With a provincial election underway, our email volume has already increased.
One group or another has the answer to the current round of problems in Ontario. Most involve more money and higher costs.
Once the election is over, emails will slow down and people will be less active and enthusiastic about politics. We’ve seen it many times before.
It should come as little surprise that the Progressive Conservatives are talking cuts and a reduction of business taxes as ways to generate jobs and balance the books.
The Liberals’ most recent budget seemed to have something for everyone, but not enough for the NDP to support it and avoid this election.
The NDP is announcing new programs too, child-care funding and a higher minimum wage, with little regard for where the offsetting revenue may come from.
Its vintage Ontario politics – lots of promises and no real plan, certainly the kind of substantive plans one would hope to review before casting a ballot. It’s another election about choosing the best of the worst.
What qualifies as best is a point of discussion.
There will be an element of the citizenry that gets excited at the notion of government workers being turfed. That is until the particular ministry or department they need to contact is backlogged or closed, at which point they will be outraged at the absence of service.
There will be voters who think the Liberals are on the right track with an enhanced pension plan and really “dig” what’s happened with renewable energy. A more generous pension is great, as is renewable energy – but these programs cost money few of us can afford in today’s business climate.
Young families may vote for more affordable child care and the adoption of living wages or higher minimum wages. These legislated increases force higher costs for providers and higher costs for consumers.
Voters don’t really win when it comes to the promise game. The winner by default is the successful politician who makes the best promises.
He or she gets four more years of pensionable earnings and we get the chance to do it all again next election.
