ONT NDP Leader Andrea Horwath will become Premier of Ontario 2

Now that Kathleen Wynne has said she can live with some sort of cut to auto insurance rates, the NDP will have to come up with something else, which hopefully will be something more substantial and more central to NDP values.  Whatever one thinks of cheaper auto insurance, it's not an issue that will capture the imagination of the electorate, particularly those who consider themselves progressive (whatever that means). 

The party needs an issue that will define who we are and how we differ from Wynne's Liberals. Otherwise, it's back to the political wilderness for the ONDP, and that would be bad news for Ontario.  Perhaps poverty or the growth in the number of those employed in "precarious" labour would be good issues.  What say the other babblers?

It depends on whether the party wants to commit to focusing on people who have not voted in the past. The young and many marginalized people vote in far less numbers than the middle and upper classes. Running on programs that appeal to that demographic is risky since there is no guarantee that they will come out and vote. That is why the NDP in most provinces focus on citizens who are already voters.  That precludes emphasizing programs for the marginalized and leads to things like supporting auto insurance cuts. I have always thought it should be a winning strategy for the NDP but so far they haven't adopted it anywhere presumably because the party strategists think that it is safer to try and appeal to the middle class.

Hmm.  Passionate debate here.  Regarding auto insurance, I'm a cyclist, so I don't drive much, but I know people who do drive, and I like all of them (especially when they give me a lift to places I need to go). So, I support getting the government to lower the high insurance rates people pay in Ontario. So, I signed the petition linked below.

http://www.cutautorates.ca/

The petition states:

Quote:

Petition to the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.  Whereas Ontario has the highest average premiums in Canada, but has one of the lowest rates of accident deaths and injuries in the country,  Whereas it is unfair that drivers are not benefiting from safe driving and that our premiums keep going up, I call on the Liberal government to cut auto insurance premiums by 15%, saving the average Ontario driver $226 per year.

To me the petition seems fair, reasonable, and left-leaning in spirit.  Hopefully the NDP will be elected in the future and we can finally get public auto insurance.  In the meantime, I'm glad to see a move toward greater regulation of the private insurance companies from government (in the same vein that I'm looking to see even further regulation of the private banking industry in Canada).

My feeling is that Horwath has the same folksy charm and spirit that the late Peter Kormos had (Peter, coincidentally, supported Andrea during the ONDP leadership race that she won).  His advocacy of the underdog, his posing for the Sun as a Sunshine Boy, his relentless energy, all remind me of Andrea.  Her pushing for and actually getting an increase in taxes on the very wealthy (an almost unheard of political achievement!), her pushing for and getting an increase in social assistance rates with a Liberal government hell-bent on austerity and freezing these rates, her decrying the transfer of wealth that the simultaneous lowering of corporate taxes with the raising of flat taxes (aka consumption taxes) on essentials represented, her stance against user fees and flat taxes as a means to fund public transit and instead advocating proper progressive taxes and proper support from higher levels of gov't for better public transit, her protesting the massive subsidies of the nuclear industry that result in higher utility charges to the population as a whole and simultaneously advocating conservation and renewable energy as a better solution than nuclear, her standing with the teachers and unions in general regardless of public sentiment, her awesome shoes advertisement during the last election cheekily showing that she is the different choice from the other two, her serving pints to people in pubs during the last campaign while stopping to openly speak with anyone...  Yes, she has the same folksy charm and fully left-leaning commitment as either Kormos or Layton.  Layton, coincidentally, also decried flat taxes such as the carbon tax, preferring a polluter pay system like cap and trade.

   This is a tram in Montpelier, France.   It's a city of about 250,000 or so give or take.    I was there in 2008.   They now have FOUR tramlines.

Toronto is begging for money to do all the lines that are on the books.   Some of them will actually get built.

Mississauga has about three times the population as Montpelier, France and has one tramline planned but absolutely no way to finance it.

There should be plans in the works plus financing for systems like this in Halton, Peel, York and Durham Regions, Ottawa, Hamilton, London, Windsor and in the Niagara Region.

France is serious about public transit.   No political party in Ontario or the rest of Canada for that matter is serious at all.

It's time for that to change and a 15% cut in auto insurance rates is hardly a transportation policy.

Geoff wrote:

The party needs an issue that will define who we are and how we differ from Wynne's Liberals. Otherwise, it's back to the political wilderness for the ONDP, and that would be bad news for Ontario.  Perhaps poverty or the growth in the number of those employed in "precarious" labour would be good issues.  What say the other babblers?

The demands of the Raise the Rates Campaign would be my starting point:

- No cut to the Special Diet.

- Restore the Community Start Up and Maintenance Benefit

- No downloading of ODSP or forcing people with disabilities into poverty jobs

- Restore OW and ODSP rates to where they were in 1995 - A 56% increase is needed now

- End the freeze on the minimum wage. Set it at $14 and index it to inflation.

What does one thing have to do with another? People don't pay insurance premiums to the provincial government which then uses the money to pay for transit...they pay premiums to private for profit companies which pocket the money. It would be wonderful to have a dense network of door to door LRTs and BRTs etc.. connecting everyone to everything but its not an either or issue. People are being gouged by insurance companies TODAY. They get exorbitant bills TODAY. Government action can lower insuarnce rates TODAY (or if not today in the next couple of months). In contrast even with all the money and political will in the world, it would take at least 20 years before a European style dense network of public transit coudl be built...20 long years where people would have the worst of both worlds - exorbitant car insuarnce AND no useful public transit alternatives.

This debate reminds me of arguments about health care funding when some people say - why do we keep spending more momoney on doctors and hospitals when we should instead eliminate poverty so that everyone is healthier - fine in theory, but people are on six month waiting lists for certain kinds of surgery right now and a massively ambitious program to eliminate poverty AND to wait for everyone's health to imporve as a result of no longer being poor would take about 50 years!

Stockholm wrote:

What does one thing have to do with another? People don't pay insurance premiums to the provincial government which then uses the money to pay for transit...they pay premiums to private for profit companies which pocket the money.

I agree.  However, radiorahim seems to feel differently, so I thought I'd honour his argument with a question pertaining to it.  My guess is that in France auto insurance providers are not allowed to run roughshod over the populace.  According to radiorahim's argument, which surreally connects regulating insurance providers to provide fair rates with having a poor transportation policy, this (proper regulation of insurance providers to provide fair rates) in radiorahim's argument would lead to a poor transportation policy.  My guess is that looking into insurance rates in France would not lead to the conclusion that radiorahim is suggesting.  In fact, I'd say that governments who neglect regulation in any area generally would be more likely to also have poorer neglectful transportation policy.

kropotkin1951 wrote:

Quote:

Premiums

Insurance premiums are high in France – a reflection of the high accident rate, the large number of stolen and vandalised cars, and the high taxes (around 35 per cent) levied on car insurance.

http://www.justlanded.com/english/France/Articles/Travel-Leisure/Car-ins...

The issue in Ontario is that the rates are higher than other jurisdictions in Canada that have higher accident rates than Ontario.  Taxation of them is an interesting issue, though.

I did not raise the issue of France's auto insurance rates at all.

What I did raise is that in France governments of whatever political stripe have expanded public transit.  They see it as something that's important to do...such that a small city of 250,000 has four tram lines.

I am totally in favour of raising corporate taxes to pay for public transit.   It's one of "the revenue tools" that's at the government's disposal.

But I see no petition on the ONDP website calling for a raise in corporate taxes to pay for public transit...or anything else for that matter.   The only conclustion I can draw from that is that public transit and raising corporate taxes isn't a "priority".

Cutting auto insurance rates by 15% is the only aspect of transportation policy that is important to the ONDP...even though the ONDP had the "keys to the car" and could have implemented public auto insurance two decades ago. 

There have been two major reports released recently on precarious work in the province.   The most recent from the Law Commission of Ontario that calls for a major overhaul of the Employment Standards Act.    The other a study by McMaster University and the United Way released in February.

Where is the "going to the wall" over Ontario's abysmal employment standards legislation?    Where's the online petition?  

Anti-poverty and labour organizations launched a campaign a couple of weeks ago to "unfreeze" Ontario's $10.25 per hour minimum wage.   Where's the "holding the Liberals feet to the fire" on that one?     I did a quick news search on the ONDP and the minimum wage issue and do you know how many hits I found?  Zero.

The Horwath ONDP is a very different one than we had back in 2007.    The pre-Horwath ONDP thought that raising the minimum wage was important.

Andrea wasn't an MPP when Rae was boss and as such should not be blamed for that.

radiorahim wrote:

Cutting auto insurance rates by 15% is the only aspect of transportation policy that is important to the ONDP

I fail to see the connection between policy on public transportation and policy on ensuring fairness from private insurance brokers.  And as Stockholm mentioned the ONDP have plenty to say on public transportation.  I don't know why people get bent out of shape because the provincial NDP is advocating better regulation of insurance brokers or because the federal NDP advocates better regulation of banks (IE, controlling user fees).  Some people deride this as "populist".  I don't get it.  These seem like good things to advocate.

excellent article Edmund - thanks for posting it.

NDP delivers results for Ontarians

http://www.torontosun.com/2013/05/24/ndp-delivers-results-for-ontarians

If they haven't, why didn't these poor people go to Andrea who would have spoken up and lobbied on their behalf?

Don't they realize that the only reason the Liberals changed party leader was to save their political skin, so what you get is the same ole Liberal talk the talk, but NOT walk the talk. And of course all done with a little, or more accurately  with a large amount of help from the Liberal CBC and the Liberal Toronto Star. Games Liberals play, eh!

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1175643/did-premier-kathleen-wynne-break...

Before we get on board with this idea, let's make sure that the restrictions on donations have at least an equal impact on corporate donations as they have on union donations.  I always worry that we tie our own hands, leaving too many loopholes for business. 

That Andrea references the ban implemented by the federal Liberals is a bit disconcerting.  I never thought of Chretien and company as a good role model for the NDP on any issue.

Geoff wrote:

Before we get on board with this idea, let's make sure that the restrictions on donations have at least an equal impact on corporate donations as they have on union donations.  I always worry that we tie our own hands, leaving too many loopholes for business. 

That Andrea references the ban implemented by the federal Liberals is a bit disconcerting.  I never thought of Chretien and company as a good role model for the NDP on any issue.

janfromthebruce wrote:

Also of note is that Abacus was also commissioned by sun media to do this polling so it was not an NDP friendly pollster.

Maybe the angle is to force Conservatives to panic about Hudak and force him out.

theleftyinvestor wrote:

janfromthebruce wrote:

Also of note is that Abacus was also commissioned by sun media to do this polling so it was not an NDP friendly pollster.

 

Maybe the angle is to force Conservatives to panic about Hudak and force him out.

Not sure but I think that strategically it may not be a good move - if Hudak stepped down the Libs could well pull the plug sooner rather than the spring. Either way there isn't enough time for Cons to do this. And I don't think that is what is going on.

OMB: Unelected and unaccountable fourth branch of government

excerpt:

This is why I have introduced a private member’s bill at Queen’s Park to set Toronto free from the OMB and put local land use and planning policy back into the hands of a locally elected government. Planning appeals would still be heard, either by the courts or by a new municipal appeals body, should the city choose to establish one.

I hope that such changes will build momentum for further OMB reforms that will benefit all municipalities.

Totally agree with Rosario

The biggest myth about the OMB is that it is an appeals body, defending the rule of law from meddling politicians or NIMBY residents. If this were the whole story, the OMB would not be as controversial as it is.

Here’s what makes the OMB so unique: while the OMB does have adjudicative powers, like a court of appeal, it also has policy-making powers, like a government ministry. This is profoundly undemocratic.

snip

his may explain why the government has still not joined the Waterloo Region appeal, five months after it pledged to do so. A defeat would offer embarrassing proof that the government has bungled the OMB file.

This madness must end. The government must take immediate action to restore democratic accountability to planning policy in Ontario, and rein in once and for all the unelected and unaccountable OMB.

Rosario Marchese is the MPP for Trinity-Spadina riding in Toronto.

In rural areas, we couldn't control factory pig farms where the "run off" into the rivers, lakes and streams is polluting the water and making some areas near shore "unswimable".  Next, municipalities wanted to create wider set backs for industrial wind turbines but overruled by OMB. It's no surprise here that one sees an unelected body make decisions that effect the local populations and not a darn thing that can be done except change the law.

Horwath said last night on P&P there is no way she can "pull the plug" anytime soon.

Here's a different source:

Additionally, Hudak and the Progressive Conservatives are pushing for the New Democrats to support a non-confidence motion over the gas plants and the cost of their cancellation.

The New Democrats say the Tories’ push for such a motion is a stunt, as it is the Liberals who decide which motions and bills are voted upon.

"Mr. Hudak cannot force an election, I cannot force an election. Only Ms. Wynne can do that and if she decides to do that, then that’s her decision," NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said.

Hudak had a different take:

But Hudak told reporters that if the New Democrats back his call for such a motion, it will be "pretty hard" for the government not to call an election.

NorthReport wrote:

It's time for an election in Ontario - please pull the plug Andrea. After all, who is running things, you or the Liberal Toronto Star. 

Fall election in Ontario unlikely despite Hudak’s pleas for a vote over $1.1B gas plant fiascoOntario voters will not be going to the polls this year over the Liberals’ $1.1 billion gas plant debacle.

http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2013/10/09/hudak_urges_ndp_to_hel...

Understanding the goverance system in Ontario would be a good start NR: FYI, a non goverance motion can only come to fruitation until all 3 parties in the legislature agree. http://parliamentum.org/2013/05/23/the-confidence-convention-in-ontario-how-the-standing-orders-kept-the-wynne-government-in-power/

I'd much rather make sure that the Liberals wear this for a long long time. Oh, I much rather be ready to call a snap election.