With the Federal election over and my travels this summer I have taken a break from blogging. Today was a sad day in the world of politics with the passing of Jack Layton. He was well liked by many even those who strongly disagreed with his views much like myself. He embodied a style of politics that was different yet very appealing to what many consider quite cynical. Unlike many politicians who try to win by arguing they are the only one's who can stop someone else who will do lots of bad things, Jack Layton focused on the positive changes his party could bring. He tried to get people vote for the NDP, not to vote from them in order to stop someone else. He was also a very personable and one who people could easily relate to. No doubt his strong likeability helped endure many to him and those who in the past had written off the NDP were no willing to give it a look. He also was willing to take on big challenges. When he took over the NDP in 2003, they only had 13 seats and were struggling to hold official party status. In much of the country the party was largely irrelevant. Under his leadership, he increased the seats each time and also made the party competitive in areas it previously wasn't. More than anything, he ignored the cynics who called his vision and goals unrealistic. As we saw in the last election, he took the NDP to new heights it had never seen. Sadly, he will never get to see the fruits of his hard work. The party will have big shoes to fill, but I will talk about that in a later post. In the mean time my condolensces to his wife, children, and other family members and friends. Now is the time to remember his contribution to public life. Tomorrow the focus can be on the future of the party post Layton.
In other news, we have five provincial elections coming up this Fall. Three which I would call yawners. Barring something totally unforeseen, I expect Brad Wall to easily be re-elected in Saskatchewan, Robert Ghiz to easily be re-elected in PEI (which maybe the only good news the Liberals get this year anywhere in Canada), and Kathy Dunderdale to easily win in Newfoundland & Labrador although probably not by quite the gigantic margins Danny Williams did. Manitoba however is anything but certain. It looked like the PCs were on track to replace the NDP, but after Greg Selinger's strong showing during the floods and the return of the Winnipeg Jets, it is too close to a call and a lot will come down the campaign. The South side of Winnipeg is ultimately where it will be determined who wins thus whomever takes most of the seats in this area will likely go on to win the election.
Here in Ontario, where my focus will be, the odds definitely favour the PCs winning the most seats, but still too early to tell whether it will be a majority or minority. Likewise the Liberals could eke out a minority if they run a strong campaign and could even win a majority of Tim Hudak makes a collasal error. The NDP will likely gain seats, but whether it will be a strong showing like they had federally or only minor gains remains to be seen. I will also talk about the issues as well as bring up some federally. I feel too often controversial topics are avoided by the leaders so I want to bring them up on the blog as they should be discussed even if the politicians don't want to. I will probably start blogging more regularly after the Labour Day weekend.
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