Canadian politics
From Toronto Sun
“There seems to be, from the arbitrators, a lack of respect for the struggling Ontario families who get stuck with the bill at the end of the day,” Hudak said Wednesday.
Despite Premier Dalton McGuinty’s call for a public sector pay freeze, as he rolled out a red-ink budget last year, arbitrators have gone ahead and awarded salary hikes to thousands of workers.
The Ontario Progressive Conservative Caucus’ motion calling on the Liberal government to create a mental health and addictions strategy for Ontario was supported by all parties in the Legislature.
The PC Caucus motion called upon the McGuinty Liberal government to table a mental health and addictions plan that reflects the recommendations made by the Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions within 60 days. Sylvia Jones, MPP (Dufferin-Caledon) was a member of the Select Committee on Mental Health and Addictions, an all-party committee which last August presented 23 recommendations to improve mental health and addictions services in Ontario.
This ad takes aim at Michael Ignatieff and the coalition for being unwilling to bring forward a policy that would bolster Canadian security. For many Canadians human smuggling is an issue that is out of sight out of mind, that does not mean that it should not be a top priority for any Canadian government.
Yesterday splashed across the front page of the Toronto Sun was an exclusive report on the jet setting ways of Glen Murray the eco-guru. So the question must be asked with everything being equal what is the position of the Ontario Liberals on carbon taxes.? Well here is a few quotes that may give you an idea of what liberals really think .
“McGuinty, who initially opposed a carbon tax, said Liberal Leader Stephane Dion’s “green shift” plan is still a good idea, even though it could slap a hefty bill on emissions from Ontario’s four coal-fired generation plants.”
Premier Dalton McGuinty
Toronto Star Wed Jun 25 2008
“And, Miller’s report adds it is time to discuss putting a price on carbon by undertaking a formal review to compare the merits of emissions trading and a carbon tax.”
Gord Miller Ontario’s environment commissioner
Tue Jun 01 2010 Toronto Star
“An early and clear price signal is needed to influence the investment decisions by industry in the technology and innovation required to achieve deep reductions.”….This is the time to move the discussion ahead. There is a huge sense of urgency,”
Cabinet minister Glenn Murray
Reuters published onMon Jan 7, 2008
So far as I can tell the premier thinks a carbon tax would be a good idea. In addition a Ontario cabinet minister believes wholeheartedly that there should be a “sense of urgency” surrounding the issue of carbon taxes.
Finally the provinces own environmental commissioner came to the conclusion that the Ontario government should implement a carbon tax in Ontario. What does this all add up to,
well the Ontario Liberals would probably implement a carbon tax if they could. However for the sake of political expediency the Liberals have put the brakes on that bad political idea for now.
Officially today Dalton McGuinty’s bad couple of days turned into a bad week with a new poll released showing the surging of the very competitive Ontario Tories in the traditional Liberal stronghold of the 416 area. Earlier in the week a poll was released ranking McGuinty near the bottom in personal popularity among Canadian Premiers.
Now a party can have one bad poll that’s an aberration, two is a problem, three has become a trend. If you can combine these latest results with the Nanos poll earlier this month showing the Ontario PCs slightly ahead of the Liberals there’s your trend. Indeed, it has become apparent that Ontarians are hungry for change.
Nothing happens in a vacuum, in many respects the Ontario P.C.’s and their federal cousins are experiencing a renaissance in areas that have not seen a o a conservative representative for more than a generation . Now no elections are won and nothing is finalized yet, but the general uptick for the Conservatives is a good signal of things to come here in Ontario and perhaps across the country. For sure this is great news for political parties however the conservative movement should not stop advocating for more conservative ideas and approaches in a “Evermore Bluer Canada”!