremely unacceptable- the Liberals need to pivot away from social justice and back towards fixing Ontario's economic fundamentals.
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That's an interesting statement when comparing numbers against Quebec; though I consider things like cheap childcare (why should parents be punished financially for having kids) to be social justice issues which is where Quebec has put most of their resources over the last couple decades.
 
The thing though is that many traditional social issues are economic issues than anything- for instance, cheap childcare is a massive monetary benefit to working parents.

Regardless, Quebec has managed to keep its core economics attractive alongside pursing a social justice agenda- companies ultimately look at the operating costs as a major part of their reasoning to set up shop in a location, moreso than things like trans protection laws (as nice as they have around).

On the other hand, the Ontario Liberals seem to have become so transfixed on their social justice agenda that they have been sacrificing Ontario's core economics to achieve it.

Steve Paikin says it very well here:
  • Yes, a cut in the land transfer tax for first time homebuyers gets implemented this week, but this observer’s view was, it’s not a dramatic enough cut — a maximum of $4,000 — to make a difference economically or politically. He suggests cutting the tax by half to spur on even more housing development across the province.
  • Delay implementing the cap and trade scheme until unemployment drops to 5 per cent. The latest from Statistics Canada suggests Ontario’s jobless rate is at 6.3 per cent, so we’re not far off. It’s also possible too many Ontarians think the cap and trade tax increases will render business less competitive and harm job creation prospects.
  • Delay balancing the budget by another couple of years and subsidize electricity prices. True, the 8 per cent provincial portion of the HST came off hydro bills this week, but this emailer thought that wouldn’t be enough to get people’s attention. And given that the government has already cancelled the “Clean Energy Benefit” cutting electricity prices by 10 per cent, the net effect is actually a 2 per cent increase.
  • Get the premier to focus on economic development, job creation, and pocketbook issues, not social justice issues such as legislation protecting rights for transgender people.
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http://tvo.org/blog/current-affairs/how-ontarios-premier-can-get-her-groove-back
 
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narduch said:
Really do think the Carbon taxes will be their downfall.

I know I don't trust them to spend the new revenue wisely.
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The 'new' revenue should be streamed exclusively into transit and health infrastructure.. Too dangerous in general revenues. It will get lost and spent quickly.
 
Transit will never be able to successfully supplement suburb to suburb or city to city travel in Canada as the distances are to great and frankly it seems you guys are more then happy to see increased congestion hoping it will change people's lives but reality with real estate prices everyone won't live downtown, so it will a future of increased congestion hell.

I do not see why it has to be one or the other, many world cities and countries are building highways around cities and subways and transit within cities but it seems in Canada we only can go to one extreme or another.
 
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Jasmine18 said:
Transit will never be able to successfully supplement suburb to suburb or city to city travel in Canada as the distances are to great and frankly it seems you guys are more then happy to see increased congestion hoping it will change people's lives but reality with real estate prices everyone won't live downtown, so it will a future of increased congestion hell.

I do not see why it has to be one or the other, many world cities and countries are building highways around cities and subways and transit within cities but it seems in Canada we only can go to one extreme or another.
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No one is talking about trying to build commuter rail between Toronto and Vancouver, or even Toronto and North Bay. The distances that GTA commuters travel are not completely dissimilar to the distances people travel in more population dense parts of the world. We even already have commuter rail to a lot of the surrounding GTA communities, so the argument that the distances here are too great is just BS. The only difference is that people here are more heavily invested in car culture and throw up a bigger fuss when they see funds being spent on rail infrastructure instead of the roads they personally use.

Rail can get you there faster, it can handle far more people and it is far more efficient than single occupancy vehicles. Spending money on upgrading and expanding our rail infrastructure instead of building more highways is a no-brainer.
 
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