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Doug Ford puts beer access in Ontario over more pressing concerns

Samantha Bee's best running joke about Canada during her time on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart was about the Beer Store.

Doug Ford wants to fulfill a campaign promise to get beer and wine into local stores in Ontario. We are normally all in on campaign promises but by doing so early, there is a $225 million penalty of Ontario tax money that would go to the alcohol companies that run the Beer Store. The LCBO (wine) has a different structure in terms of penalties.

The $225 million penalty is bad enough but the list of related costs will likely total hundreds of millions more. If Ford waits until 2025, when the contract runs out, then there is no $225 million penalty. Ontario doesn't have to go to the polls until 2026. So why would Ford do this … now?

Is Doug Ford’s $225M booze plan worth it? (Front Burner)

British Columbia, Saskatchewan, and New Brunswick have to go to the polls in 2024. All of them are scheduled for October. We thought New Brunswick might roll the dice and go early. Saskatchewan isn't likely to flip and British Columbia is more unknown.

2024 is not likely a year where a government wants to go up for re-election. Food prices, housing troubles, and trouble finding a family doctor would be at the top of the list. Why would Doug Ford voluntarily go up against this tide?

The better question is why is Doug Ford obsessed with alcohol since his time in office since 2018?

Buck a beer, Ontario News Now: Doug Ford in motion

If you are a conservative, you likely looked at the provincial alcohol distribution method and thought, "when we get to power, we should destroy this." A whole lot less tax revenue but the elimination of bureaucracy. The taxpayer money to the big breweries is a payout from Ford and his cronies. Think of it as foam on top of a beer mug.

Ford portrays these moves as blue collar and for "the working man." They aren't but the opposition hasn't made an impact in saying otherwise.

Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie puts the price tag at $1 billion. Even if you throw out both estimates, the truth lies closer to the Liberals than the Progressive Conservatives.

NDP leader Marit Stiles, the official opposition leader, noted that these costs come as "emergency rooms are closing, millions of Ontarians are without a family doctor and our shelters are at capacity."

Green Party leader Mike Schreiner said, "people need the government to fast-track funding for housing affordability and health care instead of giving hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to The Beer Store to speed up a timeline they announced just five months ago."

Doug Ford and the PCs win a second term in Ontario

2022 Ontario election notebook: Why the election has been so meh

Our Doug Ford Ontario coverage since 2018

Unlike the other provinces that will have elections in 2024, Doug Ford isn't as worried about going back on not developing the Greenbelt or the damage done in the province through intentional and unintentional actions.

The government spends $ on ads going after their opponents, since they still have little name recognition. That recognition is code to journalists not to take them seriously. Other than Schreiner, Ford has run against women, even down to Christine Elliott for the PC leadership race. That may seem insignificant but I think that is a factor in some voters' eyes.

"The exact cost doesn’t matter. It's a bizarre use of money in any case, especially since the existing deal was expiring next year anyway. This isn't fiscally prudent, and it's not the best use of taxpayer money. There's no serious argument that it is or could be."

Journalist Matt Gurney at TVO weighed in on the beer deal in this column. The odd part is that Gurney is in favour of the deal, despite this quote. This might sum up the whole discussion.

2022 Ontario election preview

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Your humble narrator was mystified at how well Ford is running for a second term as premier and how Canadian journalism treated the election like everything was a foregone conclusion and the necessary focus on issues was missing.

The beer decision may be popular but the loss of tax money is a great concern, long after Ford is no longer the premier.

If there is an early election, hoping for an Ontario constituency to ask needed questions in a democracy. Why was valuable taxpayer money wasted on getting beer into convenience stores a year early would be a start.

video and photo credit: CBC News

Time to bring needed limits on gambling ads during sports programming

We have been critical of the expanse of gambling ads during Canadian sports telecasts. Our concern goes back years in writing about cigarette ads, spirits ads, and other so-called "controversial" yet legal products.

Canada has chosen a laissez-faire type approach to what is allowed in gambling advertising. The provinces are more in control than one might expect (think health care). The laissez faire approach has not gone over well.

The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario (AGCO) has a proposal to ban the use of athletes and celebrities, who might appeal to kids, in internet gambling advertisements. The AGCO is accepting comments until May 8. New rules wouldn't take effect until 3 months after the publication of final, amended standards.

The ban would only apply to Ontario, though that would take out national advertising in Canada.

The UK instituted similar rules a year ago: that ban affects athletes, reality TV and social media stars who appeal to young people.

The Big 3 in Canada gambling advertising are Connor McDavid, Wayne Gretzky, and Auston Matthews: people who definitely appeal to kids.

The NFL just suspended 5 players, 3 of them indefinitely, for gambling. The NHL doesn't need that kind of grief to the sport.

Under the current setup, gambling ads, in and out of content, go way further than beer and spirits ads. If they stuck to similar principles, we might still hate the gambling ads but they would be much more tolerable.

These are our proposed rules:

1) No person currently playing in the NHL or has any connection to the sport in an on-air capacity shall appear in person or voice in any gambling ad.

2) No ad with updated odds shall appear once the game has started until the conclusion of said game.

3) No gambling content is allowed within pregame or postgame programming on any national or local team broadcast.

4) No in-game ads. Ads would be limited to commercial breaks.

Under these rules, gambling sites can run ads, odds or otherwise, during pregame and postgame programming, just not within content. They can run ads during the game and in intermissions, just not with updated odds.

Cabbie Richards, executive producer of sports betting content for Sportsnet, could be in ads during commercial breaks but can't incorporate Sportsnet personalities into ads, especially within programming.

Sports networks could still run odds in the news scroll at the bottom of the screen.

Rule #1 would definitely apply to Wayne Gretzky (among others). Hiring former NHL players to promote gambling is bad enough but not being actively involved with the league can be a restraint of trade. Having the most significant retired player associated with gambling is a terrible image for the NHL.

Our proposed rules don't go as far as the AGCO proposal, though theirs is limited to internet ads. We wouldn't lose any sleep if its ban were in place.

What about Rogers Sportsnet studio content being sponsored by a betting company? This is the same company that had Huawei as a sponsor when 2 Canadians were held hostage in China, an action tied directly to the telecommunications company. Rule #5 would be that a betting company could sponsor studio coverage but without any content tied to the company. In other words, you could have the logo and say the name of the company but you couldn't add descriptive content, especially from on-air people tied to the sport.

Advocates push to ban gambling ads featuring athletes (The Current)

Brian Masse, the NDP MP for Windsor West in Ontario, was responsible with his federal sports betting bill that paved the way for legal online gambling in Canada. Masse told Matt Galloway on The Current that he is in favour of the proposed ACGO changes.

Paul Burns, president and CEO of the Canadian Gaming Association, also was on the segment with Galloway. Burns insisted they didn't want people who would appeal to children, but McDavid and Matthews absolutely qualify. Gretzky does in many ways.

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The Federal Communications Commission in the United States and PBS have rules and laws over what might appear to be "ads" on PBS. Those rules are considered to be lax, giving leeway to put an "ad" on a network that isn't supposed to have ads.

Limits on ads or even "ads" are easy to compile and enforce.

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There was an era where many active baseball players, including Willie Mays and Stan Musial, advertised cigarettes. They might mention this true statement to justify current NHL players to do gambling ads.

We know cigarettes are addictive. We know gambling is addictive. The mistakes of past eras shouldn't be used to justify the mistakes of the current era.

Gambling ads are so prevalent now that parents have to keep talking to their kids to remind them hockey and football and baseball can be enjoyed without gambling. The on-screen messages present a very different world.

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Our American readers might be thinking 21 as the legal age for gambling. You should know the gambling laws in Canada are the same age as drinking laws: 19 in Canada, though 18 in Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec.

photo credit: BetMGM

Doug Ford and the PCs win a second term in Ontario

The pundits were correct and then some. Even CBC News called the Ontario race for Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives 19 minutes after the polls officially closed, though a number of ridings had polling issues.

The Progressive Conservatives (Ford) finished unofficially with 83 seats in the 124-member legislature in Queen's Park with 40.84% of the vote (more on that later). The party won 76 seats in 2018 and were at 67 seats when the writ dropped.

Andrea Horwath, in what will be her fourth and final election as NDP leader, guided the party to 31 seats and 23.72% of the vote. The NDP won 40 seats in 2018 and had 38 seats when the campaign started.

Steven Del Duca will be one and done as Liberal leader. The party won 8 seats with 23.85% of the vote as opposed to 7 in 2018. Once again, the party does not have enough seats (12) for official party status.

Mike Schreiner (Guelph) won his seat, becoming the only Green Party MPP in Ontario to win a second term in the legislature.

There was also an Independent winner who is conservative.

Ontario NDP, Liberals celebrate defeating each other #onpoli #OntarioElection

— The Beaverton (@TheBeaverton) June 3, 2022

While The Beaverton is like The Onion in Canada, this is a ring of truth in this tweet. Fighting more with each other as opposed to the party in power was a terrible mistake by both parties.

Andrea Horwath was a rarity in Canadian politics. Horwath has been the New Democratic Party leader since March 7, 2009. Being a female leader for that long. The 2018 election brought the best output for the NDP in Ontario since the 1990 election where the party formed government.

Horwath gave a beautiful speech in which she announced to voters that she will resign as party leader. Horwath will stay on as party leader and opposition leader until that decision has been made.

Her speech was filled with great thoughts on concerns Ontario residents are grappling with these days. She spoke of the PC plan for "big highways to big houses that no one can afford."

Mike Crawley, provincial affairs reporter in Ontario for CBC News, said this was the best speech she's ever given. This was a great speech. Her speech was a sharp contrast to Ford's speech (more on that later).

This was Horwath's fourth election as NDP leader. Not a fair comparison, but Jack Layton finally became the federal opposition leader in his fourth election just before his tragic death.  

Steven Del Duca announced in his speech that he will step down as Liberal leader. The party won 8 seats in 1951 but were still the opposition. Having 2 straight elections without official party status is the worst showing for the Liberals in the history of Ontario.

Say what you will about Doug Ford but the few Ontarians who voted were not impressed by the NDP and Liberal campaigns. The other 2 parties were not that loud about why Ford shouldn't be premier.

2022 Ontario election notebook: Why the election has been so meh

This might seem like sour grapes but read a bit deeper. Doug Ford insisted on having notes for the second debate (the not northern Ontario debate) and read from those notes. Ford had a teleprompter for his victory speech last night. I've watched a lot of victory and concession speeches in Canada, more than most Canadians.

Your humble narrator has never seen that in an election speech. We've seen some awkward speeches, some even angry. All of them off the cuff with no help or teleprompters.

Not a fan of Ford, in case you were wondering, but he isn't dumb. Ford can deliver remarks without help or assistance. You might understand it during a campaign where you don't want your leader to make a mistake. A victory speech is a different ballgame.

Andrea Horwath gave a wonderful speech last night. Ford had trouble reading a speech off a teleprompter. If this is a political move, Ford is being advised poorly. The concern is that there is something wrong with Ford physically.

Not sour grapes. If something is wrong with Ford, the voters of Ontario should know. We hope we are wrong but the behavior is highly suspicious.

Our Doug Ford Ontario coverage since 2018

Canadians have talked about changing the "first past the post" voting system. The PCs benefit when the NDP and Liberals draw about the same percentage of the voter turnout.

The PCs didn't draw a majority of the overall vote, which is not a surprise, even in a dominant performance. The NDP and Liberals drew about 60% of what the PCs drew. In other words, the 2 parties combined would have more votes in a riding than the PC candidate.

We talked about how Ontario voters had to decide which other party would be the dominant non-PC party. The NDP did well in its traditional areas, such as northern Ontario and the southwest areas of the province. The Liberals struggled in ridings the party easily won in 2014.

The NDP lost some key ridings in southwest Ontario. While the party retained Windsor West, the PCs won Windsor-Tecumseh and Essex. Essex was a PC win for the first time in 6 decades.

Windsor Mayor Drew Dilkens surprisingly endorsed Doug Ford and the Progressive Conservatives during the campaign. Dilkens was concerned about having regional representation that would "actually have seats and voices around the government table." Mayors traditionally are neutral for very good reasons.

The PCs won the riding in Timmins in northeastern Ontario after the NDP held the seat for 32 years.

Doug Ford should learn that francophones are Ontarians and Canadians

We criticized Doug Ford heavily for not saying a single word in French in his victory speech in 2018. To no one's sad surprise, Ford didn't say a single word in French in his 2022 victory speech. Horvath and Schreiner didn't include that much French but they make an effort.

Del Duca also didn't speak any French.

Ford talked about unity and everyone was invited to join the party. Perhaps Francophones were excluded from the invitation.

Ontario is not a bilingual province but there are pockets of French speakers in the province. If you watched Shoresy on Crave (or Hulu in the United States), you would know Sudbury has a Francophone presence. Alex Trebek, were he still alive, could also speak on the matter.

Jared Keeso is light years ahead of Doug Ford.

2022 Ontario election preview

2022 Canadian politics preview

The Liberals had an impressive run being in power in Ontario from 2003-2018. The party also had power from 1985-1990. This has been the exception in Ontario since the end of World War II.

The NDP was in charge from 1990-1995. Otherwise, the Progressive Conservatives have been in charge. The PCs had a reign of power from 1943-1985 as well as the mostly Mike Harris era of 1995-2003.

The PCs of that era were definitely not like the Doug Ford era.

NEW - campaign sources tell me they’re expecting voter turnout of around 45% #ONelxn22

— Richard Southern (@RichardCityNews) June 3, 2022

We haven't come close to finding a voter turnout number. Citytv reported a possible voter turnout of 45%. This is a sharp contrast to a 57% turnout in 2018, 52% in 2014, and 48% in 2011. Even with a lot on the line, enthusiasm was not high for voters.

Based from 98.98% of the polls, Elections Ontario indicated only 4.6 million out of 10.7 million eligible voters cast a ballot, around 43%. That would be the lowest turnout in Ontario election history.

There was a sense that the Progressive Conservatives dominated the news coverage and the advertising landscape. Even if you are PC person, that sensibility isn't good for a competitive democracy.

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Andrea Horwath has always been on our list of tracking female party leaders in Canada since we've been tracking them. Horwath was 1 of 3 women who were opposition leaders in Canada. Rachel Notley (NDP) serves in that role in Alberta and is a former premier.

Dominique Anglade (Liberal) is the newest female opposition leader. Anglade ascended to the role in May 11, 2020. Quebec's election will be this fall.

We will be curious if either the NDP or Liberals pick someone other than a man to lead their parties. Kathleen Wynne is the only female premier Ontario has ever had.

Christine Elliott, the minister of health under Doug Ford and oh so close almost party leader, could have been the first PC female premier but chose not to run in the 2022 election.

photo credit: CBC News
Twitter captures: @TheBeaverton; @RichardCityNews

2022 Ontario election notebook: Why the election has been so meh

Another important reminder too. Only 58% of Ontarian’s voted in the 2018 Ontario election. Thats why Ford won. Don’t be complacent this time. Get out a vote for change no matter what the polls say. Polls don’t count. Its seats that matter. Vote strategically in your riding.

— Vicki Campbell🇨🇦 (@merry123459) May 22, 2022

There is a correlation often with a low turnout and which party wins when fewer people come out to vote. The consensus is that Doug Ford will easily win a second term as premier of Ontario. That 58%, a number Americans would crave in most elections, is a low number in Ontario. The predictions is that the turnout percentage will be lower in 2022.

Plenty on the line. Climate change. Long-term care homes. Pandemic policies and how quickly they were implemented. Transportation infrastructure (this should count intercity buses but hasn't).

Ontario, along with California and Quebec, had a cap-and-trade system to deal with climate change. The Liberals in Ontario made that happen. Doug Ford came in and destroyed that. The carbon tax had to be implemented. The Progressive Conservatives rail against the carbon tax.

Understand that the Ontario system was so good, the carbon tax didn't need to be implemented in Ontario before the PCs took over.

The Ford Government cut back on inspections in long-term care homes before the pandemic. Ontario had a significant percentage of long-term care homes that are privately run. The quality of care, especially during the pandemic, suffered worse in privately run homes than government run homes.

The pattern was consistent. People begging Doug Ford to do something in the pandemic. Lots of waiting. Waiting. Then something would get done. This is the government that wanted police to go after people for using playgrounds. Playgrounds.

Yes, the PCs want to build some public transportation. The emphasis has been on Highway 413, something about building it into the ring of fire. Don't know what that means.

Don't know if Queen's Park has any input for the horrible nature of train travel in Ottawa, which is a part of Ontario. If not, they should step up.

Greyhound bailed out of Canada while Ford was premier (not his fault). Has intercity bus travel even come up? A lot of people in northern Ontario, who pay taxes into Queen's Park, rely on bus transportation for doctor visits and maternity care.

All 4 major parties have promised to bring back the Northlander train, discontinued a decade ago. As you will note in the CBC News segment (above), local residents have doubt those promises will be kept.

"That means Ford's record of pandemic mismanagement, long-term care crisis, canceling a minimum-wage increase, delaying the implementation of pay transparency legislation, leaving disability benefit rates at rock-bottom levels, botching a redesign of the province's license plates, and failing to procure provincially-mandated anti-carbon tax gas pump stickers that actually stick to things (incidentally, they were also illegal) might not be enough to usher in a change in government."

This was from The Washington Post op-ed from David Moscrop very early in the campaign.

There is a polarization is referring to an op-ed published outside the jurisdiction. The op-ed is one of the few pieces I've seen in the campaign that comes close to illustrating what has happened in the last 4 years.

Contrast that with the Martin Regg Cohn puff piece The Evolution of Doug Ford on the front page of the Toronto Star, a newspaper considered somewhat liberal under previous management.

The way Doug Ford has treated the press (little to no access) has emboldened the press to not be as harsh as they could be, given his actual track record.

As we've noted in numerous political stories, voting against someone isn't good enough. You have to have a reason to vote for someone. We haven't mentioned NDP leader Andrea Horvath, Liberal leader Steven Del Duca, and Green Party leader Mike Schreiner.

Horvath has several elections under her belt and 4 years as opposition leader. This is Del Duca's first election and he doesn't even have a seat in Queen's Park. There is even concern Del Duca may not win his riding. Schreiner has run on ideas even before the writ was dropped.

Del Duca seems to be concentrating more on getting back seats from the NDP while Horvath has talked about winning 10 more ridings to get a minority government.

The most intriguing idea has been Del Duca's $1 transit rides for a limited time. The proposal sounds great to a public transportation nerd, such as your humble narrator. The GO train is so expensive that a $1 ride sounds wonderful. The problem with the plan is that outside Toronto, there aren't many Ontario cities with an expressive train service. Ottawa's light-rail is new with all sort of issues. Windsor and London, among others, have bus services. Money saved and getting cars off the road are wonderful goals.

The drawback is that in most of the ridings where Ford is dominant, they want more highways built, regardless if they are paving over wetlands.

The other parties have struggled to gain momentum based on Ford's pandemic track record. No one knew in 2018 that the winner might have to deal with a pandemic. We do know in 2022 that any government might have a similar crisis.

None of this is about who to vote for. Ontario voters could vote for enough of MPPs in the other parties to have a minority government.

Why is an Ontario election ad playing during a Calgary-Edmonton game?

— Kyle Moore (@K98Moore) May 19, 2022

The Ford Government changed the rules on outside spending on political ads. They even used the highly controversial notwithstanding clause of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms to overrule a court ruling on the matter.

The PCs have definitely had the advantage among parties in terms of running ads. So even Albertans watching hockey got to see PC ads.

Our Doug Ford Ontario coverage since 2018

2022 Ontario election preview

2022 Canadian politics preview

A friend in Ontario told me about the "decline to vote" option. You can show up at the polling place, get handed a ballot, and turn it right back to the poll worker.

This is sort of a protest vote built into the system. Reportedly, 22,684 voters did so in 2018. My friend likes the idea but isn't sure he will do so in 2022.

Your humble narrator might get that if you live in a predominant riding where a party you don't like will win. Still, if you are frustrated with the system, try a 70% turnout. That could shake things up in Queen's Park.

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Early voting is up compared with 2018. The province has 10 days of early voting vs. 5 in 2018. Elections Ontario said Monday that 1,066,545 voted in advance polls, about 9.92% of the eligible electorate.

In 2018, 698,609 people did advance voting, about 6.8% of eligible voters.

Advance voting continues today and tomorrow in Ontario. As for Election Day on June 2, Elections Ontario will help you figure out where to vote.

This is crucial since there will be 751 fewer voting setups. For those who remember the nightmare of the lines for the federal election in 2019 in Spadina and Fort York, there is a great potential for similar problems on Thursday night.

Polls are open 9 am to 9 pm Eastern. There is a section of Ontario, west of 90° longitude that is in the Central time zone; the polls are open 8 am to 8 pm (Central). Thunder Bay is in the Eastern time zone.

CBC stations in Ontario (Toronto, Ottawa, Windsor) will carry Ontario election coverage instead of Game 2 of the Edmonton Oilers Stanley Cup playoffs series. You can stream the game on cbcsports.ca or watch a CBC station outside Ontario.

We will have extensive coverage on Friday morning.

Twitter captures: @merry123459; @K98Moore
photo and video credit: CBC News

Our Doug Ford Ontario coverage since 2018

This is definitely not a complete picture of Doug Ford and what he has done in Ontario since taking office in 2018. There was a burst in the beginning and we covered what we could for our overall audience.

Let's be clear on one key question we've been getting. Essentially, the question is "why do you hate Doug Ford so much?"

Christine Elliott, in a normal system, would have won the party's leadership race. Elliott would have represented the Progressive Conservatives in the 2018 election, an election the party would have won. Same if Patrick Brown was the leader, provided we didn't know the allegations against him.

We likely would have enough to criticize about Elliott's time as premier going into the 2022 election. The answer to the above question is "Doug Ford's leadership style." One can be critical of a party's stance on issues. Leadership matters, especially during a pandemic. Who is in charge matters.

Ford reduced inspections on long-term care homes before the pandemic. Maybe Elliott would have done that as well. Maybe not.

Ford led with bullying, faux populism, take the credit and reflect any blame. Revenge is not leadership, no matter what party is doing so. They created a false news channel to portray the premier in an ideal light.

The leadership style during the pandemic was particularly troublesome, always behind on key issues. Waiting is one thing but the instincts turned out often to be the complete opposite of what was needed. Elliott likely would have been more forceful when decisions needed to be made.

Doug Ford should learn that francophones are Ontarians and Canadians

Toronto city election damaged by Doug Ford bully move to threaten notwithstanding clause

Buck a beer, Ontario News Now: Doug Ford in motion

These film-related stories reflect Ford's government style. Ontario isn't the only Canadian province to shift over to using British Columbia ratings.

Brian Pallister and the Progressive Conservatives in Manitoba dissolved the Manitoba Film Classification Board in 2018. Ford and his government abolished the Ontario Film Review Board in 2019.

Did Pallister and Ford do this out of concern for people in their province? Save money? Decrease jobs? We don't know.

We would argue that the haphazard Canadian approach to film ratings is problematic. Outsourcing ratings to British Columbia led to job losses and was lazy leadership.

Doug Ford Government in Ontario proposes to do away with film ratings

Doug Ford Government axes Ontario Film Authority

This may not seem fair to mention Doug Ford's late brother, Rob Ford. They aren't that far apart in substance but differences in style. Rob came across as more sincere than Doug ever has. Imagine how difficult those words were to type.

You can choose to click on this link or bypass it for the rest of the article.

Our look back at former Toronto mayor Rob Ford

Voters don't get to pick the leaders of the parties in the Canadian system. Voters don't even get to pick the systems for how they get elected.

The conservatives have had some close races with flawed systems in recent years. Maxime Bernier came really close to defeating Andrew Scheer for the federal conservative race.

CBC News on the Ford-Elliott leadership race in 2018:

But according to a copy of the final ballot results obtained by CBC News, Elliott had more individual members behind her by the final ballot.

Following the elimination of Tanya Granic Allen and Caroline Mulroney after the first and second rounds of the preferential ballot, Elliott had 32,202 votes to 30,041 votes for Ford, giving her an edge in the popular vote of 51.7 per cent to 48.3 per cent for Ford.

Elliott also had more votes in 64 ridings, with Ford having the edge in the other 60.

But the PC leadership was not decided by either the popular vote or the number of ridings supporting a candidate. Instead, it came down to points (what the party called electoral votes).

The Ontario election is June 2. Do your research and get out and vote.

2022 Ontario election preview

Doug Ford will be the new premier of Ontario

2022 Canadian politics preview

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As we've noted throughout the career of covering politics, large turnout makes politicians nervous in a healthy way for democracy.

photo credit: Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario

2022 Ontario election preview

The dynamic in the 2022 Ontario election is that Doug Ford should be "one and done." That is the easy part of politics: knowing who not to vote for in an election. The hard part for Ontarians in 2022 is picking which party will then govern in Queen's Park.

CBC News reported that Elections Ontario will post a notice of an election this morning at 11:30 am.

The number of seats has not changed in Ontario: 124 seats of the Legislative Assembly of Ontario and 63 seats for a majority.

The Progressive Conservatives (Ford) control 67 seats, down from 76 in the 2018 election. The New Democratic Party (Andrea Horwath) has 38 seats, down from 40 at the last election. The Liberals (Steven Del Duca) have 7 seats with no change since the last election.

Mike Schreiner (below) is the head of the Green Party and holds a seat in the legislature.

There are 2 right-wing parties that have split off from the PCs, each with a seat in Queen's Park. The New Blue Party of Ontario has Jim Karahalios as the leader running for a seat. The party's only seat is held by Belinda Karahalios, wife of Jim. (We've seen married couples represent different ridings in Canadian politics: e.g., Jack Layton and Olivia Chow.) Former MP Derek Sloan, who ran for the Conservative Party leadership in 2020, is the leader of the Ontario Party. Rick Nicholls has the only seat for the party in the Legislative Assembly.

There are 5 independent MPPs and 4 vacant seats.

In an era where the opposition leader in running in the initial election, Andrea Howarth has tremendous experience. Howarth has been the NDP leader since 2009, before most of Ontario, Canada, and the world had heard of Rob Ford or Doug Ford. She has been the opposition leader for the last 4 years. Ontario voters have a real good idea as to what Howarth would do if she were in charge at Queen's Park.

The party last won power in Ontario in 1990 under Bob Rae (now with the Liberals).

Steven Del Duca is the Liberal party leader since March 7, 2020. Del Duca served in the assembly from 2012-2018 and was in cabinet from 2014-2018 as transportation minister and then as economic development minister. Del Duca does not have a seat in the assembly.

The Liberals have had third party status at times in Ontario politics; the last election where that happened was 1975. The 2018 election was the first time the Liberals had no party status (not enough MPPs) in Queen's Park.

The Progressive Conservatives had 40.5% of the vote in 2018 versus the NDP's tally of 33.56% of the vote. Yet the PCs (76) got almost twice as many seats as the NDP (40).

We wouldn't begin to tell anyone which way Ontario voters should go. If they don't want Doug Ford, they have to figure out whether the Liberals bounce back in charge, the NDP gets a shot, or a minority government of some kind. Unless voters go wild for the Greens and Mike Schreiner becomes the next premier.

Doug Ford will be the new premier of Ontario

2018 Ontario election preview

Howarth is one of 3 women in the opposition leader role in the Canadian provinces along with Rachel Notley (Alberta) and Dominique Anglade (Quebec). Notley was the last female premier among the provinces before Heather Stefanson took over as Manitoba premier in 2021.

Howarth would be the second premier in Ontario. Kathleen Wynne, the incumbent in the 2018 election, was the first female premier in the province.

There are quite a few incumbents not running for re-election, as in most elections. We can't help but notice that Christine Elliott is not running for re-election.

Elliott has been the deputy premier and minister of health since 2018 with long-term care added to her portfolio (2018-2019). She was the runner-up in the 2015 and 2018 PC party leadership runs and placed third in 2009. The odd scoring system was the difference in Elliott not being premier in 2018. Would have been intriguing to have Howarth, Wynne, and Elliott on a debate stage.

Any minister of health in the last few years has had a rough road, especially with how poorly COVID-19 management happened in Ontario (likely more Ford than Elliott).

We would not begin to speculate as to Elliott's motivation for multiple reasons. This is a seismic move in this 2022 election.

2022 Canadian politics preview

This is the part where we would talk about the upcoming issues for the election. The PCs were criticized for cutting back on long-term care before the COVID-19 pandemic. Sitting on money that needed to be dished out for help during the pandemic. The long delays before help would come on multiple occasions during the pandemic.;

Public transportation stalls in Toronto and a troublesome light-rail setup in Ottawa. Then there is the housing crisis (not just Toronto), placement of highways, PSW wages, wages in general, the auto industry troubles in southwest Ontario, food insecurity, guns (mostly Toronto), and a cast of other issues.

The NDP released its platform.

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Wag The Doug podcast is a fine resource for nuanced coverage of the Ontario election. Allison Smith (Queen's Park Today publisher) and Jonathan Goldsbie (Canadaland news editor) crawl into the weeds of the Ontario government. They do get a little wonky though you generally can't find what they do almost anywhere else. The conversation flows well, even if wonky is not your thing.

As you might have guessed, Wag The Doug is part of the Canadaland podcasts stable.

The podcast is normally once a month but will run weekly on Fridays during the campaign as well as the day after the election.

TVO aka TV Ontario is also a good resource for those who live in Ontario.

When we refer to Queen's Park, that is the section of Toronto where the legislative assembly meets. The provincial capital is Toronto and the area is referred to as Queen's Park.

CanadianCrossing.com Ontario coverage

We understand the comments from readers as to why we spend more time and effort covering Ontario than any other province. To be fair (Letterkenny shout out), we do an extensive job covering other provinces and we are proud of that work.

Ontario is most important because of its economy, climate change after gutting the best system in North America shortly after Ford getting into office in 2018, the idea of electing a government you would trust in a pandemic. On a personal, selfish note, I have more Canadian friends in Ontario than any other province. Many of them live in Toronto who saw their democratic rights diminished by cutting the wards in half during a municipal election.

If you live in Ontario, you can learn more about voting and other information you need through Elections Ontario.

We will try and cover this race more like our federal coverage, possibly with weekly notebook updates starting May 15.

map credit: Google
photo credits: individual parties

The story of Tilbury, ON getting its newspaper back

We've written a lot about small Canadian towns losing their newspaper due to Postmedia and TorStar (mostly) not being able to make enough money with those papers.

The Tilbury Times (Ontario) had been around from 1884: 136 years until the newspaper was shut down in 2020. The Tilbury Times was one of many newspapers that Postmedia shut down in Ontario and Manitoba in 2020. Tilbury is in southwestern Ontario, 57 km (36 miles) east of Windsor, about 4,800 people. Traveling east on Highway 401 toward London, Tilbury is just east of where the highway crosses Highway 42.

CBC Radio had a special podcast called Circulation, spending time in Canadian cities that had lost their local newspaper.

Haydn Watters spent time in Tilbury to get a sense of the community. Part of the story he told about Tilbury was about how its citizens found out what was happening in their town. The threat of losing the only nursing home in the city. Going to a car show if they only knew the show was happening. The hockey exploits that don't get celebrated.

Circulation (CBC Radio Special)

Mohsin Abbas is not from Tilbury. Abbas, who knows something about independent journalism publications, heard the Circulation special about Tilbury and wanted to help. A short time later, Abbas is now the publisher.

The CBC News article about Abbas noted his credentials: "He's started up his own independent publications before, and worked in newsrooms big and small — in Ontario, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. Currently, he's a freelance contributor for BBC News reporting in Urdu and Punjabi, and runs another small news outlet called the Milton Reporter."

There are a lot of Canadian towns that could use someone such as Mohsin Abbas. More success stories could inspire others to make an impact on reviving local news in these Canadian towns.

Tilbury Times

Watters talked to several people who tried to use Facebook as an alternative to a local newspaper. Facebook has some advantages and a host of limitations.

We can imagine that the worst of times in the 136-year history of the Tilbury Times was under the Postmedia management. Local ownership means more consideration to what is important in Tilbury. The paper may have existed in name only even before the paper was shut down.

Gaining local control of a newspaper would be much easier before some distant (likely) Toronto-based organization shuts the paper down. In the case of Postmedia, that Toronto-based organization is controlled (financially) by U.S. hedge funds that don't care about Tilbury or any other small Canadian town.

Canadian journalism notebook: TorStar to shut down StarMetro newspapers

TorStar/Postmedia newspaper 'trade' details

Postmedia newspaper cuts mean even fewer Canada journalism voices

Just because a large company shuts down your local newspaper, that shouldn't mean you should go without local news. Local businesses still need to get the word out. Citizens could volunteer their efforts. A daily might turn into a weekly or even a monthly. The newspaper might be purely online.

There are creative solutions to helping small towns get journalism to tell their stories. If Abbas is getting any financial help, that would be pennies, which no longer exist in Canada, compared to what Postmedia and TorStar get to close local newspapers such as the Tilbury Times.

Canadian journalism notebook: Huge loss with closure of HuffPost Canada and HuffPost Quebec

CanadianCrossing.com journalism coverage

Your humble narrator has had a really nice journalism career. If I were on Canadian soil, I would try what Abbas is doing. Writing about these efforts is the best I can do.

Canada shouldn't let the fate of hundreds of small newspapers and those Canadian towns rest in the greedy and large hands of newspaper companies not interested in Canadian journalism in those small towns.

photo credit: Tilbury Times

Ontario-Quebec border will close on Monday

The Canada-U.S. border is approaching 14 months of closure. We've written about border communities struggling without the rest of the community. Now we can add Ottawa and Gatineau to the list.

The Ontario-Quebec border will be closed as of tomorrow thanks to the impact of variants in the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic. Standard exceptions are in place, such as going to and from work, seeking medical care, transporting goods and exercising Indigenous treaty rights.

Ontario is also closing its border with Manitoba. There aren't too many border communities in Canada. The Lloydminster twins (Alberta and Saskatchewan) leap to mind. The stretch of where New Brunswick and Nova Scotia meet before you go to Prince Edward Island. Ottawa (Ontario) and Gatineau (Quebec).

I have crossed provinces by bus (Manitoba to Saskatchewan); mini bus (New Brunswick to Nova Scotia and the reverse); and walking (Ottawa to Gatineau and back). The Royal Alexandra Interprovincial Bridge, aka Alexandra Bridge or Interprovincial Bridge, runs just north and east of Parliament Hill across the Ottawa River to Gatineau, Quebec.

There is a joy of crossing jurisdictions by walking over a bridge. The Cross Border Xpress (CBX) bridge from the United States to the Tijuana airport. The John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge from Cincinnati (Ohio) to Covington (Kentucky) is a personal favourite, having crossed that bridge. The Confederation Bridge between Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island is 12.9 km.

How the Canada-U.S. border closure has affected border towns

Remembering the COVID-19 'anniversary' in Canada

CanadianCrossing.com trade coverage

CanadianCrossing.com travel coverage

Metro in Washington DC in the U.S. capital crosses between Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia. Ottawa buses regularly travel to Gatineau.

Young people have had a ritual of going from Ontario to Quebec to buy alcohol (19 vs. 18) and now from Quebec to Ontario to buy marijuana (21 vs. 19). Some government workers may live in Quebec and commute into Ottawa because housing may be cheaper. They will be able to cross now but their commutes will change.

We believe in a world where borders are a minor inconvenience, if that. The nationalism we've seen creeping through Europe and North America during the pandemic has been depressing. Going from London to Quebec City might not be advised but restricting traffic within border communities is inhumane.

The Canada-U.S. border won't open until provincial borders are open. Let's hope that is soon.

Canadian film review: Bon Cop Bad Cop 2

CanadianCrossing.com border crossings coverage

The premise for the original Bon Cop, Bad Cop is that a body is found on the Ontario-Quebec border. So a cop from Ontario and a cop from Quebec work together on the case. The premise is a bit out there but funny for a movie. The pandemic version would have each cop on his own side of the border; not nearly as funny.

photo credits: Google maps; Bon Cop, Bad Cop film

Canadian film review: One Pandemic Day

One Pandemic Day dives into the early COVID-19 world on April 14 in Oakville, Ontario. The documentary explores the lives of Oakville residents about a month into the pandemic.

Oakville is west of Mississauga about halfway between Toronto and Hamilton on Lake Ontario. The town is about 200,000 people.

April 14, 2020 — a year to today — we see very few masks in the community. That is a bit of a surprise. The documentary is about how the lives of people are adjusting to the new "normal."

The residents film themselves. The quality of most of the video is shockingly good. The one resident who struggles with the video is Oakville Mayor Rob Burton with his “one-handed lifestyle for the day.”

Those without kids will see what online learning is like in 2020. The scene of kids in a hot tub for recess is a way for their mother to do her own homework for a writing course.

We see clips of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Rob Ford. We hear more from local politicians such as Pam Damoff, MP from Oakville North-Burlington.

Jeff Kroll, Oakville town & regional councillor, is pretty much the star of the film. We see Kroll in his role as a politician and his day job as the CEO of the Film.Ca Cinemas. You have to read the credits to find out Kroll is an executive producer on the film.

Kroll weighs in on the difficulty of getting financial help from his business during the film. Kroll does give an otherwise missing perspective, which is running a business and dealing with how to get the CEBA (Canadian Emergency Business Account) assistance. That said, the conflict should be upfront in the film.

The look back is fascinating yet incomplete. No one is mentally exhausted from the pandemic only being a month into what is happening. Current audiences might be wishful for that time as a more innocent time.

April 14 last year started out warm and sunny yet snow arrived by the afternoon. While that might seem abnormal in some areas of the North America continent, that was somewhat normal compared to the lives upended by the pandemic.

Too much emphasis is placed on those in great situations versus those struggling financially. Perhaps that is what Oakville reflected on that date. The news coverage has greatly emphasized the same type of people featured in the documentary.

Watching people go through the pandemic while we are still in the pandemic can be jarring for some. Others want to learn from the mistakes made a year ago.

Director/editor Mikelle Virey lets the residents speak for themselves. There isn't a sense of who was picked and why.

CanadianCrossing.com film reviews

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

One Pandemic Day is worth watching whether today or maybe a few months from now when you might be ready.

One Pandemic Day is available in the United States on Amazon Prime Video.

video credit: YouTube Film.Ca Cinemas
photos credit: One Pandemic Day film

Doug Ford Government in Ontario proposes to do away with film ratings

We criticised the Doug Ford Government in Ontario last fall for getting rid of the Ontario Film Authority. The province used the British Columbia film classification organisation in the interim period.

"The Ford Government will be the ones to come up with a new system. In a province that is home to one of the best film festivals in the world (TIFF), there is fear that a replacement will either be too cheap, too insufficient, too privatised, or some combination. The potential for censorship is also a significant concern."

We wrote those words last year. Now we know Ontario's new solution. The Film Content Information Act proposes to shift away from age-based ratings to publicly available information with more descriptive content in categories such as violence, nudity, substance use, and coarse language.

The 6 basic ratings in Canada (outside Quebec) are G, PG, 14A, 18A, R, and A. The 14A and 18A require those younger than 14 and 18, respectively, to be accommodated by an adult. The R and A restrictions are for adults only (unlike the U.S. R rating). The Quebec ratings system is much more straightforward.

The new information sounds like a good idea for parents to have. We haven't been too wild about ratings systems, especially since the American version compels filmmakers to self-censor a film to get a certain rating. So why does this sound like a bad idea?

The filmmakers supply the information so the province doesn't have to do any work. Films that would have fallen into the 14A and 18A where adults would have to be there is no longer a requirement. No one in government makes sure the information supplied by the filmmakers is accurate. Parents have to seek out the information for each film instead of relying on a 14A or 18A rating. Without a G or even a PG, parents would have to research even more family-relevant titles.

Parents could see what rating a film would get in another province, such as using the British Columbia system.

Doug Ford Government axes Ontario Film Authority

"too cheap, too insufficient, too privatised, or some combination" — some combination for certain: definitely too cheap, likely too insufficient, and absolutely too privatised.

Lazy might be the best way to describe the new Ontario method. The "we don't care" approach seems worse than introducing a bad system. Making Ontario citizens do the work that the Ford Government won't do might "save some money" but inconvenience its citizens. No film ratings setup will ever be perfect or even ideal., but the province would have been better off using the British Columbia system.

The ratings and information would be a great idea. Ratings to set the basics but with information for the parents and children to learn more about what is in the films. Having just ratings or the information falls short.

Adult supervision for 14A and 18A can be helpful to explain more adult things in context.

Ontario produces a lot of films, is the most populous province in Canada, and home of the Toronto International Film Festival. The people of Ontario deserve a functioning film ratings system.

CanadianCrossing.com film coverage

CanadianCrossing.com Ontario coverage

Canada is one of the very few major countries without a national film classification system. British Columbia handles ratings for British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. Alberta ratings apply to Alberta, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut. The Maritime Film Classification Board provides ratings for Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and Prince Edward Island. Quebec has its own system. Newfoundland and Labrador as well as Yukon have no compulsory ratings systems.

The idea of a federal system is tempting but that isn't going to happen. The closest you might get is other provinces outside Quebec quietly adopting the British Columbia system.

Ontario is going a step further to say no ratings system should apply. Parents are the ones who want the most from a ratings system. We will see how loud they will be over the Ontario (lack of) solution.

photo credit: Canadian movie ratings system