Ontario NDP division overblown by Liberal media?

Liberal supporters are very concerned that progressive voters are not getting proper representation in Andrea Horwath’s NDP.

It’s touching to see them all verklempt despite supporting a party that hasn’t come remotely close to legislating anything progressive in 25 years.

But thankfully for these well-intentioned partisans, it’s all a false alarm according to Abacus Data.

It’s comforting to know they’ll no longer be kept awake all hours of the night fretting over the eminent death of the NDP.

Horwath very popular with NDP core voters. 72% have a positive impression http://t.co/4qFMfQStab #onpoli #voton #ondp

— Abacus Data (@abacusdataca) May 28, 2014

Immoral of the story

Anecdotal evidence is not real evidence.

And, oh yeah: it’s less “corrupt” trying to EARN votes than attempting to sleaze them.

Progressive-centrist NDP best for everyone

The Liberal and conservative parties put corporations and wealthy people first.

For example in Ontario, Kathleen Wynne is borrowing $2.4-billion every year for corporate tax cuts whose entire function is to fatten the stock portfolios of the well-off. Tim Hudak promises to raise these tax cuts to $6-billion a year.

Justin Trudeau supports Harper’s $14-billion a year in corporate tax cuts, even though Canada has the lowest corporate tax rate among all major economies.

Liberals to neo-liberals

The Liberal party was not always this way. In the post-WW2 era, they were Keynesian centrists.

But in 1993, when Canadians were sick and tired of Brian Mulroney, the Chretien Liberals came to power with big promises — jettisoned them all — and became the Brian Mulroney party.

They dumped John Keynes for Milton Friedman to become the Neo-Liberals.

Progressive-centrist NDP

Over the past decade, NDP leaders like Jack Layton, Tom Mulcair and Andrea Horwath have decided to expand the NDP tent to include centrist voters the Liberal party abandoned.

Although some NDP hard-liners are upset, the fact is — in a democracy — the NDP has to compromise one way or another.

If they represent social democrats only, the best they can hope for is to be the balance of power in some short-lived minority government.

Wynne balance-of-power

But how did things work out for the NDP working with the Wynne government?

She legislated three NDP policies in her 2013 budget, but later ditched them all.

Now she’s trying to out-left the NDP — with dozens of promises she has no means to pay for — to steal left-leaning votes and win a fake majority (her party missed by one seat in 2011.)

Wynne is using Chretien’s strategy which pundits call, “campaign from the left and govern from the right.”

Incremental progress

If the NDP takes control of what compromises they are willing to make, however, they can form the government and actually get something accomplished.

Hard-line social democrats are waiting for a revolution to come. But considering the pendulum is so far out on the right side, their policy ideas are considered too extreme to get democratic support.

The NDP’s goal, therefore, should be to compromise and achieve whatever is possible in the current political climate — and then change the political climate!

We need to move the pendulum back to the left. But it will take a lot more than wishful thinking. It will take strategy and a lot of hard work.

Tommy Douglas

Tommy Douglas knew all about hard work. He was fiscally responsible, running balanced budgets while premier of Saskatchewan.

Although he was the first premier to bring heath care to Canada in 1946, he had to compromise and settle for limited coverage. It took him 20 years of dedicated effort to bring universal health care to all Canadians.

Conclusion

In Canada (and the US,) the neo-con party comes to power and puts us in a deep hole with reckless tax cuts that primarily benefit the rich. Then the “liberal” party comes to power and cements them all in place.

This “starve the beast” see-saw is not only making life hard for average people, it's destroying the economy in the process.

The progressive-centrist NDP offers Canadians the only hope of real change from our current course of self-destruction.

But it won’t come easy. Like Tommy Douglas, it will take years of hard work to build a better country for ourselves and future generations.

A vote for Andrea is a vote for Hudak? Nonsense

This election I’ve heard a lot of rhetoric from Liberals attempting to weasel votes instead of earning them.

In fact, that’s why we have an election on our hands: Liberals feeling entitled to support they didn’t earn.

Instead of Wynne seeking support for her 2014 budget, she ran attack ads. Instead of delivering on her 2013 budget promises, she broke them. Instead of working with the NDP, she issued ultimatums.

Instead of giving Andrea Horwath something to believe in, Liberals expected her to abandon her principles and overlook years of corruption, waste and mismanagement.

Politicking

Now Liberals have the gall to say: a vote for Andrea Horwath is a vote for Tim Hudak. Not only is this sleazy rhetoric anti-democratic, nothing could be further from the truth.

Under our corrupt voting system First-Past-the-Post, a party only needs 40% of the vote to get 4 years of absolute power (instead of a 50% absolute majority in the developed world.)

But considering Hudak is on the right side of the political spectrum, that means he needs 40% of the right-leaning vote to win a majority — not the left.

Left votes don’t benefit Hudak

So whether a left-leaning person votes Liberal or NDP, it won’t benefit Hudak.

The real danger lies in the Liberal party alienating right-leaning voters — like Jeffrey Simpson — trying to out-left the NDP.

Since the Liberals are in the center, it’s their job to split the right-leaning vote and keep the neo-con party out of 40% majority territory.

Real Liberal agenda

The real reason the Liberals want left-leaning votes — the real reason Wynne forced this election in the first place — is so the Liberals could win their own fake majority.

In 2011, they missed a majority by one seat. This time around Wynne’s strategy is to squeeze out the NDP to win all the power.

Conclusion

Like Andrea, don’t be coerced into abandoning your principles to prop up a corrupt and regressive Liberal party that has made life hard for struggling families over the past 11 years. Vote with your conscience.

If you are a progressive voter, why vote for a party suddenly pretending to be the NDP when you can vote for the real thing?

Andrea is the real deal. Her platform is the most progressive. She has no reason to campaign from the left and govern from the right as Liberals are so fond of doing.

10 reasons why Andrea Horwath is more progressive than Wynne

Here are Andrea’s top ten progressive policies. Check out her fully-costed platform for yourself.

Don’t listen to Liberal smears and lies. They are trying to trick people into voting for them, instead of earning their votes.

1. $12/hr minimum wage indexed to inflation

2. Home care for seniors (in 2013 budget but abandoned by Wynne)

3. Dental care for low-income kids

4. Invest in re-training programs for workers over the age of 55

5. Post-secondary tuition freeze

6. 0% interest on student loans

7. Day care: invest in safe and affordable childcare spaces

8. Eliminate HST on hydro and debt retirement charge (low- and middle-income families are getting gouged by endless Liberal hikes: 160% counting)

9. Help families install solar panels and make energy efficient retrofits

10. Reduce auto insurance rates by 15% (in 2013 budget but abandoned by Wynne)

Anyone who claims this kind of platform is a right-wing Margaret Thatcher platform is an outright liar. Anyone who claims this platform is to the right of Wynne’s platform doesn’t know what they are talking about.

If you want real progressive policies, Andrea is the only choice. Wynne has lied before about delivering on progressive policies. Clearly she won’t become suddenly honest by weaseling 4-years of absolute corrupt power.

Andrea’s platform: progressive, liberal, real

I’m surprised by lack of rational debate going on this election. Liberal attacks against Andrea Horwath are all smears and lies.

Mudslinging

Liberals chided Andrea for waiting until last Thursday to put out her platform — yet Wynne waited until today to put out her platform!

They claim Andrea is a right-wing Thatcherite. But Andrea will cancel neo-Liberal trickle-down corporate tax cuts for the rich, costing $2.4-billion a year.

The say Andrea is copying the Liberal’s “NDP” budget — as if that makes any sense.

But instead of wasting time with Wynne’s budget that piles empty promises on top of broken ones — which Wynne has no way of paying for — Andrea decided to put a serious budget to the people and let them decide.

What’s wrong with democracy?

Why are Liberals so vehemently opposed to the democratic process? Obviously they believe they are entitled to power. They are not.

So let’s dispense with the nonsense and take a look at some highlights from Andrea’s progressive, fully-costed platform that will eliminate the deficit by fiscal year 2017-18.

Health care

• 24 hour Family Health clinics

• Reduce ER wait times in half using program proven to work

• Home care for seniors (in 2013 budget but abandoned by Wynne)

• Attract doctors to underserviced areas with student debt forgiveness program

Children

• Dental care for low-income kids

• Fund to prevent school closures and extend after-hours programs

• Nutrition program provide nutritious breakfasts and lunches

• Day care: invest in safe and affordable childcare spaces

Affordability

• Eliminate HST on hydro and debt retirement charge (low- and middle-income families are getting gouged by endless Liberal hikes: 160% counting.)

• Post-secondary tuition freeze

• 0% interest on student loans

• Reduce auto insurance rates by 15% (in 2013 budget but abandoned by Wynne)

Accountability

• Save $600-million eliminating bureaucratic waste (Liberals plan $3-billion cuts to spending)

• Appoint a Financial Accountability Office (in 2013 budget but abandoned by Wynne)

• Cancel Liberal corporate tax cuts & close tax loopholes

• Reduce hydro costs by merging 4 hydro agencies

• Tougher rules on government partisan advertising

Environment

• Help families install solar panels and make energy efficient retrofits

• $29-billion transit fund

• Prioritize high impact transit projects

• Conduct an Environmental Assessment of pipeline projects that impact our communities

Jobs

• $12/hr minimum wage indexed to inflation

• Invest in re-training programs for workers over the age of 55

• Job Creation Tax Credit

• Ring of Fire infrastructure and promote revenue-sharing with First Nations

• Attract manufacturing jobs by providing incentives for upgrades and expansions

Conclusion

There are a lot of progressive policies here. There are a lot of policies here that will make life affordable for struggling families. There are a lot of good job creation policies.

And best of all, there is no Liberal scheming: no campaigning from the left to win all the power then govern from the right. Andrea is the real deal.

Andrea will wait until the 2015 federal election before proceeding on the pension file, like all other provinces are doing. Wynne’s half-baked pension plan will gouge low-income earners according to Maclean’s: forcing them to pay for benefits they won’t receive.

Trudeau and Wynne: big on corporate tax cuts

Justin Trudeau has thrown his support behind Kathleen Wynne in the 2014 Ontario election. One thing both have in common: a love for corporate tax cuts.

Unlike Michael Ignatieff, Trudeau fully supports Harper’s $14 billion a year in corporate tax cuts.

Unlike Andrea Horwath, Wynne fully supports Dalton McGuinty’s $2.4-billion a year in corporate tax cuts.

(Who knows, if Wynne wins her coveted majority, she might cut them another $1-billion a year as McGuinty planned before losing his majority.)

Despite Liberal attempts to smear Andrea as “right-wing”, the fact is she’s the only leader who vows to cancel the Liberal corporate tax cuts.

Who benefits?

The idea that corporate tax cuts “create jobs” has been thoroughly debunked. In fact, corporate taxes are so low in Canada, we have the lowest corporate tax rate of all major economies according to KPMG.

Since they don’t create jobs or benefit society in any way, shape or form, why are right-leaning Liberals and conservatives so hot and heavy for this corporate welfare?

One word: portfolio. If you possess a lot of assets in stocks, corporate tax cuts will increase profits, raise share value and beef up your portfolio.

Conclusion

If you’re an average hardworking Canadian, you’ll just have to pray you’ll win the lottery so you can take advantage of these tax cuts for the wealthy.

If you are not so fortunate, you take comfort, that in the service of your country, you are paying a bigger share of taxes from an exploding income tax burden.

Now what was Justin Trudeau saying about there being two types of people: the middle class and those who live off their assets?

When Liberals fail: blame the NDP

Whenever the Liberal party fails at something — whether the federal Liberals, Ontario Liberals, etc. — one thing you can be rest assured of: they’ll blame the NDP.

Martin

When the Paul Martin government fell in 2006 which led to Harper to winning the election and forming the government: it was all Jack Layton’s fault.

Never mind the Liberals were in power for 13 years and broke promise after promise. Never mind they deceived voters by campaigning from the left and governing from the right. Never mind they were embroiled in Ad Scam corruption.

If you were to believe partisan Liberals, it’s the NDP’s job to give them unconditional support. Paul Martin didn’t lose a democratic election to Stephen Harper — the NDP was somehow responsible!

Dion

When the federal Liberals elected Stephane Dion as their “leader” — a hapless man who spoke poor English and French — that was the NDP’s fault. When Harper pounded him into the dirt with attack ads, it was the NDP’s doing. When Dion inevitably lost big to Harper — all on the NDP.

Ignatieff

When the federal Liberals crowned Michael Ignatieff leader without a leadership race, that was the NDP’s error.

When Ignatieff rejected the Liberal-NDP coalition that would’ve ousted Harper in 2008 — believing he would do better by winning the next election — all the NDP’s fault.

When Harper ran disgusting attack ads claiming Iggy was a self-serving American blue blood, it wasn’t his responsibility to fight back and prevent Harper from defining him in the media. That was the NDP’s job!

When Ignatieff led the Liberals to their biggest defeat in history — one acronym says it all: NDP!

Ontario election

Now we hear the same Liberal sniveling in the 2014 Ontario election.

In 2013, Kathleen Wynne — newly elected leader of the Liberal party — worked with NDP leader Andrea Horwath to put together a budget. But Wynne decided to ditch all three NDP policies: home care for seniors, 15% auto insurance discount and a financial accountability office.

In 2014, Wynne piled empty promises on top of broken ones — without any means to pay for them.

Instead of seeking support for her budget — which is required in a minority situation — she ran attack ads! She actually began campaigning for the election a month before releasing her self-sabotaged budget, running TV ads that bypassed her own campaign blackout law.

Of course, this was all Horwath’s doing. Clearly Andrea’s job as NDP leader is to overlook broken promises, attack ads and billions of dollars in corruption and waste — giving blind support for a budget that Wynne, herself, didn’t take seriously.

Now if Wynne loses the election — letting Hudak get a 40% majority by alienating right-leaning voters trying to out-NDP the NDP — you can bet Liberals will whine and cry: the NDP did it!

Conclusion

When a person always blames everyone else for their problems and failures, what do people typically think of that person? They think they’re pathetic.

It’s certainly no different when a political party does the same thing — especially in a shallow attempt to weasel votes — or a majority government — they haven’t earned. If anything, it’s even more pitiful.

Here’s some advice for free-riding Liberals who abandoned centrist liberal principles for raw power decades ago: you are not entitled to your entitlements. Votes and power are EARNED. Nobody owes you anything.

It’s time to start taking responsibility for your lies, your corruption and your failures.