With the 2011 Ontario provincial election mere weeks away, all the major parties are honing their focus on the most competitive ridings in the province. While some of these battleground ridings are attracting attention from politicians and commentators alike, the following ridings are somehow slipping under radar, despite their potential Election Day interest.
Ontario election
May 28, 2014 |
Ontario's political leaders have been circling the potential mining developments known as the Ring of Fire during the 2014 election campaign. Here's a breakdown of the different platforms.
Andrea Horwath, the Left, and the unintended consequences of strategic voting
Purists in the Ontario NDP who expected their party to run in an ideological straightjacket, and then punished them for it with calls for strategic voting, should not now be surprised that their former party has stopped listening to them.
In a prescient Facebook post a few weeks ago, a long-time observer of the NDP, political scientist Chanchal Bhattacharya, distilled this insight in response to Rick Salutin’s grumbling column in the Toronto Star about Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath’s new direction.
The practical results of voting symbolically
The act of voting is less simple than it seems. It looks straightforward. Mark paper, stuff in box. But precisely because it's so simple, it's susceptible to multiple interpretations. It's like communion: person kneeling takes cracker in mouth. Ya, right. Try explaining what that's about. Sheer mystery.
May 12, 2014 |
Tim Hudak's plan to eliminate 100,000 jobs in the public sector will dismember the Ontario economy and sets the scene to drive the province into another recession.