Ontario election 2014

[blake 3:17]

stupid fuck -- good timing after so many of us were hating on the NDP

Tory Leader Tim Hudak hit a bit of a sour note Monday when he visited a Mississauga recording studio.

Hudak chose MetalWorks Group to talk about his million job plan but it was quickly noted he voted against the $45 million Ontario Music Fund in the 2013 budget‎.

“I am going to twist his arm and I am going to say come on side with the musicians, Tim,” Gil Moore, founder of MetalWorks and former drummer for Triumph, told reporters.

The Hudak Tories voted against the fund that supports homegrown talent, music companies and special music events.

Hudak would not specifically talk about the fund, only that it was in a budget that was totally unacceptable to the Progressive Conservatives at Queen’s Park.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspa...usic_fund.html

[The Intransigent Faction]

Sure, it's stating the obvious, but they're all pretty lousy...

[blake 3:17]

It's a bad bunch. Trying to convince myself to vote NDP. Or spoil my ballot. I always wait til election day in case there's a meaningful shift. Not clear what the lesser evil is.

[The Intransigent Faction]

It's a bad bunch. Trying to convince myself to vote NDP. Or spoil my ballot. I always wait til election day in case there's a meaningful shift. Not clear what the lesser evil is.

Andrea Horwath is a joke to any serious socialist. The lamentations for the squeezing of the middle class and promises to said middle class of tax breaks or tax credits might appeal to my folks in suburbia, but she has zilch to offer workers who oppose capitalist exploitation.

[jake williams]

Nooo didn't you hear, some Trotskyist students in Toronto are juuust about to take the NDP over for the working class and bring it to power on a socialist platform.

Envoyé de mon SGH-I747M en utilisant Tapatalk

[The Intransigent Faction]

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/comme...m_salutin.html

I don't know what to say about this right now, but it speaks for itself anyway.

[Die Neue Zeit]

It's a bad bunch. Trying to convince myself to vote NDP. Or spoil my ballot. I always wait til election day in case there's a meaningful shift. Not clear what the lesser evil is.

Spoil your ballot.

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

No Damn Principles.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Spoil your ballot.

I've been contemplating this...What exactly is the difference in effect between this and openly refusing to legitimize the bourgeois electoral system? Either way, you don't cast a vote for a bourgeois party, but the ballot-spoiling approach just seems to be a more subtle legitimization of the system, or at some cases an overt campaign for electoral reform (see: Great Canadian Blank-Ballot Project).

If you're not going to "strategically" endorse the "least worst" bourgeois party, it seems to only make sense to go all the way and openly refuse to participate in the farce. After all, if nobody thinks anyone else would be that "extreme", that position will remain relegated to the shadows of alienated individual minds. It's the same problem with casting an actual "strategic vote" because you think (however correctly) that voting for the smaller bourgeois parties won't accomplish anything.

[The Intransigent Faction]

Also, this:

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/ontario-...bate-1.1826550

Holy ****ing **** what the ****ing hell? Are we really repeating this debate all over again at the provincial level? Just another demonstration of how trying to worm our way into "mainstream" political discourse by adopting electoralist tactics is doomed to go nowhere.

[blake 3:17]

I`m voting Socialist Party of Ontario. Anyways... It`s actually a very interesting time in that the NDP are well to the right of the Liberals.

But this time, there was something different. The New Democrats, to whom the disadvantaged have always looked for support, were the least responsive of the three parties. Their leader, Andrea Horwath, is so preoccupied with winning middle-class votes, assuring the business community she would be a responsible economic manager and saving tax dollars that she has scarcely said a word about poverty, homelessness, hunger, low wages or stingy social programs.
She triggered the election by rejecting the most progressive provincial budget in decades, one that would have raised the minimum wage, increased the Ontario Child Benefit, improved welfare rates, and provided more support to people with disabilities. She parted ways with the Ontario Federation of Labour and Unifor, the province’s largest private-sector union. And she left MPPs such Cheri DiNovo, a longtime advocate of the vulnerable and marginalized, without a social justice platform to stand on. (Publicly, the Parkdale-High Park MPP is echoing her leader, saying the Liberals cannot be trusted to deliver on their budgetary commitments.)
This reconfiguring of the political landscape has left groups such as the Social Assistance Reform Coalition disoriented. They had hoped to use the election campaign to seek improvements in the Liberal budget — a $14-per-hour minimum wage (rather than $11); a 5-per-cent increase in social assistance rates (rather than 1 per cent); preventative dental care (not just emergency care) for low-income adults; and sustainable help for the homeless. But they have no champion in this election.
They didn’t expect any help from Conservative leader Tim Hudak, who went into the campaign promising to slash public spending, weaken unions, cut corporate taxes and crack down on crime. His agenda was more draconian than they anticipated, but it did contain a few tidbits for the elderly, children with special needs and families grappling with mental health challenges.
But they thought they could count on Horwath to prod Premier Kathleen Wynne from the left — only to discover that there is no party to the left of the Liberals in this election.

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/comme...poor_goar.html

[Ele'ill]

why even bother with this?

[blake 3:17]

Another odd turn.

Defying all odds, a clear victor has emerged in Ontario’s wildly unpredictable election campaign.

The big winner is . . . The Beer Store.

You could almost hear the clink of celebratory toasts on Victoria Day as the province’s de facto private beer monopoly cheered its unexpected triumph.

For two years The Beer Store had braced for battle, convinced that if Tory Leader Tim Hudak won power he would free our beer — liberating it from these foreign-owned brewers who control 80 per cent of the retail market (the LCBO gets the rest).
All along, Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne and the NDP’s Andrea Horwath sided with The Beer Store, insisting it wasn’t a problem worth fixing. Would the Progressive Conservatives finally stand up to this well-connected cartel by allowing beer in corner stores?

Just before the holiday weekend, Hudak’s plan fizzled like a beer gone flat.
It didn’t “make the cut” for his campaign platform because “I have to set priorities — and I have big fish to fry,” he explained. “I’ll save that battle for another day.”
Now, his two-year battle plan has been poured down the drain. Why did The Beer Store suddenly become small beer for Hudak?

http://www.thestar.com/news/ontario_...ries_cohn.html

[blake 3:17]

why even bother with this?

I wasn't even bothering with news precisely because of this kind of attitude but whatevs.

We've been protesting the Liberal government. The Conservatives were going to destroy the union movement but have back tracked because of pressure within their own caucus. The social democratic NDP have moved to the right of the Liberals on most issues totally changing the game, and forcing the unions to distance themselves from the NDP. Anyways, shit be fucked up!

It might provide space for new parties of the Left -- not holding my breath, but going to work towards that and be ready for some serious shit storms over the next few years.

[Per Levy]

Spoil your ballot.

that is your answer to anything dnz.

No Damn Principles.

social dems and prinicples? lol.

What exactly is the difference in effect between this and openly refusing to legitimize the bourgeois electoral system?

nothing really, but dnz loves spoiling and makes propaganda for it no matter what the situation.

It might provide space for new parties of the Left -- not holding my breath, but going to work towards that and be ready for some serious shit storms over the next few years.

why the hope for a new left party? so it can go the way of the ndp only way quicker than the ndp did? seen it all before in germany, the left "alternatives" to the spd did go the way of the spd only way way faster.

[SensibleLuxemburgist]

I`m voting Socialist Party of Ontario. Anyways... It`s actually a very interesting time in that the NDP are well to the right of the Liberals.

I agree, despite not being from Ontario or a Canadian I would definitely vote for the Socialist Party of Ontario as well especially since they were formed in opposition to the NDP's rightward shift.

[The Intransigent Faction]

why even bother with this?

Because the outcome will have implications for class struggle in Ontario?

I'm against any form of electoral participation, but that doesn't mean we should ignore it completely, either. Of course I'm biased since I'm from Ontario and know people who's financial ability to attend university, or ability to find a public-sector job in say, teaching, would be impacted if Hudak is elected, so people I know give a shit whether I think they should or not...

Point being, I understand and agree with that attitude, but there has to be some way to engage with people or at least pay attention. What would you suggest (I'm honestly curious)?

[The Intransigent Faction]

I agree, despite not being from Ontario or a Canadian I would definitely vote for the Socialist Party of Ontario as well especially since they were formed in opposition to the NDP's rightward shift.

Just fyi, they're only actually running in two ridings, so statistically speaking you probably wouldn't be able to vote for them.

[blake 3:17]

Thanks Brad. And just to add -- there's been a massive shift in the Ontario economy away from manufacturing and more and more towards resource extraction. And that's a whole new set of economic problems and ecological problems. I'll be curious to see if the CP picks up votes this election. They're running 12 candidates this time. Their platform is quite good but I never really understand their approach to elections. Not sure about the CPC ML, they're pretty weird some places and totally cool other spots.

[Lynx]

Most of the population is in Southern Ontario. Where is the shift to resource extraction occurring, and who benefits?