Tory Redux - Part 74

Where is the Liberals platform

inquisitive minds want to know.

Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak has already fired up his campaign bus, after unveiling his “Changebook” platform in May.
New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath wasn’t far behind, releasing her main platform — “Change That Puts People First” — in June.
Unofficially, Grits have been putting off questions about when the big reveal will be by saying the government has eight years of policy behind it and Ontarians have a pretty clear idea of what the party is about.
“If they’re running on their record, they’re in deep trouble,” New Democrat MPP Gilles Bisson said.
“What are they going to promise to Ontarians that they’re not going to break this time? We’ve had two elections where Liberals have promised everything from not raising your taxes to doing things, and they’ve basically disappointed people a whole lot.
“So they’re in a bad spot.”
PC MPP Lisa MacLeod said she suspects the delay is not because the Liberals don’t have a plan — it’s because they don’t think the plan will be popular.
“They’re likely to raise taxes and that’s why they don’t want Ontario families to know,” MacLeod said.
“They want to drag that out well past the next election, so they can bring in either an HST increase or a carbon tax — or both — into the mix.”

In contrast to a series of broad promises from the Ontario Liberal party. the Ontario PCs has clearly outlined, where they want to take the province with change book.

Of course the liberals are going to put together some type of platform, but really, they’re pitched now comes down to two words. Trust us. Well the people of Ontario deserve better. That’s why Tim Hudak and his team started a week earlier to bring their message of change to the people of the province.

Do you want to pay more for Hydro

A recent Aegent research report on Ontario’s Samsung deal found that.

Currently, Ontario is a substantial net exporter of energy, so if the Samsung generation came online tomorrow, most or all of it would be exported. This would result in an additional annual cost to the province of about $786 million. For a typical residential consumer, the annual bill impact would be $65.

Now the question becomes Can Ontarians continued to afford the skyrocketing energy plan of the McGuinty Liberals . we will have are say on October 6.

Update Toronto Sun has picked up the story

It’s Election Time in Ontario

Today, the Ontario PCs officially launched their campaign by unveiling their Big Blue bus of change. As the Liberals were busy lampooning a photograph Tim Hudak and the conservatives were focused squarely on families.

“I’m proud of my beautiful little girl, my beautiful caring wife. And you know what this campaign is going to be about? It’s going to be about families; average hardworking families who are paying more and more in taxes, they’re getting less in return and they’re worried about the future of their kids and their grandkids.”
Leader of the OntarioPC Party Tim Hudak

The campaign to change Ontariois underway here are a couple things to keep in mind. Will economic stewardship, and the economy become top-of- mind issues for Ontarians. As well, who will win the hearts and more importantly votes of “Ontario families”. I guess only time will tell.

Senate Reform Still Popular

In somewhat of a fall preview, a recent poll showed an overwhelming amount of Canadians support reforming Canada’s upper chamber.

From Windsor Star

Overall, 70 per cent of Canadians support limiting appointed senators to eight-year terms and 72 per cent of those surveyed said Canadians should be allowed to directly elect senators.

As long-time readers of this blog would know. I am a strong proponent of Senate reform. Although it is not the most popular issue. It still deals with the fundamental concept of right to representation. Canadians should have a say in who represents them in both chambers on the Hill.

Citizen Journalists As Second-Class Citizens

At least this is what could happen to bloggers. If Québec culture minister Christine St.-Pierre gets her way. On Monday the minister. outlined regulations that would attempt to sanction the profession of journalism in Québec. Another round of regulation shouldn’t come as a surprise in La Belle province. More importantly, this raises the question.

From National Post

At the heart of the project is legislation that would define the “status of professional journalists.” The stated intention is to distinguish those dedicated to “serving the public interest” from “amateur bloggers.” Those admitted to the rank of professional journalist would enjoy unspecified “advantages or privileges,” such as “better access to government sources.”

Why does a government feel compelled to legislate, who can and cannot be a “real” journalist. Just like the establishment media, citizen journalists have to build their list of contacts and credibility. What do you think about this very disturbing development in Québec. Let me know by voting in the poll .