Author: Mark Winfield, Professor, Environmental and Urban Change, York University, Canada
Ontario Premier Doug Ford has justified his early election call on the need to respond to United States President Donald Trumpās threat to impose 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports.
While the threat of tariffs on all Canadian imports has been paused ā although Trump has since slapped levies on all steel and aluminum imports into the U.S. ā Ontario voters need to reflect more than ever on the provinceās circumstances and the performance of its government as they prepare to head to the polls next week.
The Ford governmentās approach to the environment and climate change, as well as its policies on a range of other issues like housing, health care and education, is best understood in the context of its overall āmarket populistā approach to governance.
Several defining features of this model have emerged over the past six and a half years under Fordās rule.
This is also true for federal, Liberals really need to figure out their new prime minister selection and fast. Like letās face it they are the only party rn that has a chance in beating the conservatives. The longer they spend without a public face advocating for a change the less voter turnout there will be. As for Ontario Bonnie Crombie or Marit Stiles needs to do like a press junket or something that way people that are not that tuned in to the election cycle will actually remember they have another option other then Ford.
The one thing I do is vote. Even if I donāt like the candidates, which this go around, I really donāt, itās a right that many people fought and died for and billions of people donāt have the right to.
Is it ideal? No. Not when politicians are just trust fund babies or career politicians.
However, I do feel that voting and as of late strategic voting is important.
Wynne sucked so we voted in Ford. Well, heās even worse. The premier of the province who secretly just wants to be mayor of Toronto.
Iād like to see ford gone. Itās not going to happen, so the best we can hope for is a government more represented with less power.
Fords running on a zero sum platform except for Trump bad. The other platforms arenāt much better.
The other issue is snap elections donāt allow for any party to actually get their facts out. They shouldnāt be allowed as theyāre just power grabs similar to the last provincial and federal elections. It shouldnāt be allowed.
Iād also really love a politician to have the bls to change the voting system. First past the post is a sham.
Honestly I donāt feel particularly inspired to vote for any candidate this election.
Iām leaning towards NDP, but the LPC are beating them and with the vote split my riding is leaning conservative.
I donāt like Crombieās campaign at all. Itās all attack little substance, and frankly they do need a costed platform.
This morning on the radio she said the conservatives donāt have one either and thatās so not the point and pathetic to me.
As if āwe wonāt go beyond the already low barā is who I want in power over my health and the education of my family. Thatās just asinine.
Do vote. Parties get funding related to the number of votes they get, so itās at least a little bit helpful for the future.
I always vote, Iām not attached to any party, so theyāve made things difficult for me this time.
Crombie met with Ford privately, he agreed to break up Peel and she agreed to run for the Liberal party leader
She promised to be just like him up until he went back on his plan to break up Peel
Why anyone would vote for her is beyond me
I told my partner last week, āI predict the lowest ever voter turnout, and a larger PC majority.ā Itās like the worse things get, the less people fight it.
Because people are driven to believe, by the real results, that voting isnāt nearly as impactful as advertised.
Whether or not what you are saying is literally true about the value of voting, you are certainly expressing the very feelings that our disenfranchised and disengaged electorate feel. But itās self-fulfilling. PC voters donāt feel that way. They never feel that way, even when they are certain to lose. I think that says something about why things go to shit so badly, so quickly.
Voting is literally the least you can do to have political influence in a democracy. In a lot of ways, it exists to alienate people from power by subtly discouraging them from seeking more direct and meaningful forms of political action. But itās also vital.
That last bit is why I think weāre likely to see further disengagement over time. Wide representative democracy might not simply have resulted from the suffering and organizing of labor. It might still be dependent on it. That is, maybe people have to organize as labor in order to get the representative democracy to really represent them with the right leaders and the right policies. Maybe the diminished labor action is the reason why it doesnāt represent us as much as it used to. Which then leads to disengagement. And so on.
Well, letās look at a case. The Ontario Teachers Union is a major political force. But somehow, it doesnāt go to improving affairs for Ontario teachers and certainly not for Ontario students. Rather, I think the bulk of their political influence comes in the form of their ungodly massive investment in BCE, which perverts their interests and essentially makes their interests the same as the incumbent ruling class. All our power somehow seems to get turned against us.
Edit: Excuse me, I misremembered. Itās the pension plan that invests in BCE. Not sure if my point stands.
Truth. Learn from us. If a 3rd of the county didnāt sit at home things could have been different.
Both two and a half parties at all levels of Canadian government serve only to protect and promote businesses. The liberals will support their business interests, the conservatives will support their own. Neither will measurably improve day to day life of Canadians, both will make it less tolerable, just in different ways.
A kid on a roof almost made more of a difference than every vote cast in the US.
edit: a word
Go ahead and give up your voice in your presently at least nominally democratic society then.
Thatās such bullshit. Voting is literally the LEAST YOU CAN DO to participate in democracy, not THE ONLY THING.
So do both.
What voice? Your/my choices are between lining the pockets of an ethnically and culturally diverse collection of rich people, or a collection of old, white, rich people.
So choose the ethnically diverse rich people.
We will be lucky if a third even vote. Progressives are wimps.
Consider maybe possibly potentiallyā¦ trying to engage the voters?
But we tried lying to them on TV AND online, what else can a politician do?
