compare party platforms. easily.

You want a job? I want a job! Hopefully we don't want the same job, or else one of us is going to be unemployed :(

No, that was a poor joke; but job creation is a major policy area being explored in each party's platform. All the parties have the overarching goal of keeping everyone employed, at a decent wage, but the mechanisms they use differ between parties. Should we hire more underutilized immigrants? Should we cut corporate taxes so they can expand their business and hire more employees? or should we hire more bureaucrats to help promote small business on a national and global scale?

The Globe and Mail has compiled party's Provincial platforms for specific policy areas. It is nice to see all the headlining grabbing proposals all in one place. It is limited in scope and there is no way to tell what was left out without actually reading their platforms in their entirety. But who cares? It is so easy to use! Below I have copied the policy proposals regarding Job Creation.

Ontario Liberal Party

-Create a tax credit for businesses that hire skilled newcomers

-Double the premier’s trade missions to eight, to help businesses access new markets

-Make the Northern Ontario Heritage fund and Eastern Ontario Development funds permanent, as well as create a new Southwestern Ontario Economic Development Fund

-Move ahead with the Water Opportunities and Water Conservation Act to develop innovations in clean water technology, with the goal of of creating clean water jobs

-Reduce small business tax rates to 4 per cent

Ontario PC

-Create a tax credit for employers who sponsor language training for newcomers to Ontario

-Introduce a small business “bill of rights,” guaranteeing small businesses a greater voice in new legislations and regulations

-Appoint a minister responsible for eliminating red tape for business owners

-Create a Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, to assist farmers and small business owners

-Reduce the basic corporate income tax rate from 11.5 per cent to 10 per cent by 2013

-Create 200,000 new apprenticeships over four years for skilled tradespeople

Ontario New Democrats

-Create a 10 per cent tax credit for companies that invest in buildings, machinery and equipment in the province, and for companies who provide training for staff to upgrade their skills

-Create a new 'Job Creation Tax Credit' that would reimburse employers 20 per cent of wages for a new hire's first year, up to $5,000 per employee.

-Reduce the small business tax rate to 4 per cent

-Raise corporate tax rate back to 14 per cent, where it was in June of last year before the implementation of the HST

-Make it law for government contracts to be rewarded to Ontario companies

-Reject the London Stock Exchange’s takeover of the Toronto Stock Exchange

-Amend Ontario’s mining act to make it law that resources mined in Ontario must also be processed in Ontario 

Check out the rest of the policy areas and each parties stance, by clicking HERE

candidate meet'n' greet and other stuff

            On Thursday night, the CSA and Civic Engagement held a meet and greet with Guelph’s MPP candidates, in the Bullring. Candidates were on hand to speak about their platform, issues pertaining to students, and answer questions. After the meet and greet student representatives from each party addressed generic questions regarding major policy areas; education, environment, economy, energy, etc.

It is very exciting to see other students hushed and huddled around political candidates, discussing the direction of Ontario’s future.

            Aside from questions regarding each party’s platform; it was interesting to note the body language and demeanor of each candidate and the students who listened to them. The most obvious and interesting contrast is that of the Liberals and the Progressive Conservatives. Liberal Liz Sandals sat in an armchair encircled by students on couches, while PC Greg Schirk stood closely surrounded by students. When I stood listening to Mr. Schirk, the audience seemed tenser than with other candidates. I feel for him, he is up against a tough crowd. Guelph is a swing riding with a history of electing NDP,  Progressive Conservative and Liberal MPPs; but the university student body is more left leaning. Mr. Schirk handled himself very well when a student became slightly confrontational regarding Mr. Schirk’s use of the term “red-tape reduction”. In a casual style, he gave the student his business card and asked to set up a future conversation. Very classy.

            A consistent point of contention between the Liberals and Conservatives is the Green Energy Act. While some praise the act for “greening” the province’s energy sources, Conservatives claim the act has been responsible for raising the cost of energy in Ontario. I feel conflicted, as per usual, about the act. My understanding is that the Green Energy Act was sort of getting-ahead-of-itself. The essence of the Act was that the Liberal government would offer a subsidy to the construction of “green” energy projects and purchase energy from them at a grossly inflated rate.

            Ok, that sounds awesome, but it was apparently too successful. Now the government is locked into long term contracts, paying a premium for energy.

            Ok, that’s all fine and dandy; I understand that the investment helps the environment in the long term. The problem is this, as Liz Sandals explained: so many projects were built in rural areas and the existing grid infrastructure could not handle the power delivered from the subsidized projects.  As a result, we have a bunch of useless green energy projects sitting around, taking up space, and not adding power to the grid.

            Now let’s get back to reality; the Conservatives claim this project has been responsible for raising the energy costs. This may be partly true, but to what degree? Energy prices are constantly increasing; natural gas becomes harder to find, coal is more expensive to mine, and oil… don’t get me started on oil. The Green Energy Act may have under preformed its expectations, but not because it exorbitantly raised your electrical bill. When I asked Mr. Schirk about the act he said it was unfortunate that the government was locked into the contracts, and the project would not be sustainable in the future.

            The NDP’s James Gordon, Green’s Steve Dyck, and Communist Drew Garvie were also on hand, but due to lack of time I couldn’t listen to them in-depth. 

edumacation highlights.

This picture is totally unrelated to my post below. I just thought it captured so much raw emotion. It is a poverty advocate confronting McGuinty in 2007. Her immense finger waving abilities are superbly captured.

The Ontario Provincial election campaigns are well underway, with every leader touting how their platform is better than the others. Certain issues tend to galvanize the electorate more than others, bring about the ire of the party leaders, and garnish the most media attention. We always have the standard rhetoric of health care, education, security, employment, immigration, etc. But election campaigns and platforms may tend to emphasize certain issues more than others.

Here are some highlights

Education:

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals offering a 30% tuition cut for post-secondary students

Isn't this just fabulous? maybe. This is a huge and costly promise. Don't get me wrong, I think it is wonderful that education will become more accessible to a wider range of people, and the lessened debt burdens of students will allow them to better enter the workforce. But at the moment, there is a criticism that there are no jobs for people coming out of university. I mean... there are jobs, but people are underemployed. An educated workforce doesn't matter if there no jobs. McGuinty has framed himself as the "education" candidate. I feel the "economy" is a bigger issue at contention in this election, so maybe framing himself this early in the campaign will be a problem.

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals offering full day kindergarten by 2014... and Hudak's PCs offering the same thing...

The Liberals have been developing full day kindergarten programs for the past 2 years. During those 2 years, Tim Hudak complained about the program. But now... the Progressive Conservative platform wants to implement Full-Day-K, across the province. This shows that Tim Hudak is not a devout ideologue; he is a pragmatist that listens to polls (however delayed his response may be).

Hudak's PCs removing $30million of subsidies to foreign students and redirecting to OSAP funding

Policies like this are great because they make headlines, and maybe someone will derive the message, "Ohh isn't that great! Hudak prioritizes Canadians over foreigners". Well you must weigh the benefits and costs of giving grants to foreign students. Foreign students come to Canada with immense talents and contribute to knowledge creation. We give grants to foreign students because they are the best in the world, and fulfil roles that have not been filled by Canadian students. This does not mean that Canadian students were not given the chance.

A foreign student is a major bonus for Canada. We did not have to pay the cost of raising them, providing them with education, health care, etc, for the first couple decades of their life. Then they come here and research, study, contribute to knowledge creation, and will probably generate profits for someone down the road (hopefully they stay in Canada). Plussss, foreign students bring money from another country and spend it in Canada. Yipppeeeee!

Anyways, Hudak wants to use that money to expand OSAP.

party platform shoes.

Elections platforms are actually very similar to platform shoes. They both support people. The bigger a shoe's platform is, the harder time someone will have walking in them. But a bigger shoe platform makes it more stylish.

The bigger and more comprehensive a party's platform is, the harder time they will have living up to their promises and sticking to the schedule. But a bigger and more comprehensive election platform is more appealing to the masses (ie. more stylish)

Here's some links to the Party's Platforms. Read (skim), them over and see what you like or don't like. Make your own decision; we have enough distortion of platforms from the politicians themselves.

Dalton McGuinty's Liberal Platform

Tim Hudak's Progressive Conservative Platform

Andrea Horwath's NDP Platform

bike like a boss

Hop on a bike and join the fight against bicycle discrimination.

Guelph is a great city for commuting by bicycle. To work, to school, for groceries, for coffee; you can go by bicycle... Well for the most part. It depends where you live. Here's my take on cycling in Guelph; the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The Good:

Guelph has a positive outlook towards cyclists. This is due to many policies City Hall has put in place that either directly, or inadvertently, benefit the cyclist. Let's start with the ample green space. Guelph is covered with green corridors, parks, and trails, that allow a cyclist to stay away from major roads. Most of my bike commuting is done between the downtown core and Clair Road, and it is all readily accessible through parks and roads with bike lanes. On the rare chance I have an errand somewhere near Woodlawn, I am able to take the Royal Recreation Trail north to access the eastern section of Woodlawn (Wal-Mart, Riverside Park, Beer Store etc.), and that is without traveling a road where the speed limit is over 50km per hour!

If you look for the green patches connecting the subdivisions south of Wellington, you can avoid any road that might give you the heebeejeebies and still arrive at your destination on time.

Guelph has excellent resources for cyclists of all types and budgets. There are over 10 bike retailers in the city selling everything from $100 refurbished commuter bikes to $5000 carbon fibre rocket ships. The Bike Centre here at the university is open to everyone... for free. You can purchase discounted parts and use every bike tool imaginable... for free! It is run by the CSA and everyone is encouraged to bring their bike and learn about the basics of repair and maintenance.

Lastly, Guelph somehow manages to breed a collective consciousness that allows motorists and cyclists to co-exist... in most parts of the city. In my experience, motorist are very respectful of cyclists in Guelph. If you don't bike at night, downtown, on in the northwest part of town, you should be good.

The Bad:

The worst part about cycling in Guelph in the northwest. Silvercreek, Dawson, Imperial, Willow, Edinburgh. All these roads have no bike lanes, high speeds, pot holes and at least 4 lanes of traffic. Silvercreek is the worst; the vast parking lots cause several cars to enter and exit traffic, which is not comfortable for cycling. Woodlawn sucks as well; at all cost avoid Woodlawn if you are not comfortable with high speeds and trucks.

Avoid downtown at night. In fact avoid cycling at night anywhere that students live or are known to drink. I have been called names and pestered by many drunks when biking around guelph at night. Everything from, "Hey fagot on the bike!" to having a group of drunks create a human chain across the road, and grab my arm in an attempt to rip me off my bike as I passed. THIS HAS HAPPENED TWICE! All entirely unprovoked, I swear. I only have problems at night when drunk students walk home from parties looking for trouble. Other than that, biking at night is delightful. Downtown becomes more romantic at night, especially during the hot summer nights when patios are full of chatty locals. If you choose to bike at night, make sure your bike has a red light on the back and a white light on the front. I cannot stress this enough. It is a sinking feeling to be biking at night and hear a cars tires screech behind you. It happened to me once when I was riding without bike lights, exiting the university onto Stone rd. Also, be prepared for trouble. Make sure you are constantly looking ahead for people who might be ill intentioned. Be aware of people who might throw things, and cars that have high revving engines... I suggest carrying pepper spray, a whistle, and a cell phone for your protection; it can be that dangerous.

The Ugly:

I forgot I mentioned this section in the beginning. I think I listed it all under "bad".

Canada Post Strike

Guelph's MPP candidates

Hey all! So, election time is around the corner once again. The upcoming provincial election should be interesting to watch, considering the Federal Conservatives swept the nation to take a majority. Also, consider the Conservative influence that has already permeated the ranks of municipal government. Toronto's Mayor, Rob Ford, screams about fiscal conservancy and halting gravy trains until he is red in the face.

Will Guelph be able to resist the temptation of a Conservative MPP?

Here is the current selection of Guelph's candidates:

Liberal: Liz Sandals

Liz Sandals is Guelph-Wellington's current MPP. She has served Guelph since 2003, and is currently the parliamentary assistant to the Health Minister Deb Mathews. This is interesting to note because Guelph's city hall has been butting major heads with the province, in relation to a proposed health clinic.

Sandals also leads the governments Safe Schools Action Team. They recommend legislation regarding gender-based violence, homophobia, sexual harassment and inappropriate sexual behaviour in schools.

She is also really good at computers. Seriously, she used to teach computers here at Guelph.

NDP: James Gordon

James Gordon is a local songwriter/activist/play write/enemy of Nestle Canada. Currently, he is producing a play entitled, "Nastee Business". It is a social commentary on the role between activists and corporations. But don't take my word for it. Here is the website: www.jamesgordon.ca

Conservatives: To be Declared July 18th

Currently there are three candidates vying for the Conservative Party nomination in Guelph. Let's go through the list:

Rob Demille: Rob is 29 years old and sells insurance for State Farm. He is currently a member of the Property Standards Committee of Guelph. Yup, that definitely sounds like something a Conservative would want to volunteer their time towards.

Greg Shirk: Greg is a local business owner and certified metal mechanic. He used to own a glass company, Royal City Glass, and now works for PM Windows and Doors. He is involved in several glass related groups, such as the Siding and Window Dealer Association of Canada (or SAWDAC for short).

Bob Senechal: Bob is currently a senior accounts manager at a cleaning supply distribution company. He has been heavily involved in the Conservative Party, having served as the vice-president of the Conservative Riding Association in Guelph.

Green Party: Steve Dyck, president of Guelph Solar Mechanical and trained mediator, beat out former city counsellor Mike Salisbury for the Green nomination.

Steve Dyck. I think he resembles former Green MP candidate Mike Nagy, from the 2008 Federal election.