Merged: Canadian politics: the Justin Trudeau years

[Civet]

Originally Posted by Wayward son

It was an absurd defence. If people on the jury honestly thought that guns behaved like that then there should be no guns allowed in the country. Did it succeed due to racism? No one can prove that. Having spent a lot of time in Saskatchewan, Manitoba, northern Ontario, my experience would rate the racism against first nations is about as bad as the racism against African Americans in the Southern States.

Yeah, the accident story seemed like rubbish. I'm seeing a lot of people online attributing the verdict to racism. I also see some folks speculating that the attitudes some rural, northern Canadians have toward property defense may have led to a jury nullification event. I keep seeing that activists are calling for reforms to Canada's justice system as a response to this, but I haven't seen any specific proposals. I tend to be a little leery of calls to "do something" after a particularly emotionally-charged incident.

[Childlike Empress]

Originally Posted by Childlike Empress

So I read that your handsome PM is the son of Fidel Castro after all. Would be totally funny. Apparently hasn't hit the news? Or is this fake news (it's true that Fidel's official son committed suicide a couple of days ago)?

OK, checked it out and it seems this "suicide note" by Fidelito is made up to warm up an old legend (I had not heard about before). So, fake news indeed. Sorry for the interruption folks, carry on.

[Horatius]

Oh man, the plot thickens!

Quote:

Patrick Brown admitted in a television interview that members of his staff drafted and released his resignation letter without his permission, throwing its validity into question ahead of a crucial leadership vote and a looming provincial election.

“The resignation was actually sent out on my behalf without my permission at the time,” Brown told Global News. “I understood that they were drafting a copy of the resignation. I was shocked when I found out that it was sent out without even an opportunity to see it.”

Patrick Brown registers to run in PC leadership race

Quote:

Patrick Brown has entered the race for leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, just weeks after resigning from the position due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Brown was seen dropping off paperwork at party headquarters on Friday afternoon, around two hours before the 5 p.m. ET deadline for candidates to enter the race, and made his announcement to reporters later in the afternoon.


Brown is now listed as a "leadership contestant" on the Elections Ontario website. But to run, he will also need to be approved by a party committee.

Brown entered the race came just hours after interim leader Vic Fedeli expelled him from the party caucus. Despite his removal, under the party's leadership rules Brown is eligible to run, provided his party membership is not revoked.

There is no indication that his membership had been revoked, and Brown remains an MPP.

Seriously, somebody check Wynne's bank account, she just had to be slinging around some major bribes!

[Civet]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Oh man, the plot thickens!

Patrick Brown registers to run in PC leadership race

Seriously, somebody check Wynne's bank account, she just had to be slinging around some major bribes!

Is this all some cunning ploy to get Americans paying attention to provincial Canadian politics? If so, it's kind of working. I'm looking forward to the next debate.

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Civet

Is this all some cunning ploy to get Americans paying attention to provincial Canadian politics? If so, it's kind of working. I'm looking forward to the next debate.

You should pay attention, because it just keeps getting weirder....

Quote:

Ottawa Valley MPP Randy Hillier intensified his campaign against former Progressive Conservative leader Patrick Brown on Tuesday, reporting him to the provincial integrity commissioner for alleged ethics violations — just after most of the Tory party’s executive threatened to revolt if Brown isn’t allowed to run to reclaim his place at the top of the party.

The integrity complaint, which Hillier released publicly at the end of the day, alleges that Brown accepted trips abroad from suppliers to the party, failed to report outside income in routine disclosures to the legislature, and raises questions about how he’s able to afford his home near Barrie.

So now we have Randy Hillier (note: A PC Member of the Provincial Parliament, see: http://www.randyhilliermpp.com/ ) accusing Brown of other ethical violations, after "most" of the party executive came out in support of Brown....

And he's not exactly pulling his punches here:

Quote:

On the weekend, I put out a statement in which I declared Mr. Brown to be unfit to be leader, unfit to be in the PC caucus, and unfit to be premier,” Hillier said in a fresh declaration against his former leader and caucusmate. “This statement was incomplete. He is also unfit to serve in the legislature.”

How much more can they cram into another 3 weeks of campaigning?!?

[Civet]

I never thought I'd see a race involving one of the Ford boys where he wasn't the one viewed as having the most serious ethics issues.

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Oh man, the plot thickens!





Patrick Brown registers to run in PC leadership race
Patrick Brown has entered the race for leader of the Ontario Progressive Conservatives, just weeks after resigning from the position due to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Seriously, somebody check Wynne's bank account, she just had to be slinging around some major bribes!

Well, on one hand, one of Brown's accusers has recanted at least part of her story:

https://www.bramptonguardian.com/new...es-out-at-ctv/
In late January, CTV reported that one woman, who is now 29, claimed she was still in high school and under the legal drinking age when Brown allegedly asked her to perform oral sex on him. Another woman said she was a university student working in Brown's constituency office when he sexually assaulted her at his home, CTV reported. Late Tuesday, CTV reported that the first accuser now said she had not been in high school or under the legal drinking age during the alleged incident.

Doesn't mean he still didn't act inappropriately. Furthermore there is still the issue of inflated conservative party membership claims which happened under Brown's watch.


And one thing that hasn't been mentioned.... there is one other person in the Ontario conservative leadership race... Tanya Allen. Never held public office (but has been on staff for a few Toronto politicians). Most disturbingly she seems to be a hard social conservative (anti-abortion, against the Ontario sex ed curriculum, etc.)

I'd say she has absolutely no chance of winning. But, at least with her in the race I can say "At least Doug Ford isn't the worst option."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tanya_Granic_Allen

Seriously, what is wrong with the Ontario conservatives that they can't find a decent leader?

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

Seriously, what is wrong with the Ontario conservatives that they can't find a decent leader?

It's the inevitable result of the push by all Canadian conservative parties over the last decade or so of becoming "GOP North". They've been having trouble winning elections, and the only solution they can come up with is to push even farther to the right. This inevitably drives even more moderates away from them, making it even easier for the most radical members of the party to influence the party. It's a vicious cycle that they'll have trouble getting off of.

This is the end result we get. If only the crazy wing is selecting leaders, the leaders will only come from the crazy wing. Hence we have every non-Patrick Brown candidate promising to move the party rightwardly from where they were just a month ago. Whoever goes farthest will likely win the party leadership, and then lose what should have been a walk-over of a general election.

[Horatius]

Christine Elliott sounds like she might not be too bad, which means she'll never win.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Elliott

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Christine Elliott sounds like she might not be too bad, which means she'll never win.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christine_Elliott

She'd be my preference too.

Despite all the turmoil (the snap leadership campaign, the weird set of candidates, Brown's resignation and re-entry), the Conservatives still seem to be in the lead when it comes to the next general election.

From: https://www.cp24.com/news/ontario-vo...poll-1.3809169
The poll, which was conducted on Feb. 16 and 17, suggests that about half of those surveyed said they would support the PCs if an election were held today.
...
When asked which PC leadership candidate would make the best leader, 22 per cent of respondents said they believe Christine Elliott was the right pick for the job, 16 per cent said they support Doug Ford, and about 14 per cent said they believe Caroline Mulroney would make the best leader. Patrick Brown received about 13 per cent support from respondents and only about five per cent said they would support Tanya Granic Allen.
...
“In this projection, of the four candidates, it is Mulroney and (Elliott) that reduce Liberal vote share to its lowest level, with each pushing the Liberals to about one quarter support (22%),” the poll read. “Ford and Brown would both receive support from more than 4 in 10 (43%) but they don't appeal to quite as many leaning Liberal voters.” In his analysis accompanying the poll, Lorne Bozinoff, the president of Forum Research, said the attention surrounding the PC leadership race has only served to help the party.

Hopefully they pick a leader that won't screw things up in the first term.

[Segnosaur]

Back to the federal government...

Looks like Trudeau may have had some problems during a visit to India...

From: https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/22/asia/...ntl/index.html
Already dogged by bad press and speculation that the prime minister had been "snubbed" by the Indian government, on Thursday Canadian officials were again on the back-foot, after it was revealed a Sikh extremist convicted of attempting to murder an Indian politician had been invited to dine with Trudeau at the Canadian High Commissioner's residence in New Delhi.
...
The individual at the center of the controversy is Jaspal Atwal, a Canadian national of Indian heritage, who in 1987 was sentenced to 20 years in a Canadian court for his part in the attempted murder of a visiting Indian state minister.

In this case, I'm not sure Trudeau himself is to blame... after all, I suspect he doesn't micromanage the guest lists at these things. And, since Atwal was in India on a visa, it does bring up questions about India's vetting of visitors as well.

On the other hand, other criticisms may be a bit more valid... there doesn't seem to be a significant reason for the trip, and Trudeau did bring a personal chef along (suggesting the trip may be as much a personal vacation as a working state visit.)

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Quote:

Seriously, what is wrong with the Ontario conservatives that they can't find a decent leader?

It's the inevitable result of the push by all Canadian conservative parties over the last decade or so of becoming "GOP North". They've been having trouble winning elections, and the only solution they can come up with is to push even farther to the right.

But the thing is, the Ontario conservatives aren't really that much radicalized. Social issues weren't really an issue in the last election, and while the Conservatives did have plans to cut back on the public service, the plan was to do so through attrition. (And lets face it, the "right wing" agenda was nowhere near as radical as plans brought forward by Mike Harris decades ago.)

On a side note: there seems to be a court case brewing...

In the last Ontario election, Union-backed groups (such as the "working families coalition") seemed to be quite influential in preventing the election of the conservatives. (They were able to spend huge amounts of money as a "3rd party" pretty much all of it against the conservatvies, which wasn't covered under spending limits for political parties. Unions contributed over 90% of all funding for 3rd party advertising in the last election.)

The Ontario government brought in limits for 3rd party advertising for the upcoming election, and now the unions are challenging the law in court, claiming it violates "free speech". Its not known if the case will be ruled on before the election or not.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toront...sing-1.4501104
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news...ticle31326097/

[applecorped]

Well at least he is a snappy dresser

[Snarf]

Originally Posted by applecorped

Well at least he is a snappy dresser

What about the hair? ...Still nice?

[Civet]

Listening to the House they had a little interesting commentary on the PC leadership race. Some pundits made the argument that Patrick Brown was a lousy candidate with a winning platform and that there's a danger that his replacement will veer toward some of the bad ideas (like some of the social conservative stuff) that could cost them heavily in the upcoming election.

[Segnosaur]

Looks like Brown is out of the Ontario conservative leadership race. (One of the claims is that he withdrew after threats were made to him and his family.) So down to 4 contenders.

Sent from my LG-K121 using Tapatalk

[Segnosaur]

Liberals brought in a new budget yesterday.

Some of the highlights:

- Increased spending (science/environment, child care leave for fathers)
- An $18 billion deficit (which is several times higher than what the Liberals initially predicted), with no plan to balance the budget for years to come
- Lots of emphasis on women's issues, including pay equity on federally regulated industries

I have 2 concerns about the budget:

- I do recognize that the economy will be stronger with greater participation of women. However, I am nervous when the issue comes around to 'pay equity'. Yes, 2 equally qualified individuals doing the same job should get the same pay regardless of gender, but "pay equity" often involves comparing the "value" of different jobs, something that I think is too vague and prone to incorrect assessments.

- The deficit is a concern for me, and the government's plan on "spending to grow the economy" seems like a foolish idea. Granted, our economy is growing and may be able to handle the added debt. However, the U.S. has an idiot in charge, and between his deregulations (which may lead to instability) and his protectionist policies there is a chance that the global economy could tank. If that happens, we won't have much flexibility to handle the economic downturn that would happen.

https://globalnews.ca/news/4051067/f...t-2018-canada/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...and-pay-equity

[Civet]

So it looks like the Crown will not be appealing the verdict in the Gerald Stanley case. News is pretty fresh so reactions are still coming in.

[Civet]

So Doug Ford, huh? Wow. And a disputed result. This is exciting.

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Civet

So Doug Ford, huh? Wow. And a disputed result. This is exciting.

It's particularly amusing when you consider what Ford was saying about the voting process just last Thursday:

Quote:

“What would you call an election where only 1 out of 3 members can vote? I call it a scandal,” he said on Facebook. ”All the candidates are united, except one: Christine Elliott. It’s unbelievable. But the Party sided with her … This is just another in a long line of scandals coming out of Party HQ. What games are being played here?”

Now with Elliott disputing the results, I really think the Liberals and NDP need to start referring to him as the Illegitimate Leader of the PC Party.

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Civet

So Doug Ford, huh? Wow. And a disputed result. This is exciting.

I've got a bad feeling about this.

Little or no political experience on the provincial level. Made an ill-fated attempt to bring up the abortion issue days ago (possibly as an attempt to woo social conservatives). And polls showing that almost half of Ontarians disapprove of Ford (and only 1/3rd of them approve).

Lots of comparisons between Ford and Trump.

The big risk is that he wins the next election (as polls predict), but completely screws things up by dragging the party to the hard right over social conservative issues, and by just totally messing up, thus poisoning the electorate for years to come.

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Now with Elliott disputing the results...

Is she disputing the results? Last I heard she had conceded defeat after about a day.

http://www.680news.com/2018/03/11/ch...-ford-dispute/

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

Is she disputing the results? Last I heard she had conceded defeat after about a day.

http://www.680news.com/2018/03/11/ch...-ford-dispute/

Yeah, I posted before the concession.


Now, let's play a game. What topic do you think Doug Ford was discussing here?

Quote:

"He can go to hell, I don’t even care,” Ford told the Toronto Sun on Thursday. He also told the Sun: “This is not normal in democracy. . . It is a full out jihad against us right now.”

Here's the link.

Quote:

Responding to an integrity complaint by the father of an autistic son, Councillor Doug Ford said the man should “go to hell” and accused him of being part of a “jihad.”

The man, Tommy Lenathen, is a 35-year city employee who sits on the executive board of Canadian Union of Public Employees Local 416. He filed the complaint with the city’s integrity commissioner after Ford said an Etobicoke home for teenagers with autism has “ruined the community” and suggested, with no evidence, that the teenagers are criminals.

Lenathen asked Ford to apologize, accept sensitivity training, and resign.

Yes, perfectly normal behaviour from the man who would be Premier.

[Steve]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Yeah, I posted before the concession.


Now, let's play a game. What topic do you think Doug Ford was discussing here?

Here's the link.

Yes, perfectly normal behaviour from the man who would be Premier.

Trump copycat. Hey, it worked once so.....

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Steve

Trump copycat. Hey, it worked once so.....

Did you notice the date on that story? This guy's been a dick for years.

[Fitter]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Did you notice the date on that story? This guy's been a dick for years.

It's all good, there are some really nice areas in Chelsea.

[Fitter]

Originally Posted by Horatius

Did you notice the date on that story? This guy's been a dick for years.

It's all good, there are some really nice areas in Chelsea.

[Civet]

Just listened to an interview with the guy who ran Ford's leadership campaign. Turns out he was also Kellie Leitch's manager. Guess we can expect more Trump-like rhetoric from the Canadian right. Getting nostalgic for Stephen Harper.

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Civet

Getting nostalgic for Stephen Harper.

Yeah. I didn't actually like him much, but at least I didn't think he was an idiot and/or actually crazy.

[Segnosaur]

A few minor developments...

First of all, Canada will be sending peacekeeping troops to Mali (including helicopters.) Conservatives seem to be critical because Liberal plans seem to be very vague, and the conflict has a fairly high casualty rate.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/deta...mali-1.4582323

Secondly, the Liberals may be bringing in stronger gun regulations, including stronger background checks, requiring a license to transport certain types of firearms, and allowing the RCMP to classify firearms (as opposed to letting MPs do so).

There are suggestions by some gun enthusiasts that this could be a re-incarnation of the Long Gun registry. Overall, I'm not really sure why this is actually needed. Yes, there are occasional shooting deaths, but overall our firearm related crime is pretty low, and its hard to see some of their changes making a big difference. You have to wonder if its just the Liberals trying to piggyback on publicity surrounding some of the mass shootings in the U.S.

http://canoe.com/news/national/feder...ol-legislation
http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/deta...mali-1.4582323

[Segnosaur]

And in a surprise turn of events, Trudeau and the Liberal's popularity seems to be falling.

From: http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/03...ll_a_23389524/
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's disapproval rating among Canadians has jumped above the 50 per cent mark for the first time since the 2015 election, according to a new poll.
...
If an election was held tomorrow, the poll said, 40 per cent of respondents who were decided or leaning voters would back the Tories while 30 per cent would opt for the Liberals. Nineteen per cent said they would vote for Jagmeet Singh's NDP.

Granted an election is still a long ways away. And Trudeau has had a fairly lengthy honeymoon. Still, I'm surprised that the Liberals are looking as vulnerable as they are. (I figured after almost a decade of conservative rule the Liberals would be able to string together at least 2 election victories.)

[Segnosaur]

Filibuster in the Parliament!!!!

So, here's what happened: During Trudeau's recent vacation, errr I mean government trip to India, a dinner was held where one of the invitees was a convicted felon from Canada who had tried to kill an Indian politician. This was a bit embarrassing, both for the Canadians and the Indian government who didn't do proper screening. One of the claims made by the Canadian contingent is that the fault was with someone in the Indian government who tried to "embarrass" Trudeau.

So, the conservatives wanted to bring in National Security Advisor Daniel Jean to talk to the parliamentary security committee to see why the Canadians were blaming people in India. But the Liberals refused (even though Jean had already given much of that information to journalists.) So, the conservatives held a filibuster, where they ended up calling for votes on hundreds of motions of a financial bill, which basically slowed things down. Lasted hours.

There are a couple of things to point out:

- It seems strange that Jean would brief journalists and not the house of commons (considering those are the people we voted to represent us)

- Remember the good old days when the Harper government was found in contempt of parliament because they wouldn't give information to MPs? Now that the Liberals are in power, it seems like giving information to the house of commons is now optional.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/tori...mony-1.4589359

[Segnosaur]

A little news from the Ontario election...

Only a few weeks after it looked like the conservatives (under Ford) would won the Ontario election in a cakewalk (mmmm... cake), it looks like the race has gotten a lot more... interesting.

From: https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/ont-nd...ests-1.3942969
The New Democrats have the same 37 per cent voter support as the Progressive Conservatives even though most people believe the Tories will win the Ontario election come June 7, a new poll suggests. According to the Leger poll being released Thursday, the struggling Liberals trail with 21 per cent support.
(Note that the article suggests it was an on-line poll, which does introduce some uncertainty. However, there have been other polls to show the conservatives and NDP in a statistical tie.) Its not a good sign for the conservatives... after losing the last election they may be in trouble again.

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

(Note that the article suggests it was an on-line poll, which does introduce some uncertainty. However, there have been other polls to show the conservatives and NDP in a statistical tie.) Its not a good sign for the conservatives... after losing the last election they may be in trouble again.

I think the more important issue is that the NDP numbers have been trending upwards for most of the campaign, so this doesn't look like some weird outlier. Also, after remaining fairly constant for weeks, the PC numbers are taking a steep drop.

And if the PCs do tank the election, they'll have no one to blame but themselves. If they had made anyone other than Doug *********** Ford the leader, they'd have won this in a walkover.

[Segnosaur]

More on the Ontario election...

In an unexpected move, Ontario premier (and Liberal leader) has basically admitted that the Liberals can't win, and has said she hopes for a minority government so that the Liberals can be the deciding vote.

Not sure if that has ever been done in a Canadian election before, with one party basically admitting defeat before voting day.

I suspect that such a move probably benefits the New Democrats, with whom the Liberals are more closely aligned in ideology.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/cana...s-pcs-and-ndp/

[Segnosaur]

So, the upcoming G7 summit in Quebec is expected to cost either $225 or $600 million (depending on what costs are included in the estimates...)

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/g7-s...abis-1.4532493

https://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2018/0...au_a_23442999/

Now, personally I don't mind the costs. Summits like this are expensive to host (what with all the needed security and infrastructure). My chief complaint: When Harper hosted the G8/G20 summits in 2010, the conservatives were criticized quite heavily for spending ~$1 billion. Now, here we are, less than a decade later and the Liberals are also spending huge amounts. (Overall they're spending less, but the upcoming G7 summit is both shorter and has fewer participants, so it SHOULD cost less.) I wonder if any of the people who criticized the conservatives before are likewise going to criticize the Liberals now.

[Horatius]

And just to keep this last week of the Ontario Election from being boring, we have the widow of Rob Ford suing Doug Ford:

Quote:

In a $16.5-million lawsuit filed Friday in Superior Court, Renata Ford also alleges that former brother-in-law Doug Ford is a “negligent” business manager whose decisions have led to a steady decrease in the value of the Ford company, Deco Labels. Despite setting his sights on a political career, Doug has continued to receive “extravagant compensation,” even though Deco is losing money, Renata claims in her court filings.

He really is Canada's Trump!

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

And just to keep this last week of the Ontario Election from being boring, we have

Quote:

In a $16.5-million lawsuit filed Friday in Superior Court, Renata Ford also alleges that former brother-in-law Doug Ford is a “negligent” business manager ...

Curious timing. She must really want to torpedo Ford's election plans.

For better or worse, latest poll shows the conservatives on track to get a majority government.

From: https://www.cp24.com/news/mainstreet...ment-1.3959626
The Mainstreet Research poll, which randomly surveyed 3,320 Ontario voters on June 3 and June 4, found that among decided and leaning voters, 39 per cent said they would vote for the PCs, while 34.3 per cent said they support Andrea Horwath’s NDP Party.

(the article also points out that the PC vote is more 'efficient' than the NDP vote, so even if the parties were at a statistical tie the conservatives would have an advantage.)

Not sure what the cause of the PC's increase in support is. Perhaps Wynne's concession has convinced undecided people that the Liberals and NDP may be too close politically, or have caused former Liberal voters to migrate to the conservatives. Or maybe the attack ads by the conservatives are working better than the attack ads against the conservatives.

[Horatius]

Originally Posted by Segnosaur

Not sure what the cause of the PC's increase in support is.

I honestly can't believe it. How the hell is anyone okay with how Ford has run his campaign? If any other party simply refused to release even an estimate of what their budget would look like, they'd be pilloried. How is it so many people in Ontario are okay with lowering the bar this far?

If you're not willing to call a politician on his ******** during an election,when the hell will you call him on it? Ford winning with this plan sends a dangerous message to politicians in Canada: It's okay to just be full of ****. Seriously, who is it who are okay with setting this precedent?

The Conservatives freak out every time Justin Trudeau wears a funny hat. But they're okay with this? WTF?!?

[Segnosaur]

Originally Posted by Horatius

I honestly can't believe it. How the hell is anyone okay with how Ford has run his campaign? If any other party simply refused to release even an estimate of what their budget would look like, they'd be pilloried. How is it so many people in Ontario are okay with lowering the bar this far?

First of all, I do want to say I'm not necessarily a fan of Doug Ford. I don't like his inexperience for one, I worry that they have no plan to control deficits (if your only plan to keep deficits from increasing is "we'll find savings by being more efficient" then you have no plan.)

However, there are a few things I should say in defence of Ford and the Conservatives:

- Remember, Doug Ford is not the same person as Rob Ford. Nor is he a clone of Trump (Yes, both are populists, both have limited experience, but Ford doesn't have quite the same baggage as Trump)

- Yes, it would be nice if the conservatives costed out their plans. But such estimates are often inaccurate and full of errors anyways

I admit... the NDP would probably be better at handling the defict. But as a voter I do have concerns... will they be "too close" to the unions? (In the past we've seen various unions act lock-step with the ruling Liberals. And the NDP has stated that they will never use back-to-work legislation.) And while the PCs have been criticized (and quite rightly) for giving half-baked ideas, many of the NDP promises also have holes (such as slashing hydro rates but not stating where the money will come from.) And, they do want to raise taxes and plan to start several new (and expensive) spending programs.