More shots fired in Ontario PC civil war as Education Critic Lisa MacLeod savages Transportation Critic Frank Klees on Twitter

As the Ontario PC civil war over Tim Hudak's continued leadership rages on, here is what PC Education Critic (and many say potential future leadership candidate Lisa MacLeod) had to say to her fellow PC frontbencher and Transportation Critic Frank Klees.

Next time the Hudak PC's ask to be taken seriously on the transit file, remember that this is the opinion his Transportation critic is held in by one of his highest profile MPPs.

My policy for the OYL South Central Regional Policy Parliament - Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education

I wrote about the merits of lowering the age of voter registration to 16 back in April, and I've turned it into a policy for the OYL South Central Regional Policy Parliament tomorrow. Take a look!

Encouraging Youth Democratic Participation and Improving Civic Education

 WHEREAS – The lowest voter registration rates are for young voters 18-24 years of age

WHEREAS – There is a positive correlation between voting and being registered as a voter before General Voting Day

WHEREAS – Australia and several American states allow for voter registration below the age of 18

WHEREAS – The Chief Electoral Officer of British Columbia recommended in 2011 in his Report to the Legislative Assembly to amend the BC Elections Act to allow the provisional registration of individuals when they are 16 years of age

WHEREAS – Ontario Young Liberals have previously passed policies encouraging youth democratic participation and improving the Civics class as part of Ontario’s curriculum

BE IT RESOLVED THAT – The Ontario government amend the Ontario Elections Act to permit the registration of individuals onto the voter list when they are 16 years of age

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT – The Ontario government amend the Civics portion of the Ontario High School curriculum to include the voter registration process, as the majority of students in grade 10 would be 16

Hudak PC candidate: Female voters are "less informed"...including about control over their own bodies?

That's Wayne Wettlaufer, former PC MPP who served with Hudak and Mike Harris running to win his seat of Kitchener Centre back for the Conservatives.

Wettlaufer also must think women aren't informed enough to have control over their own bodies (also noteworthy a little guy named Tim Hudak as well several currently serving Hudak Conservative MPPs are also mentioned here)

"Several notable MPPs (all Tories) have demonstrated a commitment to respect the sanctity of life and the institution of the traditional family. Among them are Jim Brown (Scarborough Agincourt), Tim Hudak (Erie-Lincoln), Frank Klees (Oak Ridges), John O’Toole (Durham), Frank Sheehan (Niagara Centre), Wayne Wettlaufer (Kitchener Centre), and Bob Wood (London West). These pro-life MPPs have submitted numerous petitions to the legislature, thus bringing attention to important issues such as the need for conscience legislation, calls to eliminate taxpayer funding of abortion, the need to protect the rights of parents in areas such as health care and education, and opposition to the expansion of gambling. Without the commitment of these pro-life MPPs, these issues might not have been brought up on the floor of the legislature.

In response to the 1995 Campaign Life Coalition candidate’s questionnaire, these seven MPPs generally supported measures that would protect the unborn and regulate abortion, including ending taxpayer funding of abortuaries, consent to treatment changes and measures to provide for informed consent. Hudak...wrote, “I believe that it is the government’s role to... encourage women to carry the babies to term."  They have put their votes where their rhetoric is. Each of the MPPs voted for Bill 91, an act to provide for parental consultation under the Health Care Consent Act of 1996." 

Former Conservative candidate and "shadow MP" on your tax dollars arrested in Quebec corruption probe

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Saulie+Zajdel+arrest+UPAC+surprise+Conservatives/8536640/story.html


"He was known as the “shadow MP” of the federal Mont-Royal riding, hovering and thinking about making another run at the job after losing in 2011….Saulie Zajdel’s stunning arrest Monday on five charges including breach of trust, corruption and fraud sent a shock wave through the ranks of the Conservative Party from the top down…


Zajdel, who bagged a controversial adviser’s job in the office of Heritage Minister James Moore after his defeat in Mont-Royal…was hired by Moore, a close associate, to work as a “liaison” between the government and Montreal’s cultural communities from October 2011 until March 2012.

His role with the Conservatives was vague, and for months he refused to explain his duties or his salary…. Cotler expressed his annoyance, suggesting Zajdel was being paid by Ottawa to prepare his political rematch, calling him Mont-Royal’s “shadow MP.”…the Conservatives indulged in a dirty tricks campaign, with workers phoning people in Mont-Royal strongly suggesting Cotler was going to retire. The speaker of the Commons later ruled the stunt as “trickery.”…

Zajdel was part of Harper’s entourage on a visit to Montreal that included a stop in a pub. It was there he revealed to a Canadian Press reporter [Zajdel] was dissatisfied with his salary in Moore’s office.

“Oh, (it’s) not as much as I want it to be,” Zajdel quipped. Asked how much he’d like to earn, he said, “Something in the six digits and it’s not that.”

There was a report later in Le Devoir that Zajdel’s salary was $60,000 a year."

  So, get rejected by the voters, have the party run a "trickery" campaign against your opponent, get paid with your tax dollars to raise your political profile in the riding, complain about making a more than middle-class salary, get arrested?   Harper is a Beatles fan, so I'm sure he'll appreciate that stories like this are just another day in the life of his government.  

  Here's Harper talking about how great a guy the now arrested Zajdel is.

"Political parties aren't perfect, but that's why I belong to one"

Giving some dap to an article written by Hillary Buchan-Terrell for Samara about her experiences in politics, and why political parties matter.

Two-time NDP candidate and environmentalist quits Ontario NDP over Horwath adopting Rob Ford's transit policy

This is Trevor Hache earlier today, quitting the Ontario NDP over their rejection of revenue models to expand transit options for families in the Greater Toronto and Greater Hamilton Area.

Hache twice ran for the NDP in Ottawa-Vanier, and as Policy Director for Ecology Ottawa, a major Ottawa-area environmental organization which he was also a founding member of. (In the interest of full disclosure, I also worked for Ecology Ottawa for several months as a fundraising canvasser.)

Horwath moved the ONDP away from promoting public transit and sound environmental policy in the last election when the ONDP platform included a plank to use your tax dollars to subsidize gas prices for big gas guzzling cars. The ONDP's latest move to shows they continue to reject real models for public transit funding, and it'll be interesting to see how the rump environmental wing of the ONDP handles Horwath embracing the Rob Ford position on public transit.

Does Fordwath work as a nickname or is that too much of a stretch?

Hudak Conservatives fined $85,000 for "rule breaking robocalls"

I hear he knows a guy who knows a guy though