Municipal Election - Ontario

Municipal Election - Ontario

    This past Monday, October 25th, voters across the Province went to the polls in droves.
 Most polls recorded larger than normal turnout, which is a marked change from just four years ago.  Some Provincial polls recorded a fifty percent (50%) voter turnouts, compared to thirty (30%) turnout in 2006.   Voter turnout in Windsor was up twelve percent (12%) and in Essex County the turnout was up approximately twenty percent (20%).

     In the mayoral race in Toronto, Rob Ford,  former City Councillor defeated George Smitherman former Health Minister of Ontario and a Liberal heavy weight.  Ford is known for being unpolished and colourful with a his ‘shoot from the hip’ blunt retorts.   Ford’s media gaffes include: homophobic slurs, drunken outbursts, and referring to “Orientals” who “work like dogs”.  His comments seemed to only endear voters, especially the Asian community.  Some account Ford’s ‘likeability’ to the fact that he says what most people are thinking, but are afraid to verbalize.  He is seen as a ‘commoner’ not an ‘elitist’, and refuses to wear $2,000.00 suits. 

    How does a clumsy, conservative, under-dog become the Mayor of the largest, most ‘Liberally progressive’ City of Ontario?  People seem to be  fed-up with the polish, glitz and glam of politicians who promise what they will never deliver.  As the media attacked Ford calling him “fat” and “unruly”, his popularity and contributions only rose.  Macleans magazine, calls Ford “The Game Changer” and attributes his victory to “high taxation” and “anger over wasteful spending..”.  The voter shift and rejection of not only a Liberal, but a homosexual (Smitherman), could be a reversal and rejection of Liberalism, but also an embracing pro-family values.  A Vietnamese Community Leader, in the G.T.A., stated in Ford’s defense that: “..at least he was married to a woman”, “We will not vote for Smitherman!, it is against our culture..”.

    This re-engagement of voters in Ontario could signal the end to an ‘anything goes’, Liberal view, the demise of the McGuinty era and two majority governments.  Most voters have had enough of the taxation, that is driving an economic engine from one that ‘could’ to ‘can’t’.  At a Ontario Progressive Conservative policy meeting, one out-spoken and frustrated attendee called McGuinty “A big fat Liar”.  The frustration is evident even in coffee shops.  As Ontarians speak out, one unapologetic mother of two said, in reference to McGuinty: “I hate him!”.  Should this trend remain stable until next year, there could be a new majority government and a new Premier.  Tim Hudak, Leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party seems poised to accept this mantel as his policy of tax reduction appears to resonate with the electorate.  Ontario University and College Students are paying the highest tuition fees in all of Canada since the Liberal government removed subsidies for education to pay for special interest promises.  Ontario now has the highest taxation in the Dominion with taxes on: Health, Hydro, Eco and of course the H.S.T.

    Hopefully, students and youth will head to polls and take hold of their own destiny with regard to education and their own futures.  This is age group (18-25) is usually disengaged and unconcerned with casting ballots, but this next election could change all of that with a huge shift from the status quo.
Rob Cheshire,  Banana Belt Tories,  Contributor.