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John Tory Speech - His plans for a strong Toronto

Dalton was fully aware that there would be a massive deficit waiting... he had said [prior to his winning the election] that he was expecting it to be over $4 Billion... but he went on a promise-fest anyways. Like most politicians, he had no intentions of fulfilling most of his promises.
 
Abeja:

If this doesn't sound sexy or electable enough, then don't make the promise, and concentrate on promises that you can keep no matter what you inherit.
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Even at the cost of sound public policy?

nicetommy:

Where did he mention that? In any event, while Dalton hasn't fulfilled a lot of the promises, he certainly had moved in that direction for most of them - be it the Greenbelt/Places to Grow Act, City of Toronto Act, the deficit, etc. Are we more interested in the finality of promises, or are we more interested in the direction the government is travelling in?

I won't be the first to say this - changing government policies is like steering a supertanker. In fact, we as the electorate should grow up a little and stop looking for promises and seek general directions from various parties instead.

AoD
 
I like Tory - and he seems like he would be good for Ontario (would have been good as mayor) - I expect to vote for him next election as well.

A big part of my distaste for Mcguinty is the above mentioned broken promises. In my mind it is only relevant that conservatives break promises too b/c we threw them out of office for it as well. For me it boils down to either dont make promises you know you can t keep or dont make stupid promises when you are applying to run a half trillion dollar economy.
 
^Easy. If they are promises that have no benefit or even a negative effect on society. If I am a politician and get elected on a platform of fixing the homeless problem by having all of them murdered, I am not a good politician just because I managed to follow through and have all homeless people killed. I would be a ruthless tryant.

The same principle is true, but on a less drastic scale for many of the Harris/Eves election promises. Work for welfare, as one example, was never a good idea, and just because he implemented it (luckily not on a long term or wide scale basis) does not make him some great, trustworthy politician. All it did was reaffirm his socially damaging policies and neoconservative ideals.

Just because someone breaks a promise does automatically mean they are a terrible politician or a liar. Economies and societies change at rapid rates sometimes and in some cases broken promises are justified.

I would also add the fact that Harper went against one of his election promises and made changes to Income Trusts. Does that mean because he broke one promise you will no longer support him? Or let me guess, you have some valid reason as too why he didn't actually break his promise and how he is really doing just as he said he would?
 
There's also the Conservative/Republican trick of cutting taxes and driving up spending to tie the hands of any government that comes in after, be it Liberal or Democrat. This is what the neo-cons in the Harris/Eves government tried to do, and what Cheney/Rove are doing in the US.

That disturbs me more than any Liberal broken promises.
 
It seems that to some of their apparatchiks, being a Reformer means never having to say I'm sorry.
 
I would also add the fact that Harper went against one of his election promises and made changes to Income Trusts. Does that mean because he broke one promise you will no longer support him? Or let me guess, you have some valid reason as too why he didn't actually break his promise and how he is really doing just as he said he would?
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Harper broke a major promise the first day of power by naming a turncoat Liberal MP and a new senate appointee to his cabinet.

And what about the disappearing wait time pillar? And the Conservatives have done nothing meaningful about accountability - except shun the media and even more backroom deals.
 
It's my own fault really for being upset by McGuinty's broken promises, as I foolishly thought he was a different sort of candidate. When I saw him campaigning, and saw that his promises matched my own wishes for the province, I was taken in, and thought this guy's sincere, when in fact he was no better (and agreed, no worse) than the other politicians who have run our province.

Forgetting about the debt, deficit and taxes promises, I still think we should all McGuinty to account on the coal plant closures promised for 2007, and the Oak Ridges Moraine (it would have been an expensive legal fight, but a worthy, precedent forming, "show the developers who runs the province" cause) and his other broken promises. We have nothing else to measure him against.
 
What are you measuring the man whose retrograde politics you espouse, Steve Harper, against?
 
I'n not thrilled with McGuinty, either. But one has to ask how Tory will deal with these issue.

Will he go to bat for the users of the 407, a contract that his party negotiated? Will he eliminate the health premium? If so, what impact will this have on either health care or the deficit? How will the Tory Conservatives deal with the deficit and the debt, overall? Previous Conservative governments in Ontario carried out massive downloading to rid themselves of part of the burden. Or should people be prepared for service cuts or service fees that are a burden on low income earners? And the greenbelt? At its inception, Tory was not particulalrly impressed at how it would impinge on business in the area. As for coal fired power plants, what would a Tory government do to make up for the loss of power from those plants? Would he even close them?

It is easy to critique the present government. That is the luxury of being in opposition. However, real problems have to be solved through real plans. Good speeches are nice, but they should never be mistaken for reality.
 
Maybe his campaign ads will have Dalton's face and the slogan "Is this the face of a premier"? Because that was one of Tory's classic good ideas.
 
It's my own fault really for being upset by McGuinty's broken promises, as I foolishly thought he was a different sort of candidate. When I saw him campaigning, and saw that his promises matched my own wishes for the province, I was taken in, and thought this guy's sincere, when in fact he was no better (and agreed, no worse) than the other politicians who have run our province.
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Third time's a charm:


Knowing the reasons behind these decisions, and then chose to ignore it on purpose just reeks of simple-mindedness and shallowness to me.

AoD
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What are you measuring the man whose retrograde politics you espouse, Steve Harper, against?
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And this has what to do with the Ontario Premier? For the record, I voted for Miller both times, and McGuinty, and before him Harris, and for that matter Creitien and Martin, followed by Harper. I do not give all encompassing support to any party, and try to judge all candidates to the best of my ability, based on their promises and record.

Most here appear forgiving of McGuinty's broken promises, and believe that his reasons were sound. That's fine, then vote for him - at least you'll know you'll be getting more of the same. Myself, I am looking forward to the next campaign to see how McGuinty defends any new promises, as it will be difficult to blame the PCs this time.
 
Voting always seems to come down to a choice between the party/person that promises the right things but is slow to deliver, the party/person which promises to deliver things you hate seeing delivered, and the party/person who has no chance of getting elected which may or may not deliver on promises you may or may not want to see delivered. In the end it seems leeway needs to be given to the party that doesn't deliver on every promise but is trying to steer the course you agree with because the alternate is going the wrong direction or you have to see past the "no chance of winning" thing and vote with a lot of hope that by some freak chance everyone will be filled with similar hope on election day.
 
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