Ontario Provincial Liberal Gov't poised for defeat?

[NAB]

Well, the polls are closed - who's it to be... the lefties or the righties,,,, or a mixture LOL

Results updated every 60 seconds here...
http://ontariovotes.canoe.ca/

Nab

[oneh2obabe]

Liberals won ... just waiting to see if it's a majority or minority.

ETA
With early returns as of 10:55 p.m., the Liberals were leading or elected in 53 ridings. The Tories trailed with 37 ridings and the New Democrats had 17 ridings, according to CBC.

The Liberals have hovered on the cusp of a majority for much of the evening as the votes rolled in. For a majority government, 54 seats are required in the 107-member Legislature.

[Cumungala]

So I guess Dalton McGuinty won another term. Good thing I don't live in Ontario!!

[NAB]

He has lost a lot of seats though and no longer has a majority (unless any recounts deliver him one more seat). If he is stuck with a minority it won't be quite "business as usual" in Ontario. But then they can probably count on support from the strengthened Ontario NDP to keep a high rate of spending and incrreased deficit and debt going, perhaps even worse than before ;-)

Edit to add: If reports this morning are accurate, it would appear that a significant majority of Ontario voters didn't even bother to vote.

Nab

[NAB]

Excerpt from http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/06 ... -overhaul/

Look at the seat count in Thursday’s Ontario election, and it would seem like anything but a squeaker, with the Liberals ahead of the second-place Conservatives by something close to 20 ridings late in the evening.

The popular vote tells a different story, however, with Dalton McGuinty’s Liberals just a couple of percentage points on top of the Tories — about 37% to 35%.

It was the third time in the past few days that provincial election results have produced a gaping divide between the popular vote and seat results, leading to renewed calls for electoral reform in Canada.

In Tuesday’s Manitoba election, the NDP trounced the Conservatives 37 to 19, even though just 1.6 percentage points separated them in the popular vote.

It was a similar story in Prince Edward Island’s vote on Monday. The Tories captured just five seats, though they won 40% of the popular vote. The Liberals snagged 22 seats, with 50% of the islanders’ ballots.

Then there was last May’s federal election, when 39% of the vote translated into a 167-seat majority for the Conservatives.

Such results only further the growing problem of low voter turnout,........

**********************

..and this from http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/sudbury/s ... rnout.html

Ontario election turnout hits record low
CBC News
Posted: Oct 7, 2011 8:50 AM ET
Last Updated: Oct 7, 2011 9:29 AM ET
Voter turnout in Thursday’s Ontario election dropped to a record low, with only 49.2 per cent of eligible voters going to the polls. The previous low record was 52.8 per cent, set in 2007.

There had been some optimism ahead of the election that voter turnout would be good, after a reasonably high turnout in advance polls.

According to preliminary figures, almost 625,000 people cast their votes in advance, an increase of about 175,000 compared with 2007 advance polls.
However, advance-poll voters had a lot more options heading into this election compared with previous ones. There were more days to vote, and more ways. That included the option to vote by special ballot by mail, in person at the local returning office, or during 10 days when advance polling stations were open.

Hardly an overwhelming vote of confidence in the McGuinty Liberals by the Ontario electorate, no matter how they spin it.

Nab

[GordonH]

So I guess Dalton McGuinty won another term. Good thing I don't live in Ontario!!

There is a difference between the Liberal Party of Ontario & Liberal Party of BC. Ontario's is actual the Liberal Party, BC is a coalition very similar to former Social Credit Party. Hope this helps

[oneh2obabe]

Finally someone who knows the difference. :smt023

[Woodenhead]

It was the third time in the past few days that provincial election results have produced a gaping divide between the popular vote and seat results, leading to renewed calls for electoral reform in Canada.

I wish - like that'll happen anytime soon. Pathetic.

[NAB]

Jeesh, he could just as easily be talking about the BC Liberal government huh? Not a particularly comfortable time to be a minority government that could be brought down at any time huh? And with your only potential salvation resting with joining ranks with the NDP.

Nab

Financially illiterate McGuinty Liberals misplace another billion

Matt Gurney Nov 24, 2011 – 11:11 AM ET | Last Updated: Nov 24, 2011 11:12 AM ET

Heading into this fall’s Ontario provincial election, there was some good news. Improving economic forecasts suggested that Ontario’s deficit was coming in a billion bucks lower than expected. Money is tight in Ontario, as even the spend-happy Liberals have belatedly realized. They were caught in the uncomfortable position of being down in the polls without any cash left in the vault to spread around the province in search of votes that could be shaken loose. Their last budget before the election was notably lacking in any new major spending plans, and they campaigned for re-election more on their record (such as it was) than any big plans for the future. Probably wouldn’t have worked if the Progressive Conservatives hadn’t run a hilariously bad campaign … but they did, so it did.

But still, that “extra” billion dollars sure did help. It allowed for a few targetted promises of new spending — eco-renovation credits, improved transit service in Greater Toronto — without giving critics an opportunity to ask where the money was coming from. It was coming from the accounting adjustment! Good news leads to more good news! Except we now know that the accounting adjustment was wrong. Ontario doesn’t have an extra billion dollars. Premier Dalton McGuinty and his team should have seen that one coming for a lot of reasons — but no one should be surprised they didn’t. They’ve pulled this trick before.

It was a year ago, in November of 2010, when Finance Minister Dwight Duncan discovered a similar billion magic dollars. Ontario’s deficit forecast for the year ahead was coming in about a billion bucks lower than forecast — specifically, a deficit of $18.7-billion was expected, instead of the earlier figure of $19.7-billion. Rather than considering that a lucky break, Duncan instead saw an opportunity. The government immediately announced a 10% hydro rebate for every Ontario rate-payer. Annual cost: About $1-billion.

Whatever. Just a billion dollars. Easy come, easy go, am I right or am I right?

It was the same thing they did before October’s election — take an accounting twitch that suggests the province is bleeding to death somewhat slower than thought, and then ramp up spending to maintain the level of gushing blood. Of course, in this later case, it’s actually even worse than that — since after pledging new spending, Ontario finds out that it’s still actually bleeding just as fast as ever. So now they’re still on the hook for that billion bucks, and they’ve committed to new spending. This is what “forward, together” means, apparently.

If Premier McGuinty and his gang ever shipwrecked on a desert island, they’d have a hell of a time rationing out the food. Just imagine it: They’d take a careful inventory of every last crust of bread and tin of beans they had, and then estimate how much each person needed to eat a day. They’d figure out they had enough to go 10 days without starving. After a few days, though, they’d realize that they actually weren’t eating quite as much as they thought they were every day, and could go a whole 12 days before running out of food.

For most people that would mean staying alive two days longer in hopes of being rescued. But not the Ontario Liberal Party. They’d just ramp up everyone’s rations so everyone got a bit more to eat before starving to death according to the original schedule, or they’d simply celebrate the good news of the slower-than-forecast eating by throwing a feast for everyone! Then when the food ran out and they all began to wither away, they’d blame Mike Harris for building them a leaky ship.

You’d think with all that was going on in Europe and south of the border, Ontario’s leaders would have learned the value of reducing their deficits as quickly as possible. Not so. So long as every lowered deficit forecast is a recipe for more spending, and until the government stops treating slowing down the rate of spending growth as some kind of “savings”, like their free-spending habits were a law of nature and any deviation from it, noteworthy, Ontario will remain on the wrong course.

The Liberals project eliminating the deficit by 2018. We’ll see if things hold out that long.

National Post
mgurney@nationalpost.com

National Post

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/201 ... um=twitter
mgurney@nationalpost.com

[wthwyt]

Hey they can misplace 1/2 of 1 % of that in my account anytime. Wow, is there another federal appointment coming up somewhere.

[NAB]

They may need more than one LOL. There may be a candidate in Quebec looking for an escape to job too.

And this is even after they absorbed the multi billion $ bribes from Ottawa related to their respective HST's.

Ye olde Liberal shift toward greater socialism isn't faring too well methinks, whether provincially or federally.

Nab

[NAB]

Well, it looks like the Ontario minority Liberal government have the provincial NDP in a corner. No more talk, put up or bring us down and we'll have a summer election. And it appears the NDP don't have the guts tp put their money where their mouth is. What a bunch of losers! All they ever want to do is "talk" and waste everyone's time, and the time for talk is obviously over. Crap or get off the pot Ontario NDP!

Nab