Hi All; This letter is in response to a article that was read in thestar.com
Ontario Election , Drawing the line on campaign attack ads.
Good evening to all Liberals who seem to think it is honourable to tell less than the whole truth. Your collective silence as Liberal Party members on the issue of locked-in pensions is despicable!!!!!!!!!!
In the article below, Ben Chin, Liberal campaign spokesperson is once again only telling part of the truth, while hiding the whole truth as it relates to the Ontario Liberal Party.
(See the 4th and 5th last paragraph of this article.)
As you are well aware Mr. Brown, Mr. Kwinter, Mr. Bradley, Mr. Ruprecht, Mr. Patten, Mr. Phillips, Mr. Ramsay, Mr. Sorbara, there were 20 Liberals in all who received the same financial opportunity that Howard Hampton and Shelley Martel received courtesy of Bill 27, An Act To Amend The Pension Benefits Act And The MPPs Pension Act.
Each of you received the same privilege as did Hampton and Martel.
In fact your former colleague, Sean Conway (also a recipienet of the same privilege as Hampton and Martel) said in the House (see Hansard for Monday December 13, 1999) about Bill 27 ... " I want to make it plain. No one benefits more from this change than I do. It's a wrong thing for me to support. I would go even further and say it's immoral."
As for you Mr. Bradley, Minister Responsible for Seniors, your complete silence on this issue, while hundreds of thousands of your constituency (seniors holding locked-in pensions) suffer under the disgusting confines imposed by the Financial Services Commission of Ontario, is abhorrent. I don't know how you can live with yourself!
Is there even one Liberal party member with the guts to stand up and tell the honest truth about Bill 27, even as it relates to the Liberal Party.
So far there hasn't been one individual with that integrity.
STUDENTS SPEAK OUT
Kerry Gillespie Queen's Park Bureau
Like most teenagers, Xing Chiu watches television.
What's unusual is that she's particularly interested in the political ads and in reading what the various leaders have to say about their plans for Ontario.
But in an era of negative campaigning, she's often disappointed. Instead of learning about what each party will do, more often than not, she finds out just how much they dislike what the others are up to.
"Recently, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory accused Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty of being `the worst promise breaker of modern times.' At what point, or is there a point, where we draw the line between actually campaigning (on policies) and plain accusing and humiliating opponents?" asked Chiu, a 17-year-old student North Toronto Collegiate.
"You do draw the line ... you don't engage in nasty name calling," Tory said when the Star asked Chiu's question.
"To say someone is the greatest promise breaker in modern times, there's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek aspect to that ... but I'm trying to make a serious point," Tory said.
"The nature of some of the broken promises is unprecedented and it's a huge issue in this election if you believe as I do that you have to have credibility and trust in order to govern and lead effectively.
"But I will admit ... finding that balance between discussing your opponent's record and putting forward your own is a difficult challenge. But I really try."
There's a reason parties resort to bashing their opponents in the media and in paid negative ads, said Nelson Wiseman, University of Toronto political science professor.
"Some work, some blow up in your face, but for the most part (negative ads) do work and that's why parties use them," Wiseman said.
Last week, the NDP launched its first television ad. But rather than tell about its policies, all it does is bash McGuinty and his policies.
Often, it's not the party leader throwing the dirtiest mud.
Yesterday, within minutes of NDP Leader Howard Hampton promising to roll back the 25 per cent pay hike MPPs gave themselves last year, McGuinty's staff had sent reporters an email titled: "Troubling questions on Howard Hampton's rich rhetoric."
"When Mike Harris eliminated the MPP pension plan, Howard Hampton and his wife, Shelley Martel, were handed a near $1 million payout. Pretty easy to talk about pay cuts when you're sitting on a million-dollar nest egg, isn't it?" Liberal campaign spokesperson Ben Chin wrote.
Chiu, senior vice-president on her school's student council, knows a little about election campaigning.
"Campaigning means selling yourself, not degrading your opponents," Chiu said.
"I guess it's unavoidable in a provincial-level election to point out your opponents' flaws to boost your own popularity, but when opponent-bashing is the basis of one's campaign ... both parties lose credibility," she said.
Like most teenagers, Xing Chiu watches television.
What's unusual is that she's particularly interested in the political ads and in reading what the various leaders have to say about their plans for Ontario.
But in an era of negative campaigning, she's often disappointed. Instead of learning about what each party will do, more often than not, she finds out just how much they dislike what the others are up to.
"Recently, Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory accused Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty of being `the worst promise breaker of modern times.' At what point, or is there a point, where we draw the line between actually campaigning (on policies) and plain accusing and humiliating opponents?" asked Chiu, a 17-year-old student North Toronto Collegiate.
"You do draw the line ... you don't engage in nasty name calling," Tory said when the Star asked Chiu's question.
"To say someone is the greatest promise breaker in modern times, there's a bit of a tongue-in-cheek aspect to that ... but I'm trying to make a serious point," Tory said.
"The nature of some of the broken promises is unprecedented and it's a huge issue in this election if you believe as I do that you have to have credibility and trust in order to govern and lead effectively.
"But I will admit ... finding that balance between discussing your opponent's record and putting forward your own is a difficult challenge. But I really try."
There's a reason parties resort to bashing their opponents in the media and in paid negative ads, said Nelson Wiseman, University of Toronto political science professor.
"Some work, some blow up in your face, but for the most part (negative ads) do work and that's why parties use them," Wiseman said.
Last week, the NDP launched its first television ad. But rather than tell about its policies, all it does is bash McGuinty and his policies.
Often, it's not the party leader throwing the dirtiest mud.
Yesterday, within minutes of NDP Leader Howard Hampton promising to roll back the 25 per cent pay hike MPPs gave themselves last year, McGuinty's staff had sent reporters an email titled: "Troubling questions on Howard Hampton's rich rhetoric."
"When Mike Harris eliminated the MPP pension plan, Howard Hampton and his wife, Shelley Martel, were handed a near $1 million payout. Pretty easy to talk about pay cuts when you're sitting on a million-dollar nest egg, isn't it?" Liberal campaign spokesperson Ben Chin wrote.
Chiu, senior vice-president on her school's student council, knows a little about election campaigning.
"Campaigning means selling yourself, not degrading your opponents," Chiu said.
"I guess it's unavoidable in a provincial-level election to point out your opponents' flaws to boost your own popularity, but when opponent-bashing is the basis of one's campaign ... both parties lose credibility," she said.
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