Ontario Votes 2014 (Provincial Election)

[Shwa Girl]

Will probably vote PC but am interestedin throwing my vote to a 3rs ( or in this case 4th )party candidate....did you know we have a libertarian party in Ontario?

the candidates in your riding can be found here

http://wemakevotingeasy.ca/en/home.aspx

Voted already. In and out in 5 minutes.
Even some RCSS and Loblaws have voting upstairs.

[trishka]

Others have taken pay cuts from the Liberal party's reign too.
We are voting for the candidate that will do the best in the riding where we live.
We are voting for the candidate that that has shown to do good for our community over the past few years.
Just a thought...

I agree that voting for the candidate that will be best in your riding is the best, but the problem is that a vote for them is a vote for the party. I like both my red and blue candidates themselves but I have issues with both of the parties they represent. I know nothing about the orange candidate in my riding.

[trishka]

Can't wait for this to be over. I'm so tired of these ads that are playing. Honestly, PCs, I know what the liberals have done, why don't you tell me what you will do?!

[FallenPixels]

I have actually seen a lot of ads from the PCs with their one million jobs plan, but only attack ads from the Liberals (although ads are network targetted, so they will differ a lot between regions)

[FallenPixels]

Many of you know I am a teacher. So I am not much in favour of blue at this point. I already took a pay cut (not freeze) from red.

I live in Tim Hudak's riding. I am really struggling where to vote. I would like to vote Green, but I feel this is a vote to Tim. Thoughts?

Others have taken pay cuts from the Liberal party's reign too.

The fact is that all three leaders have fairly comfortable in their own ridings, voting any party in Hudak's riding probably still means he gets in there, so vote with your heart.
As Shwa mentions, many people have taken cuts and freezes during the Liberal Party's time in office, even Legislature workers (not the politicians, the people who run the legislature etc) are on their 5th year without a raise with benefits being taken away.

[Patty Smyth]

The fact is that all three leaders have fairly comfortable in their own ridings, voting any party in Hudak's riding probably still means he gets in there, so vote with your heart.
As Shwa mentions, many people have taken cuts and freezes during the Liberal Party's time in office, even Legislature workers (not the politicians, the people who run the legislature etc) are on their 5th year without a raise with benefits being taken away.

Private sector workers are not much better off. Everyone needs to tighten up or we will all be bankrupt. My DH has not seen a raise in years and they have taken all but the basic benefits away. Public sector workers should be no better off.

The problem is every one wants cuts but "not in my backyard".

[trishka]

I have actually seen a lot of ads from the PCs with their one million jobs plan, but only attack ads from the Liberals (although ads are network targetted, so they will differ a lot between regions)

I don't have cable but I watch the Daily Show and the Colbert Report online at the Comedy Network, and the PC ads are the only ones I see and they rarely mention what they will do.

[trishka]

I am a public sector worker and while I understand that I make a better wage than those in the private, I'm incredibly overworked. Most of the time, I get home and realise that I haven't eaten anything since the yogurt cup I had a 6am (checking SC is my only break, which is usually done while waiting for a large document to print or photocopy). My workload has more than tripled in the last couple of years but we haven't been able to hire more staff because of cuts and because my office has strict and quick timelines for completion, I usually work early and stay late, all of which I don't get paid for. As far as I'm concerned, anyone (private or public) who is overworked is not likely paid enough. If Hudak wants to cut 100,000 workers, is my job on the line? And if it's not, is my workload going to double? Cutting jobs doesn't make the work go away. Personally, I think I'd prefer not to have a wage increase but for the office to have the ability to hire another worker or workers to take the pressure off of my workload.

Of course there are inefficiencies within the government but there are inefficiencies in any organization. It's weeding them out and correcting them that is what is necessary. And yes, there are public service workers who really shouldn't be where they are because they're lazy but not all of us are that stereotypical public servant. The majority of the ones I interact with and that I know are in the same boat I am, overworked but trying so hard to get the job done and within a reasonable time.

[FallenPixels]

Honestly, I can see how cuts would make some offices in my building more efficient - the red tape and number of people you need to go through for simple stuff is ridiculous

[Shwa Girl]

If Hudak wants to cut 100,000 workers, is my job on the line? And if it's not, is my workload going to double? Cutting jobs doesn't make the work go away. Personally, I think I'd prefer not to have a wage increase but for the office to have the ability to hire another worker or workers to take the pressure off of my workload.

I am not for any party.
Could the 100,000 job decrease come from retirements and not replacing maternity/sick leaves or workers moving to other jobs?

If I remember correctly, the word "cut" came from political advertisements from one of the parties (*cough* liberal *cough*)

My workload has also increased -- like yours.
But, Like FallenPixels, I see some "fat" that needs to be cut in some parts of the public sector --- not speaking about you-- don't know where you work or what you do.

Again, not for any party.

[FallenPixels]

He said last night that it is cuts over the plan not all at once and the public service has 4-9% retirement each year, those people will not be replaced but some will come from putting govt back to 2009 levels right away, he will have a smaller cabinet which means less ministries

[trishka]

FallenPixels, can't speak for other offices but my office doesn't have a lot of red tape for simple stuff. I also assume you mean internally, but if that is the case than yes, that needs to be changed.

They have recently made changes to the retirement package that I believe takes effect in 2017, so I guess his numbers of jobs lost will come from those people as more of them will be retiring sooner than they possibly planned. I also know that more people are not retiring when they can for various reasons. Not replacing sick/maternity leaves is not going to help the situation in terms of workloads. We had someone off for 6 months and if they weren't replaced, I'm pretty sure I would have had a breakdown.

Having less ministries isn't going to make the work go away. It's just going to shift the work around.

[FallenPixels]

We are losing a lot of older workers to the retirement benefits changes too

An example of the red tape with my office is we wanted to remove an employee from the phone directory since they had left. You would think that you could just send in a request to the person who keeps the list with a note that the person is no longer with us, instead it required a form with three signatures and took weeks while ppl were still calling from the main line for the person. All the red tape just makes people's jobs harder. I have to go to 3 offices to get signatures, working around their schedules bc who knows how long it will take sending by internal mail, the person has to verify the correct signatures before removing the listing.

Those ministries did not exist before 2003/7/9 - we managed fine with less workers then (in fact I would say most of us feel more overworked now than back then??). Again - make work (and jobs) projects

[Shwa Girl]

A man in Burlington made up his own lawn signs.
They are asking him to take them down.

http://media.zuza.com/5/a/5a6621d5-a...___Content.jpg

[Andit]

http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/06...iling-charges/

And another view of issues with the green energy strategy.
http://quixoteslaststand.com/2013/09...wind-turbines/



Personally, I'm all for green energy...if it works and doesn't impact the environment (too many critters are being killed from the darn wind turbines, especially bats ). I have friends whose family is directly affected by these turbines.