Posts Tagged ‘Ontario Progressive Conservatives’
It’s Official By-Election Called in St. Paul’s for September 17th 2009
On September 17th 2009 residents in St. Paul’s will elect a new Member of Provincial Parliament to replace former MPP Michael Bryant. Bryant resigned his seat after a decade in elected office to take on a new role with the City of Toronto as head of Invest Toronto. It is shaping up to be a very interesting fight between Eric Hoskins, the co-founder of War Child, former 2008 federal Liberal candidate in Haldimand Norfolk (roughly Niagara to Lake Erie) and Toronto Sun columnist and local resident Sue-Ann Levy.
I don’t know much about Hoskins except that he has an impressive resume and has done a lot of good humanitarian work. As a City Hall watcher, I am more familiar with Sue-Ann Levy and the strength she brings to opposing what she sees as being harmful for the City or all around bad public policy. The NDP has yet to nominate a candidate as their nomination meeting had been scheduled for September 9th. They will need to speed up their process if they are to compete, something I hope they will do as many of the points the NDP have been making since Horwath’s election as leader have been well put and make a lot of sense to a number of Ontarians.
This will be a dog fight and one that will be fought on a number of issues that favour the opposition. The average income in St. Paul’s is over $100 000 with the median income being closer to $60 000. It can be expected if the average income is over $100 000, and half of resident’s household incomes are over $60 000 that the HST will be a non starter with many as folks with incomes that high are certainly consumers and many due to income will not even be eligible for the money the Provincial government will be handing out to try to ease the pain of this tax increase.
As a heavily urban riding with a number of condo developments, it can be expected condo owners will also overwhelmingly be opposed to the HST as it adds an 8% tax to their monthly maintenance payment, effectively creating a ’13th month’ for the Provincial government’s share.
There is also the matter of E-health, the economy and the general malaise Ontarians tend to have with a second term premier mid way through.
Considering both the Ontario NDP and PC party’s have been carrying very similar messages on the negative impacts of the HST on condo owners and everyday Ontarians and speak in near unison on the e-health scandal and each are calling for a stronger focus on the economy (obviously from different perspectives), if the NDP nominate a quality candidate that matches the calibre of Hoskins and Levy, democracy will be well served on the streets of St. Paul’s.
I’m not calling this for anyone at this point, I’m just saying it’s going to be one heck of a fight, and if Levy brings to it what she’s brought to her column over the years at City Hall – it will certainly be passionate and hard fought.
I know this Torontonian looks forward to watching this play out.
Chris Chopik – Green Party of Ontario
Eric Hoskins – Ontario Liberal Party
Sue-Ann Levy – Ontario Progressive Conservative
Ontario NDP Candidate to be named
3 Comments »Laforet.ca Coverage of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Leadership Race Will Start Soon
We’re about a month away from the Ontario Progressive Conservatives selecting the next leader of the official opposition, and their candidate for Premier in 2011. It’s a four person race, by any one’s standards a wide open field that will come down in large part to folks second and third choices.
Around this point in the Ontario NDP leadership race in March 2009, working with Jeff Hume, I began covering the race and giving candidates an equal opportunity to get their message out unfiltered, while providing other bloggers with some original content to work with as they chose.
Currently, I’m in the process of setting up the remaining interviews with candidates, and hope to have footage to share from these one on ones soon.
As with the Ontario NDP leadership race, my coverage will be done with an open mind, fairness for all candidates and a simple goal – to provide bloggers with original content to work with, to provide a wider audience with introductions to the four candidates who will shape the future of the official opposition, and one of three leaders who will be in a position to form the next government in Ontario.
I have to say, I have sincerely enjoyed my new role as a political active, non partisan. Doing things like covering the Ontario NDP leadership race, focusing my activism on local issues that go well beyond the limits of partisan politics has been quite the experience as well. It is my hope that using new media tools to cover this leadership race will open up the process, the issues and the candidates to folks across Ontario.
Until there is footage of the sit down interviews with the Ontario PC Candidates to post, I am going to share with you a number of my favourite videos that Jeff Hume so expertly produced as part of our coverage of the Ontario NDP race to give you a flavour of what is to come.
Enjoy.
Greg Elmer – Professor of Media Studies at Ryerson University on New Media and Conventions
Campaigns Talking Get Out the Vote Strategies
Andrea Horwath – Just Before First Ballot Result Interview
Andrea Horwath Friday Rally
Emergency Policy Resolution on US Steel (Stelco) Layoffs
Andrea Horwath Pre Convention Interview
Peter Tabuns Pre Convention Interview
Gilles Bisson Pre Convention Interview
Michael Prue – Part One Pre Convention Interview – Michael Prue the Man
Michael Prue – Part Two Pre Convention Video – Prue the Candidate
