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Ontario Majority Government 2022-2026 (?)

Vote buying: a long and dishonourable tradition...

And, when your warchest is in pretty good shape, limit your opposition's ability to buy votes.

 
And, when your warchest is in pretty good shape, limit your opposition's ability to buy votes.

That would be in here as part of changes to the Elections Finance Act.
The Red Star article is from June 2021.
The latest on that one: In May this year, The Supremes reserved a decision on Ontario's Court of Appeal telling Ontario in March 2023 to re-work the law. There seems to have been some activity on this one last month re: a range of parties seeking/arranging a lock up for the release of the decision.

Stay tuned re: whether Ontario has to re-tool the law or not 🍿
 
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I’m not normally a one issue voter but if he passes that bike lane legislation he has my vote again.

Nothing new about 4-wheelers vs 2-wheelers in our town.

Goes back to 2010, when newly elected Mayor Rob Ford ( R.I.P. ) declared, "The war on the car is over."

( Most of the casualties I encountered during "the war on cars" were cyclists. )

He argued bike lanes were taking away space for cars.

What I compare bike lanes to is swimming with the sharks. Sooner or later you're going to get bitten. Every year we have dozens of people that get hit by cars or trucks. Well, no wonder: roads are built for buses, cars, and trucks, not for people on bikes. My heart bleeds for them when I hear someone gets killed, but it's their own fault at the end of the day.

Prior to that, Bicycling Magazine named Toronto, "North America's best city for cycling."

As a ( mostly ) pedestrian, what I observe from the sidewalk in the "war" between cars and bikes now looks like roller derby.

We used to call it “the door prize” – when the driver door opened in the path of a cyclist.

The old front bench seats allowed drivers, among other things, to safely enter and exit their cars on the sidewalk side.

Saw this ranking from 2020 for "The most bike-friendly cities in Canada"

1 ) Victoria, B.C.

2 ) Vancouver, B.C.

3 ) Montreal, QUE.

4 ) Longueuil, Que.

5 ) Brossard, Que.

6 ) Ottawa, ON

7 ) Waterloo, ON

8 ) Toronto, ON

9 ) Winnipeg, Man.

10 ) Richmond, B.C.



An 8-page thread for reference to the discussion,

‘Bike culture’ enjoys limited receptivity among Canadians​

 
We used to call it “the door prize” – when the driver door opened in the path of a cyclist.
Now a specific Highway Traffic Act offence since 1990.

The old front bench seats allowed drivers, among other things, to safely enter and exit their cars on the sidewalk side.
I grew up driving in Toronto in the '60s and '70s and never saw or did that.
 
I grew up driving in Toronto in the '60s and '70s and never saw or did that.

I did. In older cars with bench seats and no seat belts.

Exiting the car safely​

It is always safer to exit the vehicle from the passenger side rather than stepping out into a lane of traffic.

See it in the old movies. Before seat belts, and buckets had not yet replaced bench seats.

Also, parallel parking on a main road and stepping out into a lane of traffic was more common back then.

Not sure if parallel parking on a busy street is even on the driver test now?
 
An interesting choice: Team Blue Ontario chooses a former Team Red Ottawa doctor to help sort out primary health care in Ontario ....
Ontario info-machine statement also attached.

Interesting (non)partisan choice - but the cynic in me wonders why don't we ever see, say, nurses or nurse practitioners in charge of these things? ;)
 

Attachments

Nothing new about 4-wheelers vs 2-wheelers in our town.

Goes back to 2010, when newly elected Mayor Rob Ford ( R.I.P. ) declared, "The war on the car is over."

( Most of the casualties I encountered during "the war on cars" were cyclists. )

He argued bike lanes were taking away space for cars.



Prior to that, Bicycling Magazine named Toronto, "North America's best city for cycling."

As a ( mostly ) pedestrian, what I observe from the sidewalk in the "war" between cars and bikes now looks like roller derby.

We used to call it “the door prize” – when the driver door opened in the path of a cyclist.

The old front bench seats allowed drivers, among other things, to safely enter and exit their cars on the sidewalk side.

Saw this ranking from 2020 for "The most bike-friendly cities in Canada"

1 ) Victoria, B.C.

2 ) Vancouver, B.C.

3 ) Montreal, QUE.

4 ) Longueuil, Que.

5 ) Brossard, Que.

6 ) Ottawa, ON

7 ) Waterloo, ON

8 ) Toronto, ON

9 ) Winnipeg, Man.

10 ) Richmond, B.C.



An 8-page thread for reference to the discussion,

‘Bike culture’ enjoys limited receptivity among Canadians​

I'm not sure the bike lane thing is going to hurt the PCs with people who would have ever voted for them in the first place. In Ottawa the mayor won by essentially saying he'd stop the bike lane expansion in the city.

Bike lanes are great in theory, it's the way that cities implement them that causes the anger, frustration, and gridlock. As an example, Ottawa turned Montreal Rd. through Vanier into a mess by reducing the traffic lanes from Vanier Parkway to St. Laurent Blvd, and adding bike lanes... Bike lanes that are almost never used. Rather than putting bike lanes on the side roads, where they would have less negative impact on traffic, and been safer for cyclists, they stuck them on the main throughfare.

I think Ford is playing smart politics and capitalizing on the average suburban voter's frustration with bike lanes and disrespectful cyclists.
 
So basically getting votes by doing smart things or undoing dumb things. Makes sense to me.
 
I'm not sure the bike lane thing is going to hurt the PCs with people who would have ever voted for them in the first place. In Ottawa the mayor won by essentially saying he'd stop the bike lane expansion in the city.
I’m hoping he sticks to that. Ottawa’s traffic issues don’t seem to be getting better and now hearing that after all the belly aching about PS returning to work that city staff that aren’t operational only have to come in 2 days…
Bike lanes are great in theory, it's the way that cities implement them that causes the anger, frustration, and gridlock. As an example, Ottawa turned Montreal Rd. through Vanier into a mess by reducing the traffic lanes from Vanier Parkway to St. Laurent Blvd, and adding bike lanes... Bike lanes that are almost never used. Rather than putting bike lanes on the side roads, where they would have less negative impact on traffic, and been safer for cyclists, they stuck them on the main throughfare.
Agreed. And the NCC shutting down the QE parkway all summer create a massive traffic mess downtown.
I think Ford is playing smart politics and capitalizing on the average suburban voter's frustration with bike lanes and disrespectful cyclists.
I’ve seen some good cyclists but far more breaking the rules and getting angry when you call them out. I’m that voter who is in fact frustrated.
 
As a frequent pedestrian who has had a non zero number of less than positive interactions with drivers for whom speed limits, stop signs and traffic lights appear to be entirely optional, and where drivers who kill someone face no criminal sanctions, I would vote for anyone who'd move to make it easier to strip licenses for the long term, and to confiscate and destroy the cars they drive, regardless of the owner.
 
As a frequent pedestrian who has had a non zero number of less than positive interactions with drivers for whom speed limits, stop signs and traffic lights appear to be entirely optional, and where drivers who kill someone face no criminal sanctions, I would vote for anyone who'd move to make it easier to strip licenses for the long term, and to confiscate and destroy the cars they drive, regardless of the owner.

Hmmm.... then the inverse should also be applied. Strip the freedom of those pedestrians that just jump into a cross walk at night in dark clothes without looking or walk against a no-walk signal.
 
Hmmm.... then the inverse should also be applied. Strip the freedom of those pedestrians that just jump into a cross walk at night in dark clothes without looking or walk against a no-walk signal.
A pedestrian can be killed by a car. A car can’t be killed by a pedestrian.

It’s not really the same thing.
 
Hmmm.... then the inverse should also be applied. Strip the freedom of those pedestrians that just jump into a cross walk at night in dark clothes without looking or walk against a no-walk signal.
How is the loss of the privilege of a driver's license proportional to what you're proposing?
 
In Ottawa the mayor won by essentially saying he'd stop the bike lane expansion in the city.

I think he won by fellating the developers, but that’s Ontario politics in a nutshell… At least that’s the view out here near the (current) urban boundary.

I quite appreciate that he can back down from a dumb idea, even if he does it reluctantly.

Agreed

Hmmm.... then the inverse should also be applied. Strip the freedom of those pedestrians that just jump into a cross walk at night in dark clothes without looking or walk against a no-walk signal.

It, uh… It is. Pedestrians who commit such infractions often do get crushed and/or suspended from walking for a while.

The laws of traffic are a choice. The laws of physics are not, and generally favour the rolling chunk of metal over the meat bag.
 
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