Ontario Election

I held my nose and voted Liberal as a strategic vote to oust NDP MPP Rosario Marchese. It seems Marchese was a favourite of the artsy downtowners. They have sense of entitlement that the riding belongs to them because they produce art that no one wants to purchase. They pay little in taxes and rely on taxpayer handouts funded by the people they despise. It is an industry onto itself.

Happily Marchese went on to a resounding defeat. It was not close and the voter turnout was greater than the provincial average. Welcome to the new reality of the core voters. All the new condos downtown are occupied, not by artists and handout seekers, but by working people with above average incomes. They don't like Hudak, Harper or the rightwing but they are not ready to trust the NDP with their tax dollars. They are natural Liberals. This bodes well for Adam Vaughan and the Liberals in the federal bye-election later this month. That would be a triumph for Justin Trudeau and a blow to the NDP.

I'm not a fan of Adam "No Fun" Vaughan but I will vote for him. I like Trudeau and want to see the hateful  Harper out of work in 2015. I was also impressed that Trudeau wrestled control of Trinity-Spadina riding association from the Ianno family.

I was not pleased with the gas plant fiasco and other Liberal scandals. I have called for the prosecution of Dalton McGuinty. It is a mistake to call the Liberals proliferate spenders of tax money. Ontario has the lowest per capita spending of any province in Canada. Ontario also collects the lowest amount per capita in taxes. We have a revenue problem, not a spending or tax issue. I do not support the sharp left turn that Wynne has tabled in her latest budget. Wynne has to control spending, take a hardline on public sector bargaining and introduce tolls to pay for transit.

I see promise in the Ontario economy in the long run. The deficit will be slayed in due course with an improving economy and controls on spending. The US economy is recovering and so will Ontario's.

I hope that the PC party thinks long and hard about the selection of their next leader. A moderate that has no connection to the Harris/Harper cabinet would be a good start.

Some local losers in this election? The NDP, Warren Kinsella and old school Liberals that have been pushed out of the party back rooms, the provincial and federal conservatives, Olivia Chow, old time socialists that sold out their party by attacking its leader.