Andrea Horwath

Saturday May 28, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday May 28, 2022

Doug Ford and Ontario’s race for second

Doug Ford is heading toward a second majority at Queen’s Park — not that anyone is paying attention.

Young Doug Ford: The Series

In the unlikely scenario all the polls released in Ontario ahead of its June 2 election turn out to be wrong, or if tens of thousands of voters do indeed vote strategically to deny the premier his majority, I stand to be corrected.

Many observers, including yours truly, yearned for movement in the polling numbers — not for partisan purposes, but for the sake of storylines that might capture the attention of an electorate seemingly apathetic to the campaign: Will the Liberals get over 30 percent? Will the Ontario NDP — ONDP — go in the tank? Or will it regain second place to keep Liberals at bay? Alas, none of it was to be.

But if the writing is on the wall of this 2022 campaign, the race for official opposition could still be compelling.

The PC gained the reins of the Ontario Legislature in 2018 by winning 76 seats (out of 124) with 40.5 percent of the popular vote. The NDP climbed to official opposition with 40 seats (33.6 percent of the vote). The Liberals, after forming government for 15 straight years, collapsed to 7 seats and 19.6 percent of the vote.

In the campaign now underway, the Ontario Liberals and ONDP have attempted, repeatedly and unsuccessfully, to dent the PC armor: More money for public education and long-term care, less for new highways. Remember when Ford closed playgrounds during the pandemic? All legitimate points, but not enough to rattle his base.

April 21, 2021

Ford has been playing 1995 New Jersey Devils-style defensive trap, both soporific and highly effective. Add to the mix an electorate suffering from Covid fatigue, the long-awaited return of sunny patios, the NHL and NBA playoffs (although it went by fast in Ontario), and it is hardly surprising many voters do not feel engaged. Sometimes defense is the best offense.

As of Tuesday, the 338Canada Ontario model has the PC leading voting intentions with an average of 37 percent, a 9-point lead over the Ontario Liberal party, which is at 28 percent.

The ONDP takes third place with 23 percent.

The Green Party of Ontario, which had earned just under 5 percent in 2018, has climbed to an average of 7 percent.

With a little more than one week to go before ballots are counted, the OLP and ONDP stand in a statistical tie in terms of seats, as it appears the anti-Ford vote has yet to coalesce behind one single banner.

And that’s just fine for Doug Ford. (Politico) 

 

Tuesday May 17, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday May 17, 2022

Ontario NDP plan to run deficits for 6 years and cancel gas tax cut

May 10, 2022

Ontario’s New Democrats are pledging to run larger deficits than the Progressive Conservatives and Liberals if elected and would likely not balance the budget for six years, but the party is eyeing some cost savings from cancelling a gas tax cut.

That pledge is expected to save $600 million in the first year by reversing the Progressive Conservative government’s move to reduce the provincial portion of the gas tax by 5.7 cents a litre for six months starting July 1.

Catherine Fife, who has served as the NDP’s finance critic, presented the costing Sunday and acknowledged the high cost of living, including rising gas prices that have topped $2 a litre, but said the temporary cut from the Tories is just a “gimmick.”

“We are looking for a long-term, sustainable strategy to alleviate gas prices, but also to stabilize,” she said, pointing to the party’s promise to regulate gas prices.

Wednesday April 27, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday April 27, 2022

So… when was the last time you really thought about the NDP?

May 24, 2018

You might have noticed something interesting about the election campaign that’s underway, although not yet official, in Ontario.

The official opposition, the New Democrats? No one is talking about them.

So it’s not that the NDP isn’t getting any attention. It’s more that it wasn’t getting any attention for a long time before this. Let me ask a question of you, dear readers: before the platform release, when was the last time you thought about the NDP or Andrea Horwath at all? There was that recent weird nomination story, where a sitting NDP MPP didn’t win the right to run under the party’s banner in his current riding. There was all the speculation about the ejection of former NDP MPP Paul Miller from caucus last month. And that’s … about all that comes to mind? Which isn’t great. These aren’t shining moments for the party.

Friday January 14, 2022

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Friday January 14, 2022

Ontario students to receive 2 rapid tests as school begins, top doctor’s comments draw fire

January 8, 2022

Ontario students are slated to get two rapid antigen tests when they return to school on Monday, but apart from that, the province is relying mostly on previously announced measures to keep schools safe amid the Omicron wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The province also revealed Wednesday that school officials will monitor absenteeism in classrooms as opposed to reporting individual positive tests.

Officials said parents would be notified when combined student and staff absences hit around 30 per cent, prompting concerns that parents would be left in the dark about their child’s school’s status until it reached that threshold.

By Wednesday evening, the province appeared to say it would provide parents with more specific data about absenteeism.