I don't want to say I called it, but...


Good luck to you all. Say what you will about people who voted for clowns like Ford, his brother, trump, etc, but I think it says more about the lack of any real viable alternative candidates then anything else. Libs and NDP should be hanging their heads in outright shame right now.

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Long Chile was a silly place.

Not sure if it's viable candidates or policy, I talked to some people at work and they all wanted to vote NDP but didn't want sanctuary for illegals so either voted green or PC.

Well now the fat man has to sing so let's see if he can carry a note.

Very surprised that Ontario elected their own version of Donald Trump. I suspect a lot of voter remorse in four years, but my conscious is clear. There's no way that Doug can deliver on all his buck a beer promises. I predict lots of chaos in the next four years. If anything its going to be a bonus for Trudeau and the Libs in the 2019 federal election as traditionally Ontario usually votes opposite provincially vs federally..

I don't think so in nursing. We need all the front line nurses we can get. There were not any great choices in this election. I think we need to trim size of gov't but in an intelligent way. Don't think any of the leaders has a vision of how to do that. If we don't get our fiscal house in order and reform healthcare we will be in big trouble in 10-20 years I think. By that time likely your wife will be retired. But you will need healthcare.

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They constantly try to escape from the darkness outside and within
Dreaming of systems so perfect that no one will need to be good T.S. Eliot

You should find nicer people to work with.

I'll give you cruel Canadians ten years to get civilized.

That is my retirement plan anyway.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

I voted for my local PC candidate.

Did I want Doug Ford? Hell no. But I figured that an NDP government would do far more damage.

Ford will just be an embarrassment. The NDP would have crippled us for years.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I voted for my local PC candidate.


That's the biggest difference in our elections, we don't vote directly for the Premier or PM. I also voted for my local PC leader and was hoping for a minority government but have to hope that there are enough good people around Ford to help him. As long as he doesn't start acting like King Trump we should be fine.


Did I want Doug Ford? Hell no. But I figured that an NDP government would do far more damage.


I could never vote NDP and it's not because of Horwath or any person, it's simply because their entire platform is based on the idea that government is the answer to every problem and the more the better. It just goes against everything I believe. I would have support another term for Wynne over the NDP.

I was also hoping for a minority. We’ll see how this goes.

As I said, I don’t think it will go well. But the NDP wanted to spend way too much money and then tax the shit out of us. I wasn’t down with that.

And the Libs has no chance to win another term with Wynne as their leader.

I expect her to resign today. *edit* I see that she has already resigned. Good.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

disappointed but ultimately not surprised, i think. i lived in toronto for some of rob+doug's municpal term, and got repeated lessons in how stupid and mean a large chunk of the electorate is. even at his absolute worst, rob could count on 1 in every 3 or 4 people supporting him.

second, and i hope i'm wrong on this, but i suspect there might be a lot of people feeling pangs of regret when the face-eating leopards start eating their faces too. when rob and doug where in office they ended up doing very little for the constituency they made their base - the 'little guy.' so it's all well and good to say "i don't like ford but i voted for him because the libs/ndp are bad," but you may be regretting that choice.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I probably will regret that choice. However, I know the NDP would be far worse.

How I viewed the election:

I can't tolerate an NDP government.

My options:

Vote Liberal and watch my candidate get slaughtered.
Vote PC, Possibly stop the NDP but probably be embarrassed by the leader for the next several years.

What I could not stomach:

NDP winning, spending like crazy and taxing the shit out of us.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

my wild-assed guess is that under Ford the conservatives will also spend like sailors, but also strangle revenue. they'll do some can-kicking and creative math for a while ("i saved the city a billion dollars!") but leave the province in a bad place in 5 or 10 years. if ontario truly needed careful belt-tightening, doug ford isn't the guy to do it.

again, i hope i'm wrong here.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

You are probably right.

I picked my poison. I am hopeful this poison is less harmful than the alternative would have been.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

my wild-assed guess is that under Ford the conservatives will also spend like sailors, but also strangle revenue. they'll do some can-kicking and creative math for a while ("i saved the city a billion dollars!") but leave the province in a bad place in 5 or 10 years. if ontario truly needed careful belt-tightening, doug ford isn't the guy to do it.



The best I am hoping for is that Ford surrounds himself with good people. It is a risky time for Ontario with the NAFTA agreements and an economy that will likely slow down.

I think that we will soon hear that the finances in Ontario "are far worse than anyone knew" which is something you hear from every new government so that they can justify not living up to their pre-election promised goodies. I think Ford will cut more than he admitted (didn't want to fall into the Tim Hudak trap) and blame the financial problems so that could be a good thing if he is careful about it.



I just hope they reduce some of the business regulations and at least make a dint in the ever-expanding size of government. I'm not asking for a lot and don't expect it but with the ageing population and more and more being asked from individual and business taxpayers, something had to change.

 I understand the two ends of the political spectrum. And I completely understand why people choose to vote for a government that claim they will spend responsibly.

However I consistently see the blanket statement from many who simply say “I could never vote NDP”. This seems to be based in some idea that the NDP will spend us into oblivion, and raise taxes to some ridiculous level.

I would simply encourage people that hold this view, to take some time to actually confirm that it is true.

There are numerous examples of western NDP governments ruling in a fiscally responsible way with good economic success. There are also many examples of conservative and liberal governments spending in an entirely irresponsible fashion. In recent times both federal and provincial Liberals have spent as wildly as the myth of the NDP.

I understand there are many philosophical reasons that keep people on opposite ends of the spectrum, and I respect those to some degree. However, I think it does democracy in Canada a disservice to simply let the myth that the NDP is irresponsible, can’t manage a budget, and is anti-business and anti-rich people run unchecked.

Knowing everything we know about the Rob and Doug show in Toronto, I do find it surprising that someone could choose to take a risk on more of that, along with an absolutely uncosted, vague and unrealistic platform, but the “risk” of voting NDP is an absolute no.

NDP was given the keys to the province once in my lifetime. Never again.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I could say the same for Harris.

What exactly did Rae do that was so bad? Rae days vs all of harris’ layoffs?

You seem to be just saying a mantra. I would love to understand exactly what Rae did that was so much more offensive than any other pc or lib government?

That is my challenge to ndp haters - actually analyze your visceral reaction against them.

It just seems to be taken as mfact that the ndp is the devil.


I get it, I work on Bay Street, I get hit with every form of new tax, I hear every entrepreneur complain about minimum wage, I understand why people wanted “change” but I just can’t understand the blind hate for the ndp. I don’t mind informed hate, it is uninformed hate I question.

This is a somewhat partisan article, but it shows the double standard that I think is very destructive to Ontario politics.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/...ario/article1314254/

Well the PCs won the ugliest dog contest yesterday. I will admit that I plugged my nose and voted for my local PC candidate. I don't agree with the NDP's philosophy of the role of government and could not give the Liberals an endorsement of the McGuinty/Wynne scandals.

I am by no means a fan of Doug Ford, but I think the comparison to Trump is unfair as he did not run the same type of xenophobic campaign.

Personally, I don't mind if he breaks his election promise to cut taxes. The PCs need to focus on fiscal responsibility and balancing the budget. Now that they have been elected the smoke and mirrors of promising to find "efficiencies" in the system won't cut it. If interest rates rise (which is predicted to happen during Ford's term), then the cost of servicing the $300+ billion debt is going to be a huge challenge.

Yes very partisan
It is no coincidence that you work on Bay street
And can well afford tax increases
What you are missing is that ordinary folks are hurting
Noticed NDP seats are in a lot of wealtny areas
Waterfront Toronto, downtwn Ottawa
That apart most people do not want to be a San tuary province
Are tired of useless windmill s
n
NDP is Wynne X2
People were not happy with Wynne
Just in case you missed this

agreed - it's frustrating and bizarre.

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https://lshtm.academia.edu/MikeCallaghan

http://howtobeswiss.blogspot.ch/

I always thought Mike "slash and burn" Harris was just as bad.

He definitely went too far.

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How does Danny Hart sit down with balls that big?

I think that we will soon hear that the finances in Ontario "are far worse than anyone knew" which is something you hear from every new government so that they can justify not living up to their pre-election promised goodies. I think Ford will cut more than he admitted (didn't want to fall into the Tim Hudak trap) and blame the financial problems so that could be a good thing if he is careful about it.


First things first - Doug Ford is Premier and the PC's won. What's done is done and we need to move forward.

That being said, I expect it to be a rocky rowdy and chaotic 4-years.

Doug. with all he promised on the campaign trail has backed himself into a tricky corner, there is NO WAY he can do all he SAID he's going to do. There are NOT $6billion to $8billion in "effciencies" to be found. I'm sure they will find some, but no way near that number.

There will be whole swaths of people that voted PC and supported Doug, that will be dispointed - soon and quickly I'm guessing.

It's up to Doug now to somehow demonstrate that he past behaviour and actions, and the incompetence, incoherence, chaos, and dishonesty, have given way to rationality common sense, transparency and sound governance. This is not Deco labels. It's not the city of Toronto. The Province of Ontario is the 17th largest economy in the world!

It's also clear we are heading into some very uncertain times. The strong upward economic cycle we've been in for a number of years may be peaking. Real Estate prices in the GTA are down substantially. Again with the GTA - traffic congestion (already some of the worst in all of North America), will continue to get worse and worse. Interest rates will continue to go up. Demands on major government systems such as healthcare, are going to get higher and higher, due to population demographics. People's personal debt is at an all time high!

From tell-tale hints, Doug seems to be telegraphing that he wants to do a "Mike Harris" - Doug's father was a back-bencher in the PC government of the day - so not a total surprise. But the current economic and fiscal situation the province find's itself in today is dramatically different than when Mike Harris took over in 1995!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

When you consider the oddball circumstances in which Doug has been elected ( a lot of his voters held their noses and hoped he didn't get a majority) its not inconceivable he can easily be a one and done if he pulls a Mike Harris.

I've worked for 2 different government agencies and I honestly believe that there are that many "efficiencies" to be found. The was is awful.

But you're right, they'll never come anywhere near that number. Rob Ford didn't find his "efficiencies" either.

I've worked for 2 different government agencies and I honestly believe that there are that many "efficiencies" to be found. The was is awful.



There are easily that many inefficiencies but to solve them you have to have massive layoffs and that is political suicide even if it is the best thing to do.

I agree. The easiest (as in most accepted) solution would be to implement them over time as people retire etc. but that never seems to happen. It takes a lot of political will, and you're right it would be political suicide.

It takes a lot of political will, and you're right it would be political suicide.


Doug ranted and raved at the Liberals financial miss-management of the province, and there was some merit to that. But what Doug said on the campaign trail about what he would do was very vague. If you added up, all the things he said he was going to do, and assuming he won't find $6billion - $8billion in "effciencies" (which he won't), then Doug is projected to run a GREATER DEFICIT than the Liberals & NDP were planning. So it's all mumbo-jumbo.

He's said "not one job will be cut" - so he's backed himself into a bit of a tricky corner. Of course the cop-out will be, "we did not know the books were that bad. Sorry - we'll have to cut jobs now". Expect all hell to break loose at that point!

Many Ford supporters will be rightly pissed off. The Public Sectors unions will dig in for a battle. It was all so predictable - because again, there is NO WAY Doug is finding all those "efficiencies" - that's all a bit of a con!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog