Did Andrea Horwath miss her chance?
Although NDP leader Andrea Horwath comes across as a decent person in Susan G. Cole’s Q&A (NOW, May 29-June 4), it’s obvious that she is unaware of how politics works.
Had she pulled the plug on the first Liberal budget, she would be premier today.
Nobody really knew Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne back then. All they knew was that the Liberals were caught in myriad scandals. Now Wynne has managed to deflect much of the Liberal scams onto her predecessor and is seen by many as a leader.
The NDP needs some new people in the back rooms who know how and when to run elections.
Gary Brigden
Toronto
The hypocrisy on Horwath
The ferocity of the attack on NDP leader Andrea Horwath has been amazing in its hypocrisy.
Journalists and bloggers of the “progressive left” write glowing op-eds about Olivia Chow one week and lambaste Horwath the next for using exactly the same campaign strategy: the prospective mayor is a progressive leader who is not afraid to take her “positive message” to the business elite, and a penny-pinching guardian of the citizens’ tax money. Makes sense!
Not so for Horwath. Even the attempt to speak the language of those disgruntled folks outside the core is right-wing. Perhaps it’s the fact that Horwath really does speak the language of those on the outside looking in that is so irksome?
Horwath is from Hamilton, doncha know?
Steven Smith
Toronto
NDP soft-sells pensions
Andrea Horwath says, “It doesn’t matter that our [pension] proposal was a voluntary fund – that wasn’t the reason [the Liberals] opposed it [four years ago]. They said they were waiting to see what the federal government was doing with the Canada Pension Plan.”
Uh, that’s now the NDP’s line on the Liberal pension plan in this election: let’s wait to see what the feds will do? And how is sinking a flawed plan better when you don’t have a plan of your own in the works or in your platform?
I’m afraid NOW’s interview with the NDP leader was about the most soft-soap ever.
Shawn Whitney
Toronto
Hudak played waiting game with electorate
Your tidy article on the potential imminent demise of Tim Hudak (NOW, May 29-June 4) hits all the right notes. One last observation: Hudak and his sizable caucus sat on their hands for two years screaming “Scandal!” at the Liberals instead of contributing what they could to a minority government. This “just waiting it out until the next election” put politics in place of governing. They were elected and are accountable, too. We’ll see whether the Ontario electorate was also just willing to wait it out.
Ian Scott
Toronto
Nuke disaster here as likely as meteor strike
Re Nuke You, Toronto (NOW, May 29-June 4). Could you bring back Greenpeace’s Shawn-Patrick Stensil to write an article explaining how a CANDU reactor could suffer a Fukushima-scale disaster? The two reactors don’t even use the same type of fuel!
And Ontario’s reactors aren’t threatened by earthquakes or tsunamis. Meteors or asteroids, maybe, but even if we give the author the very generous starting point of a meteor strike, I’d be fascinated to see them get from there to a Fukushima-like meltdown.
I love your magazine, but that article was thin on details in all the worst ways.
Doug Howat
Toronto
Fukushima was a man-made accident
I live in the Beach, 25 kilometres from the Pickering nuclear station – absolutely too close in the event of an accident. I’m outraged that government authorities have no emergency plans to protect my family in the event of an accident.
It’s been determined that Fukushima was a man-made accident, and there’s no reason to believe an accident couldn’t happen here. I’ve raised my concerns to the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission at their public hearings and found them to be dismissive.
Pickering was designed for a 40-year lifespan that runs out this year. It should be shut down immediately. This would be the very best safety plan.
Monica Whalley
Toronto
Anchors aweigh
Andrew Mitrovica asks if the news anchor is an anachronism (NOW, May 29-June 4). All I know is that Peter Mansbridge has to go. I almost fell asleep typing his name.
Bill Owen
From nowtoronto.com
Roma injustice
Thanks to Bernie Farber for exposing the Canadian government’s unjust plan to deport the Roma Pusuma family, including six-year-old daughter Lulu, to Hungary (NOW, May 29-June 4).
For the last two years, the family has been resisting deportation in a church sanctuary. They came to Canada to escape persecution, assaults and systemic racism, including anti-Semitism. It’s time Canada respected and enforced the United Nations convention on refugees. It’s time for citizens to stand up for the Pusuma family and their right to stay in Canada and be free.
Don Weitz
Toronto
Baskin in the sun
Re Morgan Baskin Fights Sexism On The Election Trail (NOW, May 29). I’ve been following mayoral candidate Morgan Baskin on Twitter for months. Her opinions are sensible, reasoned and articulate, unlike some other mayoral candidates who don’t need naming. She won’t win, but honestly, is there any reason a smart 18-year-old couldn’t do better than the mayor we currently have?
Gary Smith
From nowtoronto.com
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