The Toronto Sun - An extension of the PC Party?

Christina Blizzard of the Toronto Sun wrote a very partisan piece in the May 9th, 2014 edition of the newspaper. Here's the link to the article:

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/08/unilever-closure-proof-ontario-needs-hudaks-job-growth-plan

Unilever announced yesterday that they are closing their plant in Brampton, and putting 280 people out of work. Blizzard and her PC masters would have you believe that the reason they are closing their plant is because of high hydro rates, and high taxes in Ontario. This is far from the truth, and to prove this one just has to do a simple Google search on all the plants that Unilever has closed in the United States over the past several years to see that it's not just a result of higher energy costs.

Another simple Google search produced another article from the Toronto Sun written by Shawn Jeffords, on May 8th, 2014 and states the following:

"Logistical issues caused the death-knell of Unilever Canada’s local food mix facility, the plant director says. When we look at the facts, unfortunately for the employees of Bramalea, 80% of what we produce here is actually shipped back to the U.S.,” he said. “It just made sense to make the investment in the U.S.”

Production will move south to Independence, Missouri.

Browning said the company broke the news at a 10 a.m. meeting held off-site for all employees. They were told the plant will ramp down operations in 2015 and ultimately close in March 2016.

“Our thoughts are with the employees today,” he said.

The company did not request any financial aid or incentives to stay from the provincial or federal governments, Browning said, adding they wouldn’t be asking for any in the future.

“When we looked at the logistical issues it really wouldn’t matter what the incentives were to stay in Ontario,” he said. “When 80% of our consumer base is in the U.S., that was the overriding factor.”

Browning said the company had not ruled out finding some employees work at Unilever sites in Simcoe and Rexdale. Those sites will not be affected by this closure, he said.

Nowhere in this article does it state that they are closing the plant because of high energy costs, or the possible Ontario Pension Plan that Blizzard would have you think. Blizzard, much like Sue-Ann Levy have such a hate on for anything Liberal that they can't be called reporters in my eyes. They twist the facts to support the policies of the Conservative movement at the Municipal, Provincial, and Federal Levels of government.

Tim Hudak and the PC party if elected plan to cut 100,000 public sector jobs. How does that fit into the PC's plan to create 1 million jobs, when you start off my cutting 100,000?

Here's the link to the article: http://www.torontosun.com/2014/05/09/hudak-vows-to-cut-100000-public-sector-jobs

At the Toronto Sun you have one "reporter" claiming all these false facts, while another "reporter" actually reporting facts regarding the Unilever closing from the plant manager.

Tim Hudak lacks proper leadership

A sign of a good leader is a person who can connect with other people. A good leader is one who takes the time to listen to other people. A good leader is a person who stands behind their own people, and does not throw them under the bus. A sign of a good leader is not Tim Hudak!

An incident took place last year involving former PC, MPP of Thornhill, Peter Shurman. The incident involved Mr. Shurman claiming living expenses, which every MPP is entitled to claim if he or she lives 50km away from Queens Park. While Mr. Shurman was the elected MPP for Thornhill, he did not live in the riding and was therefore entitled to claim the living expense.

When the story broke in the media this created a firestorm for Hudak, as he was going after the government for all the money they've wasted over the years. Mr. Hudak claims that he knew nothing about Mr. Shurman claiming the living expenses, and had asked him to pay the money back. Mr. Shurman claims that he spoke with Mr. Hudak and advised him that he was in fact claiming the living expense months before the story broke. I know this boils down to a he said, he said type of situation.
As a result of this being revealed, Mr. Hudak removed Mr. Shurman as Finance Critic for the PC party, a position that Mr. Shurman held for several years, and was extremely good at.

Mr. Shurman felt that Mr. Hudak throw him under the bus to save his own political butt, and therefore resigned as of December 31st, 2013. Recently Mr. Shurman was on a local radio station giving his own personal assessment of this election, and he said he felt that Ontario is headed for another Liberal Minority Government. It should be noted that Mr. Shurman is now a private citizen who gets paid to give his assessment on political issues.

Needless to say this started a storm on social media and calls for Mr. Shurman to take back his assessment, and also to refrain from talking about the election. The storm I'm talking about is mainly from the PC party and the campaign team of Tim Hudak. All of this could have been avoided had Mr. Hudak been honest about his meeting with Mr. Shurman, and stood beside one of his loyal and most trusted MPP's. Instead Mr. Hudak did what any power hungry person would do, and that was to throw Mr. Shurman under the bus.

Is this the type of person we want leading the Province? Is this the type of leader the people of Ontario deserve? Mr. Hudak will do and say anything to get elected, and he knows that if he does not win this election his days as leader of the PC Party are numbered.

Leadership is about team work, and that my friends is something that Mr. Hudak lacks.

Ontario Pension Plan...Say What!!!

So the Ontario Liberals want to introduce a Ontario Retirement Pension Plan, or ORPP for short. Is this a good idea or a bad idea?

Currently all working people in Canada will receive upon retirement a Canada Pension Plan which in today' dollars pays a whopping $ 6800.00 a year on average. The Prime minister when he retires will receive over $ 200,000 per year as part of his retirement package. Now this does not include Old Age Security or any supplement that the Federal government might give you.

As you can see from the picture above, the Ontario Liberals if re-elected will put into place a made in Ontario retirement plan whereby those working for a company that does not have a pension plan of their own would have to contribute 1.9% of their earning towards the ORPP.

Some think that this is another tax grab by the Ontario Liberals, while others think it's a very good idea. I'm on the fence when it comes to the ORPP. I feel that if you want to contribute to the ORPP then you should have that option. It should not be forced upon you by the Provincial Government.

I do have to give the Liberals credit in coming up with this plan as part of their election platform. In Quebec they've had a Provincial Pension plan for years, and it's worked very well for them. So readers what's your take on the ORPP? Good idea, or bad idea?

Hudak off to a bad start!

Poor PC Leader, Tim Hudak. On May 5th Mr. Hudak visited a recording studio in Mississauga to promote his 1 million jobs plan, and got asked why did he vote against funding to the music industry in the 2013 Liberal budget which would have created jobs. Mr. Hudak should of been able to answer that question, but failed to do so. He tried to brush it off, but that also failed.

On May 6th, it was revealed that the video below which was put together by the PC campaign team was using stock footage from the Russian Federation.

Is this Hudak's idea of creating high paying jobs in Ontario, by outsourcing to of all places the Russian Federation? Tim Hudak still does not get it, and for his sake, and that of his party he better smarten up.

After months of propping up the Liberal minority government, the NDP under the leadership of Andrea Horwath decided to pull the plug on the Liberals and force an election on June 12th, 2014. So what does the NDP stand for? What's their platform going into this election?

Below is a link taken from their website.....

http://ontariondp.com/en/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Plan-for-affordable-change.pdf

The NDP call their plan a one of "affordable change". Really a plan of affordable change from a party that ruined Ontario back in the 1990's. The NDP plan is much of the same far left socialist ideas that have gotten Ontario into trouble in the past. The NDP want to raise takes on the top 2%, raise corporate taxes by about 12%, create an Ontario pension plan...Hey wait a minute this kind of sounds like the Liberals most recent budget that the NDP would not support.

While most people like Andrea Horwath as a leader, when compared to Hudak and Wynne they don't like her party and what they stand for. Well known pundit, Warren Kinsella on his facebook page claims that the NDP will win this election. Really Warren you know a hell of a lot about politics, but I think you are way off on your prediction.

If you want to find out more about the NDP, please visit their website at www.ontariondp.com 

Ontario PC Party

This post will focus on the Ontario PC Party lead by Tim Hudak. The main part of the platform for the PC Party is the creation of 1 million jobs. Hudak's plan is divided into 5 major sections which are listed below and taken directly from the PC website. My take on each of the 5 areas will be listed below the heading:

1. LOWER TAXES AND LESS DEBT

The first step in our plan is to produce more jobs and increase take-home pay through lower taxes and less debt.

Nobody likes to pay taxes, and we all want to take home more money. Saying that you want to produce more jobs and increase take home pay is easy, but how do you intend to do it? Ontario has very little natural resources that we can export, and as a result we rely on our manufacturing sector to create good paying jobs. Ontario was one of the hardest hit Provinces when the recession hit. Our largest trading partner, the United States were not buying our products, and as a result our manufacturing sector was hit very hard. Corporate taxes in Ontario are one of the lowest in Canada, and while the US economy is on an upswing, the high US dollar is further preventing Americans from re-locating to Ontario. When you can make a product in China and India for a tenth of the cost of what it would be in Ontario would you not, as a business person make that product elsewhere? 

For Ontario to prosper, we need leadership that will focus on creating jobs for the 21st century in the Hi-Tech sector, this is the future of Ontario.

2. AFFORDABLE ENERGY

The next step is to make energy in Ontario more affordable. The cost of energy in Ontario has gotten out of control under the Liberals. Our energy rates have already doubled, and are set to go up even higher. This hurts families and has forced our once-booming manufacturing sector to relocate. This has to stop in order to turn things around.

Everyone hates to pay high energy costs. We hate to pay over $ 1.35 a litre at the gas pumps, We hate to pay high hydro rates, and natural gas rates. Tim Hudak has said he can't control the high cost of energy, and he's still not said how he intends to curb the high cost of energy in Ontario. Our once booming manufacturing sector is not leaving Ontario because of our high energy costs. There are other factors like our high staffing costs, property taxes, transportation, cost of goods, and so on. Again I ask Tim Hudak what would a PC Government do to bring back all these manufacturing jobs? 

3. TRAIN MORE SKILLED WORKERS

Step three is to create more skilled workers to meet the demand of trade jobs in Ontario. Increasing our skilled workforce will make Ontario more competitive and help young people find good-paying jobs.

This point I can agree with Tim Hudak on. We need to create more skilled workers, we need to make sure that we have more students looking to go into the trades. But I say again where's the plan to do this?

4. INCREASE TRADE WITH OUR NEIGHBOURS

Ontario needs to strengthen trade with neighbouring provinces and states. We want to make sure the things Ontario workers make can reach as many customers as possible.

Since the end of the recession, trade with the United States has increased, but not to the point it was prior to the recession. Job loses was in the tens of millions south of the boarder. Unless you are willing to pay our workers like the workers are paid in India and China, we will never go back to the way it was prior to the recession. That's why Ontario needs to become a leader in the Hi-Tech sector, so our technology can be exported around the world. Education is the key to our future.

5. END THE BUREAUCRATIC RUNAROUND THAT INHIBITS JOB CREATION.

Red tape and government bureaucracy is crippling small businesses and making people think twice about starting or relocating their business here in Ontario. We want to put an end to the bureaucratic runaround that costs businesses more money and hurts job creation.

Again another area I can agree with Tim Hudak on. Having said that every party will tell you the same thing that they want to end the red tape. However which party has what it takes to actually do it?

Hudak has to still deal with the ghost of Mike Harris, much like Andrea Horwath has to deal with the ghost of Bob Rae, and Kathleen Wynne has to deal with the ghost of Dalton McGuinty. So this race will come down to who can you trust to change things in Ontario.

Let the race begin!

As expected, NDP leader, Andrea Horwath won't support the Liberals 2014 budget, and as a result we are heading the the polls on June 12th, 2014. PC leader Tim Hudak has been itching for an election since losing the 2011 election which was his to win, but of course he blew it.

I will admit that McGuinty really screwed up the Province, and that's why he decided to leave office over a year ago. Wynne is no McGuinty, but Hudak will do his best to label Wynne as an extension of McGuinty which is far from the truth. Since Wynne has taken office a little over a year ago, not one scandal can be associated with her and her team.

Horwath is in the worst position as she still has no plan to move the Province forward. Unions are moving away from the NDP towards the Liberals, and that could result in the NDP losing seats in this election.

So stay tuned as I will be posting regular updates, and doing profiles on all the major political parties.