Category: Provincial Politics

How smart do you think you have to be to forecast an Ontario provincial election in the next two months? The reason is that opposition leaders Horwath and Hudak smell blood. They have Wynne’s Liberals on the run with the cancelled gas generating plants. It is not so much the couple hundred million involved as it is the bad accounting. Losing another $85 million is not just a mission to the moon for Ontario voters.

But the key will be Ontario Treasurer Charles Sousa’s budget. Charles is a nice guy who has never done anything like this before in his life. It is the creative political stuff that the Minister directs. And this is where he needs help.

But turning to former Prime Minister Paul Martin is no answer. If Charles has ever wondered why Paul is a former Prime Minister, it is because he was the Finance Minister in the Chrétien Cabinet of the 90s that balanced Canada’s budget. He took money from the unemployed. He impoverished Medicare. You might recall what the voters thought of dear old Paul as Prime Minister.

It would be like seeking advice from Dwight Duncan, Charles’ predecessor as Treasurer. Dwight even brought in a banker named Don Drummond to help him cut the deficit. Drummond was a big help. He wrote a budget plan for old Dwight that even made Timmy Hudak smile. What is frightening about it is that Charles is also a former banker. We have to hope he never liked Don Drummond over in that other bank.

Mind you, this is the time to say ‘to hell with the banks,’ we’ve got a political party to save. Charles needs a budget theme that Timmy Hudak cannot rail against and has enough good news for Andrea Horwath to have to support. It requires a new era of privatization and entrepreneurship for the province.

We will start by selling off the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. You can sell off the old headquarters as a wholesale operation and make a pot of money on that. Then you start auctioning off the stores. And do not forget, you can get as much revenue from liquor taxes as you ever earned from staid and stuffy LCBO.

Then you kiss off that foreign-owned Brewers Retail operation. Let it bid on doing the recycling operation if they like but sell annual licenses to convenience and grocery stores to sell beer. They will do a much better merchandising job and produce far more tax revenue from smaller lighter packaging.

Now think of the opportunities you can add to this. How about bidding to operate provincial camp sites? And if the NDP get antsy about all this privatization, just point out how many unionized inspectors the province is going to need to police all this action?

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

If Premier Kathleen Wynne thinks she can ignore Ontario’s chief electoral officer, it could be her last act as premier. Greg Essensa, has asked for an end to third-party advertising in provincial elections and Wynne would be smart to make sure it happens this year. Without controls, Ontario Liberals could find themselves on the receiving end of some particularly savage third-party advertising.

It was something of a surprise two years ago that the ultra-right wing Ontario Landowners did not launch their own campaign to counter the so-called “Working Families” advertising that was savaging Conservative leader Timmy Hudak. The Landowners’ error at that time was believing polls showing Hudak with a comfortable lead going into the election. He proceeded to lose the election from there.

Whether the Working Families advertising had a major impact on the Hudak Conservative campaign is a theoretical discussion. It certainly gave aid and comfort to the McGuinty Liberals. And even if the Working Families material was or was not approved by the Liberals, there was no question in anyone’s mind that it was attempting to help them to defeat Hudak. You would have to be kidding yourself to suggest that this was not deliberate interference in the election process.

And it is this interference that the chief electoral officer is trying to stop. For teachers’ unions to put out $6 million to interfere in the last Ontario election was morally and ethically wrong. And Ontario is one of the few jurisdictions where it is not illegal.

What was actually of more value to the Ontario Liberals in the last election were the teachers whom the union reps pulled together to help canvas for their Liberal candidates. If a major portion of that $6 million had been put towards this activity, it would have been far more productive than the Working Families advertising.

What the Working Families lack in the coming election is a family patriarch (or Premier) to get behind and promote. The unions will still want to savage Tiny Tim Hudak but they might be very reluctant to put their faith in Liberals again. That means the only candidate who might earn their generous support is Andrea Horwath and her New Democrats.

Mind you, Horwath and the other party leaders are all paying lip service to the electoral officer’s report. It is action that is needed.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Would the last sucker to get out of the condominium business in the Greater Toronto Area, please remember to turn out the lights. You should have seen the writing on the wall four years ago and realized the growing problems in the market. What you probably did not realize was that the biggest problems were created by the Ontario Government’s Condominium Act. Like most provincial legislation, it was written by lawyers to keep lawyers working. The act shows little concern or interest in the needs of condominium owners or residents.

The largest single headache in the condominium market has always been the speculative buyer. These are people who put a down-payment on low-end condominium properties before a shovel goes into the ground. The plan is to resell or rent when the building is completed. You really wonder where these people get their dreams of resale values or rental rates but you can be sure they are in for disillusionment when reality sets in. The really unlucky among them are the ones who move in to try to ameliorate their losses.

Owning a condominium is not like private home ownership nor is it like a rental environment. Owning a condominium is keeping up with the Jones’ in spades. You never know when you will be hit with unexpected assessments and increased condominium fees. This is your property buster and if we do not all look after it, what do you think will happen to property values? And if you are too busy to be on the condominium board, just wait until you learn what those people you did elect are doing.

And to say that the board you helped elect is just incompetent is probably an understatement. Not that you can sue them for incompetence. The Condominium Act gets them off the hook…if they take the advice of someone like an accountant, lawyer, engineer, etc. who might know something about the subject. This has created an entire industry in Ontario of people who are living off the avails of condominiums. Having once watched, in horror, as an engineer parlayed a $20,000 to $40,000 refurbishing job into a $750,000 bonanza for his friends, we can assure you that these people are certifiable experts at screwing the owners.

And the most serious problems are among those companies that are there to provide professional management. These companies will tell you all about the high standards, training and assistance available to their managers but where these people come from for all the new condominiums popping up, we are not sure. What is really chilling is the knowledge that no matter how little they know, they probably know more than your condo’s board of directors.

You might ask at this stage how the Ontario Government protects condominium owners. Pardon us, we cannot stop laughing.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

When the McGuinty Liberals decided to do something about trades training and standards in Ontario, we wished them ‘Good luck.’ There are some 190 skilled trades that initially need support on behalf of Ontario trades people, employers and consumers. To do the job properly will take time, good will and input from all levels of the trades. What it does not need as it travels down the road is to be run over by other levels of government and to be waylaid by mean-spirited political parties spreading dissention.

The first question asked last week when the federal Conservatives announced their budget was how the proposed federal trades plan would work with the Ontario program. You would assume in a normal country that the federal government would discuss such a plan with the provinces. It was when Quebec angrily told Finance Minister Jim Flaherty to blow his new program in his ear that you got a hint that preplanning is not part of the Conservative strategy. And it is obvious that Ontario has absolutely no idea how to fit the federal plan in with its approach. (Nor do the feds appear to want them to!)

And to make matters worse, the provincial Conservatives in Ontario have their own strategy. Here in Babel, we see the MPP from Orillia and the junior MPP from Barrie signing petitions to stop the purported trades tax. They seem to be opposed to the Ontario Trades College. Since the college has yet to do anything, the Ontario Conservatives are busy saying that anything they do will be bad for Ontario. They are building a bogeyman.

The Conservatives insist, up front, that the majority of Ontario trades people do not want to be members of the Ontario Trades College. The only questions that come to mind are whether the trades people have evaluated the benefits of membership and do they know anything about it? Mind you, if the College proponents have announced a fee structure before deciding what they will do for it, they will deserve all the slander they get.

The most interesting aspect of the Conservative vilification campaign is the threat that the College is going to bar your favourite handyman from building your backyard deck while putting new tile in your bathroom. They are shedding crocodile tears for the famous jack of all trades. Frankly that guy used to be called a ‘homeowner’ and it is about time someone saved him from himself.

What it boils down to is the cost of home renovations. Nobody is going to stop you from hiring the kid from down the street to paint your house. You will get what you pay for. And if you want something that says the tradesperson is qualified for the job, you are going to pay more. And it is most often worth it.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

It is a lonely road. Ontario Treasurer Charles Sousa is busy working on his budget and he is hardly going to listen to some bloody blogger from Babel. His Premier has told him to fix the deficit and that is what he is going to do. It hardly matters that squeezing the economy at this time is stupid. Charles has his marching orders.

Only a few of us said that Don Drummond’s report to Premier McGuinty and his Treasurer Duncan last year was crap. It was a banker’s report that said the province had to stop running deficits. Every banker in Canada is potty trained on that idea. It is like they know that they only lend money to people who do not need it. They are not exactly Keynesian economists. Banking has nothing to do with economics. Some of Canada’s banks issue economic forecasts as the closest they can get to any form of humour. They are usually wrong but it is a tradition, like giving out calendars.

But help is at hand. It is not exactly neutral help but we will take what we can get. The help is from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. Sure, the centre is a bit to the political left but it is a hell of a lot more responsible than the right-wing yahoos at the Fraser Institute. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives has always done responsible and well-reasoned work.

And the name of the study says it all. More Harm Than Good is the very appropriate title.

And that is what faces us. With Finance Minister Jim Flaherty bringing down his austerity budget this week, with Ontario’s budget to follow, we are faced with the combination destroying our fragile recovery. We are told that Flaherty’s budget will take us back at least a half century to times of high apprenticeship. This seems like a band-aid solution to a haemorrhage but it is a typically Conservative Party answer. The only problem is that if Ontario follows up that conservative budget with another conservative budget, we will end up screwing the economy.

The authors of the report make it very clear that Liberal Party austerity efforts over the past year have done more for Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak than the voters. They point out that Ontario’s misguided and ineffective efforts at austerity could be creating a self-defeating vicious circle.

The one thing that seems to puzzle the authors is how the Ontario government can keep changing the deficit figures. They are probably like the cost of not building gas fired generating plants. The figures just keep changing.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Ontario Conservative leader Tim Hudak is as firm and decisive as ever about casinos. He still wants citizens to have referenda on whether to have them. Where he stands on the question, we do not know. Timmy also says he wants gambling to be turned over to the private sector while government collects the taxes and does the regulating. If you get the impression that he wants the tax money, you might mark him on the pro side of casinos.

But there is no forgiving his ignorance. Tiny Tim is asking for referenda that are inappropriate in a democracy. What he is doing is implying that the people who want to have a casino are doing something wrong. Why do you need a referendum to enable something that is legal and regulated? Have we reached the point when we have to have a referendum every time someone wants to open a bar?

We are a society that believes in the rights of the individual. We show this everyday in our acceptance of gay rights and same-sex marriage. Gays are a very small segment of our society and yet we are broadminded and accepting of their choices. That is not as common around the world and there are still a few in our society who oppose our allowing people those rights.

And what people cannot argue against with logic, they will sometimes argue against with falsehoods and half truths. After listening to and reading the claims and counter-claims of those fighting the supposed casino monster, one gets the impression that nobody knows what they are talking about. Gambling can be fun. It is just another form of entertainment. There is an adrenalin rush to winning. From your first bingo game in a church basement to the share the wealth ticket you bought to help a worthy cause, there are people who like to gamble.

And yes, there are some gambling addicts. If our alcohol and drug addicts were as well looked after as the relatively few gambling addicts in this province, we would have a very healthy society.

But let us have the gambling without the hypocrisy. If we must have the hypocrisy in our politics, do not wrap it in phony paternalism. Good government respects the citizens.  Referenda are an ideal solution to matters that impact us all. It is how we choose our governments and decide on how we will vote and address our constitution.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Ontario Conservative Leader Tim Hudak wants a provincial election and everyone seems to be advising him against it. Actually it might be a good idea. With the three major provincial parties at a virtual tie in the public opinion polls, a volatile minority legislature and the economic pressures facing Ontario, we really need to make up our minds. This province needs stability, leadership, vision and jobs and an election would be well worth the cost.

There is no question that the Tory’s Tiny Tim has reached his ‘best before’ date and by having an election, the voters could help the Conservative Party get rid of him. While he has a hard core of supporters for his politics of division, he will make the more progressive voters think carefully about their vote. There are more than enough serious voters in Ontario who remember the days of Hudak’s mentor Michael Harris and that is more than enough to get them working against Timmy.

And the voters also have to make a decision about Liberal Leader Kathleen Wynne. She is a premier without a mandate from the voters. After that mish-mash of a throne speech she foisted on the public and an upcoming budget that promises little, she needs road testing. Ontario has to understand where she is going. If she really wants to make the deficit an objective, we might as well elect Timmy. At least with him, you know he will attack the deficit and everyone else he hurts will just be collateral damage.

If Wynne is as progressive as some say she is, it is damn well about time we heard what she is progressive about. And sexual orientation counts for nothing.

What everyone needs to look out for is the third party in this legislative ménage à trois. Those few points difference in telephone coincidental polling are meaningless. There are three parties in this race and best you do not forget it.

While nobody has high expectations of New Democratic Leader Andrea Horwath, she could be the safety valve for the voters who are sick of Conservative and Liberal lectures on the economy while doing nothing. If she actually came out with a plan that made sense to the voters, there could be trouble for both Hudak and Wynne.

And yes, elections cost money. We pay it to ourselves. It keeps the economy working. We need this election.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]

Timing is everything. After the stock market closes on Friday is a good time for bad news. It is also a good time for questions for which there is no rush for answers. For government it is a good time for making announcements on which you do not want serious questions. These were recurring thoughts on the weekend when considering provincial matters. New Democrat leader Andrea Horwath gave the news media the weekend to harry the Wynne government on lowering automobile insurance rates.

Andrea drew a line in the sand on Friday: You shall lower insurance rates by 15 per cent or face an election. It is unlikely that the demand will seem as serious today (Monday). The problem for Andrea is that the auto insurance football is badly worn and tattered over time and no longer has the bounce and interest that it once held.

Her biggest problem with it is that the new bosses of the auto insurance game in Ontario are the big banks. They are a federally protected preserve and provincial politicians screw with them at their peril.

And sure, the banks can lower the premium rates if you tell them. They will also tell you that what they lose on the swings, they will gain on the roundabouts or something like that. What you have to remember is that the banks have you coming and going and they never lose money.

Look at the last time there was a directed drop in insurance premiums in Ontario. What was done at the same time was a government directed drop in coverage. You ended up getting what you paid for. And it was not happy news for many motorists.

The answer from any insurance expert is that Ontario first has to solve the problem of insurance fraud. It is hard to believe the figures they quote but we can all understand the difference in price between an insurance job and a private citizen’s job at a repair shop. Due diligence on behalf of your bank account should save you at least half the cost of that fender bender. As well, dealing in cash and being recommended by a member of the repair shop boss’ church can sometimes save the HST as well.

The complexities of the problems with auto insurance are not going to be solved overnight. The Ontario government certainly has no King Solomon on staff to solve these types of problems.

But Andrea is hardly wasting her time. She knew that auto insurance is always good for a shot. All she really needs is some new writers and a smarter brain trust. She would then be a problem.

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Copyright 2013 © Peter Lowry

Complaints, comments, criticisms and compliments can be sent to  [email protected]