National...Provincial...Municipal...International issues during 2018
My Canada has a myriad of subject matter from Trump closing down the American government to the Canadian NDP leader Singh becoming engaged for marriage. Then there is Justin Trudeau travelling the world to visit a host of countries while losing poll points at home. Let’s begin with comments about politics in 2018.
Half way to the next federal election Ontario Liberals under Kathleen Wynne will need to increase poll numbers before the upcoming June Ontario provincial election. An increase is needed if the Liberals expect to continue as the government after nearly 15 years in power. It is pitiful as a northern Ontarian the party did not elect Vic Fedelli to lead the opposition Conservative party since the greater Toronto area dictates the winner of votes in any party because of its voter numbers. In reality Toronto and the GTA have more votes than all of Northern Ontario and probably a great many other districts, provincial areas or regions. So whether Conservative leader Patrick Brown has the charisma and support to unseat the apparently unpopular Liberal leader is not a certainty although his poll numbers are currently 43% Liberal and 24% for both Liberals and NDP. That might be an indication the Liberals will be defeated by a coalition Conservative NDP similar to the recent B.C. results. The B.C. government which is according to latest reports on the verge of another election might be showing the problem with such a result. The disenchantment of working with the other party which led to defeating the long time B.C. Liberal dynasty is likely the result of one of the B.C. partnership parties feeling the time is right for a victory without the other party’s support.
All across Canada municipal elections are approaching and large cities will undoubtedly capture most of major media headlines. However with social media the demise of local newspapers might be less than catastrophic as more people can offer opinions even though often not well researched personal opinions based on anonymous comment. Of course that means candidates for mayor and council in all the municipalities will have to endure half truths or outright lies from people that hide their identity so as not to have need to answer for the comments. The new practice is unfair to say the least because the comments are usually based on rumours and comments by people that make up their minds to criticize without knowing all the facts. It is a sad turn of events and probably the reason people elected to office at all levels are usually not the best possible candidates. Most people wanting to become involved in municipal politics would shy away to avoid being criticized for well researched decisions endorsed by council but maybe unpopular in some instances. That is especially true if people addressing the issue on social media are simply expressing angry baseless opinions while hiding their own identity.
The June provincial election will be interesting in Northern Ontario where the NDP Currently hold many seats and have strong past support. Breaking up the far north riding representing many Indigenous communities and some along the Highway 11 corridor will likely add to the NDP numbers in the legislature. That is unless some of the other northern ridings that are recent New Democratic Party converts. Our Algoma Manitoulin riding that was changed to make it a smaller riding is a good example. In the past the south part of the riding was held by both Liberal and Conservative members for several elections. Now an NDP riding it will be interesting to observe if Michael Mantha a relative newcomer will be re-elected. To date it seems the other parties although electing or ready to name candidates have neglected to do a great deal of local promotion in Espanola at least although the reason is probably because the change in naming a candidate changed as did the length of electioneering. Michael has been active in the riding according to news reports
Half way to the next federal election Ontario Liberals under Kathleen Wynne will need to increase poll numbers before the upcoming June Ontario provincial election. An increase is needed if the Liberals expect to continue as the government after nearly 15 years in power. It is pitiful as a northern Ontarian the party did not elect Vic Fedelli to lead the opposition Conservative party since the greater Toronto area dictates the winner of votes in any party because of its voter numbers. In reality Toronto and the GTA have more votes than all of Northern Ontario and probably a great many other districts, provincial areas or regions. So whether Conservative leader Patrick Brown has the charisma and support to unseat the apparently unpopular Liberal leader is not a certainty although his poll numbers are currently 43% Liberal and 24% for both Liberals and NDP. That might be an indication the Liberals will be defeated by a coalition Conservative NDP similar to the recent B.C. results. The B.C. government which is according to latest reports on the verge of another election might be showing the problem with such a result. The disenchantment of working with the other party which led to defeating the long time B.C. Liberal dynasty is likely the result of one of the B.C. partnership parties feeling the time is right for a victory without the other party’s support.
All across Canada municipal elections are approaching and large cities will undoubtedly capture most of major media headlines. However with social media the demise of local newspapers might be less than catastrophic as more people can offer opinions even though often not well researched personal opinions based on anonymous comment. Of course that means candidates for mayor and council in all the municipalities will have to endure half truths or outright lies from people that hide their identity so as not to have need to answer for the comments. The new practice is unfair to say the least because the comments are usually based on rumours and comments by people that make up their minds to criticize without knowing all the facts. It is a sad turn of events and probably the reason people elected to office at all levels are usually not the best possible candidates. Most people wanting to become involved in municipal politics would shy away to avoid being criticized for well researched decisions endorsed by council but maybe unpopular in some instances. That is especially true if people addressing the issue on social media are simply expressing angry baseless opinions while hiding their own identity.
The June provincial election will be interesting in Northern Ontario where the NDP Currently hold many seats and have strong past support. Breaking up the far north riding representing many Indigenous communities and some along the Highway 11 corridor will likely add to the NDP numbers in the legislature. That is unless some of the other northern ridings that are recent New Democratic Party converts. Our Algoma Manitoulin riding that was changed to make it a smaller riding is a good example. In the past the south part of the riding was held by both Liberal and Conservative members for several elections. Now an NDP riding it will be interesting to observe if Michael Mantha a relative newcomer will be re-elected. To date it seems the other parties although electing or ready to name candidates have neglected to do a great deal of local promotion in Espanola at least although the reason is probably because the change in naming a candidate changed as did the length of electioneering. Michael has been active in the riding according to news reports