A reception with Christine Elliott, MPP to benefit the Parkdale-High Park Ontario PC Association

With the call today of an Ontario election on Thursday June 12th, we are pleased to announce that a fundraising reception with Christine Elliott, Deputy Leader of the Ontario PC Party and Opposition Critic, Health and Long-Term Care will be held on Thursday, May 15th between 5:30 pm and 7:30 pm. The reception will support the Parkdale-High Park Ontario PC Association. It will take place in the Victoria Room at The Old Mill Inn & Spa, 21 Old Mill Road.

With Ontarians now headed to the polls on June 12th, we can finally introduce the urgent change we need.  Ontario is on the wrong track under the McGuinty-Wynne Liberal Party, which has been more focused on its own political interests rather than the interests of taxpayers and the one million people in Ontario who are out of work.  Instead of implementing a plan to put people back to work, the McGuinty-Wynne Liberals have demonstrated through their gas plant scandal that they are prepared to go any length and spare no expense in order to win re-election.

But to deliver that message of change to doorsteps in Parkdale-High Park, we need your financial support to help us build the strong local organization we need to achieve success in the next campaign.

Tickets for the reception are $175.00 per person, and a tax receipt will be issued to give you a substantial tax credit for your 2014 income tax return.  Under provincial law, individuals, corporations and trade unions are eligible to make contributions. Please visit this secure link now now to purchase your ticket.

Nomination Vacated

Wednesday, March 26th, 2014 - Today, Ghina Al-Sewaidi submitted her resignation as Parkdale-High Park Ontario PC candidate. Her resignation was accepted, with regret, by the Association Executive.  Ghina was nominated on May 23rd, 2013 and fulfilled all of the responsibilities of the candidate for 10 months, with the expectation that an Ontario election was on the horizon. This did not occur, and for personal and family reasons, Ghina was not able to continue in the role.

Members of the riding association thanked Ghina for all of her work, and Ghina committed to assisting in the next provincial campaign.

Parkdale-High Park Progressive Conservative Association 2014 Annual General Meeting

The 2014 annual general meeting of the Ontario PC riding association in Parkdale-High Park will be held on Saturday, February 1st. Please join us for breakfast upstairs at the Yellow Griffin Pub, 2202 Bloor Street West (north side between Runnymede and Kennedy) at 9:30AM (a contribution is appreciated). Registration will take place over breakfast, and the meeting will begin at 10:00AM.

For more information please email Blair McCreadie, Riding President at blair.mccreadie@gmail.com

Parkdale-High Park Progressive Conservative Nomination Meeting - Thursday, May 23rd, 2013

Please join the Parkdale-High Park Progressive Conservative Association for our nomination meeting, to select a candidate, for the upcoming Ontario general election. The meeting will be held on Thursday, May 23rd, 2013 in the "Council Chambers" room on the second floor of the Swansea Town Hall Community Centre, 95 Lavinia Avenue, Toronto. Registration opens at 7:00PM. The meeting will commence at 7:45PM.

Notice of meeting having been provided to all members, and the period for nomination having now passed, the meeting will convene and acclaim Ms. Ghina Al-Sewaidi, as Progressive Conservative candidate, in Parkdale-High Park.

For more information please email Blair McCreadie, Riding President at blair.mccreadie@gmail.com.

Editorial: What taxes does Ontario Premier Wynne want?

QMI Agency - Premier Kathleen Wynne seems to have forgotten something in her rush to impose new taxes and tolls on Ontarians to pay for the Liberals' $50-billion, 25-year Big Move transit scheme.

What she's forgotten is the voters.

Voters who must have the final say on this issue, the majority of whom, polls show, aren't in favour of what Wynne's proposing.

But there's a simple solution.

Wynne needs to end her tiresome dance of the seven veils before friendly crowds of elites, hinting at which taxes and tolls she's thinking of imposing, and start coming clean with the public.

Especially so, since she has no electoral mandate to implement any new taxes or tolls, given that she was chosen as premier by Liberal partisans, not democratically confirmed in a general election.

The honest thing for Wynne to do would be to tell the public now what taxes and tolls she's prepared to implement to fund the Big Move and then to run on them in the next election.

So far, the only people the public is hearing from on that issue are special interest groups like the Toronto Region Board of Trade and unelected bureaucrats at City Hall.

In June, unelected bureaucrats at Metrolinx, the province's regional transportation agency, will chime in, again, on which new taxes and tolls they favour.

Clearly, this is all part of a co-ordinated plan by like-minded elites to wear down the public into thinking they have no choice but to meekly accept higher taxes and tolls to pay for transit.

It's time to end this charade.

On Wednesday, Wynne suggested at a friendly forum held by CivicAction, that she might move ahead with imposing new road tolls and taxes to pay for the Big Move, without the support of the affected municipal governments.

The fact she would say this just two days after the Ontario Auditor General said her government misled the public on the real costs of its political decision to cancel the Mississauga gas plant two weeks before the last provincial election, doesn't surprise us.

After all, arrogance is nothing new for Liberals.

But it's all the more reason for Wynne to come clean with the public now about what she's planning.

Hudak Has a Plan For a Better Ontario

TORONTO – Ontario can do a lot better with a plan to get us on the right track and the leadership to put it into action, PC Leader Tim Hudak said tonight to a sold-out crowd.

“In order to do better for our job creators, our loved ones and future generations, we need to address the jobs crisis and debt crisis we face today – and we cannot solve one without solving the other,” Hudak said.

Hudak outlined his comprehensive plan of action to grow the economy. Key elements of Hudak’s plan include:

Reducing Ontario’s 300,000 regulations by at least a third

Lowering the cost of doing business including tax reductions and affordable energy rates

Making our labour laws competitive so companies have the confidence to hire, and

Building new subways and highways to get people home and goods to market faster

“We’ll get people moving again and we’ll grow the economy, but we can’t build a strong Ontario on a foundation of debt,” Hudak said.
Hudak’s plan to end government’s reckless overspending includes making government pensions affordable, reducing the size and cost of government, and opening up contracts to competitive bidding to get the best quality at the best price for the taxpayer.

Hudak described this as a moment of truth for our province: “It is a time of challenge but also a time of promise. A time of crisis, but a time of hope. We have hope because we have a choice.”

“If you believe Ontario is on the right track, the good news is you have two parties to choose from. But if you believe Ontario can and will do better, there is only one choice: our Ontario PC team,” Hudak concluded.

“Let’s stop waiting for better and let’s make better happen.”

Watch the video and download the speech here.

Toronto Star editorial: Ontario should limit ‘third party’ election spending

April 11, 2013 - Elections Ontario head Greg Essensa makes a good case for reigning in third party interest group advertising during provincial campaigns.

A gaping loophole in Ontario’s election finance rules allows so-called “third party” interest groups to dodge campaign spending limits. They’re increasingly using this lack of oversight to outspend bona fide political parties and sway the results of a vote. And that isn’t healthy for democracy.

By way of a remedy, Ontario’s Chief Electoral Officer Greg Essensa has asked the province to set up an independent body to find ways of reigning in third-party advertising. Reforms would ideally include spending limits, contribution caps, tighter reporting requirements and some anti-collusion provisions.

The need for such change is pressing and so obvious that it should be delivered with a minimum of bureaucratic dithering and delay.

In his annual report earlier this week, Essensa noted that third-party organizations — mainly unions and related groups — spent more than $6 million on advertising in the 2011 provincial election. That’s more than triple the $1.8 million such organizations shelled out for the 2007 vote.

The biggest-spending third party, the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario, lavished $2.6 million on its effort to defeat the Progressive Conservatives. To put this in some context, even the New Democratic Party didn’t spend that much. In fact, it exceeded the combined advertising spending of 19 of Ontario’s 21 registered political parties.

In short, third party organizations now rival mainstream registered political parties in advertising clout. Fairness demands that they come under more scrutiny and regulation.

“The current rules for third parties are inconsistent with how other political entities are treated,” wrote Essensa. “Candidates, constituency associations and political parties are all subject to annual and campaign reporting requirements, as well as campaign period spending limits and annual and campaign contribution limits.”

These regulations are meant to provide some semblance of a level playing field in the political arena. They limit the degree to which money can be used to influence the electorate. But this intended fairness is distorted as long as third parties are exempt from similar restrictions.

Unions and others with a case to put before the public mustn’t be silenced at election time. They have a right to express their views, and to spend money in order to do so. But this right must be framed by limits in keeping with how other political players are treated.

Essensa notes that Quebec, British Columbia, Alberta, New Brunswick and the federal government have all adopted controls over third-party advertising. And, in a rare display of agreement, the parties at Queen’s Park have signaled their openness to reform.

Being on the receiving end of a sizable interest group onslaught, the Tories have long pressed for action. But NDP Leader Andrea Horwath also favours a look at third-party spending limits as part of a wider examination of election finance rules, and Premier Kathleen Wynne has said she is willing to consider Essensa’s recommendations.

Given all that, there’s no acceptable excuse to maintain the status quo. Queen’s Park needs to turn off the lights and declare the party over when it comes to unfettered third-party election spending.