Right. He cut across the board and whatever he couldn't cut, he downloaded it down to the provinces.
Do I have to vote for Ford now?
- Thread starter Varoufakis
- Start date
Good to know that it exists. I was not aware of it.See the link below on ways to vote. In a nutshell:
Declining your ballot
Ontario’s election law allows voters to decline their ballot.
To decline your ballot, tell the election official that you are declining your right to vote when they hand you a ballot. This is a public process done out loud.
The election official will mark “declined” on the back of the ballot. Your ballot will not be placed in the ballot box but in an envelope for declined ballots.
Voting in provincial elections
www.elections.on.ca
Everyone are aware that Ford is trying to buy their votes. But this guy really nails it:
Doug Ford sent me a $440 license plate renewal refund, but I wish he hadn’t
Politicians often try to bribe voters with their own money. When election season rolls around, you can count on them to throw around targeted dollops of public funds in an attempt to win over key ridings and voting blocs. Usually, though, the bribery is a little less overt than the cheque that arrived at my Toronto home this week from Premier Doug Ford.
I knew it would be coming. A few weeks ago, an e-mail landed in my inbox. It said it was from Mr. Ford himself. It was his name in the header, anyway. The actual email address was opc@sure-mail.net. OPC stands for the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, Mr. Ford’s gang, which is hoping to win a second term in office on June 2.
“Marcus,” it began, in a rather familiar tone. (I know Mr. Ford from his days as right-hand man to his brother Rob at City Hall, but I wouldn’t say we’re pals.) “Each year, you throw away $120 to renew your license plate sticker. Let’s face it, it’s just another tax. I’m scrapping it. And I’m introducing red tape legislation to give you a refund for the last two years.”
True to his word, Mr. Ford’s government sent my household of two a cheque for $440. It came in a white envelope from the Ministry of Transportation, which mentioned nothing about the coming election. An enclosed notice said that “to save you money, the Ontario government has made renewing your licence plate free and is refunding the cost of doing so for the past two years.”
How very generous. And how perfectly timed, with the election just seven weeks away. Mr. Ford is trying to persuade voters that he is a premier “For the People,” as his ball caps proclaim. Which is good to know, because I sure wouldn’t vote for someone who is against the people. A zippy new campaign jingle says he and his government are “always fighting for you.”
Especially if you happen to drive a car and live in the ‘burbs. The sprawling suburbs that ring Toronto are a goldmine for votes. Many drivers are annoyed about higher prices at the gas pump. To secure their allegiance, the Ford government is not only killing the licence-renewal fee and sending them refund cheques, but trimming a few cents from the gas tax and eliminating tolls on two suburban highways: the 412 and the 418.
Let’s hope voters aren’t so easily bought. The cheque stunt is both cheesy politics and bad policy. Ontario is struggling with a big budget deficit caused by all that pandemic spending. It has ambitious plans for building mass transit and expanding the highway system. The licence fee might have helped cover the enormous cost. Instead, the government will lose $1-billion in reliable income.
Cutting tolls and gas taxes when Canada is striving to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions is hard to justify. The federal carbon tax makes consuming energy more costly; Mr. Ford makes it cheaper. It is a push-me, pull-you approach to environmental planning. Nobody ends up ahead in the long run.
Road tolls are good policy. They put more of the burden for building and maintaining highways on those who actually use them, instead of the general public. They make drivers think harder about when and how often they use their vehicles. Conservatives like Mr. Ford should positively love tolls, because they depend on market pricing and the user-pay principle. By rights, he should be imposing more, not trying to ingratiate himself with voters by getting rid of them.
So, I’m afraid there were no hallelujahs at my place when Mr. Ford’s cheque came in, though there may have been other exclamations. I am tempted to send it back to him. “Doug,” I might begin, “please use this money on something more useful than trying to purchase my vote. I like road tolls and think gas taxes should be higher, not lower.” But I somehow doubt he would reply, even though we are on first-name terms.
Instead, I think I’ll redirect it to a useful cause, such as humanitarian relief for Ukraine or rainforest conservation. If Mr. Ford can’t use my money, I’m sure they could.
www.theglobeandmail.com
Doug Ford sent me a $440 license plate renewal refund, but I wish he hadn’t
Politicians often try to bribe voters with their own money. When election season rolls around, you can count on them to throw around targeted dollops of public funds in an attempt to win over key ridings and voting blocs. Usually, though, the bribery is a little less overt than the cheque that arrived at my Toronto home this week from Premier Doug Ford.
I knew it would be coming. A few weeks ago, an e-mail landed in my inbox. It said it was from Mr. Ford himself. It was his name in the header, anyway. The actual email address was opc@sure-mail.net. OPC stands for the Ontario Progressive Conservative party, Mr. Ford’s gang, which is hoping to win a second term in office on June 2.
“Marcus,” it began, in a rather familiar tone. (I know Mr. Ford from his days as right-hand man to his brother Rob at City Hall, but I wouldn’t say we’re pals.) “Each year, you throw away $120 to renew your license plate sticker. Let’s face it, it’s just another tax. I’m scrapping it. And I’m introducing red tape legislation to give you a refund for the last two years.”
True to his word, Mr. Ford’s government sent my household of two a cheque for $440. It came in a white envelope from the Ministry of Transportation, which mentioned nothing about the coming election. An enclosed notice said that “to save you money, the Ontario government has made renewing your licence plate free and is refunding the cost of doing so for the past two years.”
How very generous. And how perfectly timed, with the election just seven weeks away. Mr. Ford is trying to persuade voters that he is a premier “For the People,” as his ball caps proclaim. Which is good to know, because I sure wouldn’t vote for someone who is against the people. A zippy new campaign jingle says he and his government are “always fighting for you.”
Especially if you happen to drive a car and live in the ‘burbs. The sprawling suburbs that ring Toronto are a goldmine for votes. Many drivers are annoyed about higher prices at the gas pump. To secure their allegiance, the Ford government is not only killing the licence-renewal fee and sending them refund cheques, but trimming a few cents from the gas tax and eliminating tolls on two suburban highways: the 412 and the 418.
Let’s hope voters aren’t so easily bought. The cheque stunt is both cheesy politics and bad policy. Ontario is struggling with a big budget deficit caused by all that pandemic spending. It has ambitious plans for building mass transit and expanding the highway system. The licence fee might have helped cover the enormous cost. Instead, the government will lose $1-billion in reliable income.
Cutting tolls and gas taxes when Canada is striving to reduce its greenhouse-gas emissions is hard to justify. The federal carbon tax makes consuming energy more costly; Mr. Ford makes it cheaper. It is a push-me, pull-you approach to environmental planning. Nobody ends up ahead in the long run.
Road tolls are good policy. They put more of the burden for building and maintaining highways on those who actually use them, instead of the general public. They make drivers think harder about when and how often they use their vehicles. Conservatives like Mr. Ford should positively love tolls, because they depend on market pricing and the user-pay principle. By rights, he should be imposing more, not trying to ingratiate himself with voters by getting rid of them.
So, I’m afraid there were no hallelujahs at my place when Mr. Ford’s cheque came in, though there may have been other exclamations. I am tempted to send it back to him. “Doug,” I might begin, “please use this money on something more useful than trying to purchase my vote. I like road tolls and think gas taxes should be higher, not lower.” But I somehow doubt he would reply, even though we are on first-name terms.
Instead, I think I’ll redirect it to a useful cause, such as humanitarian relief for Ukraine or rainforest conservation. If Mr. Ford can’t use my money, I’m sure they could.
Doug Ford sent me a $440 licence plate renewal refund, but I wish he hadn’t
Election season is coming and Ford’s cheque stunt is both cheesy politics and bad policy
www.theglobeandmail.com
I do love the fact that the right wingers here are arguing that the only successful implementation of the economic plan they back was from the liberals.
You guys really are the best source of fun.
They literally called it Chretien's austerity measures back then. Chretien himself has called it austerity, and says it works. His critics called it austerity as well, and said it wouldn't work. It did.
If you look up the definition of austerity as it applies to economics, it's the increase of taxes and/or decreased funding for social programs usually in response to a debt crisis. What Chretien did seems like a textbook example.
I don't think they did, but regardless, I appreciate the fact that you are arguing that only the Canadian liberals have implemented the economic policies you back.
The Liberals from the 90s and early 2000s, yeah. They don't exist anymore though.
