Hard to imagine a world without Steve Jobs ... I'll always be a "PC" (personal computer) but I love iTunes ™ -- which made possible the podcast and the ability to download a lot of favourite radio and TV shows as well as discovering new ones, all for free. NPR and the CBC, among other public broadcasters, have gotten a new lease on life because of the technology and have busted the old ratings models wide open (and have opened up new revenue sources as links for the free shows point to series available only by subscription due to copyright clearance issues). Thanks Steve for making our world a bit easier to navigate in a time when it's being more congested than ever.
Okay ... enough of that. Today is election day in Ontario. This time I'm not going to tell you whether you should vote or not, that's up to you. (The three leaders make their final pitches to rule Ontario, here.) But all I can say is that an election that should have been an easy scoop for the "PC"s (the no longer "Progressive" Conservatives) has turned into a nail-biter. If Ottawa born and bred Dalton McGuinty can pull off a last minute majority it will be a truly remarkable political resurrection. Bland and manipulative as he may be he has run a generally competent government. Even with a minority which would almost certainly be propped up by Andrea Horwath of the NDP (and a "Hammer" woman) he will have pulled off what would have been unthinkable just a few weeks ago which is slam-dunk Tim Hudak (who also represents a district which takes in a big part of Hamilton).
Poor Tim (and I'm not being sarcastic here). He could never quite get his foot out of his mouth after he accused Pointy Head of favouring "immigrants" over Canadians when in fact what McGuinty is aiming at is getting the "taxi cab" posse into jobs they were actually trained for and which would all be paid back in new income tax revenue, in many cases in the first year. After that the old tried and true Reaganomics (cut taxes, but especially for the rich) which has been discredited time and time again as any supposed growth does not solely account for recovery of revenues. And in the last week, his stupid challenge against gay and lesbian clubs in Ontario schools.
McGuinty is an idiot, but at least he's competent. Hudak is a Harper ditto head. I like Horwath but she needs another election cycle before she becomes a truly viable alternative to the Liberals.
I'm predicting a turnout of just over 50%. Disappointing but not surprising, just how disaffected we are in general.
UPDATE (11:20 am EDT, 1520 GMT): Just a quick additional note about ads which all have the tag line "Authorized by the CFO of the [blank] Party." No in and out scheme this time around (with different disclaimers for different areas to get around spending rules) but the fact the ads are approved by an accountant and not the party leader itself, says something to me who has some training in accounting. Especially with the anti-gay ads that appeared all over the GTA in marginal districts and in "ethnic enclaves." It's time we did what the States did, and have the leader clearly say, "I approve this message." No ambiguity in a statement like that. None whatsoever. The leader should approve and thus stand behind his or her message and not let apparatchiks approve it for him or her.
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