{"id":492,"date":"2014-05-09T22:56:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T16:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=492"},"modified":"2014-05-09T22:56:05","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T16:56:05","slug":"i-hates-polly-tics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/?p=492","title":{"rendered":"I HATES POLLY TICS!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>  <o:OfficeDocumentSettings>   <o:AllowPNG\/>  <\/o:OfficeDocumentSettings> <\/xml><![endif]--><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"> \u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 A big warning up front:\u00a0 this is going to be political and it&#8217;s going to <\/span><\/strong><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Scott Henderson still thinks he's cool!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/mrcool.jpg\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" align=\"right\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" \/><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">be about Canadian politics so if that turns you off&#8230;turn the page.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">To my readers who live in other parts of the world or other parts of Canada, other than Ontario, I apologize.\u00a0 I try not to be a political person in these blahgs but sometimes you have to speak up.\u00a0 To quote Popeye &#8220;That&#8217;s all I can stands, I can&#8217;t stands no more.&#8221;\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t believe me, check out this quick clip of Popeye saying exactly that.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/h97kbv4mbsc\" height=\"315\" width=\"420\" allowfullscreen=\"\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The title of this blahg is also a tribute to Popeye-speak because he twists words to his own way of talking and I think he&#8217;d say Pollytics but I&#8217;ve changed it slightly to meet my own meaning.\u00a0 Politicians can be so repetitive with their dribble and you get tired of hearing the same old promises over and over again.\u00a0 It&#8217;s like listening to a parrot with a tic.\u00a0 Now, I bet you get that Polly Tics reference.\u00a0 At least, I hope you do.\u00a0 I try to be funny sometimes but I&#8217;m not sure everyone gets my sense of humor.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Last week, the Premier of Ontario announced an election that will be next month.\u00a0 The unfortunate thing about it is that it really isn&#8217;t necessary.\u00a0 Premier Kathleen Wynne was forced into calling the election because she couldn&#8217;t get either the NDP or Conservatives to back her recent budget and when you have a minority government, like we have in Ontario, without the vote backing from one of the other parties, that&#8217;s the ballgame.\u00a0 Her term should have lasted at least another year and we wouldn&#8217;t have to go to the polls until then if there had been some cross party cooperation.\u00a0 Unfortunately, the leaders of the other parties also want to be Premier and think nothing of wasting our tax dollars on a premature election.\u00a0 Who&#8217;s been voting for these people?\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In the last Federal election in Canada, in 2011, I had a sign on my front lawn.\u00a0 <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"WE WILL NOT BE VOTING CONSERVATIVE!\" src=\"http:\/\/www.falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/voting.jpg\" width=\"333\" height=\"250\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" \/>I know that other people had signs on their lawns endorsing certain parties but my sign denounced a political party.\u00a0 My sign simply said &#8220;WE WILL NOT BE VOTING CONSERVATIVE!&#8221;\u00a0 It was a clear message that I believed, and still do believe, that the ruling Conservative party has done nothing for this country and has been rife with scandal.\u00a0 Of course, to be fair, there has been a good share of scandal linked to the leading Liberal party ruling the province of Ontario.\u00a0 My point being, however, that I think it&#8217;s time for me to pull out my sign again and let everyone know which party I will not be supporting in the current provincial election. <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Far be it for me to tell anyone who they should vote for.\u00a0 Instead, I&#8217;m going to tell my friends and neighbours for whom they should not cast their vote.\u00a0 Prior to the current governing Liberals in Ontario, the Conservative party, under Mike Harris ruled from 1995 to 2003.\u00a0 It was a dismal time and Mike Harris jumped ship in 2002 and left his finance minister Ernie Eves to rule as Premier for the final year.\u00a0 The Conservatives ran on a &#8216;Common Sense Revolution&#8217; platform and it was anything but common sense.\u00a0 They slashed and burned many programs and robbed from the poor to give to the rich.\u00a0 They slashed social assistance rates but 21.8% figuring that the poor were basically lazy leeches who didn&#8217;t want to work.\u00a0 They even came up with some crazy food menu that they thought the poor could live on.\u00a0 This crazy menu centered around discounted cans of tuna.\u00a0 Meanwhile, the Premier and his party ate considerably well on the public dime.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 The Conservative party also labelled most unions and concerned individuals as special interest groups and began to attack them.\u00a0 Teachers and nurses stood up for what was right and the Conservatives soon found themselves losers in the 2003 provincial election.\u00a0 Never again, the bulk of the province said.\u00a0 We didn&#8217;t want these people breaking up our province and attacking the poorest of our citizens.\u00a0 That&#8217;s when the Liberals under Premier Dalton McGuinty took over.\u00a0 It looked like things would change for the better.\u00a0 They did for a while.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I am not going to talk about what went wrong with McGuinty&#8217;s leadership.\u00a0 He made some good decisions and he made some poor decisions.\u00a0 Finally, he too, like Mike Harris, stepped down as Premier, and the Liberal party chose Kathleen W<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\"><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" alt=\"Premier Kathleen Wynee\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/kwynne.jpg\" width=\"274\" height=\"184\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" \/><\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">ynne to continue on as Premier.\u00a0 Kathleen Wynne is not only the first female Premier of Ontario, she is the first op<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">enly gay Premier.\u00a0 I think, on both accounts, it was about time.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Premier Wynne inherited a bit of a mess from McGuinty but I think she&#8217;s done a great job trying to fix everything.\u00a0 I think she&#8217;s getting this province back on track and it&#8217;s time the other parties start to back her up.\u00a0 In a minority government you have to have the support of the other parties to get anything passed or even to get anything done.\u00a0 Unfortunately, Tim Hudak, the leader of the Ontario Conservatives, has gone out of his way to block everything Wynne has tried to accomplish.\u00a0 He even comes out to say he will not support any budget she brings forward&#8230;even before the budget is brought forward.\u00a0 His party is actually called the Progressive Conservative Party.\u00a0 Non co-operation and taking a negative stance before things are announced is considered Progressive?\u00a0 Maybe now you will understand the purpose of pulling out my old yellow sign.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Let me be clear that Tim Hudak looks like a weasel and talks like a weasel.\u00a0 What&#8217;s the analogy here, <em>&#8220;IF IT LOOKS LIKE A WEASEL AND IT TALKS LIKE A WEASEL, IT MUST BE A WEASEL.&#8221;\u00a0 <\/em>That&#8217;s not an insult, that&#8217;s a fact.\u00a0 This man wants so badly to be Premier and he has even trucked out some of that old Common Sense Revolution clap trap.\u00a0 It&#8217;s Polly with a tic all over again.\u00a0 The last time he ran, he wouldn&#8217;t promise not to take a possible cut in social assistance payments off the table.\u00a0 His new platform even talks about slashing government programs and trimming government ministries.\u00a0 This is the same thing that Mike Harris did when he was Premier.\u00a0 Let&#8217;s not go down that road again.\u00a0 Just say no to the Conservatives!\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 As I&#8217;ve said, far be for me to tell anyone who to vote for.\u00a0 If you eliminate the Conservatives as an option that leaves the Liberals and the New Democratic Party (NDP).\u00a0 I&#8217;ve already said what I will say about the Liberals but I should say something about the NDP.\u00a0 <img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft\" alt=\"Andrea Horwath\" src=\"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/images\/horwath.jpg\" width=\"280\" height=\"210\" hspace=\"10\" vspace=\"10\" \/>The NDP in Ontario is lead by Andrea Horwath and I think she&#8217;s got some great ideas and I have had great respect for her in the past.\u00a0 I think I even voted for her in the last provincial election.\u00a0 However, she was the one that really triggered the current election.\u00a0 She has supported the Liberal budgets in the past by asking for concessions in budgets in order to keep things going.\u00a0 This time, she said her party would not support a budget that many thought was a good budget.\u00a0 Many of her supporters have even come out and said they don&#8217;t understand the stance she took this time around.\u00a0 Maybe she wants to be Premier too and thinks she can fare better in the next election.\u00a0 Good luck to her.\u00a0 That wasn&#8217;t mean to be sarcastic but take it any way you want.\u00a0 <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"line-height: 150%;\"><strong><span style=\"font-size: 15pt; line-height: 150%; font-family: 'Arial Rounded MT Bold','sans-serif';\">\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 So I&#8217;ve been clear, I won&#8217;t be voting Conservative.\u00a0 I&#8217;m not sure if my vote will be going to the Liberals or the NDP but at least I will cast a vote.\u00a0 That&#8217;s another major problem we have.\u00a0 Voter apathy is bad in this country.\u00a0 So many complain and think that nothing will ever change so they don&#8217;t vote.\u00a0 Shame on them.\u00a0 If you don&#8217;t vote then you don&#8217;t deserve that privilege nor do you deserve the right to complain.\u00a0 If you&#8217;re not part of the solution, you&#8217;re part of the problem.\u00a0 Get out and vote&#8230;just don&#8217;t vote Conservative.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0 A big warning up front:\u00a0 this is going to be political and it&#8217;s going to be about Canadian politics so if that turns you off&#8230;turn the page.\u00a0 To my readers who live in other parts of the world or other parts of Canada, other than Ontario, I apologize.\u00a0 I try not to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[4,93,89,91,88,87,90,3,92],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=492"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":502,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492\/revisions\/502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/falseducks.com\/theblahg\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}