Sunday, September 30, 2007
High Gear -- for a tricycle
The Liberal's seems to recognise their lead and have McGuinty talking about "Canada" issues. He ventured into the realm of foreign takeovers -- interesting territory -- and over the last couple of days has delivered a couple of good speeches -- good for a person who is about as exciting as dry toast. Though I did take exception to have all those new immigrants into the public school system -- oh yeah the one with funding going to the catholics -- yeah thats right.
Tory -- well why bother, religious school funding, privatise parts of health care, beer and wine in the corner store -- right with you bud.
Hampton -- is he campaigning -- oh yes tax the rich.
Miller -- I know he is not campaigning -- but he could actually speak to the candidates and get some attention for Toronto. Guess not too busy flying from conference to conference -- and talking about raising taxes. Idiot!
Saturday, September 29, 2007
Toronto Star -- fundamental and unethical bias
However the Star seems to now have decided that McGuinty needs to be elected at all costs -- including if it means they use propaganda and editorial bias in articles.
Earlier in the campaign after the debate the Star sold the front page of the Metro (one of their papers) to the liberals in a very misleading piece of advertising which looked like a real front page -- in which they proclaimed McGuinty the winner -- sleaze journalism. Can't blame the Liberals -- sleaze electioneering is the name of the game.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Equal time: Selection of JohnTory ads also some Green Party ads
Like this one, creative
Wednesday, September 26, 2007
Dalton should be cleaning the floor with his opponents
Howard Hampton -- is rolling out nothing new -- had hopes when he started talking about extending dental coverage to children and the $10 minimum wage, I thought we might actually have some new proposals to talk about -- however we have gone back to the old canards of protecting the auto sector, protecting this and that, rolling back this and rolling back that -- the past is a wonderful place to remember -- you tend to forget the imperfections -- however the past is not a place I want to move Ontario forward to.
Dalton what is happening -- you just are not getting the message out. They are handing you this election on a silver platter and the best you can do is talk about a minority government (Harper is at it as well). Smitherman is running around -- well being Smitherman. Where is the campaign? Guess you just need to want it more.
Friday, September 21, 2007
The Debate -- the killer blow
The debate in my opinion plodded on McGuinty being accused of broken promises, McGuinty attacking the former Harris Government and the former NDP government (liked Tory quip on Sir John A), Tory looking very well polished -- not really saying anything (except the broken promise thing), Hampton -- well nice try but really did not seem to even be part of the debate at times.
Now when I call it a debate I am doing so very loosely -- in most cases they did not really answer the questions or debate their answers -- we just went back to broken promises , accusations of negativity, and how terrible previous governments were.
The moderator Steve Paiken did an absolutely terrible job of keeping this anywhere on track -- this needs to be debate -- not a series of quotes for the media.
I am shocked the Toronto Star proclaimed McGuinty the winner based on the fact the other two did not land a killer blow. That unbiased bastion of honest reporting obviously was not in hte washroom with Guido.
In my opinion nobody won -- nor could they have it was not a debate! Guido however .......
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Tory -- trying very hard to lose the election
I think everyone is well aware that these private services are being well provided to all Canadians by our neighbours to the south. Why mess with success? Contrary to public perception it is just not the well heeled, Belinda Stronach comes to mind, that are availing themselves to private healthcare but also the average joe is driving to Buffalo for their knee or hip replacement surgery.
The prices from I understand are reasonable -- fitting on credit cards. The question is why are people doing this considering the enviable state of Canadian Healthcare -- why are people spending their money south of the border -- do they just like the American's so much? More than likely it is the 2 to 3 year process most Canadian must endure to get through the Ontario system -- referrals to specialist who are not taking appointments.
A former colleague of mine went to Buffalo for knee replacement surgery -- he was a practically disabled but could not get a firm date for a replacement in Ontario -- he voted with his chequebook.
But seriously folks in Canada and especially in Ontario you dare not talk about private delivery of healthcare services -- it is political suicide (lets keep those elephants in the closet where they belong). That way we can continue to extol the virtue of our truly public system, apart from those pieces that are already delivered by private firms, and tell the Americans they are philistines for operating a private healthcare system, while still availing ourselves to it. How Canadian!
In truth I think we can learn alot from places like France, Germany and the Netherlands in public/private delivery of Healthcare -- but we first have to get over the hating the American thing.
Monday, September 17, 2007
Off topic But I have to print this
That all being said the text in the email did not have a ring of truth to it -- it was far too strong for a politician to have said -- even an Australian one. Text as it turns out are comments from three separate politicians pasted together completely taken out of context and attributed to Australian Prime Minister John Howard. You can see the urban myth take on the text and the context here.
The text is as follows and message (some may be offended or agree with the below -- personally the intent is what bothers me):
Muslims who want to live under Islamic Sharia law were told on Wednesday to get out of
A day after a group of mainstream Muslim leaders pledged loyalty to
Separately, Howard angered some Australian Muslims on Wednesday by saying he supported spy agencies monitoring the nation's mosques. Quote: "IMMIGRANTS, NOT AUSTRALIANS, MUST ADAPT. Take It Or Leave It. I am tired of this nation worrying about whether we are offending some individual or their culture. Since the terrorist attacks on
The new campaign....... Just like the old one
The PC's seem to be responding to the "Harris legacy" approach however -- their campaign signs and literature don't seem to recognize the PC brand but rather the John Tory brand. The campaign literature I have seen again stresses the the John Tory brand. I am not sure that Tory will win based on the "John Tory" instead of the PC party brand -- and if he doesn't he may actually be harming the party in the future -- one man parties tend to fall out of favour pretty quickly and repositioning the brand back to the party might take more than one subsequent election.
There is also this underlying current of what they did in the past was somehow wrong -- whether you agree the policies and directions of the Harris PC's or not they were elected to two majority governments -- with strong mandates. There are still a large number of Ontarion's who agree with the direction taken, maybe not all of them, but with alot of them. I would marginalize them at your own peril.
Wednesday, September 12, 2007
The hob nailed boot on the back .....
The ads running on youtube are great -- at least we are seeing some creativity in the non-negative campaigning -- and of course everyone cleared the rights for these.
And I really agree with Dalton -- there is no negative campaigning going on -- yes really -- where was that bottle of scotch, going to have a non drink to go with it.
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Its a long way to tipperary, its a long way to go to the sweetest girl I know
Is there a point to this rambling well not really but there has not been much of a point to this election so far -- the Liberals and Tories trying to come up with a wedge issue (Liberals -- preservation of public education, their definition includes Catholic as part of this; the Tories broken promises and leadership of Dalton) the other parties well hate to say it are along for the ride.
The Liberals are starting with the strategic voting approach early to get NDP voters and will probably be backed up by a TV campaign from the Working Families Coalition (AKA Ontario Liberals).
The Tories, well Tory in my opinion is hopeless -- someone needs to work with this man -- drive the message -- don't react to Dalton's.
Howard -- nice man met him a number of times, would I vote for him -- right after hell froze over.
De Jong -- good Dutch name -- got to like that, and yes he should be part of the leadership debate and I have gone green have those really neat new lightbulbs and led lights on my sailboat, however the gas guzzeling SUV I drive probably would entitle me to a good flogging.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Education Minister's riding a beach head riding for education
Liberal and PC fiscal platforms
I personally think the Tories if elected (which I doubt) will stall the elimination of the Health tax draw it out over a few more years to protect their revenue base. It really is not as hot an issue as the politicians think -- it is a construct of the political camps and the media in their need to create issues around the election. To further my point if it had been such a strong voter driven issue -- you really think the Liberals would be saying they cannot afford to get rid of it -- and it needs to stay -- on the eve of an election.
The Toronto Star Editorial board has obviously renewed its Liberal Party Membership based on their September 10 editorial. Their tacit support of the Liberal Fiscal plan is without basis -- not saying the PC one is any better -- the Toronto Star should leave the electioneering to the politicians -- but then it wouldn't be the Toronto Star. Their analysis is a typical slippery slope argument where by challenging one part of the plan the whole world goes to hell in a handbasket.
It does remind me of the time I was in the lock up and had a rather candid conversation with the Toronto Star staff that was there at the time -- (s)he said (s)he had very little freedom in what they wrote, rather (s)he was given the message and then told to fill in the facts to meet the message. I did ask her/him what happens if the facts don't match the message -- well then you don't report the facts. But I digress.
On the issue of efficiencies -- it can easily be done -- without the world coming to an end. Been there done that -- seen where the bodies or in this case money is buried. Cricket anyone?
Saturday, September 8, 2007
Leaders equally Toxic
Thursday, September 6, 2007
Creationism in the schools
Why you ask?
Mr Tory was asked the question whether he thought this would be allowed to be taught in a publically funded school system he said yes, well maybe sort of kind of. The liberals were quick to pounce on this until it was pointed out it is taught in the Ontario Roman Catholic schools (publicly funded), not as part of the curriculum however -- but as part of "religious eduction". Somehow this makes it better -- guess under a religious school -- the religious part should be taken less seriously -- because it of course it is religion, who believes that stuff anyway?
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Ontario's NDP
That all being said the NDP does tend to have some real gems in their policy platform -- they actually consult with real people -- as compared to the Tories and the Liberals who tend to talk to the same 5 or 6 people and their pollsters and roll it out to their party faithful as the publics latest greatest needs and wants.
As a bureaucrat we routinely borrowed recycled from the NDP platform, added the correct wording made some vague reference to consistency with the Government platform and helped them to make it their own.
The NDP in power is a scary thing -- not because of their platform -- but because they are just not able to make decisions -- everything is done by consensus and takes far too much time -- I actually had to consult with a sowing circle (yes like knitting) out of some small town in Ontario when looking at ag stabilization programs. Very nice people but they had absolutely no idea what they were there for.
The NDP the official supplier of some good policy -- and damn good at it too. Now take this with a grain of salt as some of their ideas were just plain wacky -- take this lets just freeze everything in Ontario back in 2003. Howard needs some better advice.
Tuesday, September 4, 2007
New holiday -- February
Monday, September 3, 2007
Prudent -- what in the name of all that is%^&$# is that for a strategy
McGuinty is rolling out the goodies -- not a day has passed in the last two months that we have not had an announcement for more money for this that or the other thing -- very little policy -- nothing new, just money. To the Liberals credit the voters are buying it -- they recognise the strategy is divisive -- pitting group against group in their struggle to get as much $$ as possible -- but it works. Boy does it work.
I have it on good authority the Tories are going to go negative -- looking for the Achilles heel -- nasty personal attacks on individual senior Ministers -- I also hear the Liberal are not worried -- they know they can sacrifice a few for the greater good -- all the while doling out the goodies and keeping their core team intact.
Boy is this going to be fun.