Biiiiink

Are we allowed to allocate our tax to the board of our choice, as I did in Alberta? Have I missed some paperwork here, no-one's asked me where my cash should go?

dbd33

You can choose (within some quite strict parameters) and do so when you register to pay property taxes.

Novocastrian

Note that the article is from the twin bastions of the right in Canada, the National Post and Canwest.

If they're writing off Tory, you can expect a bloodletting in the OPC very soon.

Where is Kim Campbell when you need her?

dbd33

I found it a little disturbing to see the Greens campaigning on religion (I mean even more than it bothers me that religion dominates politics in Ontario in 2007 generally). I dunno that being ecologically sound means holding a particular religious view. I wonder if they don't go too far in pandering to the Mennonites.

Novocastrian

Was it religion, or education? I may have missed something, but surely the Greens need to have a moderately comprehensive platform if they are to be taken semi-seriously. Hopefully the new voting system will pass and we can then anticipate a Green voice in Queens' Park in 4 years. Those Mennonites are poison though.

dbd33

Their slogan was/is "for an equal school system vote Green" which I took to mean that central to their platform was the elimination of funding for religious schools, a commendable aim, but if they're primarily concerned with environmental issues, it's a red herring.

Novocastrian

Herrings aside, if the paradigm is to be trawled to a position where environmental concerns might conceivably be tackled, we need to bait the hook with a full net of policies.

dbd33

I think this election is sparking a new interest in politics. I don't know why but the OH has recently been asked by several people at her workplace to explain the position of the various parties on the political spectrum (cute, given her background). Yesterday I heard someone over the office partition ask a colleague "so what's this referendum question?" to which the colleague replied "I'll fetch Ian, he knows politics". By the time Ian, who knows politics, arrived to explain the issue he had an audience of 25 and was peppered with questions such as "are the Family Coalition to the left of the Liberals?".

I gotta be thinking that, if this is a representive democracy, we deserve someone with the brains of Mike Harris.

Novocastrian

Biiiink! I hope you are paying your property taxes?

dbd33

Granted, a single issue party isn't viable over the long term, nonetheless switching the "push" issue from environment to religion/education seemed to me a poor move, the more so now that Tory concedes religion doesn't sell.

Novocastrian

Yes, I detect the same seismic shift. I predict a swing of at least 1% somewhere or other. This is of course the fallacy of modern democracy. The underlying assumption is that a) people aren't extremely stupid and that b) they give a shit.

Novocastrian

I would actually agree with that. But the general point stands, I think.

Biiiiink

Of course! The tax here is so steep I'm probably paying for the new library myself. They can call it "Biiiiiink's books".

But since I didn't get a thingy to sign like Alberta, I assumed there wasn't a choice. I hope it's defaulted to the right one. We don't want "Biiiiiink's bibles"

dbd33

Granted. We're altogether too amenable for this game. Where's Howard or Ocean?

Novocastrian

Just go to your local Town/City Hall and make sure your dollars aren't fighting the good fight.