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It Tastes Awful. And it Works.
Ontario was hit with an earthquake today, but the real question people are asking is whether or not the earth will move on July 1st. That’s when the HST will be implemented – how Ontarians react may very well decide who wins next year’s election. Tim Hudak, who used to think the HST was a […]
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McGuinty’s 2011 Playbook: Mr. Freeze versus The Joker
It’s hard to boil a 224 page budget down to one line item. But the early reaction to Thursday’s Ontario budget has been all about McGuinty’s pledge to freeze public sector wages. Is it good policy? It seems reasonable enough to me given the tough economic times, but then again, I might have a different […]
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Provincial Uprising
Angus Reid has updated their Premier approval numbers from November and it’s not rosy – only 2 of the 10 Premiers crack the 30% approval barrier. And suddenly, Stephen Harper’s underwhelming poll numbers start looking a lot more whelming by comparison. The man has struggled of late and may spend his life chasing an unobtainable […]
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‘Tis the Season to Shuffle
You know, it occurs to me I have more to say about a PC Cabinet shuffle in a province I don’t live in, than on McGuinty’s shuffle today. Perhaps I’ll make following Ontario politics closer my New Years resolution for 2010. So I’ll be sure to update this post with links to some solid post-shuffle […]
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On the bright side, Ignatieff was picked as "the leader you’d most like to attend an Isaiah Berlin leture with"
Angus Reid has a fun poll out, where they ask “the beer question”, amongst others. In it, we learn that the mustached socialist is the “jock” of Canadian politics – he’s the one voters would like to have a beer with, or have on their sports team. Harper wins most of the “prime ministerial” questions […]
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Dalton McGuinty’s Giant Sigh of Relief
I need to start this off with the mandatory “by elections are meaningless blah blah blah” disclaimer. And, at first glance, it’s hard for results to look any less meaningless than what we got: Hoskins (Lib) – 47% (–)Levy (PC) – 29% (+2%)Heller (NDP) – 17% (+1%)Chopik (GP) – 5% (-3%) Ho hum. Toss in […]
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I’d like to tax the world in perfect harmony…
Jim Flaherty may have just become Dalton McGuinty’s new best friend. More on that in second. McGuinty brought forward his first recession budget today, joining virtually every other jurisdiction in the world by sending the province spiraling into deficit (including Newfoundland!). The bulk of the spending is on infrastructure – 32.5 billion over two years. […]
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Opportunity Knocks
The only knock I’ve had against Dalton McGuinty in the past is that he’s been very risk-averse and has never really seemed to take full advantage of his time in power to bring about real change. He’s run the province well, but if Dalton were a font…well, I have no clue what font he’d be, […]
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The Answer is Blowing in the Wind
This is something I’m very pleased to see: TORONTO — Ontario’s Liberal government hopes its Green Energy Act to be introduced Monday will create 50,000 new jobs and transform the province’s struggling economy, but environmentalists warn the plan relies too heavily on nuclear power. The bill will make it easier to bring renewable energy projects […]
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The Small Men of Confederation
With Charest more popular than ever in Quebec, John Baird decides to go on the attack: QUEBEC CITY–An Ontario-Quebec accord on climate change has yet to be officially unveiled, but Ottawa is already slamming it as nothing more than “smoke and mirrors.” Premier Dalton McGuinty and Quebec Premier Jean Charest are to release their proposal […]