Ontario Political Junkies: What's the story?

[danaeris]

By 6 p.m. Friday I need to come up with a cool story idea to pitch to my prof regarding the Ontario provincial election. I will actually have to write the story in question.

So, what do you think is interesting or unusual about this election? What has received little press yet is, in your opinion, important, relevant, or timely?

Talk to me, baby.

iclysdale, I know you for one are out there.

Send any friends who are Ontario political junkies to this post as well. :)

Comments

[wiseacre.livejournal.com]

I think the MMP referendum is still rather underplayed, probably because it's complex and not well suited to soundbites. Relevant questions: Does it have a hope in hell of passing? What did the committee look at and dismiss as other methods of reform? What happens if it fails? That last question intrigues me. I want reform but I'm not sure this is the best option but I think I will vote for it just because I think if it is defeated that will be used to argue Ontarians do not want reform.

[90pointmetaphor.livejournal.com]

I'd agree with you on that. A lot of people I know are still terribly uninformed about the referendum (or don't even know that it's going on), and all the official Elections Ontario materials sound like they're written for 8 year olds.

I'd definitely agree that this isn't the best form of electoral reform for Ontario, but it's far far better than what we've got now. (For example, I think list seats should be split into 2 or 3 regional lists rather than just one provincial one.)

Danae, you could write about how the referendum requires a "super majority" to pass - a majority of the vote in 60% of ridings and 60% of the overall popular vote (where by comparison, Québec would have left Canada - and Newfoundland did join - in referendums based on a simple majority). I've seen virtually nothing on that topic.

[futabachan.livejournal.com]

There hasn't been nearly enough coverage of the MMP referendum. I love the concept in principle, but worry about it pushing too much power into the hands of parties and party leaders; where else has this been tried, and how did it work out?

[iclysdale.livejournal.com]

Well, as wiseacre points out -- there's always the MMP referendum, where, as polls show, 88% of voters have little or no knowledge of the proposed electoral reform system.

There's the growing phenomenon of the Greens as a fourth party, and how the media completely continues to ignore that - mainstream coverage continues to be focused on the "three leaders".

There's the way that this continued ridiculous farce over the funding of religious schools is obscuring the actual problems involved with providing stable funding to public schools, and making them the kinds of places that people want to send their kids to. Bonus points for exploring the issue of funding alternative educational systems, such as Montessori.

There's the open question of why the Liberals are managing to get away with attacking the Conservatives on the grounds that they would "privatize Ontario", when in fact McGuinty has been driving privatization at breakneck speed this election -- privatizing hospital operations at a rapid speed, including a rubber stamp last week on an ER in Cambridge being run by a private company.

By the way, I'm going to be in Toronto from the 11th to the 20th -- I'm going to be working really busy, and on an unknown schedule, but I'd love to see you at some point in there. Is your number still the same? If so, I'll give you a shout when I have slightly more of an idea what's going on.

[danaeris.livejournal.com]

I would LOVE to see you. Things are likely to be crazy for me as well, but hopefully we can sync up. My number is still the same.

[kallisti.livejournal.com]

I would have to add a "ditto" about the electoral reform referendum. Not only do people not understand it, and I'm not sure even *I* understand it, but there has been almost zero coverage in the media.

ttyl

[secretsoflife.livejournal.com]

*coughs*facebook as a tool in the election*coughs*

:)

[avt-tor.livejournal.com]

The referendum isn't getting coverage because the parties aren't talking about it. The parties aren't talking about it because they don't like it, but the voters do, and the parties know if they say anything, they'll lose support. The parties don't like it because it will shift (some) power and seats in the legislature away from the large traditional parties to new groups like the Green Party. From what I've seen, the referendum is likely to pass, and the parties don't want to be on the wrong end of that.

I think the interesting thing that happened in the campaign is that John Tory lost support because he admitted his mistake. Politicians can be wrong, but they should never look like they don't know what they are doing. The "leadership" question is taking precedence over the substantive issues.

I also believe the electorate is much more concerned about the environment than they were before, and that thanks to Stephen Harper backing away from Kyoto, the Conservatives are much less credible on environmental issues than they used to be (under Mulroney, for example). All of Harper's propaganda blather about taking action is just pissing people off. Liberals don't have to say a word about the environment; people trust that a moderate government will follow the scientific consensus.

The economy is also affecting people. The provincial Tories left office with a $5 billion deficit, which reduces their credibility. The federal Tories criticized the Liberals for years for having surpluses during a period of growth, and then ended up doing exactly what they criticized the Liberals for, which further reduces Conservative credibility on economic issues.

Dalton McGuinty isn't much of a leader, but he doesn't have to be. He just has to not be an idiot, and so far he's managing that. It's kind of interesting watching the Conservatives annoy the voters. Canadians, especially in Ontario, don't like the Harper/Bush style of no compromise. Humility goes a long way (and that was always Chretien's strength). Funny thing is that Tory does show humility; he would do a lot better in Ontario if the federal Conservatives had a nicer leader.