Friday, May 2, 2014

It's election time in Ontario

The NDP is going to vote down the budget. The details are in an email Andrea Horwath sent out:

Email

Friends,

It is time for a change.

The Liberal budget is a mad dash to escape scandals by promising the moon and the stars.

The Liberals have wasted billions on scandals and waste, like the $1.1 billion cancellation of the gas plants.

It’s time they show some respect for people and their hard-earned money.

After ten years in power, the Liberals are desperate to promise everything they can. I’m not the kind of woman that believes those kinds of promises. I come from a simple place. Promising is good, but making good on promises is better.

This Liberal budget is not a solid plan. These are desperate moves from desperate people.

The Liberals are out of touch. This budget includes $2.5 billion in new, no-strings attached giveaways to the largest corporations. It does nothing to end the handouts to companies that ship jobs overseas.

Instead of cleaning up the mess in our electricity system and getting hydro rates under control, they want to drive up rates by selling our hydro system in a redo of the Conservatives’ privatization mistakes. The case for selling off public assets has not been made: it’s like burning the furniture to heat the house.

They have not acted on the priorities I hear about from families like jobs, hydro rates, making life more affordable, and making government more accountable.

They are unwilling to deliver on their promises. Last year they promised a Financial Accountability Officer. One year later, that office still sits empty. This budget has over 70 promises — just waiting to be broken.

Ontario New Democrats will not being voting for this budget.

It is time for a change. It is time for a government that stands up for middle class families. It is time for a government that makes sense.

Best,

Andrea Horwath
Leader, Ontario NDP

4 comments:

  1. Visions of NDP voting against Paul Martin, leaving us with Harper.

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    1. Except Paul Martin wasn't a centrist liberal. He was a fiscal conservative neo-liberal. In the 1990s, the Liberals vigorously opposed the Mulroney government. Then when they came to power in 1993, they became the Brian Mulroney party.

      Why should a left-leaning party be forced to prop up a right-leaning party? If the Liberals want votes and support they should have to earn it.

      Wynne was certainly moving back towards the center. But she didn't consult the NDP on the budget. I think the NDP should've kept the government going. But the reality is no party is entitled to its entitlements. All parties were engaged in saber rattling and deserve the blame.

      If Canada was a democracy, we wouldn't have these unstable minority governments. In the developed world, multi-party coalition governments are the norm and they normally serve out the entire term. There governments represent an actual majority of voters and parties are forced to work together for the greater good.

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    2. I think that the budget showed that the liberals WERE trying to earn it. And, tragically, it leaves the door open to heading back to the far right. The NDP had the ability to make amendments. The baby goes out with the bathwater, and that's going to suck big time.

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  2. Yeah, the pre-budget attack ads against the NDP where Wynne was walking into the camera dissing Horwath was really earning trust and cooperation.

    With our broken down voting system, there are no saints and there is no competent government; just politicians jockeying for power.

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