US Presidential Election: What you need to before you vote, Canadian style.

Official photographic portrait of US President Barack Obama

As a follower of Canadian politics it’s easy to look at what is going on south of the border and be amazed at the pomp and circumstance that surrounds the election of the US President. 

To be honest, it never seems to stop.  Once the election is over there is intense review and scrutiny of the new president and the former challenger and that occurs daily, right through milestones like “First 100 Days in Office”  to “First year as President” and continues through the halfway term as President and then it all starts all over again as the leaders gear up for a 2-year run to see who is going to run the country for another 4 years.

During this time you will see and hear opinions and endorsements from news stations, other politicians, celebrities and talk show hots, to name a few.  If you’re a democrat, you detest republicans and if you’re a republican, you loathe democrats.  It’s so clear, and so in your face that it’s almost like a scripted affair. 

So if you find yourself today, the day of the election, still undecided then you should understand that it’s okay.  You clearly do not fit into the mold of being either a typical Republican or a Democrat and while it’s wonderful to be open-minded and see things from both sides, it really sucks that you need to make that choice on who to vote for.

Would it not have made your choice so much easier if a politician came out and said something like’ Don’t vote for this guy because his policies don’t make sense because of this (insert actual proof here) or, don’t vote for this guy because he hates kittens.  Right now, in Canada and in the US, the leaders are so polished and they say nothing.  As a result, especially in the US, news media have to track down and interview other party representatives and hope that they say something controversial, not along party lines, or how they actually see something, in order to have something substantial to report on.  The leaders of course, distance themselves from those who made the comments – usually asking them to resign – which starts in motion the typical and expected damage control where the other party concludes that the whole party feels that way and are hiding it, while the party in damage control explain away the comment as if it were uttered by a crazy person.  

We also used to vote based on the way the leaders acted – and looked – during debates.  We cannot do that nowadays because both parties play the debates so well, it’s become a wasted exercise.

So you’re undecided and have to vote.  Here is what you need to know;

President Obama is black.  Awesome.  But that was so 4-years ago.  He’s still black and last time I checked that had absolutely nothing to do with his ability to run a country.  He’s an educated human being, the first black president in the history of the United States and a Democrat.   He’s also been the president during a horrible global recession, so you cannot judge his record on the economy, because it’s not like here in Canada where after all the meltdowns, Canada was seen as the leading country heading out of the recession.  To many, what happened in Canada was expected given that the Prime Minister is a Conservative, and Conservative’s are better with money than Democrats are.  Sorry.  It’s true.

Now, I like Obama for what he did – getting elected, fighting racism, much like I like Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty who also seems like a really cool guy.  They’re both a little teflon in their own right.  When they talk, people listen.  They are kind, compassionate and appear understanding.  When you accuse them of something underhanded, while they explain, you feel sorry for them and it’s easy to look poorly at their opposition. 

In Ontario, that’s not hard considering Conservative leader Tim Hudak doesn’t exactly give you that warm fuzzy feeling when you look at or listen to him.  He’s not all that compassionate and he doesn’t strike you as a financial wizard.  He’s blah, but he may be an absolute genius and we just don’t know it yet.  Ontarians are waiting for the real Timmy Hudak to break out of his shell, otherwise, the Ontario PC’s are going to need a new figurehead to push their message, and fast.  NDP Leader Andrea Horwath has that charisma, but she’s playing for the wrong team, and while Quebeckers may have been fooled into voting for Jack Layton’s NDP, Ontarians will never fall into that same mistake of voting in a NDP government into this have-not province.  We have recent experiences to fall back on.  It’s not so clear in the US, however.

Back to the US.

The opposition for Obama comes in the form of a gentleman named, Mitt Romney who is a Republican.  Voting for him does not mean you hate black people, nor does it mean that you believe in Pro Life or no-taxes for the super-wealthy or any other tags that the left-wing media like to throw at those on the right.  What it means is that you are taking an open-minded look at a candidate who amassed considerable personal wealth while a citizen of the country you are voting in.  Romney is a businessman.  A very successful businessman who knows how to work with people, with suppliers, and more importantly, he knows how to spend money wisely and where he should and can cut costs.  That experience is invaluable when faced with near crippling debt, I would think.

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford is also a very successful businessman and having all that knowledge and ability in your back pocket helps, especially in times of recession, when you need to look at the country (or city) as a giant organization, which is what it is.  You cannot discount that experience and success.  Sure, Ford is quite rough around the edges, but common sense tells me, and told many voters in the last election, that when times are tough and there is less money floating in the economy that spending more of it just does not make sense.

American’s have lots of needs heading into the next four years and the next leader has to deliver.  They need jobs, they need infrastructure and they need to figure out if bankrupting their country to flex their international muscles is worth it right now.  Americans need to be better educated and Obama knows that.  He wants to hire more math teachers and bring up the collective math knowledge of Americans.  Awesome.  I also agree with a universal health care system – whatever form it takes on doesn’t matter – so long as finally those Americans who have been left behind, and those areas in the US which have been left behind are brought along with it. 

I also feel, however, that there are parts of the US which seem so far behind from the rest of the world, and that is either in their views on equality of all people or straight out accepted racism towards “minorities” and that has got to be eradicated in this President’s term, but doesn’t get enough press.  Geographically, areas, destroyed by the economy – and Detroit comes to mind – has to be propped up by the government so those citizens have a chance to succeed.  In Canada the government tends to prop up delicate economies or regions by placing government offices there and hiring locals to perform government jobs.  The US needs more of that.

All in all, it’s up to you and your political views.  If you believe government’s role is to help those who are unable to help themselves, then you are going to vote for the Democrats and Obama gets a second term. If, however, you feel the government is mismanaging your tax dollars and you want them to do a better job of that, then you are going to turn towards Romney and give him your vote.  But at the end of the day, it’s not the leader you are voting for, nor the colour of their skin, or who they are married to, or which state them come from. 

If, on the other hand, you are casting your vote based on colour, state, looks, or anything superficial – and that’s okay too - because you are getting out there and voting… It’s your democratic right.

If you don’t vote, you cannot bitch about the outcome.

Related articles

• Do Americans Actually Move to Canada After Elections? (mentalfloss.com)
• Poll finds most Canadians want some U.S.-style election practices (o.canada.com)

Random Wednesday Night Daddy Ramblings

Good Wednesday evening folks!

It’s late. Everyone in my household is sleeping and that means it is time to get online and get posting. I had a wonderfully busy and productive day today and I wanted to get some thoughts out for you to comment on before this day (not my day) comes to an end.

1) First off, I had a wonderful time at the #TDParentalLeave discussion. I was ready for the discussion, as a long (long) time TD Canada Trust customer and as a parent who has taken parental leave (2 of them).  The other bloggers were the cream of the crop in the Canadian blogging scene and we all left with a clearer idea of why TD wanted to get the 6 of us together and why they are already one of the leaders in Social Media for banks.  I also learned that I am in the minority of people under 80-years-old who still visits branches.  More on this in the very near future I’m sure.

2) Lance Armstrong stepped down from his massively successful charity “Livestrong”.  The message is getting muddied now that he’s being made an example of and I’m of two minds here.  First, yes he cheated and allegedly he was the ring leader of a massive doping scheme for years, but so were his teammates who happily accepted the praise and money that came from placing high, even winning and being on his team.  Then as soon as things turned sour they were just as quick to stab him in the back and blame him.  On the other hand, if the organizers of the Tour wanted to strip Lance of his wins and give the title to the next “clean” rider they would have to go back something like 76 racers in some cases.  Then they would have to test that racer’s samples with today’s technologies to see if he’s clean.  That speaks volumes about the sport which is clearly tainted.   There is no doubt in my mind that the Tour like the Olympics has credibility issues and either everyone dopes or no one does.  But at the end of the day, Lance won and he battled through cancer to win and whether he was the best rider or the best doper he still raced and won.

3) The Teacher’s Union in Ontario representing the public school teachers has asked the teachers to provide the least amount of information possible on the student’s progress reports.  The same leader who commented a few years back about how having these reports was going to make the teacher’s job easier and help the students and parents succeed. 

These same teachers are withholding extracurricular activities and telling the students that they should be blaming the government and not them and while I’m certainly not up on all the details of the issue here, I do know that the other teaching boards signed agreements with the government and that this work-to-rule is over the right to strike and possibly a wage freeze. 

I’m not going to jump into my anti-union talk or point out that I don’t have a right to strike or a guaranteed wage increase and even if I save my company a million dollars they still don’t have to give me an increase, but what really stands out here is that; 1) the teachers are putting the kids in the middle of this.  They absolutely are and that is not right.  2) Since Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty stepped down as leaders (something a Conservative government would be slaughtered for doing) and prorogued parliament there is nothing that the government can do to counteract this message other than have a press conference and ask for it to be rescinded.  The timing of this ask by the union smells fishy and is not going to score them any points in the public relations battle they are waging with the government.

4) More on this topic is coming as well, but I attended the launch of Wine Wire, www.winewire.ca, a Canadian business aimed at not only delivering the best wines to your front door but also educating you on some of them through Wine Wire TV.   If you’re a wine connoisseur this concept works because it gets great wines to your door and if you’re not much of a wine-expert as, say, I am, then this is an absolute must visit because the Wine Wire TV explains what to expect when tasting the wines they feature and having now tasted some of them, I can say the description matches the taste.  A great concept.  Please support Canadian businesses!!

5) I’m a little annoyed here… When we moved into our new home 3 years ago, my in-laws brought us some pumpkins from cottage country to line our front stairs.  We averaged 20 of them, all sizes, and the big ones I carved and the smaller ones I would bake with once the holiday was over.  This year we decided to downsize and were thrilled when we received 3 big ones and 5 gourds.  So fat this year, one gourd was eaten by squirrels, and the other was taken by a squirrel up a tree (we saw the theft in person) and when Linus scared the critter, he dropped the gourd which fell into the bushes.  Gone. 

The annoying part???

Our neighbours have decided to copy our pumpkin stairs idea this year except they all have WAY more pumpkins than we do, so when I (and others) look at our pathetic stairs it makes me want to run out and buy more pumpkins to keep up with the Jones’.  It’s also not just one neighbour either.  It’s the one across the street and the two beside us.  I think more orange ones and some white ones will show them. 

The pictue, by the way… Not our house this year.  Possibly in years gone by – minus the flowers – but certainly not this year. 

6) Things Daddy overheard:

a) Stewie to Linus is a very serious tone; “You know what Linus… We’re the fastest people we know!”

b) After Boo screamed twice, I reminded her that; “There is NO yelling allowed in my house!” to which she immediately responded with; “This is not just YOUR house, this is OUR house too.  There are 5 of us that live here!!!”

7) Potato or Potatoe?  Last year we planted three types of potatoes in our front garden and got a ton of potatoes in the fall.  We did not get around to planting and more this year but guess what happens if you miss digging out the ones from previous years???  If you said more grow, you would be correct as this year we just harvested about 100 potatoes.  Very cool and the kids love digging for them.

Related articles

• Back to School Day! Walking in the Shadow of your Sibling… (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• TD Canada Trust Panel Discussion: Parental Leave and Finances… Which came first? (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)
• What are McGuinty’s Liberals doing to Teachers in Ontario? A View from Within… (urbandaddy.wordpress.com)

What are McGuinty’s Liberals doing to Teachers in Ontario? A View from Within…

Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation vs. Ontario Liberals.

Last week I posted an offer on my Facebook page (www.facebook.com/TheUrbanDaddy) for a guest blogger or 2 and had some positive responses.  One such response came not to that group, but instead, to my email (realurbandaddy@gmail.com).

Those of you in Ontario would be perfectly aware that the governing Liberal government has been putting pressure on the public school teachers, passing an anti-strike bill that cut their benefits and limits the wages for Ontario teachers.  On the Ontario Liberal website, their take on this legislation and it’s impact is outlined here; ”Ontario Liberals passed the Putting Students First Act so that parents will have the peace of mind in knowing that the school year will stay on track and education funding will stay where it belongs — in the classroom.”  This is not working at all, with teachers protesting the cuts by not making themselves available for any “extracurricular” activities – sports, art, music, after-school activities and in some cases… curriculum night.

While I do not agree with holding kids hostage for political decisions, there are some arguments which still have to be played out in Queen’s Park, in the media and possibly in court, including; How much have the teachers salaries increased over the past 10 years when private sector salaries have been frozen, or jobs lost, why did the public school teacher’s union not settle with the government when the offer was acceptable for the catholic school teachers, if it’s true that the salaries of public sector employees are 100% paid for by taxpayers (and I am a former public sector employee) then should we not step back for a minute and remember that these employees pay taxes on their salaries and contribute as much as every other tax paying citizen in Ontario.  And one last matter, is curriculum night really extra curricular???

It’s going to get ugly before it gets better, that’s for sure.

So I have an opinion from an actual teacher in Toronto who emailed me his / her thoughts on this matter which I will post below without edit.

Have a read and tell me what you think?

“Teaching, or being a teacher in Ontario.  Right now, as part of a union.  It’s so hard to write these words  because as a human being with thoughts of my own, I am torn in two.   People who know me know that I  hold some fairly conservative fiscal views.  The other part of me is a teacher, who belongs to a union, who is at war with the government.   The part of me that believe in free market enterprise believes that I should have the right to individually negotiate my salary and benefits with my employer based on how much experience and education  as well as success that I bring to the table.  The other part of me I guess is relieved that I don’t have to personally do this every year or 4 years.   I am so scattered on the current subject, but I want to clear up misconceptions:

1.    Teachers want more money.  Untrue. ETFO and OSSTF agreed in principle to a two-year wage freeze last March.  If it were just about the money, this would be over by now.  To understand more deeply though, teachers are on a grid for salary, starting at year 0 and ending in year 11.  You get a raise each year until your 11^th year and then you are done.  The only increases you get will come from cost of living increases negotiated by the union (in the neighborhood of 1-2% usually).  Unions were more than happy to freeze those at the top, but were asking that younger and brand new teachers still be allowed to move on the grid with each year of experience.  The government disagreed.  How would you feel?  Now, in fact, this piece doesn’t affect me.  I am past year 11.  I am just frozen, which I don’t actually care about.  But imagine a first year teacher, frozen at first year salary (39,000) working for 2 years, and when they‘unfreeze’ are not given the 2 years of experience they have racked up during the contract.  So despite 2 years of service, when the teacher starts at year 0, when they unfreeze they will go to year 1.  Most teachers will lose a huge amount of money this way and it is unfair. It is overly generous to me who has nothing to lose, and penalizes those coming up behind me.

2.    Why are teachers bitching about sick days when they already get 2 plus months off a year? Let me clear this one up too. Summer for teachers is in fact unpaid. We are prorated during the year and a percentage of our salaries is held back off of each pay.  In our last pay in June, we are given the heldout money that the board reserved from our pay during the year so we can survive the summer months.   Let’s be clear, we are not on paid vacation.  Why do we need 20 sick days?  Easy, because the vast majority of working people (and we get this, we honestly do) will send their sick child to school.  And children by nature are the worst at spreading germs.  I have literally been vomited upon.  I’ve had a child with bronchitis cough in my face. I have caught more flus and strep throats and colds than I can remember.  I don’t use sick days for fun.  I, like many other teachers understand how hard it is for you to arrange child care or take a day off work yourself.  So the choice is either YOU get more sick days or I do.  Quite frankly I’d be thrilled if all parents kept their sick children at home because they had their own bank of sick days, but they don’t, so teachers do.

3.    So I addressed having our sick days cut in half, and not being allowed to carry them over year to year.  The not carrying over part bothers me, and the cut in sick days bother me.  Here’s the part that doesn’t – gratuity pay when you retire.  Essentially, in the past if you didn’t use your sick days, you’d get a big cheque at the end (nowadays the top payout was about 46,000, not bad right?).  Many unions have already given up this benefit, and I don’t think we teachers have a leg to stand on for this.  I won’t fight for it.  People in the private sector don’t get this, and as more public contracts come up you will see the retirement gratuity go the way of the dinosaur. All I am asking for is my sick days, to bank them, and if I don’t use them, when I retire, they vanish.  Fair enough?

Here’s where we get into tricky territory for me.  We have lost the right to strike, or to collectively bargain, essentially rendering our unions useless, and the dues we must pay to them every month a complete waste of our money.   Anyone who knows me from the past knows that I’ve always lived this double life of hating unions while being a member of one.  I am now in the spot of having to seriously reevaluate all my thoughts and feelings on this issue.  I don’t want to be a hypocrite and say that MY union should be able to collectively bargain and the rest should fold.  It would go against my most inner beliefs.  I can’t help that I chose a profession that is unionized.  I have had times in the last few years where my union(s) came to my aid: when I was unjustly reprimanded by an administrator, the union was there, and helped me navigate a diplomatic and well thought out counter offence that saw the accusation and reprimand go away.  I was grateful at that moment to know there were people who “had my back”.  I got angry four years ago when the union I was in at the time went for major increases in salary in a crappy economy, and more shocked still to see the McGuinty government GIVE it to us.   It was unnecessary and probably put us where we are today.

Now that we are legislated with “Putting Kids First” which we always did anyway, let’s talk about actual outcomes for the government.   They will save (they say) 468 milllion dollars over the course of the 2 years. They are fighting a 15 billion dollar deficit.  For those good at math, he just solved 1/30^thof the problem while alienating most of his base (of which I am not one).  If he had wanted to create a larger impact, he should have gone after the entire public sector, with one huge piece of legislation, freezing everyone, everywhere, making us work unpaid days, and cancelling gratuities and collective bargaining everywhere.  But he didn’t.  He attacked teachers.  And that’s where I feel stung the most.  Teachers don’t want to put students in the middle of this, but it’s all they have left. I have watched the news and seen how many individual schools have announced no extra-curriculars for the forseeable future.  Ladies and gents, I hate to say it, but I believe within the next two weeks this will be province wide, and there is even talk that the Catholic teachers will follow suit, as most of them have yet to ratify the deal their leaders took which they felt betrayed them.   Is Putting Kids First ensuring that they have demeaned, hostile teachers?  Is having students essentially living through 2 years of work to rule worth it?   Like I said, I am still sorting this out for myself and asking myself what I think I can live with.   I don’t have answers, but I am tired of that panicky feeling at the bottom of my stomach for what comes next.

As a teacher I am tired of being called every name in the book – lazy, greedy, short hours, blah blah. All of it untrue.  Tired of having to defend myself and I won’t anymore.  No one in the private sector would be shamed for hoping for a raise based on their performance, why do we vilify those in the public sector who hope for the same?  I hate to say it, but us public sector people, we ARE the middle class, and we are the stable jobs that pay into the tax base and keep things alive while private interests go bust.   So please, stop telling me you pay my salary, I pay my salary too.

I am tired of the government PR campaign that seems to say all teachers want is more money, and I’m sick and tired of seeing that my union who has a well defined position (we just don’t want to lose our right to collective bargaining) be completely unable to get the message out.  In the PR wars, we have lost, and lost big, and in doing so have alientated the public.  It’s hard to be a teacher today in Ontario, but I will carry on as I always have, teaching to the best of my ability, and I didn’t need Dalton to condescend to me to “Put Kids First”.  I always have.  But I’m not a volunteer or a nun.  He needs to remember that.”

Related articles

• Dalton McGuinty pleads with teachers to return to extracurricular activities (metronews.ca)
• It’s McGuinty versus Ontario teachers (lfpress.com)
• Teachers vow to curb extracurricular activities as wage freeze bill passes (thestar.com)

Ontario Election Wrap-up – Topical all these months later…

I found this draft post sitting in my folder which I meant to post it but probably left because I was so dismayed at the size of the mistake that folks in Toronto made for the rest of the province of Ontario by re-electing Dalton McGuinty’s Liberal government.

So instead of deleting it, I read it over and decided to post it now.  I have come to realize that while I am not a political pundit in any way, nor am I a prognosticator, I try to be informed and I do my research so below is what I knew and felt at that time.  Have a read and tell me how true a lot of it is…

The post:

Here is my Ontario election wrap-up, urban daddy style.
First of all I want to thank the nearly 1000 people who googled “who do I vote for in the Ontario election” and came to my blog on election day. I hope you read what I wrote and it made sense. I was not endorsing the Ontario Conservatives party blindly as a life long conservative, but I felt like I really presented some key facts, not opinions, which seemed to me to be a whole lot of common sense.

I looked at the previous 8 years of Liberal rule in Ontario and I found;

HST

An eHealth scandal in which the minister in charge fled and tried to become Mayor of Toronto

Sex Education being taught to kids in grade 2.

“Smart” meters resulting in higher hydro charges

Green energy act

Wind Mills

Another rise in the minimum wage, this one pushing it up to $10.25/hr

Delisting of health care items like chiropractic and physio therapy when our population is aging and are going to need these services.

A whole lot of broken promises

The list goes on.

But after going through yet another Provincial election where voters in Toronto blindly voted red, I awake to the same old and I’m not feeling warm and fuzzy about Ontario. Already this morning, one day after that election news media is reporting that the unemployment rate in Ontario has gone UP.  Ontario is fast becoming a have-not province. Yet another finger pointed at Dalton and Co.

But before I continue, I also want to thank WordPress, www.wordpress.com, for adding me to the list of http://botd.wordpress.com/growing-blogs/ of Blogs of the Day – the Fastest Growing Blogs on WordPress.com. I really appreciated that!

So let’s take a look at some people who were re-elected for the Liberals.  This is a telling sign for me because if I’m voting for a policy, or a plan (recall: I did vote for notorious left-wing councillor Joe Mihevc as he appeared to be giving my riding what it needs) I have plenty of reasons to support my decision… So I’m not a 100% conservative die-hard. I do look at other factors and vote that way.

I don’t think voters in Toronto know who they elected and I’ll bet if I stood on a street corner and asked questions of the voters they would have no idea.

For example, did you know that;

Monte Kwinter who won in York Centre… Again, has been the MPP in that riding since 1985. 26 years. Monte, bless him, is 80-years-old. Think he’s in touch with the new generation of have-nots coming out of University expecting jobs, and a lifestyle like their parents currently have?  Probably not.

What about Mike Colle? He’s been in office since 1999. He was born in 1945, so that makes him a 66-years-old. Is this the future of the Liberal party of Ontario? Yet these guys got in easily because the older voters recognize the names, see the pretty pamphlets and just robotically fill in “Liberal” at the ballot box.

The reason I bring these gentlemen up is not to pick on people for their age. I’m 40, and if I ever chose to run in an election would be doing so later in life, but I know first hand having been in Colle’s riding, beside Kwinters and in the riding of Dr. Eric Hoskins, that these people are invisible to Torontonians. They show up at election time with pamphlets and because they know there are going to get elected.  The rest of the time, you could ask 50 people on the street who their MPP is and I’ll bet you 48 of then shrug their shoulders. It’s ridiculous.  Invisible.

What’s worse is that by re-electing McGuinty, voters are signing up for more taxes, more user fees and at some point Dalton has to realize that he cannot keep spending, errr, wasting money on stupid projects because the taxpayer is not going to be able to pay for this year over year… Money is tight and once people realize the waste and cuts and costs they’re going to flip out ala the anti-Rob Ford, anti-Stpehen Harper rhetoric in the news every day.  So either taxes are going up, or more cuts will be coming, and based on Dalton’s need to have a high minimum wage, I’ll bet he de-lists more items from OHIP.  That’s easy, right?  Or more user fees (fancy description for taxes). 

Let’s just hope he makes the right choice when the City comes to him for subway funding and cough up a ton to create lots of subways and bring Toronto into the 20th century.  I doubt that will happen, to be honest.

He’s just not that good of a leader.

But hey, you guys voted for him!  Enjoy.  Just hope you don’t need a hospital…

Remember, when the Conservatives suggested a two-tiered healthcare system all the people freaked out.  Well Ontario, it’s here and not by the Conservatives, but brought in by the Liberals.  Now I see why they refuse to fund IVF… It would save the system money year-over-year.  Liberals can’t save money.  It’s not the way they do things.  They de-list and keep things de-listed.

I’m shaking my head.

You should be too.

Related articles

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Undecided? Not sure who to vote for in the Ontario Election? You MUST read this!

So the Ontario election is coming up on this Thursday, October 6th, and you, like many I have spoken to are undecided. Whatever should you do?

Let me give you some suggestions / recommendations / my opinion to see if I can help you make a decision.

1. Vote. Regardless of whom you decide to vote for, it’s your democratic right to vote and you should do just that for the billions of people who cannot vote, or who are in countries where they are not allowed to participate in the vote for fear of being punished.

2. Vote Liberal. Are you shocked? Me too. I cannot believe I wrote this. If broken promises, an unclear platform, secretive sex education to grade 1 students, a billion wasted on eHealth, cigarettes for votes and all that is to your liking, then put that “X” for good ‘ol Dalton. If, on the other hand you are holding back on voting for Timmy Hudak because he doesn’t look the part, or you don’t get that warm fuzzy feeling, I leave you with this advice… We know what damage Dalton has done. You don’t know what damage – or good – that the PC’s can do.  We’re still in a recession and conservatives are good to have in power during this time.  See Stephen Harper and Canada.

3. Have NDP Leader over for a BBQ. Of the 3 leaders a poll indicated that most Ontarians would like to have NDP Leader Andrea Horwath over for a BBQ and hang with her. I’m all for that. She seems nice and all, but be carefull what you wish for. I saw a great cartoon explaining socialism, which I will post if I can find it, but there was a poor guy in the street asking some guy for money and the guy responded “SURE!!!” and as he’s doing that he is reaching into the picket of the guy standing behind him – lifting his wallet and grabbing the money needed to give to the poor guy. Am I saying that socialists are thieves? Heck no. I’m saying the rob Peter to pay Paul routine gets tiring after a while. If the NDP we to – heaven forbid – take power of Ontario again – SEE BOB RAE – then all the “Peter’s” will leave the province. No Peter… No money for Paul.

4. I don’t smoke but I do like my cookies. Thank you Liberal MPP Mike Colle for the Dad’s Oatmeal cookie at the Eglinton West station this morning, with your campaign sticker on the back. You are not in my riding, I’m voting PC and you told me last month to vote Liberal so there are “not Conservatives at all three levels of government”. Ummm, good platform.

5. Where exactly was George Smitherman’s donor list? I suspect some of you are looking at this and are ready to dismiss this. It was an issue from the Toronto Mayoral election when now-Mayor Rob Ford disclosed his donor list and former Liberal health cabinet minister Smitherman refused to. Sure 4 months aft the election he had to, but I still do not recall seeing that. So why the concern? As Health Minister, Smitherman was in command of a billion dollars of your and my tax money which was wasted. Did he accept the blame? Nope. Did he blame others… Yup. And he ran away from Provincial politics all the way back to Toronto in hopes of being elected the mayor of Toronto. In doing so, he received donations from citizens like you (not me) and your neighbours, but he also took donations from some pretty suspicious characters. I recall Barbara Hall – former mayor of Toronto and now the Integrity Commissioner in her very non-partisan position was endorsing Smitherman. Something was not right with his campaign and I think he learned all his tricks from Dalton.

6. Thinking more Liberal and less Conservative are you? Here’s something you need to know about the NDP – Liberal unholy alliance. First of all, if the race is close, organized labour (unions) tend to remove support from the NDP and move to the Liberals. Secondly, the last time there was a minority government, the Libs and New Democrats worked together to push through all the Liberals legislation. Above board? NOT.

7. Speaking of organized labour… On Tuesday, October 4th, in Windsor Ontario, Liberal leader McGuinty got yet another boost from Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) union boss Ken Lewenza. With polls still pointing to a close finish when voters head to the polls Thursday, the union chief took aim at Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak’s “defeatist attitude” in opposing government aid for economic development.
I’m sure he meant he didn’t like Hudak’s anti-union stance…

8. My friend, Mike Yen is running for the PC’s in Trinity-Spadina and he reported that a group on non-English speaking residents went to vote for him and asked the volunteers there to assist. They asked what number on the ballot Mike was – He was #8, but these volunteers told the group he was #4. #4 belongs to the NDP candidate in the riding. The volunteers… NDP sympathizers.
That, my friends, is dirty politics and a reason to avoid the NDP.

9. The Liberals vowed to fund IVF, not only because doing so is a kind thing to do, but mainly because doing so would save teh government a ton of money. It’s taken them 5 years to look into it. $30million to save $30million. Dollar for dollar. What is taking so long!!

10.  I almost forgot the HST!   What party increases taxes during a recession???  Right!  The Ontario Liberal Party.  And what did Finance Minister Dwight Duncan have to say about the HST?  He basically said that they brought it in because it should have be done years ago but only they had the balls to do it.  Yikes. The HST was not a good idea. It may never be a good idea. It should not have brought in during a recession, and in BC, where the HST also came in at the same time the HST did in Ontario, well that leader was forced to resign and it’s being removed in 2013.

So to recap:

NO Liberals.

NO NDP.

Yes to Voting

Yes to Premier Hudak.

For Liberal Health Minister Deb Matthews: An IVF True and False.

Just 3 days away from the Ontario Provincial Election, the leaders – Dalton McGuinty, Tim Hudak and Andrea Horwath are hoping to get to election day without getting scathed.  I’m still waiting to hear from any of the leaders on this issue. 

The other night, Timmy Hudak was on LeDrew Live on CP24 and I tried tweeting in my question on IVF, but it was not asked, and I have not heard back from any of the candidates that I have emailed or asked in person.  It’s odd.  The Liberals commit then don’t follow through, and the other parties don’t commit to anything that is not on their agenda. 

So I thought I would help Liberal Health Minister Deb Matthews – still considering funding IVF a mere 5 years after it was mentioned in their election literature – by posting a true and false article on IVF. 

So here we go!  I have spent hours and hours scouring the net looking for facts about IVF and trying to determine if they are true and false.  Man, that was a tough challenge.  Some sites pro-IVF had very different opinions and facts than the anti-IVF ones.

I believe, however, that I have enough information to present my true and false list for IVF.  The purpose?   Glad you asked.  To get a better idea around the procedure in order to present all the facts to those who may be interested and to the political parties (read: Liberal Party of Ontario).  I’m not a doctor, so please do not go and make any drastic decisions based on this post, but try to understand how any couple thinking of IVF is getting their information.  First from Google, then from an IVF clinic or their doctor.  Imagine after years of infertility landing upon a site that is anti-IVF and feeling terrible for wanting to have a family. 

Here they are in no particular order;

Question 1.  In order to avoid the need for IVF, men just need to hold on to those sperm for a while and those guys will be the ones to fertilize the egg? 

Answer 1.  I believe this answer to be false.  My reading tells me that holding the sperm provides the opposite effect, and to have your best chance, you have to keep them fresh. 

Question 2.  I came across this question a lot in reading up on IVF material.  Isn’t IVF only needed for old people who should have started conceiving earlier in life?

Answer 2.  Not at all.  We’re not all lucky enough to meet our sweethearts in high-school and get knocked up right away, so what those people need to know is that age does have an impact, however, some couples just have fertility issues in their 20′s, some in their 30′s and some in their 40′s.  

Question 3.  If I lead a healthy lifestyle, then age-related infertility won’t be an issue for me, right?

Answer 3.  False.  A healthy lifestyle can help avoid any infertility that is preventable, however it will obviously not stop the aging process. 

Question 4.  When IVF is needed it’s mostly because of the woman, and rarely because the man has issues, right?

Answer 4.  False.  Men also lose fertility as they age, and while i women, the drop is more dramatic and starts earlier, fertility in men does decline with age. 

Question 5.  So I’m eating healthy, not smoking, but getting up there in age.  I can still overcome age-related fertility with fertility drugs, right?

Answer 5.  False.  Fertility drugs help many couples overcome infertility, but age-related infertility does not usually respond as well to these treatments.

Question 6.  Maybe I really do not need IVF because the only reason we’re not able to conceive is because we’re both stressed.  Does stress cause infertility. 

Answer 6.  False.  My research has told me that while stress may slightly decrease your chances of getting pregnant in any given month, infertility has been shown to cause stress.

Question 7.  I don’t see the point of Ontario funding IVF like they do in Quebec when all couples need to do is try harder and they will eventually get pregnant, right?

Answer 7.  False again.  A large percentage of infertile couples can get pregnant with help but not every infertile couple will.

Question 8.  Does smoking really have an impact on my ability to have kids?

Answer 8.   Yes it does, so quit.

Question 9.  Can a healthy diet help us get pregnant?  Then I won’t need to spend money on IVF when I can just spend money on a good diet?

Answer 9.  True. An increasing number of studies confirm that lifestyle may have a significant effect on the probability of pregnancy. Couples undergoing IVF treatment with a relatively unhealthy lifestyle are less likely to succeed; they can improve their prognosis by adopting certain changes in their lifestyle, such as quit smoking, lose weight, even for a period of just one or two months before their treatment!

Question 10.  Isn’t IVF akin to playing G-d?

A:  (IVF) is the joining of a woman’s egg and a man’s sperm in a laboratory dish. In vitro means “outside the body.” Fertilization means the sperm has attached to and entered the egg.  Nothing like that mentioned in the bible.

Question 11:  Did the Liberals use the following wording to get elected in 2007; “

• Help people have families by making fertility monitoring available earlier in life, so people know whether or not they are likely to have a problem having children and make treatment and adoption more accessible and affordable for people.”

Would “Make treatment” and “affordable” fit the bill for IVF?

Answer 10. True.   Yes they did.

Question 11.  True or false.  The Liberal party has been reviewing the funding of idea of funding IVF in Ontario for 5 years.

Answer 11.  True

Question 12.  The Province of Quebec saved $30 million dollars (give or take a dollar) in their first year alone of funding IVF?

Answer 12.  True.  And they continue to save.

So how did you do?

Remember, you still have time to ask your MPP, or those running in your riding as they get in their last-minute phone calls and door visits to see where they stand about this issue.  It’s not too late.

And remember when you vote that the National Post ran a story on October 2nd, that the Ontario Liberal Party had a study conducted which they have had the result of for 2 years which states that if the Liberals funded IVF they could have minimum $600 million dollars over 10 years… That’s the truth.  Your ruling government, folks.

If you want more information, please go to http://www.conceivabledreams.org. A wealth of information can be found here!

So why the interest in IVF?

So after my first post on In-Vitro Fertilization the hits to my blog have been through the roof for me, however that has not translated into posted comments.  Instead I have received emails, many without links to blogs and the majority of them anonymous.  I will say that I have had some really nice, supportive comments from IVF supporters and like-minded Conservatives, and some not so nice comments from the other side – anti-IVF folks, what I suspect might be Liberals and general complainers. 

To the detractors, I say, go find something better to do.  I have made up my mind and since this is my blog, I choose the topic and I posted my opinions after doing a lot of research looking at all sides of this issue.  When looking at both sides of the coin the one thing that jumps out at me over and over again is the financial benefit to the Province and the taxpayers, should the government fundi this procedure.  If you can argue there are no cost savings, then please enlighten me.  If, however, you want to tell me we should not be interfering in G-d’s work, then please, don’t.

I have also had conversations with aspiring political leaders on the left and on the right and they both agree this needed to have been funded back in 2007 as the Liberals promised and that this McGuinty promise fell by the wayside with many other incentives the Liberals brought forward to get themselves elected.  It’s a very telling tale.

In discussing this post among people who have read this, I have been asked a few times why the interest in IVF, and I’ll tell you why.  I know a lot of families who have gone through IVF and I know many who were preparing to go through it.  In most of these cases it come up when we start talking about having kids and itgoes from there.  But the cost… $10,000.00 a treatment, really adds delays to the conversation.  That’s a lot of money and that amount is only the correct amount if it works the first time.  In cases we have known, couples have spent 5 or 10 times that amount in effort to have children.  They have taken loans, used up savings, by passed down payments on houses in order to grow a family.  That is dedication and I respect that a lot.  It just goes to show if you really want something bad enough, everything else is insignificant.

While IVF is not guaranteed to work 100% of the time, it does give couples hope that they will be able to conceive children of their own and in the cases I know about where the procedure did not work out as planned, the couples were that much more overjoyed when going through the adoption process (also VERY expensive, mind you).

So let’s take a step back and look at IVF, and why is it necessary?

As a refresher to those people who forgot grade 10 health class, or who may not know, women are born with around 400,00 eggs in their ovaries.  Once a month, during a woman’s regular cycle, her body produces hormones to grow and mature some of these eggs which nest in the wall of the uterus.  When these eggs are mature, ovulation occurs, and the egg(s) are ready to be fertilized by the male’s sperm.   If the egg(s) are not fertilized they disintegrate, and about 2 weeks after that, menstruation begins and the cycle restarts.  

What IVF does, is that medication is given to stimulate the ovaries to allow for many eggs to grow and mature.  Those eggs are then surgically removed once they are mature enough and they fertilize in a laboratory.  As the embryos grow, they are then placed back into the uterus in the hopes that they will implant and cause a pregnancy.  Not exactly rocket science, but a very scientific process.

So how many Ontarians are impacted by infertility issues?  Would you believe 1 in 6.

When Quebec recently introduced funding for up to three cycles of IVF to help create families.  It was found that this also helped reduce the number of multiple pregnancies in that province from 27.2% to 5.2% in just 6 months.  As a result, Quebec is now on track to save hundreds of millions of dollars as the number of twins and triplets in neonatal intensive care units is expected to drop significantly.

No surprise that Ontario could realize similar savings by providing OHIP coverage for IVF — between $400-$550 million in savings over 10 years.

So I’m still puzzled as to why we’re discussing this?!?

For more information I recommend you drop by Conceivable Dreams, http://www.conceivabledreams.org.

Conceivable Dreams, the OHIP for IVF Coalition, is the provincial voice for thousands of infertility sufferers and their supporters across Ontario. Their goal is to have OHIP coverage of IVF funded by the Ontario government as is being done in Quebec. With an election coming up right now in Ontario, now is the best time to ask all candidates where they stand on public funding of IVF.

Why Is In-Vitro Fertilization NOT an issue in the 2011 Ontario Provincial Election?

Can some please explain to me why In-Vitro Fertilization is not a major issue in this 2011 Ontario Provincial Election?

As we near the election day – the 40th general election in Ontario on October 6th, 2011 - I find many people still unaware of all the major issues, one of them being Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudek.  I really feel that the PC’s missing a great opportunity to  put pressure on the Ontario Liberal Party for an election promise they made in 2007 that they have since reneged on.  Sure, Dalton McGuinty and the Liberals are great at making promises, then not doing what they say – see taxes… Lots of new taxes, but this issue is a can’t miss win for the PC’s and I’ll explain why if you continue reading.

Let me first be clear about my intentions here.  I was approached by an organization called Conceivable Dreams, http://www.conceivabledreams.org/ asking if I would be interested in writing a couple of posts about IVF with the hopes of raising awareness and getting this on the election radar of voters and of the political parties.  Sure, the ultimate goal of getting IVF funded by the province is also in mind, but getting this out there to the electorate was the number one priority, so here it is. 

So what makes me qualified to have this discussion with you?   I have been involved in politics for as long as I can remember and as a father to 3 beautiful children who experienced stress, delays and questions surrounding childbirth, I know some things about IVF so I jumped at this opportunity to learn something new and to ask some questions that I am pretty sure have been asked by everyone else already.  I learned that it makes sense for the Province of Ontario to fund this procedure much in the same way that the Province already funds vasectomy’s and abortions. 

Ontario’s new slogan:  Want to not get pregnant?  Come to Ontario.  Want to get pregnant?  Go to Quebec.  

So in order to prepare for this post I did a LOT of research – I read a lot of opinions – saw a lot of comments and came to this conclusion;  There are 2 very distinct views on this topic.  The first view, is that the Province has no right funding this procedure.  It’s not Ontario’s fault that couple cannot conceive children, it’s G-d’s decision, so these people need to go adopt some of the millions of orphaned children in the world.  There are lots of kids available who need a good home.  Then there is the other side, the side that says parents who want children of their own, and I mean REALLY want children of their own that they are willing to find the $10,000.00 per procedure in effort to get pregnant are more than likely the kind of parents the Province of Ontario wants to have. 

So why has funding this procedure not yet come to fruition?  Probably because all we ever hear about is the $10,000.00 per procedure cost and that is a lot of money to be spent on a procedure, except when you look at the other side of the coin.  At $10,000.00 it is more common – from what I have read – for doctors to implant more than one fertilized egg, meaning there are greater chances that there will be multiple births (twins, triplets, etc.)  With multiple births, there is a greater chance for the children to be born earlier, for there to be complications to the children and with the expectant mother which in turn means a great reliance on the health care system.  Those costs FAR exceed the costs of the procedure.  In addition if the procedure were funded then doctors would not have to implant more than one embryo and with the reduction in multiple births, comes a reduction in costs to OHIP (the Ontario Health Insurance Plan). 

So now you might understand why Quebec has funded this procedure in 2010.  In Quebec they earmarked $30 million dollars for the first year of this program and expected savings of $30 million dollars in that year.  Those are crazy numbers.

So what do the detractors say?

From what I’ve read the comments are pretty down-right mean and nasty.  Very cold comments mocking parents who cannot have children, making references to G-d wanting it that way, and it’s their fault that they waited too long to have kids, or that they chose an infertile partner.  Some pretty unnecessary stuff indeed.  I can guarantee you the majority of these couples who look to IVF are not looking for an easy way out because they have tried the ”natural” way and have been unsuccessful, so they want to pay $10,000.00 a shot in hopes of having a child this way.  I can also come to the conclusion that IVF is not the only treatment that these couples have tried or will try in effort to get pregnant, so don’t worry IVF-haters.  You won’t be asked to fund that too.

But all in all, I do not understand the fuss.  When an individual files for bankruptcy and their creditors are not paid all the money they are owing, who gets hit in the end?  All of us, through rising costs, and increased insurance rates.  Should I get mad because others cannot budget properly?  Or what about all those people who are not working but who have a plethora of social programs at their need.  Who funds those?  I do, through property taxes and other levies and user fees.  Should I post negative comments about people who are unable to work and how its not right for me to be paying their way?  Absolutely not!  I may comment about the city wasting money but never as it relates to those less fortunate that me.  I would never tell anyone how to live their life, how many children to have, who they can or cannot marry and what techniques they can and cannot use to get pregnant.

Step back folks, and take the emotion out of this process.  It’s not about you.  It’s about the province funding a process and saving your tax dollars and my tax dollars while helping couples become parents.

So please Tim Hudek, take this issue to debate and call Dalton McGuinty on this.  In 2007 he campaigned on this issue and now almost 5 years later they are still “investigating” this matter, in the words of Deb Matthews the Ontario Minister of Health.  Tim, take a stand, and this election is yours!  But please take it one step further and fund this procedure.  The haters will always be haters.  The parents struggling to conceive will have one less thing to worry about.

Thursday Thirteen – Ontario Election Edition

Hey, an Ontario election is coming and while the media is predicting a Conservative majority (YAY) and have to come clean that I actually like Dalton McGuinty. He looks and talks like a leader. His policies… Not so great, however. He came in as Premier in a Liberal landslide in a province that only sees (saw) Liberal red and loved the fact that he ran the Daily Bread Food Bank or something like that. At the time I’m sure I made some sort of comment about electing a leader who spends their career taking from the rich and giving to the less fortunate. That got us Mayor David Miller and tons of taxes and it got us 7 years of scandal / high taxes and disrespect for the money you and I give in taxes to the province.
So this week’s Thursday Thirteen are the 13 things that will cause the defeat of the Ontario Liberal Party and get Dalton on the road to an awesome pension…

1. The HST – I was at the Canadian Tax Federation annual meeting and the lunch time speaker was Finance Minister Dwight Duncan and he explained to the group of us that even in a recession bringing in the HST Was necessary to keep Ontario competitive. I didn’t understand his motive then and I still don’t understand it now. Minister Duncan also said something to the effect of “no other party has the guts” to merge the GST and PST but he did. Errr, okay. Thanks Mr. Duncan. The HST added additional taxes to such items as Cigarettes, fast food and which was good, but there were way too many bad, such as home heating costs, gas, electricity, new homes (over $400,000 – after June 30, 2010 which was why we closed June 29th, 2010 on our new house), airfare, TTC / Go Transit / Via services, real estate agent commissions.

2. The Delisting of OHIP Covered Necessary Health Services – When McGuinty’s Liberals promised not to decrease any health services covered by OHIP, and not to raise taxes, some people bought in to it and others, like myself, raised their eyebrows in skepticism, McGuinty did not disappoint and did both by implementing the Ontario Health Premium (recall that “fee” we have to pay each year to the doctor) and the delisting coverage of Optometry, Chiropractic and Physiotherapy Services for Ontarians.

3. The Ontario Health Premium – Mentioned above, this “fee” turned out to be the highest tax increase in Ontario’s history, and it was implemented not too long after McGuinty’s Liberals took power in 2003.  I even remember him signing a contract with the Canadian Taxpayers Federation – because I was working at the CRA at the time - to not increase taxes).

4. eHealth - This program never got off the ground and cost Ontario taxpayers billions of dollars and opened our eyes to the notion of sole-sourcing and untendered contracts and how to get the best price sometimes you have to get quotes for other service providers than to Liberal friends.  Consultants were hired and even they spent money like there was no tomorrow, billing Ontarians hundreds of thousands of dollars per year while having the balls to expense a chocolate bar or a Tim Horton’s coffee.  Shame.

5. The Tire “fee” – Just another “tax” that the Liberals brought in while in power.

6. I don’t blame just the Ontario Liberals for this one, I also blame the Federal Liberal party (or what’s left of it) but when the provincial HST merged with the federal GST, instead of firing all the provincial collectors, the Liberals thought it would be a good idea to given each collector a “severance package” of $45,000 each, then given them a job with the HST department. 

7. Caledonia – Still a hotbed of criminal activity where Natives and citizens are battling for space and peace and quiet.  Last time I heard from Caledonia, militant natives had blockaded the street and neither Police or RCMP were allowed to go in and break it up.  Dalton… Everyone has right here and the people of Caledonia deserve to live in peace and quiet.  Instead you turned your back on them instead of making tough decisions.

8. Under the Liberal party, University fees in Ontario have skyrocketed to the highest in Canada.

9. Don’t even talk about auto insurance in Ontario under the Liberals.  I remember the Liberals promising to reduce auto insurance rates by 10% to be fair to families, but you know what happened here… Insurance rates in Ontario have skyrocketed.

10. The Eco-Fee - You may not have heard much about this “fee / tax” because the Liberals snuck it in with the HST but this fee was supposed to cover the cost of disposing of items that needed to be recycled but instead it never got off the ground and has cost tax payers a ton of money.

11. Let’s look at the next few items as groups relating to green initiatives; Smart meters – time of use rates, Wind turbines, hydro rates. All colossal failures. Smart meters work for my family because we do our laundry, use the dishwasher, etc. after 7pm to get the lowest rate and we have seen the benefit but from what I understand there are some people, like seniors who cannot wait for the reduced rates and them – on fixed incomes – have their energy rates go up (and HST on it too). Wind turbines, on the other hand, were an epic failure. There were grants given out for them that were much higher than the expected rate of return, they are unsafe and noisy.

12. The Federal Liberal Party was decimated. Ontario is next. The Conservatives care about your money and the NDP are just plain entertaining. That leaves no room for the Libs… Well, that and former Ontario Premier Bob Rae is their interim leader for the next 2 years. I shudder when I think about how bad the province was after Bob was forced out.

13. Sheer arrogance. I’ve heard the moniker “Teflon Dalton” go by and I think he actually believes he is unbeatable… I think the Federal Liberals felt that way too as did the Liberal who ran for mayor, George Smitherman.  Their time is up.  Time for a change.

Let’s Set the Record Straight: I don’t hate Liberals or NDP and their supporters… I just don’t understand them!

I felt like I needed to get that out-of-the-way in the title, before starting my post with this additional disclaimer.  I don’t dislike or look down at poor people either.  I was one myself – sort of, as a child who asked for little and needed little.  I grew up in what I would call a middle class area in Toronto and it could have gone either way for me.  I went to good, not great schools and my interests growing up were certainly not school, but instead hockey, baseball, wallball and soccer.  If my parents had allowed me to drop out of school (like that was ever an option) to play sports, I would have done it in a heartbeat. 

But I didn’t.

And as I grew older and realized I knew people who were much better with money than me, and I knew people who were much worse, my life decisions were made.  Spend $20.00 on cigarettes to be cool, or get good grades to build a future for myself.  With the support of my parents and some really awesome – incredibly smart friends in high-school, I worked my ass off on my academics, kept my nose clean (very clean actually) and when I turned 14, I got a job in the summer so I could have spend money.

I worked all summer and made $200.00 which I used to purchase a refurbished ghetto blaster.  It was huge, black and had movable speakers.  It was awesome and I loved it.  But it also made me realize that I worked so hard the whole summer and within 5 minutes all that money was gone and if I wanted to get more, I would need to earn it.  

For the better part of the next 4 or 5 years my sister and I worked for North York Parks and Recreation – sometimes in 3 different facilities on weekends, in the summer and sometimes both.  At one point her and I worked all day during the week in the summer, and on evenings and weekends – we had 3 jobs - we made some good coin at $5.25/hour, and we learned it’s more fun to earn your money than to be given it in the form of say an allowance or a handout.

So there is the basis for what I’m about to say and how it relates to my frustration with voters in Toronto and the promises (handouts) being offered by the Liberals and NDP.  

 Now, please all you tree-hugging, left-wing “commie pinkos”, I’m not heartless.  I’m what you would call a social Conservative, much like the party in power, actually.  I do understand there are some legitimate reasons why people cannot work, I also know there are many illegitimate reasons why people choose not to work – those ones like to play the system.  I think those in need should 100% be supported by the rest of the citizens of this country, rich and not-so-rich alike, and yes they deserve our support.  No one likes to see people living on the street, just as no one likes to find out that the guy next door living on welfare has a bigger TV than you and takes more trips than you because he’s living of your sweat and blood.

I also like trees, a lot.  I think we need to keep the environment in check at all costs and we need parks and clean water and safe foods, as much as we need smaller, accountable government and to know that our tax dollars are going to help pay for roads, hospitals, social programs and to make our country safer and cleaner for us residents and for tourists.  I do not, however, think it is ever acceptable to get caught up in scams and schemes which use taxpayers money to allow non-arms length business interests to get rich.  The Liberal Ad Scam make me sick to my stomach.  George Smitherman and his reluctance to provide his donor list in the last municipal election proved – no so much in the facts as he has yet to produce his list – that Liberals feel they can run government in a much different manner than you or I would.

I think I saw a Liberal ad last night during the hockey game in which Michael Ignatief referred to the Liberals and being your Liberals, like family.  Really?  Yikes.  Much like the family I don’t already speak to, I don’t need that relative who is going to go though the drawers in my house looking for spare change to take and them blame it on the Conservatives…

Get my point.

Now I know if you are still reading you are either a Conservative and are nodding your head up and down, or you are a Liberal supporter and are cursing me under your breath.  I fell I need to provide examples of what I feel are dirty politics by the Liberals and NDP which go far beyond their massive egos which lead them to believe in the first place that we need yet another election because “Stephen Harper doesn’t treat Canada fairly”.  No, he doesn’t treat you fairly and there is no better ego fix for Iggy or one-liner Jack Layton that to be Prime Minister, or Deputy PM.  This is very much an ego-based election than it is one based on policies.

As a country heading out of the recession which began September 15th, 2008, Canada has received top marks for being one of the countries least affected.  I know being in the finance industry, that I saw the job losses, the bankruptcies and the reduction in hiring, but I have also seen the turnaround at a time when other countries are still wallowing in despair.  But the Liberals would have you believe that was a fluke and now, if you re-elect Stephen Harper and the Conservatives they are going to buy helicopters (or fighter jets) and have corporate tax cuts… Yeah, and?!?  If that is what is keeping Canada out of the recession – defense spending and allowing businesses to continue to operate, should we now decide that is bad?  I’m not sure I’m following Iggy’s logic.

I know, Iggy… Let’s follow the Liberal model and spend as much as we can to buy votes and not worry how we are going to pay for it.  Case in point, Universities are a provincial responsibility, yet just a day into the election, here is Iggy promising to give each student $1000.00 towards their education (hear Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty scratching his head?). 

Okay, so you want to pay off the university kids right, for the easy vote.  A vote for Iggy means a vote for lower tuition.  Good one.  I’m glad Universities make so much money that they can forego those funds.  Wait, they can’t.  So that money is going to come in the form of new taxes.  Thanks Iggy.  I know tuition is out of control, trust me.  I worked all summer while in University to pay for my tuition when it cost me $3000-4000 for the year.  It’s higher than that now, but when I was working minimum wage was $5.35, now it’s $10.25 in Ontario – thank you again Dalton. 

So when I received my spring newsletter from my MPP, who turns out to be Dr. Eric Hoskins, (who knew since I’ve lived here for almost a year and didn’t know he was the MPP – but I guess in times of election, it’s time to show off your pictures in the neighbourhood helping out and of you with your fellow Libs), I wanted to see what platform he was standing on.  Fortunately for this post, our MP, Dr. Carolyn Bennett also crept out of the woodwork.  Her claim to fame was a private members bill to prevent the killing of the long-form census… Oh yes. 

So I decided to take a peek into these beautiful newsletters to see what the good doctors was doing for the folks in my ward, an ethnic part of Toronto which contains an affluent area and some pretty run down areas. 

Here is why – as a member of the workforce since I was 14, I will not be voting Liberal;

Under the section entitled “Tax cuts, Benefits and Tax Credits Working For You” I found;

• The Libs permanently cut taxes for 93% of Ontarians (I am disregarding this since I vote for the person, not the party.  With no supporting figures to support this claim, I choose to ignore it and look for the footnote instead).
• Eliminated income taxes altogether for 90,000 lower-income people (Wouldn’t lower-income people pay less taxes anyways?)
• The Ontario Clean Energy Benefit lowers our hydro bill by 10% every month for the next 5 years (maybe to offset the disaster that was the Clean energy act and smart meters).
• Increased the child benefit by $1000… For low-income families (I’m okay with this but have always wondered how to be sure this credit gets spent on the kids?  Make it payable to a day care or for a live-in caregiver?)
• Introduced a permanent sales tax credit… For low-income families (in what form?)
• Introduced a property tax credit and energy tax credit… For low-income families
• and paying my family $1000 because they feel guilty that they put in the HST.

So moral of this story… The Liberals want low-income families to feel welcomed in Ontario.   They obviously feel that the middle and upper-middle class can fend for themselves.  You know that group, right… The group who work long hours – usually both parents, hire caregivers, send their kids to programs, private schools or after school programs, buy clothing and accessories for their kids, and for themselves, and who visit attraction in Ontario, eat out, volunteer their time and give to charity, you know the ones who, in a nutshell, stimulate the local economy due to their disposable income.  The message from the Liberals… We’ll help you, but you must be poor.  Frankly, I appreciate the efforts here, really I do, but I expected that from the NDP.

I guess when you aim your campaign against the Conservatives being for big business and for the “rich” you can’t put anything in your platform to assist the middle class or upper-middle class.  They, who are you elected officials, making over $100,000 per year must be able to go it alone if you vote for the Liberals.  Raise your families, stimulate the economy AND help the lower-middle class and lower-class. 

A vote for the Liberals is a burden to anyone who has worked hard to further themselves and their families.  Seriously… Why try?  Find a job working for cash, and live off the handouts.  Where is the incentive?  

At least the party that gave us George Smitherman (where is your donor list George?) and the eHealth scandal is not afraid to come forward and talk about their spend-first, tax later campaign against the middle class.

Federally, all the Liberals are doing is complaining that Stephen Harper, if given a majority government, will suddenly switch his agenda from that of leader of this country – steering us out of a recession, to Stephen Harper, the man who will waste money on helicopters and corporate tax cuts… Yeah, right Iggy.  That’s it… You believe that, because no one else does, or at least anyone educated doesn’t believe that, and I’m sure people who do believe it can be bought with fancy credits.

So what else have the Libs taken credit for?

• That 200,000 more students are attending college, university or learning a trade
• that they’ve increased graduate spaces
• Capped tuition fees
• Invested $6.2 billion dollars in higher education (umm, we’re in a recession guys)
• recovering 91% of jobs lost in Ontario during the 2009 recession comparing that total to the 12% recovered in the US
• They created a tax reform plan.  I love plans!
• Invested $10.8 billion in transit since 2003 (cause that makes it look better)
• Established Metrolinx
• Committed $8 billion to Transit City
• Committed $11.5 billion to a $52 billion dollar project in Toronto and Hamilton for more rapid transit.
• Reduced crime by 17% since 2003.
• Ensured safe drinking water and resurrected the dead.

Wow.  A lot of claims, commitments and a LOT of spending!  No worries about raising the deficit to stay in power, eh?

I’m just concerned that Ontario will do what Ontario likes to do and that is vote Liberal regardless of the policies or the parachuted candidates dropped into ridings by Iggy and friends.  Paul Martin, Jean Chretien were the same.  Stephane Dion was… Let’s not go there.  Bob Rae, they are all the same.   They are political celebrities who are above you and you should know that.  They make the bucks but criticize the Conservatives for wanting to allow people to make a living.   They want you to put them in power so they can run the country for their egos, not because they have a special policy or idea.  Ask Iggy or Jack Layton – all quips aside – what they would do different to steer Canada away from the recession and they’ll tell you Stephen Harper wants to but helicopters.  They won’t tell you that deep down inside they know that giving tax cuts and tax credits to people means either a giant deficit or higher taxes.  The can’t tell you that because who the hell would vote for that? 

They won’t comment to you that Stephen Harper also promised money to help students pay for their post-secondary education – but only after the debt is paid off because that is fiscally responsible.  As a person who has NEVER charged a single purchase on my credit card that I did not have the money in my bank account to pay for, I don’t understand the Liberals being okay with adding and adding to the debt and deficit and paying millions of dollars in interest.  What a waste.  Stop cutting taxes, stop giving credits, pay off the debt and deficit, then use the money that was paying down the debt to pay for social programs or to provide cuts for the poor. 

I guess I would be asking for too much. 

It just irks me that I try to keep my expenses to a minimum and being fiscally responsible in my house but come election time people vote Liberal without a hint of what the Liberals will do once in power, which always results in a raise in taxes (hello, HST!!!).

So please, read the literature that comes in and don’t believe the big red Liberal machine.  Ask questions, call your MP and MPP on their claims and see what they really stand for.  Is it you and your riding or is it about them getting elected?