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General Politics Discussion
#46
(05-25-2018, 10:31 AM)tomh009 Wrote: NDP now ahead of the PCs in support level (37.7% to 36.7%) but still 19 seats behind in the seat projections:
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/onvotes/poll-tracker/

Isn't our electoral system grand.
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#47
(05-25-2018, 10:54 AM)danbrotherston Wrote:
(05-25-2018, 10:31 AM)tomh009 Wrote: NDP now ahead of the PCs in support level (37.7% to 36.7%) but still 19 seats behind in the seat projections:
https://newsinteractives.cbc.ca/onvotes/poll-tracker/

Isn't our electoral system grand.

Sadly the MMP option was resoundingly trounced in the 2007 referendum. And no one is talking about it now.
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#48
Wow, that new poll is not good for PCs:  47-NDP, 33-PC, 14-LIB

If the anti-PC vote consolidates around the NDP I think the PCs are in deep trouble.  And thats more and more likely the more the narrative becomes the NDP surging and the Liberals dropping.  They needed them both to be viable to split the vote more effectively.

Edit: The PC numbers in the averages are still buoyed a bit by better numbers from a week ago. So there's still room for them to drop. That being said, I don't know how reliable Ontario polling has been historically.
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#49
Generally pretty reliable. But this is just one poll, so it could certainly be an outlier. We'll know more as additional polls are published.
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#50
(05-25-2018, 11:23 AM)tomh009 Wrote:
(05-25-2018, 10:54 AM)danbrotherston Wrote: Isn't our electoral system grand.

Sadly the MMP option was resoundingly trounced in the 2007 referendum. And no one is talking about it now.

We should start by switching to ranked ballots for all elections in which voters choose one or more candidates to hold a position. This is not a change in the overall political system, only in the way the ballots are filled out and counted. As far as I’m concerned, this change should be made everywhere, from MP down to Grade 4 class president and everything in between.

Once that is done, eliminating the vote-splitting problem and the excessive difficulty and risk involved in getting rid of a bad* incumbent, then we can have a discussion of whether some sort of proportional system or other revision is desireable.

* Note: by “bad” I don’t mean “I don’t like them”, I mean “the populace at large doesn’t like them”.
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#51
(05-25-2018, 12:52 PM)ijmorlan Wrote:
(05-25-2018, 11:23 AM)tomh009 Wrote: Sadly the MMP option was resoundingly trounced in the 2007 referendum. And no one is talking about it now.

We should start by switching to ranked ballots for all elections in which voters choose one or more candidates to hold a position. This is not a change in the overall political system, only in the way the ballots are filled out and counted. As far as I’m concerned, this change should be made everywhere, from MP down to Grade 4 class president and everything in between.

Once that is done, eliminating the vote-splitting problem and the excessive difficulty and risk involved in getting rid of a bad* incumbent, then we can have a discussion of whether some sort of proportional system or other revision is desireable.

* Note: by “bad” I don’t mean “I don’t like them”, I mean “the populace at large doesn’t like them”.

It would still be a change in the electoral system, and at least this time around I don't think anyone is talking about that.
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#52
(05-25-2018, 12:50 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Generally pretty reliable. But this is just one poll, so it could certainly be an outlier. We'll know more as additional polls are published.

It's an outlier. The Liberals never had the chance, the the PC's blew it with Doug Ford. It's like they didn't want to win this time around.

Can't see taxes going down for the middle class with the NDP, so hopefully everyone here has money in their bank account to cushion the pain over the next 4 years.
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#53
All the parties are touting promises that will result in increased deficits (well, maybe not the Greens, haven't checked their platform). We'll need to pay for that sooner or later.
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#54
(05-25-2018, 02:29 PM)jeffster Wrote:
(05-25-2018, 12:50 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Generally pretty reliable. But this is just one poll, so it could certainly be an outlier. We'll know more as additional polls are published.

It's an outlier. The Liberals never had the chance, the the PC's blew it with Doug Ford. It's like they didn't want to win this time around.

Can't see taxes going down for the middle class with the NDP, so hopefully everyone here has money in their bank account to cushion the pain over the next 4 years.

As much as I'm no fan of the NDP, their plan has the lowest deficits and the quickest return to balanced budgets of all three parties. The PCs, with what they've announced costings for so far, let alone the many uncosted parts, are actually the worst on both counts.
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#55
(05-25-2018, 02:29 PM)jeffster Wrote:
(05-25-2018, 12:50 PM)tomh009 Wrote: Generally pretty reliable. But this is just one poll, so it could certainly be an outlier. We'll know more as additional polls are published.

It's an outlier. The Liberals never had the chance, the the PC's blew it with Doug Ford. It's like they didn't want to win this time around.

Can't see taxes going down for the middle class with the NDP, so hopefully everyone here has money in their bank account to cushion the pain over the next 4 years.

I know the NDP platform calls for an increase in corporate tax, but are they also proposing personal income tax increases?  

One of my main concerns with an NDP government at this time is the risk that the wheels could fall off the economic truck in the next year or two (eg, the NAFTA renegotiations fail or the NAmerican economy falls into recession).  Of the three parties, I have the least confidence in the NDP's ability to respond quickly to bad times.  I hope I'm wrong, both wrt NDP abilities and wrt bad times!
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#56
I actually have about equal faith in all three parties to respond to bad economic news.

I've never understood why the PCs get credit for good economic policy. In most of their iterations they're actually pretty bad. They want to cut taxes but know that in Ontario/Canada its a lot harder to cut services and so we still end up with deficits.

The Liberals have effectively governed just as far left (if not more far left) than the actual NDP.

So... yeah. Smile

Edit: NDP are proposing an extra 1% tax increase on people making >220,000 and 2% tax increase on people making >300,000. (Or those general numbers). One big bone to pick I have with the NDP is their messaging around this. I'm actually ok with the tax increase but they always phrase it as "It's time for these people to pay their fair share!", which... feels like a bit much.

Obligatory: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8nzeJrXFttg
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#57
(05-25-2018, 03:00 PM)SammyOES Wrote: Edit: NDP are proposing an extra 1% tax increase on people making >220,000 and 2% tax increase on people making >300,000.  (Or those general numbers).  One big bone to pick I have with the NDP is their messaging around this.  I'm actually ok with the tax increase but they always phrase it as "It's time for these people to pay their fair share!", which... feels like a bit much.

Notably those are increases in the marginal tax rates. So at $225K it would be an extra $50, at $300K an extra $800, and at $400K an extra $2800 in tax. That would bring the top combined tax bracket to 55.5%, which is not mentioned nearly as often, as "2%" is a much more attractive soundbite.

I don't think this will really bring in a huge amount of revenue, though.
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#58
Yes, true. Although I suppose its a touch more because of the ridiculously stupid surtax (which at least Wynn was going to do away with).
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#59
(05-24-2018, 10:48 PM)tvot Wrote: I understand the current desire to change away from the Liberals (how many times will they promise better GO service before we see it -- even the current promise is 2 elections away)

I’m sure the issue of 2WAD GO service has been slightly strung out over several elections as a perpetual carrot, much like the highway 7 expansion, and will be, as you said, for a few more, but I’m not sure why so many people think that the roll-out and ramping up of GO train service is even an issue at this point.

There really isn’t much any party can do to speed the process up. It isn’t like in other countries where you can suddenly throw 100,000 workers and a bunch of money at a project and have it done in few months (or literally overnight).

Metrolinx has a plan (the Georgetown/Bramalea bypass, the 401 tunnel, changes to fleet, etc.) and they are working through it, but it is a complex infrastructure project that is simply going to take time to work through our system of EAs, RFPs, QA, etc.

I suppose if a party eliminated all environmental legislation, just awarded contracts (got rid of the RFP process), overpaid CN exorbitantly for access to the bottlenecked track section, closed the 401 completely to speed the tunnel construction, and gutted safety laws (inspection, sign-offs, worker protections, etc.) a bit of time could be saved, but probably not a large percentage.
Everyone move to the back of the bus and we all get home faster.
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#60
I agree. I think they’re generally treated unfairly in terms of go service and highway 7. Feels like a lot of unrealistic expectations.
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