2018 Provincial Election Transit Promises

[TheTigerMaster]

In this political climate, we may never be able to get rid of the Liberals.

The standards set for the Conservatives are far too high while the Liberals get excused and forgiven for seemingly everything. The Tories are attacked for promising too little and not providing a fine-tooth explanation of how their promises are going to be funded ; meanwhile the Liberals swoop in with over promising and the media sells their platform as if its perfection to the masses.

Yeesh!

High standards? The PCs refusal to reposition their party in response to Ontario's political climate does not mean that they're subjugated to high standards. The party had the opportunity to elect a socially progressive leader in 2015, but the party opted to double down on the social conservatism by opting for Brown. If they lose in 2018, this will be one of the primary reasons, and they only have themselves to blame for that.

They desperately need a Stephen Harper type leader to figure out how to make the socially conservative elements of the party be quiet and disappear from public view. Otherwise their chances of electoral victory will forever be severely gimped.

 

[sixrings]

Conservatives love to blame the media

 

[ssiguy2]

I am not at all surprised by the Liberals closing the gap with the Tories.

If you look at it objectively, things couldn't be going better for the Liberals........the economy is strong, real wages are rising, the high-tech sector is booming, the books are balanced, unemployment is at decades lows, Hydro prices just fell as did college tuition for low income people, massive infrastructure spending which the masses are now finally being able to enjoy, people returning to the province from other parts of the country, and the fastest growing population of any province in the country.

The Tories problem is that the thing they always had over the Liberals was their handling of the economy but now Wynne & co. would love nothing better than discuss the economy. The other 2 issues that make the Liberals unappealing are the 2 issues that the Tories can't exploit............an unpopular leader and ethical issues because the Tories suffer from the exact same problems.

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

I do think the Conservatives could capture the middle, but it would mean a level of utterly disciplined action in the public eye and a very deliberate shunning/ejection of some more extreme loyal members. It would take a pretty ruthless leadership to pull that off. The jury is still out on Mr Brown in that respect.

Not like he didn't try to load the dice in the candidates process:
https://www.thespec.com/opinion-sto...ld-spell-trouble-for-pc-leader-patrick-brown/
And got egg in his face. Multiple times.

AoD

 

[TheTigerMaster]

Not like he didn't try to load the dice in the candidates process:
https://www.thespec.com/opinion-sto...ld-spell-trouble-for-pc-leader-patrick-brown/
And got egg in his face. Multiple times.

AoD

How was is that Harper was able to shun the social conservatives in his party, but Brown isn’t?

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

How was is that Harper was able to shun the social conservatives in his party, but Brown isn’t?

He won elections with it. And besides, if you read up on Harper's modus operandi, he is an incrementalist when it comes to public advocacy of social conservatism - he'd rather create the conditions for it to bloom (esp. when it comes to harnessing socially conservative immigrants) and reshape the mainstream than dictating it via public policy and pronouncements from above and alienate the mainstream before it is ready.

AoD

 

[crs1026]

Harper was not above dealing ruthlessly with those in his own party who took their own path - just ask Mike Duffy. All the same, there were enough gaffes and off-message quotes from the rightmost side of his party. Even Harper couldn't control them everywhere all the time. And, some of that did work its way into his own thoughts and ideas towards the end of his run, when (as with any political body that governs too long) he just got frustrated with anyone getting in his way.

Peter Sellers' Dr Strangelove character with the wandering arm comes to mind. I went looking for the youtube clip, but it's actually a little darker than I would care to paste in here. My point is, people are very sensitive to small verbal tics that hint at 'radical' social conservatism. Let down your guard even once, and people remember it for a very long time. Heck, Harris has been gone for over 15 years, and people still kneejerk when his name is mentioned.

- Paul

 

[AlvinofDiaspar]

Heck, Harris has been gone for over 15 years, and people still kneejerk when his name is mentioned.

Though Harris is far less socially conservative, especially at a personal level, than Harper is. Anyways, this is an aside from the topic of transit in the provincial election.

AoD

 

[TheTigerMaster]

EXCLUSIVE: Two women come forward with graphic sexual misconduct allegations against Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown. Allegations, which Brown denies, date back to when he was a federal MP.

Three major PC campaign officials have just resigned, just 120 days from the election.

Edit: Five campaign officials have resigned.

 

[OneCity]

EXCLUSIVE: Two women come forward with graphic sexual misconduct allegations against Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Patrick Brown. Allegations, which Brown denies, date back to when he was a federal MP.

Three major PC campaign officials have just resigned, just 120 days from the election.

Liberals no longer need any big transit promises.

 

[Megaton327]

Could we please keep this thread on topic? That is indeed a very big story, but it really has nothing to do with transit promises in the election.

 

[Sandpit]

Could we please keep this thread on topic? That is indeed a very big story, but it really has nothing to do with transit promises in the election.

Assuming a PC change of leader, it will have an impact.

 

[nfitz]

Sure it's on topic. Brown's promised transit was surprisingly generous for a Tory. Assuming his promises were worth something - I wonder what he promised those teenagers he tried to rape ...

Now that he's gone, who'll replace him, and what will her promises be, and what will they be worth?

Really thought, this thread is a nightmare waiting to happen. It should be with the other political threads. Where people can freely speculate if Brown at least put on a condom before sticking it to taxpayers.

I wonder how the Tories would shoot (no pun intended) themselves in the foot this time. Didn't see this coming. I expect his employee didn't expect the boner coming either ...

Liberals no longer need any big transit promises.

They already had promises that exceeded what Brown was promising (which were relatively reasonable).

Though many will be relieved, that they'll still by riding Tory's rocket rather than the Tories rocket.

 

[rbt]

Sure it's on topic. Brown's promised transit was surprisingly generous for a Tory.

It was both surprisingly generous and had very little impact on the polls.

 

[crs1026]

Could we please keep this thread on topic? That is indeed a very big story, but it really has nothing to do with transit promises in the election.

Au contraire, it makes a huge difference. We must erase whatever we understood Brown's few previous transit platform promises to be, and now we wait for whatever his successor elects to table. When you consider some of the names that might come forward, that new platform could be anything from project cancellations to subways subways subways to a more moderate stay the course. It's back to an empty slate.

And, since this development can only help the Liberals, it raises the potential for four more years of grandiose promises that don't happen as promised.

- Paul