In typical Globe and Mail fashion, the editorial board of the newspaper has decided that their choice for premier, Tim Hudak, can be kept on a short leash. All voters have to do is elect a minority Conservative government for the province. In telling us to vote that way, the sage group forgot to tell us how to do that.
The last time a Toronto newspaper was trapped in that type of pontificating, the Toronto Star said it was alright to vote federally for the New Democrats. The voters ended up with a Conservative majority in Ottawa.
The simple fact is that the editorial board’s advice is even less sensible than the Conservative’s plan for a million jobs. Nobody knows how to create a million jobs when you do not need a million jobs and nobody can consciously elect a minority government.
But what really grabs us in this is that the Globe and Mail editorial writers tell us over four separate editorial diatribes that we need change at Queen’s Park. What is patently obvious to even the casual reader is that the Globe and Mail brain trust has no clue as to how to bring about that change. There are many factors influencing the outcome of this election and the only use we can suggest for the Globe and Mail’s suggestion is that at least newspapers can be recycled.
As it stands today, the Liberals under Kathleen Wynne can win a slim majority of seats. As few as six ridings that we expect to be won by the Liberals being won by the Conservatives could turn our prediction into a Liberal minority. It would take an upset in at least 12 ridings that we think will be won by Liberals to create a Conservative minority win. That does not appear to be in the cards,
The problem with the Conservative campaign was in Hudak’s earlier attacks on unions, his promise of another wage freeze and losing 100,000 provincial civil servants and his fight with the Ontario Provincial Police Association, he likely wrote off more than a million votes. The Globe and Mail admits that Hudak is running on a platform of simplistic solutions and empty slogans. It is obvious that he is appealing for simplistic voters. Are there that many simplistic voters in Ontario?
It seems that the Globe and Mail thinks there are enough dunces in Ontario to give Timmy Hudak a minority but not enough to give him a majority. Frankly that suggestion does not earn our trust. We have to play it safe and vote against the Hudak Conservatives.
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Copyright 2014 © Peter Lowry
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