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The first progressive tax increase since 1993? I'll take it.
I think it was Fidel who made the astute observation that Andrea should have substantial input into the next Budget in March or April 2013. Someone from Ontario should point this out to her and McQuinty.
In what way will she have any more clout in shaping next year's budget than she passed-up in this year's? If she was so hamstrung by being unprepared to fight an election this year - as so many of her apologists have suggested - what makes you think she'll be in a better position next year after having sold-out the interests of workers and poor people? Labour would have stepped-up if she had brought McGuinty down. I think they'll be significantly less motivated to do so after yesterday's vote.
I'm really curious about this. Is the assumption that Dalton will seek her input in shaping the budget because he now owes her a favour?
He certainly does owe her big time, after the gift she just gave him.
Yes, he certainly does, but no doubt he considers their accounts settled by his concession on the surtax. If a budget deal needed to be struck, the quid pro quo should have been immediate, because in realpolitik he owes her nothing.
The Liberals have 53 seats, the NDP has 17 - there are limits to what extent the tail can wag the dog. If the people of Ontario want a 100% NDP inspired budget - they will have to elect a majority NDP government.
I'm impressed that Horwath was able to extract as much from McGuinty as she did including hundreds of millions more for child care and opening the door a crack to higher taxes on the super rich. When the Liberals voted for all of Harper's budgets - they did it in exchange for NOTHING at all. I think Andrea Horwath was able to drive a very hard bargain and her image has been enhanced enormously. This was very much in the spirit of how Jack Layton forced Paul Martin to make amendments to the Liberal budget in 2005.
I notice that several unions have been issuing press releases praising Horwath for being able to get so many concessions. I think its all good. Her star keeps rising every day.
I haven't seen anyone here suggesting anything of the sort was possible, but that hasn't stopped the party's apologists from repeatedly trotting-out this strawperson.
If people truly are up in arms that the Ontario NDP decided not to force a second election in six months after getting some major concessions - they can always vote for the Socialist Party of Ontario which took all of 0.01% of the vote last election.
Andrea has clout and shouldn't be afraid to use it. She should really hold out in the next Budget especially if polling shows the Liberals sinking. And she needs to use that clout to push for social reforms and social justice, and if she doesn't, she should face a leadership review and/or be forced out.
McQuinty said he will scrap the surtax when the budget is balanced in five years or so - why the fuck doesn't he promise to keep it in - it affects only a small group of the very rich after all. What's he worried about???
What clout does she have now? Prior to yesterday's vote she had clout, but she has demonstrated that she is afraid to use it.
As an aside, is there a reason why you always misspell his name? Is it some dysphemism that I'm not aware of? I don't give a fuck about affording him the respect of calling him by his own name... I'm just curious.
Someone in the ONDP should take her aside and and explain things to her.
Even if it were possible, it wouldn't look much different than the current Lib budget. Someone whose opinion I respect recently pointed out that Ontario was under Conservative party rule for decades, and a lot got accomplished during that reign. I pointed out that the Bill Davis gov't didn't do squat until they were forced to when they were in the minority.
I firmly believe that a majority government, regardless of party, is a bad thing. I'm not interested in some sleezy backroom coalition, but I really believe that minority governments accomplish so much more.
We were conservative in Ontario for 42 years non-stop. Imagine Alberta without the oil. This is progress believe it or not.
Lo', observe us some Hudak Changelingbook(pdf)
I don't like it.
Apparently Hudak has enough clout to make Andrea Horwath go into Koalition mode with the Liberals and to scare Fidel, Stockholm, and many other babblers absolutely shitless.
Only if there's a chance they will be outvoted in the Legislature.
But with a third party that's determined to make the Liberal minority government "work" (i.e. survive without being defeated), we end up with what amounts to a Liberal-NDP Majority Government™.
That must have been when the Liberals negotiated all those taxes raising on rich people. I can remember it as if yesterday...
Ontario budget: NDP tax change slashes deficit, Duncan says Liberals less Fiscally Frankenstein-ish thanx to NDP
If Andrea continues to play her cards well like she has so far she will probably become premier
TORONTO - The United Steelworkers (USW) union welcomes the modest tax increase for Ontario's richest and income increase for Ontario's poorest achieved by New Democrats in budget negotiations with the provincial government.
"The NDP has succeeded in adding some fairness to the budget while avoiding an election nobody wanted," said Wayne Fraser, USW's Ontario director. "The additional childcare funding secured by New Democrats will also make an important difference for our province's working families."
However, as NDP leader Andrea Horwath has herself emphasized, the Liberal budget remains flawed. The Centre for Spatial Economics has calculated that implementing all of the cuts envisioned by the budget for future years would eliminate 105,000 jobs in 2015 -- 65,000 in the public sector and 40,000 in the private sector. Ontario's minority parliament will provide further opportunities to negotiate constructive changes or, if necessary, defeat the government.
We are proud of Andrea Horwath and the NDP Caucus for insisting on a better budget for everyday Ontarians, and standing up for working families.
...regardless of who she has to step on to get there.
Cry me a river - who is she stepping on now
She is not the premier yet in case people haven't noticed.
But them's the breaks - politics is a blood sport, so get used to it.
I'm not sure how you rationalize this statement. Are you suggesting that if she refused to negotiate and instead chose a similar uncompromising path as Hudak did that she would have had more respect and clout? I think most people respect her tactics more than Hudak's tactics, regardless of which side of the political fence they are on.
for those with short attention spans
Sad, but based on what the NDP has shown us so far, you're probably correct.
No, that's not what I'm suggesting, although that very well could have been the case depending on how the election might have gone.
I have no problem with her being willing to negotiate with McGuinty. What bothers me is how cheaply she sold her support, especially when she was negotiating from a position of relative strength compared to McGuinty. As soon as Hudak declared his intention to vote against the budget she had clout. Almost immediately she undermined her bargaining power by making it quite clear she had no stomach for triggering another election.
Things do not look good.
Maybe the budget deal Andrea cut will help the province's finances
S&P puts Ontario on negative credit watch
http://business.financialpost.com/2012/04/25/sp-cuts-ontario-credit-outl...