2014 Ontario Provincial Election

[denfromoakvillemilton]

Just on the GO Train, and wow... people HATE the liberals. This will be a dogfight!

 

[Admiral Beez]

My riding Toronto Centre will vote Liberal no matter what the party or government does. So, that's one sure riding for Wynn.

 

[picard102]

All everyone does anymore is complain about taxes, without thinking or caring about the future.

What percentage of income are you comfortable with everyone paying to the province?
The solution can not be higher taxes anytime the government wants to spend more than it has.

 

[Admiral Beez]

What percentage of income are you comfortable with everyone paying to the province?
The solution can not be higher taxes anytime the government want's to spend more than it has.

I think for a start, we need to understand how much tax as a percentage of income we're already paying. When you add income tax with the multiple levels of HST we pay, plus the HST, govt fees and corporate income tax and/or import duties that are added to the price of everything we buy before we pay HST at the register, one would quickly see that well over half of our incomes goes to the government.

It would be clearer if we were all farmers, and at harvest time the government sent a big truck and took half of your crop right out of your barn. Instead we're taxed by a thousand pins, none of which are noticed.

 

[Hank]

I think for a start, we need to understand how much tax as a percentage of income we're already paying. When you add income tax with the multiple levels of HST we pay, plus the HST, govt fees and corporate income tax and/or import duties that are added to the price of everything we buy before we pay HST at the register, one would quickly see that well over half of our incomes goes to the government.

It would be clearer if we were all farmers, and at harvest time the government sent a big truck and took half of your crop right out of your barn. Instead we're taxed by a thousand pins, none of which are noticed.

The whole point of HST is that it's a value added tax, meaning that it's not paid twice on the same thing. On each stage of the process HST is only paid on the incremental value added at that stage.

 

[King of Kensington]

Here is Rosario Marchese's explanation for why the NDP voted against the budget:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/rosario-marchese/why-i-couldnt-support-the-budget/1427264250866198

He's definitely made a better case than Andrea Horwath has, but I'm pretty sure this election call is not popular in his riding.

 

[BurlOak]

We are unfortunately still using the old riding boundaries, so 905 ridings are 2-3 times larger than Northern Ontario ridings and downtown Toronto is also underrepresented.

Hopefully by the next election Ontario will harmonize with the federal ridings (and get rid of that PC-era law that gave Northern Ontario even more skewed representation)

The ridings will be adjusted for the next federal election. I believe they could have been adjusted for this Provincial election, but most of the new ridings would be in the 905. It would have been advantageous to the PC's if the new ridings were in place - and that is why the Liberals never introduced the motion.

As for the Northern ridings, it would have to be decided provincially if we want to fully use the federal ridings or make some allowance for the remoteness. Federally speaking, there are many similarly remote areas in Canada so maybe special consideration was not given. In Ontario, these ridings are quite unique and sparse and maybe they should be smaller population wise to compensate for their geographic size. And these ridings seem to help the NDP and maybe Liberals, so I do not think it was partisanship that led the Harris PC's to have an extra riding up there.

 

[TrickyRicky]

I'm not political in the sense that I don't support any political party and don't like party politics in general. However, this election is one of the first times I am strongly going to vote in favour of one party. That party is the PC party of Ontario. I'm generally a contrarian by nature so I don't pretend that my opinion is a bell weather but I have never been so deeply opposed to a provincial political party as I am now to the Wynne Liberals. This is coming form someone who often votes Liberal and has every intention of voting out the Harper Conservative government at the Federal level as well. The budget they proposed was so fiscally irresponsible and such a clear message to not invest, move to, or stay in Ontario that it represents a danger to the future prosperity of this city rendering any discussions on transit or other issues irrelevant.

I live in Trinity Spadina so the NDP will win anyways but I want to do my part to up the popular vote for the PCs. I'm writing this for two reasons, first to convince anyone who identifies with my position to not sit on the fence and shift PC, and second to encourage those who are more left leaning to go NDP not Liberal. The Ontario Liberal government does not deserve your vote! Their arrogance and cynicism have reached dangerous levels for the future of this province.

 

[BurlOak]

First poll since the election call. By Forum Research.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queensp...d_but_liberals_poised_to_form_government.html

The poll showed Tim Hudak’s Tories at 38 per cent, Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals at 33 per cent and Andrea Horwath’s New Democrats at 22 per cent. Mike Schreiner’s Greens came in at 6 per cent.

This is very much in line with a poll last month that also had PC support at 42% among those who were very likely to vote.

 

[picard102]

The only thing the PC's have to worry about now is Hudak speaking in public.

 

[denfromoakvillemilton]

First poll since the election call. By Forum Research.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queensp...d_but_liberals_poised_to_form_government.html


This is very much in line with a poll last month that also had PC support at 42% among those who were very likely to vote.

The Liberals are done, if you don't think so you're nuts at this point.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The whole point of HST is that it's a value added tax, meaning that it's not paid twice on the same thing. On each stage of the process HST is only paid on the incremental value added at that stage.

You buy a pack of paper towels for x price. In that price is the HST the transport firm paid for fuel, the HST the store paid for everything from lightbulbs to floor cleaning, etc. The production, transport and sale of that pack of towels includes multiple layers of various taxes, all of which are paid for by the end customer, well before he/she pays the final HST on x price. Add on top of that the income tax taken off the customer's gross income before they can buy the paper towel, and surely you see the massive layer of taxes the average person pays.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The Liberals are done, if you don't think so you're nuts at this point.

So I'm mentally ill if I disagree with you? Let's wait until after the election.

 

[picard102]

The Liberals are done, if you don't think so you're nuts at this point.

I wouldn't be so sure. Hudak has consistently been unpalatable, once the campaigning begins and people start seeing him speak regularly, they'll recoil again.

 

[toraerach]

I think for a start, we need to understand how much tax as a percentage of income we're already paying. When you add income tax with the multiple levels of HST we pay, plus the HST, govt fees and corporate income tax and/or import duties that are added to the price of everything we buy before we pay HST at the register, one would quickly see that well over half of our incomes goes to the government.

It would be clearer if we were all farmers, and at harvest time the government sent a big truck and took half of your crop right out of your barn. Instead we're taxed by a thousand pins, none of which are noticed.

Should we not also consider how much we get back (directly and indirectly) in government services? In most of our lives there will be periods where we pay more in tax than we receive back in services, but there will also be periods we're damn grateful for the trade-off.

So, to take your farmer, would it really be worth keeping all his produce if he had to pay for his children's education, his parents' medical bills, and the roads into the market out of his own pocket? I don't think so.

I'm not going to defend the Liberals or the instances of waste that have occurred under their watch (though government waste - just as corporate waste or household waste - is never entirely unavoidable), but I think it's disingenuous to suggest that taxation is some sort of robbery. You may think you'll gain personally from tax cuts, but many people will lose services they rely on - or, as with PSWs, will remain working for near poverty wages in a role indisputably essential to our society.