It is disappointing that CBC stations in Ontario will be showing the NHL’s opening night on Thursday.
The Ontario provincial election also takes place on Thursday and, with apologies to the Maple Leafs and Canadiens, nothing they do on the ice will be as dramatic, as heartrending, or as important as the climax of the battle for Queen’s Park.
Ontario is not the only provincial or territorial government holding elections this fall.
When you read this, Robert Ghiz’s Liberals will have won an overwhelming re-election on PEI, and Greg Selinger and the NDP, barring a huge shift in public opinion over the last weekend, will be re-elected comfortably in Manitoba.
Next week, Kathy Dunderdale will likely lead the Progressive Conservatives to victory in Newfoundland and Labrador. Both the Yukon and Northwest Territories will also head to the polls in the next two weeks, while on the Prairies, Brad Wall’s right-leaning Saskatchewan Party is favoured for re-election next month.
Ontario, however, does not have a clear-cut favourite, even though Thursday’s results will have great consequences not just for our most populous province, but for the nation as a whole. Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and PC leader Tim Hudak have been wheel-to-wheel in the polls the whole campaign, while the NDP’s Andrea Horwath is hoping she’s gathered enough support to force a minority government.
The campaign, to the rest of the country, has been mostly quiet, but employment has been a resonating issue.
McGuinty has trumpeted the strong Ontario economy and job growth since the recession ended.
Hudak has hammered the premier for Ontario’s loss of 300,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs since taking power, as well as their replacement with low-wage service jobs.
Disappointingly, none of the parties have a plan specifically targeting youth unemployment which, unlike other demographics, is still alarmingly high.
While hardly unique, its absence sends a troubling message about the value politicians place in us, the future of the country.
McGuinty, however, is not just fighting the election on his record in government. He’s been comparing Hudak to former PC premier Mike Harris.
Harris, if you aren’t familiar, governed Ontario from 1995 to 2002 and is remembered for reforms that devastated health care, led to strikes across the education system and, most notoriously, contributed to the deaths by contaminated water of at least seven people in Walkerton in 2000. He also left the province with a massive deficit that still hasn’t been brought down.
Hudak served in Harris’ cabinet and many Ontarians are reluctant to return to that style of government.
The election is important for the country for other reasons. Ontario tends to be a policy leader among the provinces – what Queen’s Park does, other legislatures tend to follow.
Also, many deals between the provinces and the federal government are up for renewal between now and 2015, including health transfers and equalization.
With Jean Charest, Quebec’s premier, living on borrowed time and six other premiers in office for three years or fewer, Ontario’s premier will be the implicit leader of the provincial premiers in those negotiations.
A Hudak government may push for cuts for transfers, while McGuinty may ask that transfer payments be adjusted to favour larger provinces – both of which may also curry Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s favour.
Regardless, whoever wins in Ontario on Thursday will have a profound impact on New Brunswick’s budget – roughly a third of which comes from transfer payments.
So if you want to see a real rock ’em, sock ’em sport on Thursday, don’t watch Hockey Night – watch Election Night instead.
