2018 Ontario Provincial Election Discussion

[salsa]

Another poll showing the PC's in the lead. Still time for a "faith based schools" moment.

Or another Liberal scandal.

 

[Videodrome]

As if they don't have enough already. Still a lot of time left for sure. Will the NDP go right again and lose voters?

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

Will the NDP go right again and lose voters?

They had voters to lose?

 

[salsa]

Or another Liberal scandal.

Well speaking of that...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/goreway-power-station-investigation-1.4433061?cmp=rss

 

[Palma]

Was that promised though?

The article seems to suggest that this is something they could possibly do, not that it was actually a promise in their platform.

This seems like a winning platform so far.

If the province pays for subways does that mean they get to dictate where they go? I see that as a huge political advantage for them.

Just for this Toronto should say NO. All these subways will end up being built to far away lands and I thought that's what GO is for

 

[syn]

Just for this Toronto should say NO. All these subways will end up being built to far away lands and I thought that's what GO is for

I see the same problem.

Subway/transit expansion will be dictated by potential election results.

Unfortunately it seems like we have the same problem if the TTC stays with the city. The DRL was needed many years ago, yet Tory and certain councilors are backing a Scarborough subway extension at any cost - a position that's all about getting re-elected.

Perhaps the province taking over all costs is a good thing.

 

[picard102]

The Liberals ran on the subway option as well. Provincial or Municipal, it's an election issue, and anyone who doesn't support it will do so at their own peril.

 

[jje1000]

Again, loopholes that should have been fixed long ago.

Ontario gas plant 'gamed' the system out of $100M, report finds

TORONTO — A natural gas plant in Brampton, Ont., "gamed" the system and ratepayers out of approximately $100 million, a regulatory investigation found — and it's not alone.

The Ontario Energy Board quietly posted a report online last month that was largely complete about a year ago into Goreway Power Station, concluding it repeatedly exploited defects in the system over several years.

"The systems that are in place ... have created opportunities for exploitation, to the serious financial disadvantage of Ontario ratepayers," the OEB's market surveillance panel concluded.

https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/...ed-the-system-out-of-100m-report-finds-784035

Auditor general finds Ontarians pay millions for ineligible power generator costs

TORONTO – Ontario electricity ratepayers are paying millions for power generators’ ineligible expenses – including scuba gear and raccoon traps – and are footing the bill for large industrial companies’ savings, the province’s auditor general reported Wednesday.

Auditor general Bonnie Lysyk said in her annual report that the Independent Electricity System Operator hasn’t implemented repeated recommendations from the Ontario Energy Board, including one that could save ratepayers $30 million a year.

https://globalnews.ca/news/3899366/ontario-auditor-annual-report-2017/


In recent polling news:

Almost zero (1%) say they have a lot of trust in the promises made by politicians before an election. One quarter (28%) say they have some trust, while almost half (46%) say they do not have a lot of trust. A quarter (23%) have no trust at all in pre-election promises.

http://poll.forumresearch.com/post/2811/ontario-horserace-november-2017/

 

[Videodrome]

CP24 @CP24
1m
#BREAKING: Toronto's Deputy Mayor Denzil Minnan-Wong says he will seek the PC nomination in Don Valley East. #onpoli

https://www.thestar.com/news/city_h...ntario-tory-nomination-for-2018-election.html

Just as I expected.

 

[Midtown Urbanist]

I hope if he loses he has the grace to not run for his council seat.

 

[jje1000]

Good riddence. I hope there is some grassroots organizing a slate of moderate/progressive candidates for the 2018 city elections.

 

[ttk77]

We seem to have some wildly diverging poll numbers here in Ontario.

The Forum Research poll was posted on here a few days ago, indicating a huge lead for the PCs.
http://poll.forumresearch.com/post/2811/ontario-horserace-november-2017/

Campaign Research published a new poll yesterday showing the Liberals holding a slight lead.
https://www.campaignresearch.ca/single-post/2017/12/08/liberals-lead-pcs-despite-people-guarantee

edited to fix links

 

[Bayer]

Many are concentrating on the overblown "scandals" afflicting the Liberals, but I am more interested in what this province needs and who is more likely to provide it.

Other than the sorry situation of affordable/social housing, long-term care is an absolute shambles. We need subsidized intermediate care homes as they have in Quebec, so people who are still mobile but cannot live at home have somewhere to go. My own mother lives in one of those; she has a private room with a sink, a shared washroom, and she pays about $1300/month including meals and the services of a nutritionist, nurse, social worker, and RPNs who help bathe and dress her. There is no equivalent in Ontario; we prefer to gloat that our spending per capita is the lowest in Canada.

There is absolutely no way that I would trust the Conservatives to make any net improvements to social services. I barely trust the Liberals to do it, and the NDP's ideas are far too timid.

 

[nfitz]

Given how little traction they got on old scandals in the last election, it seems crazy to chase them again, or even the newer, much milder ones. It's not like there's thousands of casualties along with deaths like the Harris government.

Brown might be trying to run the part to the left, but he's got so many members who are to the right, I have a hard time how he's going to keep their mouths shut.

And the NDP. Horwath should have resigned already. Clearly her spokespeople have, because I haven't heard boo for years. And I'm in an NDP/Liberal swing riding.

Hard to see how anyone can get a majority this time. Hard to see how the Tories govern with a minority, without being pretty status quo.

 

[jje1000]

A minority government is in Ontario's best interests at this moment, IMO. Enough of a change to begin sweeping out at least some of the soft-corruption patronage structures that the Liberals have built up over the last decade and to slightly nudge the province in a different trajectory, but not enough to upturn the house and eliminate the progress that has been done.


Also interesting that both the NDP and Conservatives are campaigning on a platform of making Ontario Hydro public again. I think Hydro privatization is still an issue that will drag on the Liberals- hard to say how they'll defend it without resorting to more mortaged rate cuts (or a whole lot of whataboutism).

https://www.sudbury.com/columns/gue...aking-hydro-one-publically-owned-again-791074

Their platform paper:
https://www.ontariondp.ca/sites/default/files/final_ndp_hydro_announcement.pdf



Also in recent news:
Ontario probes alleged money laundering in B.C. casino

Ontario's gambling regulator is probing allegations of money laundering at the British Columbia flagship operation of the company awarded a lucrative contract to run casinos in the Greater Toronto Area.

The allegations that large volumes of suspicious cash are swirling around casinos in B.C.'s Lower Mainland have cast a cloud over the modernization of Ontario's gambling agency, which is in the process of awarding contracts to the private sector to build more casinos. The contracts, which the OLG calls "gaming bundles," cover specific regions of the province. Great Canadian, which is based in Coquitlam, B.C., has ambitions to further expand its operations in Ontario.

The OLG said last year that it plans to announce the winning bidder for the West GTA bundle in the fall of 2017. It includes a casino in Brantford, slots at Flamboro Downs and Grand River Raceway, and Mohawk Racetrack.

The deal in the GTA would allow the partners to redevelop three sites, including Woodbine Racetrack, and give them an effective monopoly on gambling in the region for at least the next 22 years. All are subject to municipal approval.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...oney-laundering-in-bc-casino/article37311365/

From a reddit comment:

"Bob Lopinski led Premier Kathleen Wynne’s successful 2014 Liberal Campaign war room and played a key role in helping her new government and campaign team build on the experience of the previous McGuinty administration."

Bob Lopinski was hired by Great Canadian Gaming to lobby the Wynne Liberals during OLG's current "modernization". Great Canadian now has control of 4 Ontario casino's. Including Woodbine, one of the busiest gaming floors in North America. Woodbine's typical yearly revenue after expenses is over 1 billion dollars.