And the winners of the Ontario election are...
Last week I made a promise to my loyal readers. I pledged to write about “The Winners” of election ‘07. The task is not an easy one given that this story was due on Election Day at noon, but I've persevered and have managed to create a nicely balanced list.
The Winners
The Liberal Party. Winners because, barring a tsunami leveling the GTA (a man can dream, can't he?), the Libs will be ruling our provincial government with a majority for the next four years. Ontarians have to admire the skill with which the Liberal Party operates. I'm hard pressed to think of a political party in recent memory that has been able to overcome such a mediocre record of accomplishments. I'm still confused about what the party was able to campaign on, as far as evidence they've been doing a good job. Conventional political geek wisdom dictates that a party with a majority can create and enact whatever laws they want, theoretically creating a government of action. Imagine what's possible with the power to make money and spend it, not to mention the power to create laws which guarantee your rich supporters remain wealthy while the rest of the province, especially those outside the GTA and in rural areas, turns into a depopulated hinterland that would fit better into a post-apocalyptic movie.
The Libs have maintained political expediency in their actions: don't ruffle feathers, give MPPs a raise to keep them subdued (exception Peter Kormos), stage good photo ops and pay the PR people well. Keep the Premier in the GTA at all costs. Southern Ontario's rural ridings are a sea of PC blue and Northern Ontario has some frighteningly strong NDP roots, there's no need for Liberals to work in those ridings. They didn't go red. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Dalton McGuinty. There are no losers in Dalton's Ontario, just unfortunate people who haven't seen the Premier in their riding, ever. If you live in a rural riding, or a small town, or up North, or anywhere near Caledonia, you likely think the Premier exists exclusively in Toronto and on TV. And you'd be almost entirely correct, the Premier also spends a fair amount of time in Ottawa and Vaughn, which I'm told is not Toronto.
It's really hard to be a loser when you win elections. No one argues with success. Any leader who can speak about accountability, accomplishments and moving Ontario toward the future while sitting on a record of farcically broken promises deserves the respect of all us cynics out there, in a purely observational “How does he get away with it?” kinda way.
McGuinty should be very thankful for John Tory. Tory dropped a controversial issue in McGuinty's lap during the first weeks of the election. After that the election was essentially over. All he had to do was sit back and let Tory behead himself and the PC party. McGuinty picked a good time to keep his mouth shut, and for ducking the religious school funding issue he will be rewarded.
Anyone who voted. Elections are about voters. Despite my cynical view of politicians and political parties and our current system, we're really dealing with fine details in Ontario. On a global scale, we live extraordinarily privileged lives. So much so that we often take for granted small details like voting. Michelle Langlois, a writer and MMP activist, suggested to me that “A lot of people make an informed decision not to vote, whether it's because their vote is wasted because of our stupid system in which a party with a minority of votes gets a majority government, or whether because no matter who you vote for, not much changes.” A fair point. Odds are, however, that we're going to be stuck with our current electoral system. In that case not voting does nothing at all, not even supporting the party or local politician with which you agree most by giving them your vote. The votes are still counted.
Political parties pay attention to voting percentages. Many local candidates are genuinely concerned people, active in their ridings, and they don't necessarily deserve to be held totally accountable for the failings of our system or their party affiliation. Voting feels good even when you don't vote for the winner.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
The Winners
The Liberal Party. Winners because, barring a tsunami leveling the GTA (a man can dream, can't he?), the Libs will be ruling our provincial government with a majority for the next four years. Ontarians have to admire the skill with which the Liberal Party operates. I'm hard pressed to think of a political party in recent memory that has been able to overcome such a mediocre record of accomplishments. I'm still confused about what the party was able to campaign on, as far as evidence they've been doing a good job. Conventional political geek wisdom dictates that a party with a majority can create and enact whatever laws they want, theoretically creating a government of action. Imagine what's possible with the power to make money and spend it, not to mention the power to create laws which guarantee your rich supporters remain wealthy while the rest of the province, especially those outside the GTA and in rural areas, turns into a depopulated hinterland that would fit better into a post-apocalyptic movie.
The Libs have maintained political expediency in their actions: don't ruffle feathers, give MPPs a raise to keep them subdued (exception Peter Kormos), stage good photo ops and pay the PR people well. Keep the Premier in the GTA at all costs. Southern Ontario's rural ridings are a sea of PC blue and Northern Ontario has some frighteningly strong NDP roots, there's no need for Liberals to work in those ridings. They didn't go red. If it ain't broke don't fix it.
Dalton McGuinty. There are no losers in Dalton's Ontario, just unfortunate people who haven't seen the Premier in their riding, ever. If you live in a rural riding, or a small town, or up North, or anywhere near Caledonia, you likely think the Premier exists exclusively in Toronto and on TV. And you'd be almost entirely correct, the Premier also spends a fair amount of time in Ottawa and Vaughn, which I'm told is not Toronto.
It's really hard to be a loser when you win elections. No one argues with success. Any leader who can speak about accountability, accomplishments and moving Ontario toward the future while sitting on a record of farcically broken promises deserves the respect of all us cynics out there, in a purely observational “How does he get away with it?” kinda way.
McGuinty should be very thankful for John Tory. Tory dropped a controversial issue in McGuinty's lap during the first weeks of the election. After that the election was essentially over. All he had to do was sit back and let Tory behead himself and the PC party. McGuinty picked a good time to keep his mouth shut, and for ducking the religious school funding issue he will be rewarded.
Anyone who voted. Elections are about voters. Despite my cynical view of politicians and political parties and our current system, we're really dealing with fine details in Ontario. On a global scale, we live extraordinarily privileged lives. So much so that we often take for granted small details like voting. Michelle Langlois, a writer and MMP activist, suggested to me that “A lot of people make an informed decision not to vote, whether it's because their vote is wasted because of our stupid system in which a party with a minority of votes gets a majority government, or whether because no matter who you vote for, not much changes.” A fair point. Odds are, however, that we're going to be stuck with our current electoral system. In that case not voting does nothing at all, not even supporting the party or local politician with which you agree most by giving them your vote. The votes are still counted.
Political parties pay attention to voting percentages. Many local candidates are genuinely concerned people, active in their ridings, and they don't necessarily deserve to be held totally accountable for the failings of our system or their party affiliation. Voting feels good even when you don't vote for the winner.
Editorial opinions or comments expressed in this online edition of Interrobang newspaper reflect the views of the writer and are not those of the Interrobang or the Fanshawe Student Union. The Interrobang is published weekly by the Fanshawe Student Union at 1001 Fanshawe College Blvd., P.O. Box 7005, London, Ontario, N5Y 5R6 and distributed through the Fanshawe College community. Letters to the editor are welcome. All letters are subject to editing and should be emailed. All letters must be accompanied by contact information. Letters can also be submitted online by clicking here.
